t rear spring lowering

[oldtman]

The T buckets are on hold. I am working on the 1922 T speedster. The wife wants me to have it ready for the 4 th of July parade. I reversed the front eyes and installed a dropped axle and 27 spindles so the rear is now about 8 inches too high. I don't want to Z the frame because of the body style. I have rocky mountain brakes and a Moore 2 speedrear drive shaft trans, no room the move the spring . Is there a rear spring with out the kickup that would fit. A guy measured his 32 and said it is wider and eye to eye narrower than a stock T.

 

[Youngster]

i take it you want the car to ride level. this is going to be a problem if you don't want to raise the floor platform. the only option you have is to lower the spring mounts on the axle. this would require a longer torque tube and you would have to extend the frame rails 4 to 6 inches. the type of spring hanger that would work the best would be one where the spring mounts are off the rear radius rods with a piece of 3/8 plate. it runs about a foot along the radius rod and is bolted where the rod bolts to the flange on the housing/drum. there is a bend in it to bolt a stock rear spring perch. very easy to fab at home. you would also have to have the eyes re-rolled on the spring as it would need to be shorter now.

the T spring is the narrowest of the ford springs so changing the spring would mean a different cross member too. 8" is a whole lot to drop without some mods somewhere. the one i worked on, i kicked the frame right in front of the cross member and then removed the bottom of a running board tool box and placed it over the cross member to hide it but that was a 5" drop. if you can post some pics or sketches maybe we could figure something out.

Ron

 

[chaz75]

is this close to what your building

 

[chaz75]

they didn't have a pic up under her rear skirt. sorry maybe you can get some ideas from their web site on this particular vehicle, sorry if this doesn't help. www.stlouiscarmuseum.com look under eBay
Chaz

 

[chaz75]

there are some brackets on eBay Item number: 200328890806 that are supposed to lower the rear spring, might get RPM to make new ones based on this pattern or you might be able to make them yourself, hope this helps.
Chaz

 

[oldtman]

MY speedster is similar to the yellow one but no fenders. I have picts on the wife's camera. I have been looking for a flat spring and was using the home made fork lift my wife has to reinstall the engine in the back hoe. the front springs look pretty close. I checked with a neighbor and he said front end is from a 57 chevy 1/2 ton. the axle is centered on the spring, I just neet to find anothe spring. Most newer springs have the axle mounted off center to cancel out the harmonic pogo stick bounce.

 

[oldtman]

The rear brakes are different on mine. I looked at moving the spring to the rear. the T would require a reinforceing plate be made outboard of the existing dust shields which are thin sheetmetal. also the frame would have to be extended for the top spring mount. Thinks for the info.

 

[Youngster]

would it be a problem to shorten the frame??

Ron

 

[Youngster]

here's a quick sketch;

this would just require shortening the frame a few inches and have the eyes rolled so the spring would be shorter.

Ron

 

[oldtman]

I found a spring under an old car rear half frame. The old timer was splitting firewood and after we talked a while trying to figure out a price he wanted to know if i was a carpenter, He said he needed a new outhouse. there is no electricity out there so I'll load up the generator and tools and go build one out of the piles of wood he has by his sawmill. a few neat pieces of iron around the place . an old caddy chassis with wood spoke wheels. rocky mountain outside brakes etc. and original t chassis that was a hay wagon for a while etc.