lowering a 47 ford coupe

[galaxie50059]

Hi All,

I am in need of advice as to the safest and least expensive way to lower the front end of my 47 ford coupe(I know, get some pics of it, I am working on it). I have a couple of non rolling parts cars and can tear them down without having to put them back together for practice. My budget for the lowering is between $400 and $500 so if a kit is the best way to go, let me know which one to get and why. Thanks much for any and all help on this.
Nate(galaxie50059)

 

[WIZEGUY]

What front and rear suspension is on the car?
Yes...pictures.

 

[galaxie50059]

The car is completely stock showing 48K on the odometer and it has been parked since 1955 in a barn in north dakota shortly after it had been wrecked and rolled over. It isnt worth the effort to restore it to show condition as I dont have the funds or ability to make that happen. I will try to get some pics up this week if time allows.

 

[galaxie50059]

Ok let me add a little more info here while I am thinking about it. I am not wanting to upgrade to disc brakes or anything like that as I am comfy driving around on four non power drums. I would like to retain as much of the stock front suspension as possible as it is in pretty decent shape for its age and replacing too much stuff will break my budget. My mechanical skills are somewhat limited, but like I said I have a couple of non rollers to practice on before attempting the real deal.

 

[galaxie50059]

Ok, here is a pic of the drivers side of the suspension system on one of the non rolling parts cars that I have. Its not the greatest pic in the world, I agree, but such is life. I am home alone this afternoon and cannot get the front clip off of the coupe, its just sitting there as it is a replacement as the original was damaged a little bit in the wreck that parked it in the mid 50's. I will be posting pics of some of the 46 to 48 stuff that I have. My 9N tractor wont start(it would if there was gas in it ) or I could get some pics of the rest of them sitting in the shed. I will put the other pics in the rad rod section.

Hopefully this helps.

 

[donsrods]

Pretty much the only way to drop it is with a dropped axle. There are other ways to do it, like longer shackles, heating the ends of the axle, etc, buy you don't even want to think about those methods.

I would install a 4 inch dropped axle, which will necessitate heating and bending the steering arms on the spindles to clear the new curvature of the axle. Not a big job, but it does take an acetaline torch to heat it cherry red. (If you go that route, post back sometime, and I'll tell you how to do it in two stages)

Smaller front wheels than the 16's will help too. Mercury wheels from '46 to '51 are 15's and have the same bolt pattern as your 5 on 5 1/2.

There are places that sell dropped axles (Speedway may have one for this application) or some places will drop your axle. You could also have a spring shop reverse the spring eye on the main leaf, and this will give you one more inch.

Whatever you do, do not use the method on the picture below.

Good luck,

Don

 

[WIZEGUY]

I can't tell from your picture, but if you are on the money saving route and have some fab skills, you may be able to raise your center spring mount by modifying the crossmember.
But keep in mind I haven't done one of those cars, so don't take my advise unless you do your homework first and make sure you will not run into any problems. Think two steps ahead before modifying anything.
The easiest way though is to do what Don suggested.

You also asked about the rear suspension.
If the housing is mounted on top of the leaf springs, a simple lowering block kit will do. (Depending on how low you want to go).
If the housing is mounted below the leaf springs, you can do a simple flip and mount a new pair of pads on the bottom of the housing and place the rearend on top of the leafs. But, there are a few more steps involved in doing this properly. If you need any help with it let us know.

 

[galaxie50059]

Thanks for the advice on this one don and wize. I am definitely not wanting to do anything dangerous to the car as this is going to be a driver. I will look for a set of 15 inch wheels for the merc cars at the iola swap meet in july. I am not looking to do a radical drop, just a few inches would suit me fine. No more than 4 inches as my driveway is a little rough.

Don, I studied the pic of what not to do and I have to wonder what were they thinking and and did someone slap them silly for that one. I have seen the results of butchered suspension jobs like that way too often and am a little scared going into this one, but am planning on proceeding with the job, in about three weeks or so(should have enough cash set aside by then to get whatever parts I may need).

