lowering rear 2" 47 deluxe coupe

[chris lipscomb]

is there an easy way to lower rear of 47 deluxe coupe 1 1/2 - 2 inches ?

[cmbrucew]

Smaller tires, wheels.
Bruce

[RalphM]

Areverse eye spring swap isn't that hard to do either. Go with the poly insert shackle bushings( so much easier to install), and it can be done in an afternoon.

[fordwife]

Back in the day we used longer spring shackles. They may not be available today, but are easy to make. i made a set for my '48 by drilling holes in pieces of flat bar and using a small file to file the holes square. As I recall, I spaced the holes 4" apart, which gave me about a 2" drop.

[tubman]

Does the 47 have a sway bar? (I'm a shoebox guy, so I don't know.) If so, the shackles are probably a reasonable choice. I used them on some old Fords I had back in the '50's and '60's and they worked reasonably well unless they were made real long. Then things got a little exciting on fast corners.

[19Fordy]

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Remove a couple of leafs from the stock spring.
I know there are folks who will say you do not
need a spring spreader ,but it sure makes life easier.
Be sure and do a search about this topic. Like this:
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...-help.1029737/ and this:
https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=36326[B]
You might also contact the above folks who posted the threads. Most folks are happy to help.
Here's some reverse eye spring install info.
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...estion.682858/
And finally, here's a few photos of a reverse eye spring spreaders.
https://www.google.com/search?q=reve...hrome&ie=UTF-8
The one in my photo is massive "over kill" made from an old turnbuckle that you find on bridge cables. I bet you could make one using an old car bumper jack too.

[TJ]

Take the spring to a spring shop and have them de-arch the spring. It's not costly and is much better than using longer shackles. The longer shackles create a lot of body roll and sway. Do it once and do it right.

[Jay in Mass]

Lots of good advtce here . Stay far away from the long shackles

[tubman]

Originally Posted by Jay in Mass

Lots of good advice here . Stay far away from the long shackles

But he did say "easy way" in his original post. If the car has a sway bar, I think it's a reasonable way to go.

[fordwife]

Yes, the 41 ? [I believe] to 48 had sway bars front and rear.

[HCO41]

19fordy, nice job on spreader. I have a couple of large turnbuckles and wondered what size the threads are on the ones you used. Thanks,
Howard

[36coupe]

Hi Chris,
Vern Tardel sells longer shackles.
https://www.verntardel.com/

I have a Porto-power that you can borrow if you want to remove the spring or install longer shackles.

On the rear the car has a panhead bar.

[JSeery]

Increasing shackle length was a very common mod once upon a time.

[lodaddyo]

Longer shackles are fine on your 47, you have a rear track bar so no worry about side to side movement. Easy to make with some 1" flatbar. To get down 2 inches, you will have to make the shackle plates 4" center to center. I just did my 47, but i reversed the stock main leaf eyes and made 6" long shackles for the rear.

[Drbrown]

Have '47 Super Deluxe Sedan Coupe. It came with sway bars front and rear, and tube shocks at rear.

Someone before me lowered front and rear ends. (1) Wheels changed to 15 inch. (2) the spring appears to have been de-arched as the main leaf sits about flat. (3) At rear, at least the two shortest spring leave were removed and "stored" underneath the spring U bolts. However, I count 6 leaves remaining so more were removed because the Early Ford V8 Club Book says the 1946 3 passenger business couple had 10 or 11 leaves and the 5 passenger sedan coupe had 11 leaves. The shackles bolts measure 3 inch c-to-c (stock ?).

Net result: (1) There is only 3 inches clearance between the body frame and the axle housing .... bumpity-bumpity sometimes. (2) The top edge of the fender wheel well sits about a 1/2 inch below the top edge of the white wall ring of the tires - a little too low in my opinion.

[Graeme / New Zealand]

My last 47 sat like a "praying mantis" with its ass too high I removed one leaf spring and it looked better and did not compromise the ride.

46/48 should have 11 leaves on the front and 12 on the rear in stock form.

GB

[19Fordy]

Originally Posted by HCO41

19fordy, nice job on spreader. I have a couple of large turnbuckles and wondered what size the threads are on the ones you used. Thanks,
Howard

The thread size is 1 1/2-6 UNC. It turns really easy.
The spreader is heavy - about 12 pounds.
A smaller turn buckle like 5/8-11 would be easier to maneuver and not flex.
Most folks use the "ALL THREAD" rod
But, my turn buckle it was free so I used it. You probably won't have to cut and reweld the turn buckle if your threaded rods are long enough. If you type the word SPRING SPREADER into the Search Box lots of spring spreader info. appears.
Good luck with your project.

[Rustedjunk]

Originally Posted by RalphM

Areverse eye spring swap isn't that hard to do either. Go with the poly insert shackle bushings( so much easier to install), and it can be done in an afternoon.

Where do you get the poly-insert shackle bushings for our cars? I got some by Energy Suspension for the old military Jeeps, and then had to go to a machine shop to have them shaved down to fit.

[tubman]

One last thing about longer shackles. They don't require any permanent changes. You can put them on, evaluate the look, and see how well you like it. If you have handling problems (not likely) you can always remove them and use a more "professional" method to achieve the same drop. I know several people that spent time and money achieving a look they later decided they didn't really like. I had a '36 tudor I put 6" shackles on many years ago that were too much and caused a bunch of problems. I drilled some new holes about 1 1/2" shorter, filed the corners in, and everything was just fine. (I was always going to cut the excess off the shackles with a hack saw, but never got around to it.)

[Ol' Ron]

Track bar, Roll Bar, Pan hard bar, sway bar. The nomenclature gets confusing. The track bar and Pan hard Bar are the same. They prevent the body and fram from moving latterly over the axles. The sway bar and roll bar, prevent the body and frame from rolling from side to side over the axles. We all use these terms and it sometimes causes confusion.
AS far as the shackles are concerned, tou need a track bar, Some Ford modles had them from the factory.