As the nice days are getting less and less in this area, I start thinking of a winter project to make my car look the way "I" think will improve it.

This winters project might be dropped spindels.
By lowering the entire car 2" my new 18" wheels will still look nice in the fender area. But I could also have a set of Hot Rod wheels to change the look and the lower look is needed for the Hot Rod look.my opinion

Using dropped spindles in the front appear to be an easy fix.

Looking at the rear springs and clearances I am not sure.

Anyone out there that has done this, all info would be appreicated.

The search site did not give much info on this.

I would also remove the spare tire and fill the well hole.

Thanks

NY Bob

Bob,

Your Shay has a very high rear end...I've not seen one this high before..For what little I know, the fronts are the usual high end.

Have your rear spring shackles been altered or reversed?? Have you changed the position of the rear shocks??

Now, for the front end..You may have read where I recently changed the front springs and shocks...The point being is that I am NOT HAPPY with the results...Running just 25 lbs. of air in the tires, the ride is still unsatisfactory and hard....It's like having an original 1929 Ford Model A....The new front coil springs had two coils taken out to make the car sit better...Without cutting any coils, the 1979 Pinto springs made the car ride real high and looked absolutely UGLY....Looks like I need to go back to the proverbial drawing board and reevaluate the next steps...I like the thought of DROPPED SPINDLES as an alternative.

Trying to re-engineer Shay's is a work in progress for sure!!!

Reggie

Reggie,

When I got my Shay, the drivers side rear spring was bad.

I had that spring rearch to level out the car.
This did not change the ride much, but it looked better.

I also moved the rear shocks out about 3",that improved the ride.

As you can see I also changed the tires to 600/650 X 18
with an 5.5 X 18 wheels.
This made a major improvement in the ride.

I am not trying to change the ride but change the looks.

I am not going to play with the front springs, the ride is good.
So dropped spindles are the way to go to lower the front.

As of now I am thinking of changeing the U bolts on the rear springs
and install a 2" block to lower the rear.

But if someone out there has another idear, I would love to get as many
suggestions as possible.

I try not to reinvent things, all of my improvements to my Shay are
a combination of other peoples.
That is what I love about this site, HELPFUL people.
The Shay has been around for almost 30 years, so lots of improvements have been made.

NY Bob

Bob,

First, no intended criticism meant of your rear end, I mean the car's rear end, just an observation...I like the more modern wire rims and I would guess that the ride is substantially improved.

LOWERING BLOCKS....In the 1960's during my Drag Racing and Hot Rodding days, rear lowering blocks were used quite extensively on several of our club cars as the way to lower the rear end.

You're wanting to use DROPPED SPINDLES for the front, to me, is the way to go...The parts are readily available.

As I wrote, I'm not happy with the recent redo of my Shay's front end and will be looking at ideas to get a "smoother" ride without changing from my Shay rims and the B.F. Goodrich 5.50 X 18 tires...The problem may be that my new Monroe/NAPA shocks are "bottoming out"...What was basically done, was to follow the 2-page front end procedure written up in the "Modern A" 92 page Assembly Manual put out by SPEEDWAY.

See ya,

Reggie

Bob
I had the idea of having the looks of 2 cars also.

I have added 2 inch dropped spindles and 2 inch lowering blocks in the rear. I also added air shocks in the rear as the differential would bump on the rubber snubber on the frame when the grandkids were in the rumble seat. The air shocks eliminated the problem as I did not want to modify the crossmember above the differential.

I now have my 2 looks with the 18 inch Shay wheels and 15 inch steel wheels with baby moons and trim rings.

Moving the seat back like you did is my next project. I would like some form of a removable insert for the wheel wells also. Do you have some ideas?

Dick

Dick,

Thanks for the input.

I do not like the look of the spare tire on my roadster
but I think it looks better on the truck.

I plan on cutting out the wheel well and filling it in,
that is the look I want. If at a later date I might remove
the luggage rack and mount a spare there.

The luggage rake goes with my old time look, but might not look
good for the hot rod look. No spare will look good both ways.
I am also looking at some kind of quick removal of the bumpers
for the hot rod look, just in the planning stage

Where did you get the U bolts. They are not a common size.
I think the existing are 3/8" - 2 3/4" CC X 6" ,new ones would be 8"
I could have the block made if need be.

The rubber snubbers appear VERY hard. I was thinking of removing them.
It would increase the travel distance by about 1 1/4" before it hit.
The air shocks are a great idear to vary the ride.

NY Bob





Before I changed the wheels, tires and seat on the roadster

Dick,

You could shape a block of styrfome to fill the wheel
well and cover it with a heavy black plastic.
Not sure how to attach, maybe wrap it with black plastic.
I think someone else has done this already.

Go for the seat project, leg room is GREAT.

NY Bob

Bob

I bought the U bolts at NAPA and they are 8 to 8 1/2 inches. I removed the snubber and cut about 3/4 inch off its thickness. I wanted to leave some on the crossmember.

Dick

Bob, When I converted my Shay to a 60's style hot rod I used 2" dropped mustang/pinto spindles from Speedway Motors and lowering blocks in the rear with no problems. Also capped both spare tire wells. Had posted most of the info to the forum but it must of got lost, Shayers don't seem to appreciate Hot-Rodders. If you call in the evening after 7pm, I'll share all the info on suspension and fender capping with you. You must let the well wells vent if you cap them. Ray Hofmann, Lebanon Pa. 717-866-2494

Hi Ray...just curious. What do you mean when you say the wheel wells must vent if you cap them? And could you please tell me how you capped the well, did you just fiberglass it over? Thanks..steve

Yes Ray, please post the wheel well capping info here....Many other Shayers may be interested on how it's done....I know I am....

Mike Ross
San Antonio, Texas
www.TheHappiestMusicOnEarth.com