1947 ford ranger...

Made these today.

First this turned up, i just bought a short 250mm length off eBay for £12 delivered as it’s an odd size and I didn’t think I’d use any of it again for anything so no point buying a length.
It’s 100x60x5rhs. That’s rectangular hollow section for the uninitiated.
100mm wide (same as spring pads on axle are long)
60mm deep (same width as the springs)
And 5mm wall. A little overkill but I couldn’t find anyone stocking a lesser wall thickness.


Cut down to two 4” lengths. You never make lowering blocks taller than they are long, so that is maximum lowering available with the spring pads the size they are.


The next most important thing, and the reason that ‘universal’ lowering blocks are somewhere between junk and downright dangerous, is the locator pin size. It HAS to be a tight fit into the spring pad, and likewise the pin on the spring has to be a tight fit into the hole on the bottom of the block, or the axle can wander about and it’ll be terrible to drive. So there’s no such thing as universal. The blocks need to be a specific, good fit to the locators.
Mine needed to be 14mm, which meant the 13mm OD head on an m8 Allen cap was too small, so I had to use m10 ones and turn them down a bit on the lathe. And yes they’re recycled VW CV joint bolts!




Next, make the endplates. I used 6mm, again a bit overkill but I didn’t have anything between 3mm and 6mm and the former was too thin. I Welded the Allen bolts on from the backside and cut off the excess thread. You can tap em and screw em in if you want but there’s not much point unless you don’t know the pin size.


Tacked in-


Welded and ground up-


And with the necessary longer U-bolts.


I had a batch of these made up so can supply if you’re looking for some.

Then I chucked the springs back on the chassis with everything done up loosely, and bolted it all up. It’ll come back off and all be greased up and the paint touched in before I’m finished.






The reason I did this is I need to check the axle centreline location for the bit I need to do next.
And lower=betterer, obvs.

I thought I’d posted these pics previously, but can’t see them in the thread.
This is unlowered so about 4” lower than this😆

There’s still 4.5” to the rails over the axle as it is. That’ll go down a bit with some weight on it though.

I’ve levelled the chassis this morning as part of doing the next bit, and measured a few clearances, which Ill note here for reference. The front kickup of the chassis is 5” from the main rails under the cab, to where the front crossmember mounts. At the back the sweep of the rails is a whopping 9-3/4” at its highest point above the axle!
According to the frame drawings I have, a stock 47 ford 1/2ton chassis has 2” of sweep, so that’s essentially 7-3/4” of free lowering, before I’ve even lowered it. Not hard to see why it sits how it does.

Just sat here and read the whole thread; absolutely lovely stuff (although was sorry to read about the fire).

It just seems to fit together so "right".

Are you going to be able to keep a useable/useful payload going that low, or aren’t you too bothered about it?

Always nice to see the consummate professional wielding the hot-glue gun.

2nd cross member, future proofing for possible air suspension perchance?

Nearly missed that tucked away between bigger posts!

It’ll still hold a fair bit as it is. For really heavy loads I’ll use a trailer, and further down the line I won’t have to worry about it because of air suspension as alluded to.

Thanks. Tbh I’m a little out of practice on my photo taking at the right times, I haven’t done build threads for a while so it drops out of the thought process. Hence the odd gaps here and there in the photo record.

Big, big update.

I was getting so fed up of welding this bloody chassis. I’d done loads of work and there was still plenty left. I still had to do the back 2-1/2 foot of inner rail, which was the worst, most holed bits. To do this I had to cut off the other shock mount, which are a $hit to get off without damaging them, and cut the rear crossmember out. Eugh.
I was flagging on it but I knew the way to overcome this was just get on with it. With this lot turning up I could procrastinate no further-


So, this bit got removed. Some tricky air saw and chisel work involved to get into the corners.


Another great big bit of chassis rail was chopped out. I’ve cleaned up inside and ground out all the old weld where it meets the gusset bit here.


Made a bit.


Welded it in-


Ground it up-


Realised I had to do it all again on the other side. Lost the will to live. Went home. Watched magnet fishing videos on YouTube.
Went to bed.

Got up, went to the workshop, drank tea for a bit then forced myself to get on with the other side.
Hacked off the shock mount, didn’t give a curse word about the rail so mangled it to keep the shock mount decent.


Shock mount cleaned up-


The very grotty bit of inner rail. Proably the worst section out the lot-


Missed out photos of me doing all this side, but hold the last few from above up to the mirror and it’s close enough.

Put shock mount back onto new rail once I’d ground it up-


Rest of the rail-


Woo it feels like I’m getting somewhere!
One last push and it’ll be done.


That last push is literal as well as psychological, as when I chopped the crossmember out, the rails sprung together about 1/4”. I fully expected this, which is why I cut it where I did leaving a bit of the top crossmember tabs attached to the rails as a reference.
Hi-tech solution-


That’s a £8 Aldi bottle jack and a cut down pallet bearer! Push until gaps between crossmember and the remaining tabs on the rails are exactly a cutting disc wide, then weld.

Last bit is a patch on the crossmember. These always rot here as the dirt sits on top of them.


Made a bit and tacked it in. Bolt is where I welded on a captive nut, it’s the earthing point for the rear lights. Dunno what other hole is for but I added it so it matches the other side.


Welded and ground-


FIN.


Stand back and say thank fuuuurk that cooontin’ job is over. At least I won’t have to worry about the strength or condition of it when I loading it up or dragging bits on the floor!

Only bit of welding left is to put in some threaded bosses for the cab mount bolts. Then more paint will go on and it can be waxed inside and built up.

Was a ton of work I didn’t want, but it suffered a lot sat outside uncovered for a year. Also, when the truck you buy is nearly 2k less than market value for a reasonable one, you expect a bit of extra work here and there....