Best spring for an AV8 with 34 banjo?

It all depends how you want the stance. If you are keeping the frame stock, you're going to have to mount the spring on top of the bells. This can be accomplished with a spring hanger kit from Speedway, or by cutting the hangers and bolthole area off Model A bells. The A spring can stand to have a few leaves removed, which will make it ride better and lower it a little. If you want it to sit a few inches lower, a T spring will do it, but will require a spacer to be made because it's narrower than the A spring.
 
Some folks do the spring behind but it takes more work to add the 7.5 inches behind the original crossmember location. I've been engineering a spring behind structure that will allow me to remove the rear crossmember and install the new structure and crossmemer so that it will minimize modifications to both the original frame and body structure plus keep the original body mountings. I still plan on using a reverse eye modified model A spring back there though.
 
Will Model A and Model T spring fit the 34 hangers? Understand a spacer would be needed at frame cross member attachment area. I thought the Model T spring had a very high arch??
 
You can get an A spring to fit most of the narrow axles thru 1941 pretty easy. A Model T spring may take some spacing between the shackles due to it being more narrow than later springs.
 
Jack 34pu said:
Will Model A and Model T spring fit the 34 hangers? Understand a spacer would be needed at frame cross member attachment area. I thought the Model T spring had a very high arch??
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You would need to heat and bend the hangers on the 34 bells, as they are angled for the curved 34 spring.
 
Swap axle housings side for side (or turn them upside down if bearing surfaces need replacement) moving spring to be in front of axle. Then, add another A rear crossmember in front of the existing one??? (Just dreaming after a long day.)
 
it depends also what frame you are running A or deuce. my dad is building an a v8 on a deuce frame he is running a model a spring and crossmember.
 
The easiest way out of this is to use the Model A spring, with or without reversed eyes. Cut the shackle hangers, including the top two bolt holes, off the bells of a Model A diff. Clean them up with a disc grinder and bolt them on to the 34 diff (you'll need two longer bolts each side). Done. A couple of hours' work. While you're at it, remove 3 or 4 of the A leaves to soften the ride and give a little lowering. Use the grinder to smooth out any divets in the remaining leaves so the next leaf doesn't dig in. With reversed eyes and removed leaves you can expect 2" lowering. If you use a Model T spring you'll get maybe 3" lowering but not so good a ride.
BTW: you don't need a spring spreader, a couple of good 8" G clamps and a length of all-thread rod works just fine.
 
Anyone have a picture of the Model A shackle hangers Bassman/NZ described? I will probably be using a low budget aftermarket 'A' frame rather than boxing an original. I certainly appreciate all the responses.
 
Most folks that go spring on top generally step the rear of the frame just in front of the gussets. The Bishop/Tardel book gives a good discription of the traditional frame stepping procedure with measurements and such. Making the bolt on spring hangars as was mentioned is a good way of going spring on top. I think I would look for a 37 or later rear axle though for a little more durability or a 36 axle for the long bones if you want an open drive set up.

Tons of stuff about this is on the HAMB if you can retrieve it. Lots of different ways of doing it for sure.
 
You also have to think about the floor space your going to lose by putting the spring on top of the axle. Im with rotorwrench on finding a later rear, then you can run the spring behind the axle.
 
This is a pic of my 26 t with a spring on top of the axle, you can see how high the rear crossmember has to be.
 

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Planning on running a shorter T spring on mine with reverse eyes so the wheels are centered in the wheel area. Have a bunch of extra rear T springs if you need one. Rod
 
rotorwrench said:
This is a earlier thread that has some photos of Model A spring on top hangers cut from an old A axle. Look at post # 19.
http://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20796&highlight=spring+hangers
Click to expand...

Aha! That's my old thread. I picked up a pair of A axle housing ends from Berts? in Denver. When I get around to it, I plan to cut way more off the '40 ends and less off the A ends. I think that most that use this method might add welding to the mix. Also, a '49 rear with the A ends mounted give just about the same shackle spacing as originally existed on the A.
 
Here's a pics from that other thread...

IMG_5410.jpg


This is a great method, but will only work on 35-48 rear ends. The 32-34 axle bells have the backing plate bolts canted at an angle.

Neal
 
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