This is my 1953 F100 and I'm looking for a big drop with my 9" rear.

I threw the 9" axle on top the springs mainly to see if it would be feasible to just leave the perches where they were. I loaded the spring to simulate the weight of the truck (minus the bed) and this is what it looks like:




I have no problem C-notching the frame, I'm probably going to do that anyway. I'm just not sure if I'll have enough room even with the C-notch.

So, will the axle flip work or should I mount the axle below the springs and use lowering springs?

 

Here are some more pics to better illustrate:



1.5" from frame to axle tube







1.75" from top of carrier to top of frame

 

The C notch may interfere with the bed floor. You will need to confirm that there is enough space for as drastic of c notch as you will need, it seems that you may need to box and weld an arch in your frame as a simple 2-3 inch c-notch will not provide you with enough suspension travel.

Another option that will provide you some additional clearance with out chopping up your frame or limiting your suspension travel would be to remove 2-3 leafs from the spring pack, return the axle to its original location and use air bags or coil over shocks to assist with the ride and load capacity.

 

We did a flipkit on my friends 53. It dropped it about 6 inches. We had to do a C notch by raising that section on the frame where the axle comes up. With the rearend flipped, you can't run the bedwood like stock applications. We had to make a C channel which crossed the whole rear section of the bed. The bellhousing of the rear end will also hit the bedwood on a stock application. It can be done, but it will take some modification. Make sure when you do the flip, the angle of the rearend remains the same with the transmission since you have to remove the rear mounts and reweld them to the opposite side. Both sides have to be exact or you'll get shimmy shimmy cocoa pop when you cruise.
I'm with Kusto here. You can still get the rearend down with reverse eye springs, lowering shackles, raising the hangers, and removing a few leafs. You may have to do a slight C notch but nothing radical and still be able to use the bedwood. You can always bag it if that isn't low enough. Bagging it requires pretty much the same as the flipkit. Does anyone know what the heck I'm talking about???? LOL.

 

True about the bagging being the same as a flip kit, but if you did not flip the axle and only removed a few leaves, there would still be enough suspension travel the bags would be only for ride quality and load capacity.

It is also not necessary to flip the hangers or spring perches on the differential if you still want to run above the springs. There is an assembly available that will allow you to leave the diff as is and shim for the drive line angle and you may need a shock relocation kit for your particular application.

 

Now that is just clever. It must be something new or home engineered. I can understand perfectly how it works. That is the best product I have seen in a long time. Can you tell us more?? I assume the pics are of an 8.8 exploder?? Sweet........
Jon

 

I was thinking the exact same thing. I'm interested!!

 

If you remove the top perch, it would give you an additional 1 inch of clearance for travel. Cool idea!

 

yeah that lil' homemade or whatever " perch " or again whatever is frekin' brilliant !!! man you need to set up shop and start fabbing as i can see where you might just sell a few of those !

 

You might consider using something other than stock springs to get more clearance. I put the axle over the springs in my F-3 and did not need a C-notch because I used different springs which had more arch in them. You could also look into having your stock springs re-arched...

 

Not to be picky, but doesn't one cancel out the other. At the very least you will not get a drastic drop like some want.

 

Not really. A slight arch increase might give you another 2-3 inches of travel but putting the springs back on top of the axle may raise it more than desired...it's a delicate balance.

 

I used posie reversed eye rear springs with I think 5 leaves , then moved the spring brackets up approx 1 1/2 inches (need to cut the lip off) had to flip the front brackets side to side and rotate them so the front of the spring won't bind. I also notched the frame about 2 inches. With bed on and the fuel tank located to the rear of the axle I don't have and problems with things hitting.

If I were to do it over I would mount the spring on top of the axle and be done with it.

The reason being it still seems too high in the rear for my tastes. Not sure what you plan on hauling but the way I use my truck (just haul Air) if the rear travels 2 inches it's a lot

Anyway have fun.

Chuck

 

With stiff springs and shocks, you should have at least 4" of travel between the bump stop and the axle at ride height. You could use a shorter bump stop, but don't leave it out completely, it only takes a few solid hits to start bending and breaking things. Then you get into other issues: shock length, you'll need to drop the shock mounts on the axle, and/or raise the crossmember and mount and/or buy special short shocks. Shocks are even less forgiving of bottoming out. Don't make the mistake of just angling the shocks more, the flatter the angle the less effective the shock. You possibly could go to bellcranks and horizontally mounted shocks, but that would require some sophisticated design and fabrication work and a set of shocks that will operate on their side. Don't just leave the shocks out either, unless you like driving a pogo stick. Finally there is the problem of bed and fender clearance...
Still can't beat Einstein: "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction... For every cheap modification there are dozens of expensive problems it creates, if it was easy everybody would be doing it... etc."

 

Depending on the kit you buy, you may be able to get the appropriate shocks for the application, shock relocation kits or similar. There are many options available.