How I lowered a 1962 F-100 with an axle flip (1961-1964 I-Beam)

Its been a month and a half, what's happening??

 

Tim picked up the truck from me a couple months ago to continue the more specialized race prep...continues here:

http://jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=573420&showall=1

 

great job can't wait to see it done..

 

wow what an informative thread. my 51 binder does have the same front end except the steering box is in front of the tire. thanks for all the work on the truck and here to share with us.

 

I am loving this truck. It sounds so good on the other post. I cannot wait to see how it does on the salt.

 

this is an awesome thread....keep us posted...I just wished I had the skills you have with cutting and welding, blending body panels....
I hope mine turns out half a nice

 

very nice job! I did the same axle flip on my 60... moved the steering box up also... on a bracket that look REALLY similar to what you came up with!

 

Thanks Jason, that's a real compliment coming from you having seen your frame fabrication up close & personal!

Appreciate it!

Todd

 

Todd after pitting for Tim at Bonneville I would like to congratulate you on your work to the truck, its first class and the runs went straight and true man can't ask for anymore than that! Great job on the fabrication.............Carl

 

Love the build man I am working on my 62 unibody and you had great advice and pics on how to drop it since I'm on a budget I was looking to do the exact thing but you nailed it. I'm dropping in a straight 6 300 built to run a gx35 turbo on about 12 psi shooting for 500hp as well, but the more I read about the salt flats the more I want to run one! Maybe I'll c you out there some day do you know what class mine would be under with the same suspension mods and the motor swap?

 

Glad to see you are doing the ground work, this thread is an excellent one for a budget lowering job. I would like to know more about that inline. Stock internals on 12 pounds? The 300 is pretty tough, once had one with broken pistons and worn out rings and bearings that ran forever in a wood hauling truck.

 

I believe you would be in D/BMP with a record of 262.118 mph. Gonna be hard to get. Take the turbo off and run in D/MP and the record is 160.022 mph, you might be able to do that with a N/A 300 set up just right with the proper gearing. Good luck!

 

Dang you're right idk if the little 300 could chug that fast even with the hairdryer. But it's at the machine shop right now getting bored .040 over, crank is being polished, and head is getting 3 angle job 2.02 intake valves not sure what size exhaust yet, and when I get it back I'll be gasket matching the runners. He said the hypuertechtic pistons and moly rings he ordered should be able to handle that much boost with the cr of 8.5/1 and arp head and connecting rod bolts with a steel layered gasket. I've got the offy dual plane 4 barrel intake with long tube headers to throw on there and a gx35 that I rebuilt and plan to run water/meth injection. I've read about 300s turning 600 hp with the stock crank and rods, so I'm not too worried on that part. Just worried about tuning for the turbo install, which I probly won't put on right away

 

Yea they're bulletproof my gramps ran a dump truck back in the day with a inline 300. He said it would break axles driveshafts and everything else but they retired it after over 800,000 miles still running. That speaks volumes to me about the engines. Cheap too, I picked mine up off ebay for like $200 and it came with 3 standard trannys one of them is a 5 speed, which I'll be using on the uni.. I left out the cam I'm running in mine I think its a comp thumper cam with a holley 390 cfm I'm converting to blow through for the turbo.

 

For those of you who didn't see the follow-up thread where the truck was completed, Tim finished up the truck beautifully & had a great first season. Just as cool was the fact that the truck received some recognition, and received a full spread in Car Kulture Deluxe this month. Will also have a full feature in Classic Trucks nnext month...very proud...

 

I saw the pic in the table of contents in this month classic trucks

 

You have awesome skills! This is a great build. I wish we had flats in Alabama to do LSR. That seems like an awesome sport. I found this thread because I was looking into flipping the front axle on a 53 Chevy Truck. I have two questions for you. What sort of caster would you run if this was a street truck? Could you get by with running the mounting flange parallel to the original? And my next question was what is the proper technique for welding to forged on the axle? Did you have to preheat/post heat? Something I would like to learn.

