Re how to lower an A the old fashioned way

[white64]

Warning Thread Hijack! Forgive me. I don't see this site as only a restoration site, I see it as an old Ford site, with old Ford guys in it, and these old guys know how to modify these old Fords in the "old ways".

The guys I do know here personally with old Fords have modified them, and when they modify one, they do it with a passion that's totally done with respect to their old fords.

When I was building my junkyard "A"; guys here gave me the dimensions that allowed me to put the body back together, how to make the '46 brakes work, how to adjust the steering box etc. It was a car that most here would've tossed aside, but I knew the expertise I needed was here. And I totally respect Henry's cars. Heck even Henry realized that he needed better brakes and another color besides black.

My hats off to the guys here who were willing to help me, Thank you. And I have a gazillion questions about my '40 coupe, the one with no floors, the body falling apart at the drip rails. I'm going to need help, lot's of it from you "old" Ford guys.


Thanks again.
Pat

[wensum]

I've fitted a 4" dropped axle to my speedster. It was new, and what I can't understand is, if they're making a new axle, why isn't the track or width the same as an original axle?
Also, I had brackets made up to support the brake shaft, but these flexed rearwards when the brakes were applied so I had to add a diagonal strut back to the radius arms

[CT AV8]

At the risk of having this thread taken down, I will say a correctly dropped original Ford axle will be stretched to maintain the original track dimension. I do not know why new ones are not done that way.
As for perch extensions, we made uprights sculpted from 3/8" plate and welded them to after market perches. No flexure or failure.

ps: those are 12" '35 drum/hubs and backing plates on Model A spindles in the pic.

[zzlegend]

Nice job, both of you.

[Kenwood]

Thanks everyone for the input about the dropped axle. Maybe when it was installed they had hydrolic brakes. My $100 purchase will continue to lean against the wall.
New shirt comment: The dropped axle is not in the car as stated so you must be referring to the 16" rims. I changed the rims after I installed the Rocky Mountain drums.
The coupe has a wooden box on the back probably installed in the 40's . We were told it had something to do with gas stamps?
I purchased my first A in 1962 and have a lot of respect for the original.

[wensum]

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)

Further thoughts on fitting a dropped front axle; If you fit a 4" dropped front axle you will find the tie rod is too close to the chassis. The fix for that is to "gooseneck" the tie rod at each end, and then you will discover that it is not possible to make fine adjustment to the toe-in,
This requires an adjuster to be fitted to the middle of the tie rod.
Next you will discover that the tie rod and drag link are too close to each other and likely to clash during suspension movement , so you need to put a kink in the drag link, but once again you will need an adjustable drag link if you want your steering centred and full lock in both directions.
The answer to these issues could be dropped steering arms, but all those available will only fit later stub axles and so another modification is required.
Having installed a new 4" dropped front axle and discovering it's narrower as well as all the issues listed above, I have some regrets about going down that track, but I really wanted my speedster to sit lower for the right look
Keith