Thread: distance from bottom of front axle to ground on a '32 Ford, an 'A' or a 'T'???

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.....Hi Everyone, I was wondering if anyone either knew or would please measure the distance from under the front axle to the ground on the front of your model 'T', 'A', or '32 Ford. Actually I have a '32 but I guess the question would apply to all cars in the 'T' to '34 Ford line? On the '32 I'm getting it's 4 5/8" from under the front axle to the ground with a 26" tall tire. I'm not sure what front tire size to use or rather what height tire to use to get as low as possible without hitting the ground when I go over bumps. I read the post r/e "what size front tires are you guys running on your '32's" & some said sizes as short as 23".... If I were to run tires that were 23" tall my front axle would be 3 1/8" off the ground. This isn't enough clearance, is it??? as always, Thanks for your responces Bill

Bill: I like to run tall fronts. Having said that, a low front axle is not a really bad thing as it hops over the bumps with the tires as opposed to a low oil pan or headers that stay low during the bumps.

My roadster has stock dropped axle, a 28" tire and getting about 5 3/4" at the center. MIZ

Yep, I agree. I am running a 4 inch dropped axle in my cars, and with 25 inch front tires can's get a even a low profile floor jack under the axles to raise them up. But, being that it is in the same plane as the wheels, it hops over stuff as mentioned above. No question the smile on the axle is the lowest part of the cars, but isn't ever an issue.

Don

The standard rule here is that should a front tire go flat, you would want the car to not be sitting on the front axle!!!! (Scrub line is what we call it around here.) Makes for a nasty ride sometimes.... I've broken this rule myself a number of times.... Kind of comes down to how much are you willing to comprimise safety for esthetics????

Billlsbird--I am running a 4" dropped SuperBell I-beam axle with P165-R15 tires which are 26" outside diameter. From the floor to the underside of the axle measures exactly 4". Like the others say, on speed bumps, the axle lifts up with the front tires. I have driven the car 3 years now with no problems of hitting the axle on anything.---Brian

.....Thanks all, Actually I guess I worded things wrong as what Wayne at Redneck said was if I had to short a tire that the oil pan would hit when I went over speed bumps. And I forgot to measure the distance from the oil pan to the ground but it is a stock depth oil pan {7 qt. but still stock depth}. Personally I like the look as low as possible so may be I'll go with shorter tires.... Oh, I don't know if anyone remembers the pictures that I posted of the M & H tires that I bought which I WAS going to use on the front end. I say 'was going to use' cuz after I held them up to the car I realized that they were WAY to short. 22 inches tall which put it way to low.... Oh, it has a 4" Super Bell axle.... So right now I have tires that are 26" tall but I see now that I could go down to 24" or 25" without a problem...... Thanks again Everyone
Bill

"You cannot be too low, but the road can be too high"

.....LOL, good one

....I finally went with 125R/15 Firestones that I bought from Coker.com tire. The distance from the ground to the bottom of my 4" dropped axle is 3 5/8". A little over 3000 miles and no problems yet {Thank God}..... Bill

The nice thing about that distance you mention is that it is directly in line with the center of the tires, so when they encounter something, they rise over it, and so does the axle. I am talking about something like a speedbump. Only thing I am worried about is road kill and trailer truck tire remnants on the highway.


Don

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

The nice thing about that distance you mention is that it is directly in line with the center of the tires, so when they encounter something, they rise over it, and so does the axle. I am talking about something like a speedbump. Only thing I am worried about is road kill and trailer truck tire remnants on the highway.


Don

A speed bump wont hit your axle but can cause havoc to your engine and trans pans - I have a 351W and a C4 pan left over from my T that have been gouged and flattened by speed bumps and high road crowns. Makes an ugly noise - and you pray it didn't yank the drain plug out.

As far as road kill - You ain't lived until you wrap a dead skunk or raccoon around a suspension piece or drug the underside of the car thru the mess. Truck tire chunks, empty beer cans, bicycles, etc - there is only just so much you can avoid on the road. You learn very quickly that you have to plan ahead by watching the road ahead of you real well.

4" dropped axle on my 32.

24" tall tires.

engine oil pan and Derale (tub style) trans pan are 6" off the ground and have never hit.
Lowest collector is 5 1/2" off the ground and it's never dragged when driving although the exhaust pipe on that side dragged on a trailer when transiting from ramp to trailer floor.

My 31 on 32 rails roadster project has a 25" tall front tire.
Same engine/trans setup.
The car looks plenty low, but will be very practical in use.

I ended up buying one of the aluminum "Racing" jacks.
It's fairly low and just barely gets under the 32's axle center.

Dave wrote: As far as road kill - You ain't lived until you wrap a dead skunk or raccoon around a suspension piece or drug the underside of the car thru the mess


Wow!! A dead Skunk???? Really??? That's something you won't soon forget. Smell will stay with you for 5 days or 1000 miles which ever comes last.

Originally Posted by mopar34

Dave wrote: As far as road kill - You ain't lived until you wrap a dead skunk or raccoon around a suspension piece or drug the underside of the car thru the mess


Wow!! A dead Skunk???? Really??? That's something you won't soon forget. Smell will stay with you for 5 days or 1000 miles which ever comes last.

Bob,
Unfortunately it wasn't just 1 but 3. One started out dead - the other 2 ended up that way - and a lot of their parts wrapped around the dropped drag link on my '53 Ford w/T-Bird 312 engine. Several hours with a steam jenny took most of it away but on a hot & humid day - some odor was still there until the car was sold

This was my 52 Chev in the last year of High school---1964. Notice the custom "no grill" look. I hit 2 skunks "doing the dirty" right in the middle of the highway!!! Miss skunk went under the car----the smell got worse and worse untill I couldn't breath---finally had to stop the car---And there was Mr. Skunk, laying dead in against the radiator. PHEUWWWWWW