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Relocating rear axle

804 Views 6 Replies 2 Participants Last post by  Augusto, 
Augusto
I installed new leaf springs from a ford F250 to my '52 International pick-up, the problem is that the bolts that hold the spring leaves togheter and locates the rear axle (I don't know how you guys call this bolt in USA) is about one inch forward of the oem's location so the axle is too close to the front and the fenders look odd, I want to move the axle back this inch and had tougth of cutting the rivets of the front spring perches and bolting or welding them rearward one inch, but I just tougth of just drilling a new hole in the mounting pad of the axle and also one in the plate that clamps the spring, both one inch forward, this will place the axle in the rigth location pretty easy.

will this work from a technical point of view? is there any problem having this locating bolt not exactly in the center of the axle tube? anyone ever done this before?

thanks in advance.

Augusto.
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E
Yes, you can redrill the perch pad centering pin hole, there were even some OEM installations done this way. It doesn't create any weird issues to worry about.
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Augusto
so you think this is a better idea than relocating the hanging perches?
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E
Augusto said:
so you think this is a better idea than relocating the hanging perches?
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It doesn't really matter one way or the other. Both accomplish the same thing and neither has a problem. The OEM install I was speaking of was the Chevy Nova/Camaro mono leaf spring IIRC.
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Augusto
I just finished doing it, was pretty easy because I didn't have the axle pads welded to the tubes yet, the axle ended up perfecty centered in the fender openings, I will weld it tomorrow.

now I have to build some custom traction bars, or locating arms... or something to control spring warp, any suggestions? (please don't say buy something from somewhere, it is very hard for me importing parts from USA, I can make almost anything by myself, and love doing it)

Augusto.
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E
Slapper bars are pretty simple and work up to about 450 hp, or you could copy the Cal-tracs idea as it is also fairly simple, just more parts to make.
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Augusto
cal-tracs...hmmm I just did a google search and found lots of info on this things, never heard of them before, seems like a pretty nifty idea, I'm sure gonna build myself a set of them, thanks a lot for the idea.

Augusto.
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