How to hang a 9 inch?

Okay, I have a 1957 Ford 9" truck rearend on it's way to me as I write. I already talked to club member Pat McCarthy who said I will probably need a little shortening of the axle to cener things. After that is completed I want to hang the rear under my 2X3" frame with a 12" kick up in back. Here is my plan of attack, I hope all the geezers can right me if I'm headed in the wrong direction.

1. The front suspension, tires, and motor/tranny are already installed so I plan to raise the back of the frame till the rails are parallel with the ground and level. I don't want a rake to the chassis.

2. I have a 47 Ford sedan front spring that I plan to mount transverse behind the axle. I also have a weld on perch that will either be welded to the rear cross member or a bridge above it if weding it directly to the cross member will lift the back of the frame too high.

3. I still have to purchase shackles and weld-on shackle mounts but when I do, how do I install the mounts? Do I just measure eye to eye on the spring and split the difference from the middle of the axle on either side of the center line? Do I mount the spring, then bolt the shackles/mounts to it and center the axle behind them and tack it in place? How do I account for the downward movement of the spring eye and the upward movement of the shackle at the mount? I know the alignment of the rear end is crucial, pinion angle movement will be limited by ladder bars later on. Should I build a small amound of pinion angle into it by rotating the snout down a little when I weld the backets on? My circle tracker is built like this. Okay, I'll shut up and listen to the guru's, thanks.

Hmmmm. Do you still have the axle that the trasverse spring cam off of??? If you do, measure the distance between the hangers on the axle and mount your hangers on the 9" the same distance apart. If you don't have the axle to get the measurement off of, you could check with some of the suppliers who build an axle for a '47 sedan and get the measurement from them.

A suggestion: Use poly rod ends in your ladder bars and make them adjustable. You can buy them that way, or build them yourself by either welding a bung on the end of your tubing, or threading the inside of DOM tube. If you do this with both ends of your ladder bars, you have some front-to back adjustment to get your axle in exactly the right place, and you have pinion angle adjustment. I would definitely NOT weld anything in place without a complete mockup. Tack it first, and have your ladder bars available before you do anything permanent.

Hey Dave, nope no axle. All I have is an old 47 Ford front spring I got off Ebay. Henry Rifle, when you say poly rod ends are you talking about the rod ends without the spherical bearing, just some rubber/poly cushioning material and a bolt sleve?

I'm talking about these, not a Heim joint - which is all metal.

http://www.peteandjakes.com/parts/pa...bleBarEnds.htm

You can put a clevis on the rear axle, but the connection to the frame should be cushioned with a poly rod end - sometimes referred to as a 4-bar bushing.

Here's a clevis.

http://www.peteandjakes.com/parts/parts_dept/clevis.htm

You can see a streetrod ladder bar set-up from an early picture of my project.

And here . . .