VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1949-1954 front end opinion

Hello all,

The front end on my 51' leans to one side. should I suspect the shock and coil spring, and if so how do I determine that it is just the shock and not the spring or vise versa? Secondly, my car is a driver, and I would like to be assured that I have a good handling car. Nothing specific is wrong with the front end, (besides leaning to one side) but should I invest in one of those $300 rebuild kits and redo the whole front end? Or could you suggest to me what parts specifically I should rebuild/replace? I'd rather not spend more than I need since there are garanteed to be cost over-runs in other areas. Fortunately the wife likes old cars!

Thanks,

51steve

I would start by parking the car on a known level surface, and taking a ruler or scale, and just check the difference in spring hieght. Your shock more or less just dampens the up and down motion, shouldn't have too great affect on the ride hieght. Also Check to see if you don't have a body mount that may have rotted away causing the car to give the appearance of sagging/leaning. Ebay has coil springs and shocks listed all the time.

If your car leans the springs are the culprit.The shocks can be removed completely and it will not change.The parts in the front end kit will be of no help also.I would bet its the right side that is lower.
Also look for bent lower control arms.

thanks for everyone's posts,

Yes Chevy Gene, it is the right side that has slumped! I bet you would have won a few free coffees if you where to wager on which side sags!

Steve

The 1949-52 seldom sag.Its more common on the1953-54 and always on the right side....reason?????
FIX -gain weight :)

Hey, my 51 Coupe sags on the right side too! What gives? It's atleast an inch lower than the driver side. When messing with my front end I had both springs out and the one on the passenger side had a spacer on top of that one. Is getting new springs the only solution to this aesthetically bothersome problem?

Some cars had the spring spacers installed at the factory.Some springs even came with spacers wired on for use if needed.The shim was sold thru the parts dept. under part #3694719 and fit from 1939-54.
When ordering new springs note that there were two different springs used in 1951.The stick shift cars used a lighter spring than the Power Glides.The PG springs were the heavy duty springs for the stick.I would not recommend installing them in a stick as the front end wil look too high.The heavy springs were used in all convertibles.
I would suspect that the right side sagged because more weight was thrown to that side due to the crown of the roads.

Well I know one 53 that don't sag on the passanger side,unless I am riding rather than driving! "Crown of the road" :) and driving on the right side of the road, that sounds like a salesman's explaniation.

Can you come up with a better one?..and that would still be possible. :(

It must have been in conjunction with those heavy lead acid
6 volt batteries and all of the extra points in the glove box....

My 51 always had a Powerglide as evidenced by the emblems on the car, but the tranny that's in there now is a newer aluminum body Powerglide out of a later car. Would the lighter trans added with the higher rate springs account for the thing sitting like an old Gasser from the 60's? I always wondered why the front end of my car sat so dang high. Which leads me to the second part of this question...if I ordered new springs for her could I use the manual trans springs to level the car out? Mahalo, Lucky444.

our 54 is broke down on the right side i tried to figure out why and could not . in macks case he has enough counter weight to even out the supention and would not notice a break down on the right side

Lucky,
Yes,the aluminum case PG is much lighter than the old cast iron unit.The stick shift springs would be correct.Beware though some of the present day replacements do not match the original GM specifications.

Thanks Gene, that front end being so high was giving me a nose bleed! I guess I'll look into some springs.

Pushrod, someone asked me if my 53 was lowered, then I got out and it came back up to stock height.
I bet when you get those new springs mounted and the suspension overhauled the old Belair will perk right up.

hey gene,

ever weight the front corners separately to see if perhaps they are heavier on the rightside?..


epi

-I have front and rear weights but not sides.I would guess that the left would carry more weight.It has the steering gear, mauifolds,& exhaust.Also its often carrying the weight of the driver alone.The right side just has the battery.

then that seems pretty counterintuitive...maybe your suggestion about the road crown is the best...


epi