The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The HiPo Shop Finished Axle Flip Instructions

To the guy that was interested (and anyone else) about the rear axle flip in my 58 apache, I will cover the steps to flip the axle and lower your truck 5-6 inches. (without having to spend $400 for lowering springs).

I ordered my axle flip kit(also known as rearend conversion kits) from an online vendor. I paid around $100 bucks for it. You can find cheaper kits, but this one is universal. What's especially nice about these kits, is not only can you flip the axle, it also allows for the install of any 3" inch ford or chevy axle. So upgrades are easily accomplished in the future. Before you begin have lots of WD-40 and measure the pinion angle on your rear axle. The pinion angle is the angle of the rear axle housing (in relation to the angle of the back of the transmission). You can buy an angle finder for around $10.

REMOVAL OF REAR LEAF SPRINGS AND AXLE:

First off, the best thing you can do is remove the bed, or the floor of the bed so you have easy access to the rear axle.

Break the lugs on the rear wheels loose, but not off.

Jack up the frame of the truck and put jack stands under the frame.

Remove the rear shocks from the truck. This can be accomplished by removing two nuts from the lower shock mount, and one nut on the upper mount. Repeat on other side.

Once shocks are completely removed, remove tires completely off (you can remove the tires before you take the shocks off, doesn't matter what order.) Before you take the tires off, make sure the tires are off the ground. If it's not, get another jack to lift the axle up. Now its time to remove the rear axle from the leaf springs. There are 4 big nuts (on each side) that hold the axle to the leaf springs. This would be a good time put a jack or jack stand underneath the axle to support it. After removing the four nuts connected to the hangers, the axle should be free from the truck. Pretty easy!

Now the hard part. (by the way, I did this whole project without messing with any brakes or brake lines. You don't even have to take the drive line off if you know the pinion angle.) Removal of the leaf springs consists of the shackles on the rear of the leaf, and a big kingpin on the front. For the rear shackles, wrench of all four nuts and hammer shackles outward to remove the rear. On the front king pin, there is a nut and a stud that hold the king pin in. Undo the small nut, but not all the way off. With the nut loose, hammer the stud (without hitting threads) until the stud breaks out on the otherside. HIT IT HARD. This stuff on 50 year old trucks does't like to come off easy. AND USE LOTS OF WD-40, the miracle spray.

With stud out, hammer on the kingpin. Hammer towards the side of the truck, outwards, not inwards. If you hammer towards the center of the truck, the kingpin will not come out completely and you have to go the other direction anyway.

With this pin out, your leaf spring is off. Now go ahead and remove all of the old hardware that was connecting the leaf to the axle (u-bolts, mounting plate) and toss all of it aside.

Take your leaf springs and place them underneath the axle now. (you don't actually flip the axle, you actually just place it above the leaf instead of below. But you knew that:) With your new U bolts, hammer them on the axle so that they are as close as possible to stock mounting pad on the top of the axle. If its a really tight fit, you may need to grind down the axle just a hair so they will fit correctly. Once the U bolts are on, place the mounting pad (moon shaped bracket that fits snug around the axle) on the middle of the leaf and lift the leaf spring up underneath the axle so that it snugs the axle. Then put on the mounting plate underneath the leaf. Put a couple of nuts on the U bolts just enough so that it will hold the leaf up. Do not tighten!

Repeat on the opposite side.

Now, with the leaf springs attached, lift the rear axle with a jack (careful as it can tip) until the leaf springs are close to the mounting holes. I would suggest putting the front "King Pin" side on first. Pull the leaf up and use a mallet to align the holes in the frame. Place king pin in with the indention in the king pin facing the side where the stud goes through. Tighten king pin, insert stud, and tighten stud nut. Repeat for other side.

For the rear, just put the shackles back on. It should be a lot easier getting this side on, than it was taking off.

Ok, so far so good? With the leafs back on and the axle attached to the leafs, it's now time to adjust the pinion angle. Some people may suggest putting the wheels on and putting the car at the new ride height before you adjust the angle, but its up to you. With the U-bolt nuts loose, you can still adjust the angle on the axle housing. It may take a few hits with a mallet, but it will angle up or down. If you are within 5 degrees of the original pinion angle, you will be in good shape. Adjust it, and be aware that you may need to adjust it again if it's not correct.

With the correct pinion angle, Tighten the nuts on the u bolts as tight as possible, lower the frame and the axle and you will see a 5 to 6" drop! If you are using a vehicle with a lot of horse power, it may be a good idea to weld the moon shaped bracket to the axle. Otherwise, don't worry about it. If you do weld, make sure pinion angle is correct.

That's all I'm going to cover! Hopefully this will be helpful to some poor soul out there deciding how to lower his/her truck.

I forgot to mention, when you do lower this thing down, it will be resting on the bumper stops. It WILL go that low, and lower if you remove it. A C-Notch is highly recommended unless you want this thing to ride like a truck. I mean, ZERO suspension or travel. In addition, new shock mounts (included in Kit) will need to be installed.

Don't let all of this scare you--- The drop was well worth the work and its actually much easier than I anticipated.

I had a bunch of pictures but they magically disappeared, so here is a video of my big project truck, and the finished product on the rear axle.



Good luck!

Lookin' good RAT FINK!

I do really like the fleetside TFs.

You're right about the chassis clearance though.

Are you going to notch yours?

Casey your truck is looking good man, keep up the good work..The more I see your truck the more I wish I went with a short bed instead of long, but oh well I have a truck.

