Looking at my options too lower a 57 Chevy truck, ifs was installed but the rear end hasn't been touched and wondered what my options were, prefer to. Stay old school with a flip kit or posi springs if possible, bit any suggestions or experience would be helpful thank. Colt.
Placed axle on top of the springs, removed a couple of leaves from each pack and installed teflon liners. The frame rails were c- notched and boxed. The shocks were moved to the outside, only to make room for the 24 gallon K5 Blazer tank. The truck rides really nice. Dave
that works on cars, that have the axle over the springs. Doesn't work on trucks, that have the axle under the spring. The drop from putting the axle on top of the springs in a truck, is quite a bit. I wanted less of a drop on one, so I used front spring hangars to put the springs under the frame, then put the axle on top of the springs. It worked out well. Didn't have to notch the frame or floor. but we don't have pictures of the truck in question, so we can only guess at what it really wants done to it.
Well, knowing that the OP went with an ifs front (GM or aftermarket), he probably has a 6"-8" drop in the front, so putting the axle on the spring, like Dave did will give a healthy drop in the back, but the frame will need to be C notched. A couple of years ago, I pulled the springs and hangers off of a 90's Chevy 1/2 ton pickup at the local Pull-a-Part because I wanted to avoid the expense of replacing those wretched shackles, etc (the salvage yard springs, shackles, and hangers were about $100 total- replacement shackles alone are about $200 for a set and are a pain in the butt to change). When the time finally comes to swap them out, I'm going to play with hanger placement, etc to fine tune the ride height, and the springs are longer- nicer ride .
The trouble with an axle flip on a TF is very simply as Richard Head showed in post 3 and that I lightened up a bit. There is absolutely no space to do it between the spring and axle unless you C notch the frame and then unless you put a big Gambino style notch in it you still don't have a lot of travel. Good enough for a custom truck that never hauls or tows anything but very limited if you actually carry anything in the truck.
without seeing the truck, we have no idea how high it sits. You can install a subframe at whatever height you want, depending on how you do it. It's all guesswork at this point.
Here's another site you can check out and see how guys did it: http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/index.php There's a section for '55-'59's in the forums. That site is a lot less traditional than this one in regards to truck mods.
That is the absolute truth. Plus if you don't know what you are doing it is all to easy to put it at the height you don't want either two low or too high.
Unfortunately the only pictures I have is the stock height it was at I'd say it needs a 4-6 inch drop, again it's hard to say where it's at in the front but I'm looking at it as my potential inheritance and trying to get a few ideas, but ill try to get pictures asap.
knock the rivets out of the rear shackle hangers, flip them over to the top of the frame,bolt them back onto the frame,... no need to take the shackles apart, then mount the rearend on top of the springs.... note: these had lowering shackles already installed, hence the 2" lowering block.
On my 58 (same as 55-57), I made longer shackles, reversed the spring eyes and pulled a couple leaves out of the stack for about a 4” drop. I’ll see if I can find a pic. It could still haul plenty and wasn’t low enough that it needed a c-notch.
Pic for reference to what I mention above...before and after. The front had a 3" dropped axle and reversed leaves too if I remember right...
Just for some info, Nostalgia Sids (Sids dropped axles) is now making a bolt in "C" notch kit for $100 bucks a pair.
The Jalopy Journal
