lifting the rear end

[amc36077]

im in my 40s and i guess im stuck in the 80s i like to jack up the rear end of my muscle cars the question i have is how to do it with out it looking goofy. the revell 68 and 69 chargers had lift blocks(that im out of now) but how to do it with monogram 1/24 scale or matter of fact any car i have a lot of big and little tire combos. any ideas

[Ace-Garageguy]

Just like real cars...lift blocks (which only work if the axle is mounted BELOW the leaf spring) or long rear shackles were the leaf-spring favorites. Make either from styrene stock.

Or spacers between the ends of the leaf-springs and the chassis will raise the car slightly. Of course, on a real car you can't put long shackles on both ends of a leaf spring...that would allow WAY too much axle movement. A small spacer at the front of the spring would simulate a modified front spring hanger, while a fatter rear spacer would simulate a long rear shackle.

Solid-axle coil-spring rear ends require spacers under the springs...or longer springs.

Long rear shackles space the ends of the spring away from the bottom of the chassis, raising the vehicle, as in this photo.

Raising the rear of a vehicle significantly also wrecks weight transfer for drag-racing (unless the front is raised a like amount) and makes kinda evil handling vehicles in general (contributing to excessive side-sway in turns, plowing understeer, and axle tramp on hard acceleration).

Edited October 9, 2013 by Ace-Garageguy

[Randytheroadrunner]

In the old days, we bought Super Stock leaf springs for our Mopars and adjusted the height on the torsion bars. There were also High Jackers, or air shocks. I like a little rake to my cars also...I've always hated that trunk full of cement blocks look.

[Tom Geiger]

Just like real cars...lift blocks (which only work if the axle is mounted BELOW the leaf spring) or long rear shackles were the leaf-spring favorites. Make either from styrene stock.

Or spacers between the ends of the leaf-springs and the chassis will raise the car slightly. Of course, on a real car you can't put long shackles on both ends of a leaf spring...that would allow WAY too much axle movement. A small spacer at the front of the spring would simulate a modified front spring hanger, while a fatter rear spacer would simulate a long rear shackle.

Solid-axle coil-spring rear ends require spacers under the springs...or longer springs.

Long rear shackles space the ends of the spring away from the bottom of the chassis, raising the vehicle, as in this photo.

Raising the rear of a vehicle significantly also wrecks weight transfer for drag-racing (unless the front is raised a like amount) and makes kinda evil handling vehicles in general (contributing to excessive side-sway in turns, plowing understeer, and axle tramp on hard acceleration).

My buddy used to have the rear so high on his '66 Tempest pseudo GTO that you had to buckle your seat belt to keep from sliding off the seat. You are right, it severely ruined the handling of the car. All show.

In the old days, we bought Super Stock leaf springs for our Mopars and adjusted the height on the torsion bars. There were also High Jackers, or air shocks. I like a little rake to my cars also...I've always hated that trunk full of cement blocks look.

I had HiJackers on the back of my '65 Barracuda that I only used to get the rear back to near even when I was towing my little tear drop trailer. It was a home built that didn't have a good center of gravity and weighed heavy on the hitch. Of course I couldn't resist a slight rake when not dragging the trailer

[Randytheroadrunner]

On a leaf spring model, I heat the springs a bit and put more arch in them. On a coil spring car, I make a spacer out of round plastic and install it above the coil.

[berr13]

If you like the ease of the kit-supplied lift blocks from the Charger, try buying some sheet styrene plastic, or Evergreen plastic strips. From these you can make your own lift blocks from stacked squares of plastic for leaf spring cars. Or, if you're feeling adventurous, you can try making shackles like Ace suggested. They also work for the spacers underneath the springs on coil spring suspensions.

[amc36077]

yeah i dont want to jack em up real high but i like that rake look like the dirty mary crazy larry charger thats high enough im not a big fan of muscle cars that have like the 20 inch rims thats just me i dont think it looks right on old muscle cars like i said im stuck in the 70s and 80s were we jacked up the rear end and put big tires on the back i was never a cornering person i was just a stop light to stop light or quarter mile fan.