The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The HiPo Shop centering the wheels in the rear wheel wells

I have a 54 chevy 5 window pu that I am restoring. I am updating the suspension and I have noticed the the rear wheels do not sit centered in the rear wheel wells. I read an article that suggested moving the rear springs back approx 2". Has anyone done this and does this solve the problem?

I seem to recall a thread here saying reversing the springs front to back fixes that problem, might look at that

Bill

"Restoring" does not involve updating the suspension. You are "modifying" the truck. A restored truck will have the suspension the same as when it left the factory.

Two things to think about. First, if you move the rear end back two inches, you will loose that in u-joint spline engagement. Second, from personal experience, if you do get it centered, you won't like the way that it looks. It just looks wrong. I mistakenly ended up with 55 1st series springs briefly which did what you are talking about and wasn't happy until I got it back to correct. Just my opinion.

Just as Joe, above, said. Its usually 1 1/2" to 1 3/4" to get them centered.
Iv seen people make plates,or lowering blocks with offset holes,but turning the springs around is much simpler.
From my personal experience, having the rear wheels centered in the opening,makes me happy, and i like it.
Thats one of those "little details" that people seem to notice when theyre shoved forward where they dont belong.
"No,really, the truck hasnt been rear-ended".

I like em centered also...kinda makes you wonder what gm was thinking.....dave

I'm quite sure this one's probably been asked before,but was there a specific reason for the wheels being forward in the openings?

.....Lets get this straight from the git go. This is MY OPINON and based only on my opinion!
Before turning the complete spring around take a good look at how the leaves are mounted. You will notice that the individual leaves are not centered to the center bolt and are "forward" to help absorb the torque from the axle pivoting. In other words there is "more length" of spring in front of where the center bolt is than behind it. If you turn the entire leaves around then don't you upset (or change) the torque on the springs and not have enough leave where you need it????

I took my leaves apart to clean and put poly liner between the leavss. Going from memory the two top springs are the "same" distance on each end.... except the center bolt is in a different place... toward the rear when you flip them.

To keep the bottom leaves in the same position to absorb the torque I did not "turn/flip" them around but put them back on the center bolt going in the same direction as they were originally.

Does this make sense to anyone? do you understand what I'm trying to relate here?.... or am I just all wet?

Maybe its time for the men in the white coats to come get me.......

Jock, I don't know why it was forward but if you look at some of my photobuckets you can see that if you let the torque tube down the wheels would go Waaaay forward into the fender, if you picked the torque tube up, the wheels would swivel, or roll, a long way back toward the rear. Not sure what this means other than room for it to swivel back and forth according to the weight/load on it. Or maybe it had something to do with multiply uses for the same chassis?

Now back to my original opinion....lets here YOUR OPINON!!

Alvin, your last paragraph makes sense.

One other point, if you reverse the springs,would they not have taken a 'set' with being in the other direction for so many years?
Would this/could this have an adverse effect on their overall strength,when they start getting torqued in the other direction?

Just thinkin'......

Alvin, I agree with you 100% about keeping the bottom leaves in the same position and only reverse the 2 longest ones.

Jock, hopefully soon I can answer that question. I spent the better part of a day and night with the springs layed out on a big work bench. There are definitely some things to think about as I mentioned above...... but in the end, for most of us guys, it won't make a hill of beans difference in the long haul.

The original torque tube springs have the mounting pins moved about an inch and a half forward to compensate for the pivot offset of the rear end. The 55 1st series springs have the mounting pin location dead center as they are set up for the open driveshaft rear end that does not have that offset. I think if you turn the springs, you will actually move the rear end back closer to 3 inches instead of the 1 1/2 that you want. Again, if you still use the torque tube rear end, whatever distance that you move the rear end back, you will lose in spline engagement on the u-joint at the transmission. Personally, I don't think you have that much room to give up. As much of this has mentioned, this is really my opinion but when my truck had the 55 1st springs on it with the torque tube rear end, the wheels were centered in the opening but I felt like it looked "silly". It could just be what I am used to. To each their own. My biggest concern would still be the spline engagement.

I was wondering about the same thing when I was working on my rearend. The owner of a hot rod shop told me to redrill the hole 1.5" on the main leaf to line it up. Worked fine for me.

Gregg, some clarification is always in order...so, I realize the 55 1st had open driveshaft and I should have mentioned that I did away with my torque tube and installed a mid 50's pumpkin so the torque tube spline issue was not a factor.

mobileortho, I thought about drilling a new hole myself but another concerned bolter talked me out of it as the springs are probably "stressed" over the years and another hole may be just the place the spring would crack or break into.

...allow me to make one more comment about centering and "how it looks". When I moved my rearend "back" the driver side just never did "look right". I ask everyone that came into my shop to give me their opinion on how the rear wheels looked in the fender openings. At least 80-90% said the driver side needed to "go forward". I expected this as all my various measurements said it needed to go forward 5/8" inch. Well, I welded a plate on the bottom of the lowering blocks and drilled on hole in the center for the passenger side and then drilled one on the drivers side 5/8" toward the front. BINGO!! So, I ask folks who came by the shop how it looked...BUT those had not seen it before I moved it. ALL of their responses were "looks good to me". So, if most of them could "see" the 5/8" difference it only confirmed what I suspected.
In the end, center them where they suit you but to a lot of us it does make a difference.

daChipmunk

I had a builder set me up with an '87 Vette rear end on my 1952 Chevy P/U. He centered the axles in the wheel wells. As soon as I saw it, It looked, "wrong". Everyone who saw it said,"why are the wheels too far forward?" I had him center the axle into the point with the highest rise in the frame. This looks way better, in my opinion.
But, it's your ride and your money, so do what you like.

Besides, Baskin Robbins has 31 flavors for a reason---(Everyone likes something different).

Thanks for all the replies. It is funny how I keep bouncing back and forth from keeping it as stock as possible to changing it up to a hot rod. For know I think I will keep it stock, well for this week anyways. Cheers and thanks again for the info.