1933 chevy tudor sedan aka Project Copper Tone!

Well, I finished up the rear end on Thursday and yesterday I made my brackets for one side but ran out of oxy for my torch so it looks like I need bigger bottles. I gotta look through the shop to see if there's some empty bottles lyin around to exchange. I know for sure that there's an empty CO2 bottle but haven't found any others aside from huge old propane bottles and I really don't wanna run a propane setup so we'll see what happens. Hopefully this week I can get to cutting more brackets out and get the front end done. I'll try to remember to take some pictures of the rear end tomorrow.

As promised, a "few" more pictures.

















And just cause no one has seen the wheels that started this build...

That's how it's done alright. Seriously good looking wheels and tires too.

everything's looking good!

you may want to re-think that rear panhard rod, it should be parallel to the ground, and run along the center line of the rear end. that would give the best compromise in ride and handling.

with it at the present angle, hitting a bump or pot hole while cornering could cause it to react in a nasty way.

Peace, Love, and Happy Motoring.

I agree with Blue. You need to raise the panhard mount on the differential. Think of that end moving through a portion of a circle as the suspension cycles. As it is mounted now the panhard will move the axle sideways as it cycles. This will result in large amounts of rear bump steer. You will also gain clearance over the centre section.

Well, I got the front axle done. Now it's just putting the disc brake kit on, mounting the wheels/tires, building the spring mount, and figuring the trailing arms out. Once that's all done it'll be a roller and off to more fun.

Are there shackles on the end of the leaf spring?

No there are not. I'm not worried about body roll as I only plan on driving this around town and well, highest speed limit is 45 and that's a straight shot up the hill. In fact, up here with it being so low I will only be able to drive on 3 streets. If it doesn't work out, I can always get a shorter leaf spring and put shackles on the ends.

There will be no travel with the front suspension setup that way, when the spring compresses it will need to be able to lengthen, in the setup you have, it will not be able to do so.
You may just need to re-fab your perches to be further out slightly, but also taller to allow for the shackle to look like this

Ditto what DR pointed out. The only front suspension you have now is the flex in the sidewalls of the tires. You can get by with a shackle on one side only. There was a well-known hot rod parts company making a "dead perch" for that application. I believe it was originated in early dirt track cars. However, I'd pt two shackles on it if it were mine.

Might as well fix it now while you are fabricating and you'll be a lot happier and safer in the end.

Okay, y'all have convinced me. I'm gonna try to figure out something out. I think I have an idea for it. And in all fairness, a shorter leaf spring will probably work a lot better. We'll just have to see though.

So, I didn't get much done today as I went on a hunt for ideas. Found a leaf spring that is gonna work a lot better. It's sorta stuff compared to the one I was gonna use but will be better for the weight if the engine. And I redid my brackets so I can install some home made shackles. Anyhow, thanks for everyone's input, I may be a dumb kid but I will take all criticism into consideration. Anyhow, a couple of pictures of the "new" brackets. And don't worry, I will be reinforcing the brackets on the back side. I just ran out of time to do that today.

Try a J Bar for your pan hard. Or lengthen your mounts to run more parallel to the axle. The setup you have now looks like the rear would shift to the left about 2" on a good bump.

You can also smooth out a stiff leaf spring by working it over on a big stationary belt sander. You would need to disassemble it and do each leaf. I need to do this on my front spring. It helps the look of the spring.

If you get a chance look at a 1947 Ford car front spring. The ends of each leaf are tapered. This really helps the ride.

If your shackles are going in the hole under the spring then it isn't going to work. Take a look at some other builds. Your shackles need to go straight out from your spring so they are at a 45 degree angle under weight.

This is what I mean. It's path is a big arc rather than vertical.

I'll be very blunt.

Stop fabricating until you fully get the geometry sorted out. We will help. You will only cause yourself more work otherwise.

Front suspension: You must use shackles. Those brackets will not work where they sit. The upper holes are to far away for that length of spring. The lower holes won't work at all. The spring holes need to be lower than the bracket holes. Again, shackles must be used.

Study the geometry of the bracket, spring, and shackle geometry on the previous page.

Sam, why? Why does the spring have to be almost directly under the mount? I would think that as long as the shackles are at a 45 degree, it wouldn't matter how short or long they are. Maybe what I have envisioned isn't what everyone else sees but then again, I'm nuts.

choppinczech said:

This is what I mean. It's path is a big arc rather than vertical.

Click to expand...

Mind you, that picture is not straight on with the rear and that if y'all were to look straight down the rear, you would see that the bar is directly over the axle and that the circle drawn is almost 8" away from where the axle mount actually is.

The panhard needs to be level at ride height, over the axle is fine it's the height of the mounting point on the axle that's the problem. If I was you I would lower the frame mount and raise the axle mount to get it where it's level.

As far as the front axle I think I see what you're trying to do. It looks to me like you're going to use the upper holes for the shackle mounts, is that right? Longer shackles might cause a problem with the axle moving front and back under braking or big bumps.

These are just my opinions, and I'm no expert but I do know a little lol.