[kbuhagiar]

Hello Folks,

I was working on my 47 Plymouth last weekend, replacing the leaf spring bushings. The rearend in the car is out of a 1972 Monte Carlo, although the leaf springs are stock.

I had the entire rearend assembly out of the car. It appeared that the leaf springs weren't parallel with each other. I didn't bother at the time to make any measurements. I finished the bushing replacement (and what a difference- no more clunking!).

Anyway, went back out to the garage tonight with my buddy and measured and, sure enough, the springs are 'pigeon toed': At the shackles the springs measure 48" eye-to eye, but at the front spring hangers the measurement is 43".
After further analysis, it appears that a previous owner had replaced the stock front hangers with custom-made units the moved the springs inboard 2 1/2 " on each side.

WTF? The car doesn't exhibit any bad tendencies with regard to handling; in fact, it rides very well and smoothly and tracks perfectly down the road. I probably would never have noticed this if I hadn't done the bushing job.

So what gives? My first logical amateur engineer reaction is that this is unacceptable and needs to be fixed. But perhaps this is some sort of suspension modification that I am just not aware of? Or was whoever did this an idiot? That wouldn't surprise me, as I have found a couple of other boneheaded 'adjustments' on this car in the two years that I have owned it.

Thanks in advance for any advice and recommendations.

Cheers, Ken

[BOBCRMAN@aol.com]

As long as there is no binding of components. The setup should be safe and use able. Not all leaf spring setups are parallel. Some of the 70's MoPars come to mind.

My present project has the rear inner spring mounts moved inboard, for big tire clearance and I see no problems with it

[kbuhagiar]

Thanks for the reply.

Upon further reflection, I remembered that this car used to have a 460 horsepower blown small-block Chevy before I owned it. Perhaps this was someone's attempt at traction control?...

As I mentioned before, everything works fine, the car drives great. I don't want to mess with it if I don't have to.

Thanks again in advance.

[swvalcon]

Dont Fix What Is'nt Broke>