Thread: suspension help

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Hey guys im new to this site and would like to just say hello to everyone to start off with.

The reason im writing is Im having trouble getting my ratrod to sit right. My car is a 1929 Model a tudor sedan, my suspension is way too high and i want to lower it quite a bit. does anyone know how to do this? I heard z'ing the frame is the way to go, but are there any other ways? Does anyone have any pics of how a suspension should look?

My brother has a 1928 model a coupe special and its suspension isnt put together. it has a 4" drop axle and a ford 9" rearend, as well as my tudor. any help, photos, or site would be greatly appreciated, and thanks in advance.

Need more info. What frame and front suspension do you have? Are you going to use traditional crossspring and I beam axle? How low do you want to go?

Here is my kids, in progress, fordor. Is this low enough?


Don

PS: Welcome

Here are some shots of how he did his front Z, and the overall shot showing both ends Zeed.

Don

You are lucky. He was just telling me today that he wishes he had started with a 2 door, because they have steel subframes. His Fordor had all wood inside, and he had to replace it with all steel tubing. It has slowed his project up alot.

But if you want to go low, a front and rear Z will get you there, and still leave room for you.

Post some pix of your rod.


Don

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

You are lucky. He was just telling me today that he wishes he had started with a 2 door, because they have steel subframes. His Fordor had all wood inside, and he had to replace it with all steel tubing. It has slowed his project up alot.

But if you want to go low, a front and rear Z will get you there, and still leave room for you.

Post some pix of your rod.


Don

you and your son do fine work

Thanks Pat, coming from you that is a real compliment. But I've got to admit, Dan has surpassed anything I could ever do. I kind of git 'er done, but he is a perfectionist. Builds jigs and tools to do the job right. Me, I kind of eyeball it, and go with it.

Just the other night he bent up the side piece for my '39 bed, and when I came over to the shop after work he had it hidden under a sheet and gave it to me. The night before, we tried bending one up and ruined it on the bead roller, but he kept after it and did the next one by himself, and got it right. Maybe I get in the way?

Here's a picture of that bedside. Brian gave us great info in his post on how to do these, and we kind of went from there. I know I talk about him too much, but I'm just really proud of how he, and his brother, have turned out.

Thanks again Pat.


Don

looks good . on the bead rolls it is better to do it your self .it is hard to get the timming and speed down when it come time to go around a bend .i have trash alot of metal

Really nice work Itoldyouso.

You're right to be proud of him.
Reflects well on you.

Is that roll around gizmo shown a body stand/lift device?

I was gonna ask about the scrub line, but it looks like the bags/cylinders will take care of that.

Does the car get up high enough to be able to open the back doors?

Looks more like a seven window coupe than it does a four door....

Is that roll around gizmo shown a body stand/lift device?

I was gonna ask about the scrub line, but it looks like the bags/cylinders will take care of that.

Does the car get up high enough to be able to open the back doors?


Yeah, it is called a "gantry" I think. Last fall I was lifting the body of my '39 and my bicep tore loose. (Old age is a bear) Had to have surgery. So we decided there must be a better way to lift bodies, etc. Dan had found this thing in the dumpster by our shop, and we didn't know what it was, he actually picked it up for the tubing it was made out of. But one day we put it together and found out it was a rollaround lift. The shop that abandoned it used to sell floor tile, so I guess they used it to move pallets of that around.

Anyway, we went to Harbor Freight and bought two 120 volt 440 lb lift capacity winches, and rigged them up on top. The gantry was too long and very narrow, so Dan made it wider and shorter. Now we can roll a car under it and by pushing the buttons on the control, we can lift up to 880 lbs. It makes lifting this stuff so much easier and safer.


As for the scrub line, that is a little dicey. He can raise the body up off the ground 8 inches, but wants to have it at about 4 for normal driving, so it might be close there. As for the back doors opening, no, they are too close to the tires, but he has hinged them and put bearclaw latches on them. If he needs to get them open for maintainance, he just pulls 2 quick connect pins on the hinges, unlatches the bearclaws, and the door lifts right off.

Ralph Nader would HATE this car, but I think it is pretty cool. Everytime I go to the shop I have to stop and look at it, because he keeps doing something new all the time.

Thanks for asking about it.


Don


PS: Pat, I think you are right about the bead roller being a one man job. At first I tried to help by guiding it while he fed it, but the next day he did it by himself and it worked better. We also were trying to do it in 2 passes, and found out you do it in one pass, because it won't follow the same path the 2nd time.

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

Is that roll around gizmo shown a body stand/lift device?

Yeah, it is called a "gantry" I think. .

Interesting similarity to something used in my kitchen a couple years back. I had a thread on here to show it in use, but it must have been one of the one's sacrificed to the digital gods during server crash ceremonies.

Here's a sequence of pics showing two "normal" size guys lifting an 800# slab of granite onto base cabinets.

Another idea would be to turn the frame upside down and use an "underslung" suspension. Refer to Hot Rod, June 2006, Page60 for a better idea.