lowering a 47 ford coupe

[R Pope]

Any Ford half-ton 15" wheels will fit your '48 hubs. There are even 14" implement wheels with the same bolt pattern.
Don't do the long shackle thing. The car will wander all over the place. I tried that back in the '60's, didn't work then either! Maybe with a panhard bar? Never tried that.

 

[galaxie50059]

I have 15 inch ford truck wheels on it right now r pope, however, due to the offset on them, the tires rub the fenders about halfway to lock. I have tried several different sets of truck rims with the same results.

I have never seen 14 inch wheels in the 5 on 5.5 inch bolt pattern, but I will keep my eyes open for those too next week at iola. For the time being I am looking at going the drop axle route. How much of a drop will depend on if I find a set of 15 inch mercury wheels for it or not. The roads around here are not the greatest and I really dont feel like bottoming out on every dip or pebble in the road.

I will be needing to comepletely tear down the front end of the car as it looks like every bushing and rubber part in it is shot, go figure for a car that has been sitting outside in a north dakota wheat field since 1959. I about s*** myself when I priced out what some of the "correct restoration" parts suppliers wanted for their parts. Only thing I can figure is that their stuff is gold plated or something.

 

[R Pope]

The 14" wheels I had came off a grain loader. Sounds like your half ton wheels are too new, look for some from the '50's for less offset. Dodge half ton wheels, 1985 and newer, I think, are the same pattern. And Jeep, and IHC Scout, too, but they are skinny 15's. There were even wire wheels from a mid-50's Chrysler that fit, but rare and pricey now, I bet.

 

[galaxie50059]

I have a set of scout wheels here after some checking on them, but they are rather ugly looking as the scout was an ex military truck and the axles were a custom order job. The bolt pattern is the same though.

The wheels that are currently on the car came from a 1974 F150 4x4 truck and are the stock skinny looking wheels. However, after looking at them, the offset is way different than the stock 16 inch wheels are. I guess I will add a set of grain loader wheels to my list of things to watch out for next weekend at iola.

 

[R Pope]

Some farm wagons used them too. Be aware that they may be illegal to use, since the axle may be below the rim edge, so a flat will cause the axle to hit the road. There's a law to that effect here, I don't know about any other places.