Wize, my fab skills leave much to be desired. Push come to shove, I can enlist the aide of small block jimmy and a few of my friends who are not on this board for help if moving that cross member is a desirable option. I dont know what kind of clearance issues this will cause as the front of the engine sits right on top of this cross member.

I am probably going to leave the rear suspension alone for the time being due to a lack of funds. The car is far from being ready to be driven on the street(well at least legally anyways ). Hopefully my dad will be around this afternoon and he can help me lift the sheet metal off the coupe and I will seriously investigate the front end to see what the best option is. Thanks a ton guys and keep the advice flowing.

 

[Gastrick]

For Pete's sake man, what ever you do, make sure you get the right dropped axle. This poor slob got the wrong axle and had a heck of a time finding kingpins to fit

 

[galaxie50059]

Oh My?

I guess Gastrick is right on the money with that one. However I dont think I need an axle quite that heavy duty. I do admit that I need to drop a few pounds from the old belly, but dont we all?

 

[donsrods]

Don, I studied the pic of what not to do and I have to wonder what were they thinking and and did someone slap them silly for that one. I have seen the results of butchered suspension jobs like that way too often and am a little scared going into this one,


I'll tell you what's strange, just a couple months ago I was lurking on the HAMB. A guy was posting pictures of his Model A coupe, and the rear spring was done just like the picture I posted. Guys were teilling him to change that out, as it is dangerous and the spring has no movement that way. The model a was otherwise a very nice ride. He came back saying it had been on the car for 18 years that way, and it never was a problem. So some of this butchered stuff still is out there and being done.

Check out these little gems.

Don

 

[galaxie50059]

Don, the sad thing of it is, I know folks who have done some pretty crazy things when it comes to suspensions and stuff. Most if not all of them ended with a wreck sooner or later.

I am looking into drop axles for the 47 coupe and am amazed at the myriad of choices that are available. Does anyone out there make a simple two or four inch drop axle that will just bolt in? I dont want to drop my cash on the best deal price wise as I know that those usually bite back pretty hard when something fails. If anyone has any suggestions for a reliable company for the axle, I will definitely look into them. Thanks for the help so far and the funny pics.

 

[FlatBroke]

HOLY S#&@ that thing is huge.

 

[joehalford01]

dang, maybe they should call those rods suicide rods instead of rat rods, i couldn't imagine how scary it would be to have your suspension snap in half on you while doing 60 down the freeway.

 

[hillbillychopper]

Don

Hey Don can he put longer shackles on his front to drop it
They do that on full size Chevy trucks on the rear

 

[galaxie50059]

Thats in interesting idea hillbillychopper. Wouldn't that require to front end to be wider than what it already is? I dont know for sure, but that was my first thought. I have put in a call to a local spring shop about reversing the spring eyes. They do that type of work, but the guy who really does that is on vacation, luck dog.

As far as the steering linkages and such, what will I need to replace and/or modify to make a two to four inch drop even possible?

 

[T2T]

50059..............It's pretty easy to reverse the eyes your self..........I do it on a small shop press..........I will walk you through it if you want.

 

[galaxie50059]

T2T, thanks for the offer to help with the spring eye reversal. I dont have a shop press or even access to one or I would definitely take you up on the offer.
I am going to look at all of the ideas posted one at a time and try to decide what is the easiest and least expensive route to take for lowering the car. I like the idea of smaller front rims and tires and reversing the spring eyes as that looks to be the easiest route. I am still not sure what I will have to change for steering components after the lowering has taken place. I am trying to do this within a $500 budget. If it comes in less than that, awesome, anything more than that, well it will have to wait.
I will be looking over lots of cars next month at the car show in iola wisconsin to get a better idea of what looks good to me and what doesnt. Keep the suggestions and thoughts coming guys, I do appreciate them and I do look into each one for the good things.

 

[4t64rd]

Posies in da dirt kit, it has a 4" drop axle and reverse eye spring. The steering arms come from Speedway. I can't tell you if this is the cheapest way anymore, but back when I did it (about 7 years ago), that was the cheapest combination.

 

[tiny1]

lol i love that steering knuckle with the nipple and couplings I'd at least welded it