I have noticed that the ADs have the rear wheels forward in the fender wells. First I would kinda like to know why. Then, I have heard lots of talk about turning the springs around to better center the wheels in the opening. My 48 has an open driveline so that is not a problem. I measure from center of springs to alimite grease fitting (which looks like the center of the front and rear attachment point. It looks like I could move the whell towards the back 1 inch by turning the springs around. Is it worth the work to gain an inch? Is there another trick to center the rears better? Thanks, Bill
Bill, all AD's i've ever seen that are stock are like that. There may have been an engineering reason why they did that, but I don't know. If it bugs you, then you might try flipping the springs (lots of work). If it doesn't, let it be, because that's the way it was. As Kevin said in a previous post, there is almost 2" difference between "what is" and "what ought to be".
I too would like to know the reasoning behind this. It was mostly a GM thing I believe and on vehicles with closed driveshafts (torque tubes). Here is a pic of my 37 Buick that shows it wasn't limited to trucks. Anybody know why?
Evan, dad and i restored a '48 chevy coupe in '71 to '72 for my high school graduation present and it was the same way. I've got no explanation for it. It's just the way it was.
And it only took us nearly 60 years to ask why? That's cool. It was probably something like: "What? The wheelbase was supposed to be that long? Well what the heck are we going to do with these torqe tubes that will be two inches to short???"
Short Wheel Base ...Is good for close quarters parking and turning manoevers so if you like the ride and it doesn't feel ' squirrely ' o the open road , leave it as - is .
Hey guys. If you crawl under there and give it a good look you'll see there are pivots built into the rear end mounts. These gave the driveline a little play when going over whoop de doos in the road. Why they are 2 inches off center we may never know. There are shackle kits out there for sale,but flipping the springs saves you a few bucks. However,you'll probably need some driveshaft work if you decide to do it.
I like Zig's theory. Years ago when I was young enough Playboy done something for me there was a comic showing a Soviet bomber with a sharply angled nose. The explanation was the blueprint had a crease in it and no one would admit to creasing it since damaging state property was a capital offense so they just built it as was. I think all those short torque tubes has merit.
I'm glad that you didn't say: I only read the articles: I once creased a picture of a B-52 enough that it looked like a P-38! Yes, Nate i did escape!
I always thought the reason for the axle forward look was due to the torque tube setup with a single front u-joint and hinged rearend. This coupled with the rear shackled rear leaf spring causes the axle to move backwards under load. (The rear springs are shackled at the rear and as the springs are compressed the axle will move backwards.) Don't know if this is correct but always what I thought. I personally wanted the stock look and even though I put in a later model open drive line rear end, I mounted it in the stock looking location. I still had to fab offset spring perches because the stock spring pin is still too far forward due to the stock rear axle hinge set up.
Yeah, but... The thing is my truck is a a 1 ton so it never had a torque tube and the rear axle is mounted in such a way that the rear tires look like they could rub the front inside lip of the fender. The mystery continues.
Same with mine Bill. It's a 3/4 with "open" drive- at least at the rear end... Maybe they knew that years down the road young and old alike would want to hotrod these and put fat tires on the back. At leaveourrigsthewaytheyweredarnedintendedtobe.com, they figured keeping the tires tucked slightly into the fenders would prohibit anything greater than 70 series tires from being used. "They'll be no 50's or 60's stuck on THESE trucks!" they said over yet another warm beer...
!!!!! ?? !! ?? ~~~leaveourigsthewaytheyweredarnedintendedtobe.com~~ You guys crack me up I thought I was supposed to be the crazy one !
Nate, my man, where you been hiding? Where have you been hiding? Since you left, we've solved all of the world's problems! Or have we created them? Am not sure. Hey, check out my pics in the "member's gallery". I think you'll like the trailer wheels on my sandblasting trailer. Not sure of the vintage, but we built the trailer in '70, so those must be some old beetle wheels! PS: That's the longest acronym to date, huh?