 

Bigredtodd, good job so far, I did the same thing on my 60' Ford I had in high school. I took the axle and put it on top of the springs. Went to a leaf spring shop and had them make me longer squared u bolts and used the factory 1 1/2- 2" block and it worked fine, the only problem I ever had was when you hit a bump the axle would hit oil pan and whatever direction you were headed, you were going that way, lol not to safe, checkout my album and you can see a pic of it. Keep up the good work!

 

No pre/post heating done on the axle, just a nice hot bead applied in many planes to maximize the strength of the connection(s).

For a street rig, I'd simply install the new plate parallel to the original to duplicate the factory geometry. The key to an axle flip in my opinion is moving the steering box up. Geometry is everything. There are other things that can help, but putting everything in a location so it operates as original really makes for a safe set-up. The caster I added did two things...first, the turning circle sucks as expected. Second, the thing loves to go fast & straight. Since this is a land speed truck, those were the desired effect.

Cool truck...sounds like you probably had the bump steer that most do when the geometry is wrong...Oil pan clearance was tight on this one as well, which is why I re-purposed and modified the original bump stops. Virtually no front end travel, but it works.

Thanks for the interest!

 

It seems that the only reason people i've seen are against the axle flip is because of bump steer which is a problem with a drop axle as well. Thanks for the info. I'm definately going to look into this as option on my truck. Did you make bend the notches your self that you put on the front or did you buy them from a supplier?

 

Yeah, most acknowledge the bump-steer issue, but don't understand why it happens.

At the time, I worked as a project manager for a manufacturer in the commercial construction industry, so I had one of my suppliers make them to my specs...something that any local steel shop could break out for you.

 

Guys, hope this thread is'nt dead. Need some help real bad. I have 59 f100 panel truck I have done axle flip on. Did all the things shown in this thread except I did'nt move the steering box up, Instead I z'd the drag link as shown in another thread. I have added the the steering dampening shock to the tie rod as suggested and had the truck professionally aligned. Truck drives fine at low speeds, but over 20mph I can barelly keep it on the road. It darts all over the place. I am wondering if anyone has a miracle cure for me. I dont want to start all over (sub-framing, dropped axle, single leafs), I went this way to try to keep it on the cheap. Any suggestions or ideas for me? Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks!

 

I'd start by looking at all the rod end joints for either a loose tapered socket that will let the stud rock in the hole, or a loose ball socket that will let the ball end of the stud wiggle in the housing.

Any lost motion in the steering system will show up as wheel tramp at speed.

You've got a loose or sloppy/worn out joint somewhere in that steering system.

Don't forget to check your kingpin bushings (or ball joints if that's what it uses) to make sure they're not loose. It doesn't take a lot of slop to make a wicked shimmy at speed.

Just out of curiosity, what specs was the truck aligned to? Can you post caster, camber, and toe numbers?

 

Thanks Coolhand, I dont have the alignment specs, but the technician said he was using original Ford spec settings for alignment. I assumed he checked for worn components, (you know how they like to sell you stuff), but I will check it out. Keep those ideas coming guys!

 

Great thread! I'll be using this thread as reference for when I do my dodge A100. Thanks for posting in such detail Todd!

 

I just happened to check in on this thread and saw this post.

For anyone still following or using as a reference, Z-ing the drag link is not a work around for correct steering geometry. Moving the steering box/drag link orientation relative to the spindle is what makes this method safe & effective. Front end alignment on a straight axle truck is limited to toe adjustments and minimal caster/camber tweaks. Good static alignment will not correct bad geometry through critical ranges of motion.

Todd

 

Yep. I just finished my 59 F250. Axle flipped both axles. Notched the rear. Then raised steering box on top of frame and shortened steering column about two inches. Drives just like it did at stock height now. But before correcting the steering it was a wild ride!

 

Not sure about Elmer's glue as a lube (for anything, LOL)

I drilled a new hole on the main leaf only, and relocated the other springs & pin to the new hole. The truck has multiple passes at 140+ mph with no issues. Straight and true...

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Eh hem.... we are getting real close to the 150 mark. (147.195 in Aug.)

although we just ran 137.9 last weekend doesn't mean a buck and a half is not gonna happen.