How To Lower The Model A The Old Fashion Way

[kelley's restoration]

Originally Posted by roccaas

Big shoes on that horse!

525 16 front 25.2 dia800-18 rear 34 diatk

[LeroyM]

Originally Posted by kelley's restoration

i guess my only concern now is the shock arm hitting the fender when the suspension goes through its traveltk

I went out and took some measurements. With the shocks in the natural resting position they are about 5/8" to 3/4" away from the fenders. It looks to me like the shock arms would be going down when in motion and if that is the case there is plenty of room since they get further away from the fenders as they go down.

[Rowdy]

Thanks for sharing. I will pass along the info to a freind who is not yeat a part of Fordbarn past or preasant dispite having a computer and an A. Rod

[kelley's restoration]

Originally Posted by LeroyM

I went out and took some measurements. With the shocks in the natural resting position they are about 5/8" to 3/4" away from the fenders. It looks to me like the shock arms would be going down when in motion and if that is the case there is plenty of room since they get further away from the fenders as they go down.

i am not trying to be a jerk here so please don't take any offence to my questioning but if you hit a bump and the spring compresses i think it will hit the fenders. i went out today and put my shocks on and i am a little concerned about putting dents in them if i hit a rail road crossing or a bumpy intersection. i guess a bit of driving time will tell for us bothtk

[Thom IV]

WoW. Your car sure looks neat. I've got 16 inch wheels on mine, Lowering it would sure improve the appearance. You've just about got me convinced. you did a great job.

[LeroyM]

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Can anyone with a stock Model A measure and post how much distance you have between the shock arm and the fender in the resting position?

Once I get my tie rod back on I'll take some speed bumps and ruff roads to see if there is any rub on the fenders with the shocks and post my results.

[jerseyboy]

Leroy,

Is this what your looking for?

[Mike/Nebraska]

I wanted to do the same thing with my roadster. What I finally did was I got in touch with the guys from Eaton Spring Co. and told them what I wanted to do and asked if they could help. What they came up with was a new spring with three less leaves, the same tension of the stock Model A spring, and a three inch drop. It fit great and the car sits "right", I'm really pleased. It may not be the way they had to do it in the old days, but it worked for me.

[LeroyM]

Originally Posted by Mike/Nebraska

I wanted to do the same thing with my roadster. What I finally did was I got in touch with the guys from Eaton Spring Co. and told them what I wanted to do and asked if they could help. What they came up with was a new spring with three less leaves, the same tension of the stock Model A spring, and a three inch drop. It fit great and the car sits "right", I'm really pleased. It may not be the way they had to do it in the old days, but it worked for me.

Post a picture Mike if you can, lets see how it looks. The new 10 pack springs are very stiff and I think the Model A's are over sprung anyway for modern roads. Taking 3 leaves out of mine really made a difference in the ride quality.

[msmaron]

May i ask WHY would you do that to a Model A???? Doesn't seem like a Model A then??

[LeroyM]

Originally Posted by msmaron

May i ask WHY would you do that to a Model A???? Doesn't seem like a Model A then??

Well to me the Model A is the body style and look. It was very common back in the early 40's to replace the wheels and tires to 16's because of WWII and other size tires being harder to get or come by. I'm sure more then a few Model A's were lowered back then to keep things looking right.

Also being a younger guy, I'm 33 by the way. I'm more into driving the car anywhere and having it ride and look good at the same time more so then trying to match each and everything on the car when it left the factory.

Everything I have done to the car is easy to undo since it's all bolt on. All of the parts I took off will be sitting in the garage. Different strokes for different folks as they say.

[kelley's restoration]

msmaron, i too am a younger guy(31) and everything i have done can be easily switched to stock by removing a few cotter pins and bolts. This is just an expression of what i want done to my car, not what i do to all the cars we work on.i'll show it to you at park on park in mundelion this week.tk

[hotrodA]

That's perfect! Just what I'm needing to do to my 31 pickup. Thanks for the info.

[Equipped28]

what is it with young guys and 32 axles on model A's im 17 my roadster in the works

[Lowbuckboz]

Your cars look good lowered. I did the same thing, can be converted back to stock very easily. I have been suprised by the purists reactions to it, they all have liked it. Here is mine....

[youngrodder1929]

19 here yep its got a 32 axle

[LeroyM]

One update.

I got the tie rod ball studs in the mail from Mac's last week and went to put them on over the weekend. Well for the life of me I couldn't get the nut to go up far enough to allow the carter pin to go in. I got a longer pull bar but still no luck. My next step was a piece of pipe over the pull bar. After tightening and tightening I broke the tie rod ball stud off and was still to far away to get to carter pin to go in.

Luckily my dad had a fork to knock out the tie rod ball stud without any damage done to the spindle. What I ended up doing with the other side was to notch the castle nut with a hacksaw blade and only use half a carter pin.

I called Mac's back and ordered another tie rod ball stud and asked were the tie rod ball studs and nuts made in the USA and they said they were. Lesson learned, don't use long pieces of pipe on a pull bar to try and tighten nuts to allow a carter pin to go in and also new things break to.

[kelley's restoration]

mine have a special real short nut
i lost one of them and had to machine the back off of another castle nut to match the others
tk

[bgarrett]

Originally Posted by msmaron

May i ask WHY would you do that to a Model A???? Doesn't seem like a Model A then??

It is documented that Edsel Ford tried to get his father to design the A to sit lower

[Bassman/NZ]

Smart boy that Edsel. Henry should've listened to him.