I have to get this project moving fast otherwise it will never get done. Thanks for the nice comments, I'm glad someone has something nice to say about my truck!

I plan on doing a C-notch but I'm going to get some of the other "big" jobs done first. I'm pulling a chevy 350 this weekend and hopefully have it going on the 4th of July! (BIG JOB, lol)

awww ratfink you truck looks great wish i could get my frontend down where yours is "without blowing my whole budget" on a dropped axle lol any tricks for lowering the front

Thanks for the front end comments, but in the video the truck is actually on jack stands in the front (kinda dark in the barn). I ordered a 4" drop axle from Sid and just had some leaves removed from the front leaf springs. I'm just waiting for Sid to get finished.

As for tips on the front, all I can suggest is remove leafs from the spring. This is the only way to do it without breaking the bank. I had 2 leafs removed (without a drop axle you may be able to remove 3 leafs safely) and it cost me like $50 and a little more with new bushings in the leaf.

RRF,

FYI, I do not think you can tighten the u-bolts enough to keep the axle from rotating without welding the spring mounts. You may be in for a suprise if you do not weld the mounts.

Especially when proper torque is, what, 70-90 foot pounds? Too much and you risk breakage, too little and stuff comes loose.

Weld the mounts.

I was told from multiple sources that the bracket did not have to be welded, unless the vehicle had a lot of horse power. I think this is true.

But, if the pinion angle is correct, a weld would significantly reduce the chance of the axle moving.

thanks rat fink for the info thats what i was kinda thinking i would have to do on that front end

Definitely weld the perches. 55 chevy small block four speed. It hooked hard on a launch, broke the welds at the axle tubes, spun the nose of the diff up and yanked the drive shaft out of the back of the trans. Ruined the driveshaft, beat the floor up, and scared the crap out of me. If you've spent anytime at the drags you will have seen the same failure on a leaf spring car, and it doesn't even have to be a quick car.

John

Anyone who would tell you that the spring perches do not need to be welded does not know what they are talking about.

Reasons why you should weld certain parts in & the spring perches are one of many.

Reason #1
Reason #2
Yes I know that these cars had a 3 or 4 link set up, BUT it still applies, bad welds or no welds can be dangerous.

Anyone that tells you that they don't have to be welded shouldn't be working on cars/trucks......Joe

Well after seeing the two video's ZooKeeper posted, I would say weld them.

Lol, love the camaro video. Ya, it probably is a good idea to weld them. The video show cars with lots of HP, not stock cars. And why would DJM say that a weld isn't necessary? Are we talking about the right part to weld on?

i would definitely weld the spring perches to the axle.
no way it will be safe for too long without a weld.
if that were the case, why do they weld them from the factory, on even a 4 cylinder car or truck ?
at some point in time it will fail without a weld.
just my 2 cents.

leonard

by the way, you got a cool truck...
love the rat look.

leonard

DJM probably say that a weld isn't necessary so people that don't own a welder or don't know how to weld too good will still buy the product. Makes the product look like an easy installation. Just my guess though.

DJM?? DJM!!!! Here is the last email stuff I did with him:

"Hey, I have a 1998 Chevy C3500 that someone cooked the springs to lower it and they did a poor job. What do you have in a lowered spring for my car. I tried finding OEM but GM doesn't supply or make them anymore."

"Well, first you should measure stock ride height."

"Okay, how do I do that?"

"Measure it with the stock springs."

"Okay, where can I get some? Do you have a source??"

"Go to your dealer and buy some."

If it was possible, it sure makes sense!! Spend a few hundred on stock springs so I could spend a few more hundred on his springs?? Yeah, the email communication stopped right about there!!

Stick with a manufacturer that has been around for ages like Currie Enterprises, etc. They'll all tell you to weld those perches on!!

This is the kind of Spring Perch I'm talking about. As far as why they said you don't need to weld them, well unless they make a none welding in kit that some how uses the stock spring perch some way to hold everything into place(You got pictures of the kit??) is the only way I think it could possibly be done.


Casey I'll tell you short tale of what happened to me on one of my own projects.

I had everything together & was setting up the pinion angle on the rearend. Had everything in place and tightened down but not welded. For whatever reason I needed to move the truck & thought "well hell I have the u-bolts real tight so I should be able to move it w/o any problems". I started up the truck & put it in gear & almost immediately the rear end spun between the u-bolts & perches then stopped. I had spun the rear end around enough that I had the driveshaft in such a bind that the truck wouldn't move. After I pulled it apart & put everything back in place I was really surprised I didn't just pull the driveshaft out of the trans because it was ~~>*<~~ that close to doing it...Joe

RRF, did you get this kit i was telling you about a couple weeks ago ?

http://www.therangerstation.com/Magazine/Fall2003/Installing_a_34inch_DJM_Suspension_Drop.htm

if so, no, you dont need to weld it since it utilizes the factory welded on perches.

leonard

IF this is the kit you got I can see why there is no need to weld, because it does use the stock spring perch to hold it all together and stop the roll of the axle...Joe

Ok, I'm Sold! MNSMITH, because you discredit DJM, I will weld the perches.

I wanted to get the kit above (the single bracket kit that used existing perches) but couldn't find the right size.

So, I'm sold. I'll weld it, because of the overwhelming response to this topic and the expertise from Stovebolters. Not to mention, that apparently DJM tech support is very much lacking, I will not listen to a word more they say.

cool RRF, and good luck, and dont forget to post progress pics of your truck....
its always better to be safe than sorry. good call.

leonard

Good info thanks