39 Ford "Simple Drop" for Front End

PeterC

PeterC

Well-known member
My 39 has a front 4.5" drop which involved a dropped axle, reverse eye's and one leaf removed - happy with the result. A friend has a stock 39 and would like to perform a "simple drop" with a modest 2" max as the goal.

Have any of you employed a simple removal of the 2nd and 3rd leaves from the top of the spring stack to accomplish with a 2" lower finish? (Shorty top spring left in place to preserve the appropriate spring housing contact and alignment).
 

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Purchase a reversed eye mainleaf and take out the top two leaves. That should drop about 2 inches. Or go to a spring shop and have them de-arch the spring.
 
I removed the 2nd and 4th leaves on the front of my '41. Apparently those leaves do not carry much load at rest; the only drop was the thickness of the leaves, or about 5/8"

Reverse eye spring should give you the 2" drop you seek. Cheap and easy. Just slow way down crossing speed bumps, avoid the pot holes.
 
Well in the old days backyard Hot Rodders would heat the ends of the main spring back an inch or two from the shackle and bend the spring (you have to remove enough spring leaves above to allow for the bend). Not sure it was a very good idea, but I have seen it gone a lot in the past. :)
 
PeterC said:
My 39 has a front 4.5" drop which involved a dropped axle, reverse eye's and one leaf removed - happy with the result. A friend has a stock 39 and would like to perform a "simple drop" with a modest 2" max as the goal.

Have any of you employed a simple removal of the 2nd and 3rd leaves from the top of the spring stack to accomplish with a 2" lower finish? (Shorty top spring left in place to preserve the appropriate spring housing contact and alignment).
Click to expand...

I reversed the main leaf and took out the two closest to the main leaf and got about 2 1/2
 
I put a "Posies" reversed eye front spring on a '36 3-window I had about 20 years ago. Before I did it, I parked it backwards in the garage and marked the top of the bumper on the inside of the garage door. I installed the "Posies" spring and drove it for a few days to let it settle in. I backed the car into the garage as before and marked the door. It was very close to a 2" drop if not right on. Note that I didn't remove any leaves from the spring. Now that I think of it, I didn't count the number of leaves on either spring, so I don't know exactly what the situation was. I can tell you I was very happy with the way the car looked and drove.
 
If the picture of thr green car in post#1 is the one to be dropped...... I'd say it looks great now. Both wheel well arches follow the W/W perfect..... JMO..... Mark
 
flatford8 said:
If the picture of thr green car in post#1 is the one to be dropped...... I'd say it looks great now. Both wheel well arches follow the W/W perfect..... JMO..... Mark
Click to expand...

That's PeterC's '39. It's dropped 4-1/2" in front. Peter's cars ain't nothin' but pure "CLASS"! DD
 
flatford8 said:
If the picture of thr green car in post#1 is the one to be dropped...... I'd say it looks great now. Both wheel well arches follow the W/W perfect..... JMO..... Mark
Click to expand...

Just to be clear - the green 39 is mine and is dropped - I started the thread to explore a simple method to get a modest 2" drop on a stock 39 Coupe owned by my friend without going to a dropped axle, reverse eyes etc - hence the question about leaf removal.
 
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