Lowering rearend
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Joined: Sep 2012
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From: Statesboro, GA
Lowering rearend
I'm wanting to lower the rearend of my 81. I know the options are doing a half flip or full flip of the front hanger, taking some leafs out, and flipping a leaf for free lowering. Which of these, or which combination, will get my rearend the lowest without having to notch the frame?
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From: Virginia
You can't change physics. When you lower the rearend any amount, you lessen the amount of up and down travel when it goes over bumps.
Go out there now, find the rubber bumpers, and measure from the rubber bumpers to where the rubber bumpers hit on the leaf spring blocks. That's the amount of travel the factory gave the truck.
If you don't haul anything in the bed, you probably can get away with lowering it a couple of inches and not hurt anything. If you lower it much more, you will probably be right against the rubber bumpers. When then you drive down the road, there is no travel in the suspension, so you will be like those guys who lower their Hondas onto the bumpstops and they look like bobble head dolls as they go down the road.
So you are hitting the rubber bumpstops, so you take them off. So that gives you more travel, but once in awhile you hit the frame. You decide you want it even lower, so when you do that you hit the frame over every little bump. That's when you have to notch the frame.
Go out there now, find the rubber bumpers, and measure from the rubber bumpers to where the rubber bumpers hit on the leaf spring blocks. That's the amount of travel the factory gave the truck.
If you don't haul anything in the bed, you probably can get away with lowering it a couple of inches and not hurt anything. If you lower it much more, you will probably be right against the rubber bumpers. When then you drive down the road, there is no travel in the suspension, so you will be like those guys who lower their Hondas onto the bumpstops and they look like bobble head dolls as they go down the road.
So you are hitting the rubber bumpstops, so you take them off. So that gives you more travel, but once in awhile you hit the frame. You decide you want it even lower, so when you do that you hit the frame over every little bump. That's when you have to notch the frame.
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Senior User
Joined: Sep 2012
Posts: 182
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From: Statesboro, GA
10-4. What I'm thinking I can get away with is taking out my bottom overload leaf and MAYBE flipping the small leaf upside down on top to flatten the pack out. This should avoid needing pinion angle shims I'm reckoning and keep a similar spring rate but not beat me to death.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 57,005
Likes: 2,750
From: Virginia
Taking the bottom overload leaf out would probably work if you never use it. I have never flipped a leaf over. I would think a upside down leaf fighting with the other leafs would increase the spring rate some.
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1948 - 1956 F1, F100 & Larger F-Series Trucks
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