Advice on best way to notch 56 P/U Chassis

I am looking for some advice on the best way to notch the frame on my 56 Chevy pickup. Truck is running a flipped Camaro rear axle and with about 1” of clearance between the frame and axle housing.

As I still want to use the truck as a truck how much clearance do I need between the axle and frame and what is the best way to do this?

I was thinking about using a piece of steel pipe, cut in half and then boxing the frame either side to provide the strength but am not sure if this is the right way to go about it.

Another option is to Z’ee the frame and raise the floor of the bed, but I would rather not do this.

I am sure one of you will have done this before, pictures and advice gratefully received.

P.

 

you might have 2 to 3" suspension travel when you're done....the pipe and boxing trick is about the only way to do it without raising the bed.

I think you already know the answer to your question.

 

Squirrel,

Thanks for the reply, I was hoping to get a picture or description as I was unsure how far to inset the pipe into the frame rail before the structural rigidity was compromised.

Having said that I suppose the easy way is to measure 3" from the top of the axle and then eyeball the frame. If there is more than 50% left above the mark would this be acceptable?

P.

 

Yep, It's like Squirrel said. I'm sure that there are more recent pics but, In the August '99 Rod & Custom mag there is a couple great pictures of a '32 frame with C notch and snubbers.
We just got a new scanner. I'll try to get a picture up later.

 

the more you notch it, the weaker the frame gets. A 4" tall frame is about 8 times as strong (in bending) as a 2" tall frame.

So....do you want the truck to look bitchin, or do you want to use it as a truck? it's up to you.

 

Although not in this pic, I added gussets (red lines) inside before boxing.

 

I used the method you just described with the half pipe. Dis covered after all was said and done that it didn't really need it, there was enough room for suspension travel as it was. That was my son's 59 and its pretty low with a four bar/coil over set up on a camaro 10 bolt. You might want to do some mock up and see.

 

Check out this link http://www.rbsauto.com/product.asp?Product_Id=173061&d_Id=17657&l1=17657&l2=

The boxing/c-notch plates in this kit should help give you an idea as to how far you can go, as well as another design idea. These slide inside the frame and then after attaching them you cut out the bottom of your frame and are left with the notch. I used the round tube with boxing plate method squirrel mentioned above (on my truck) and it works great. Just make sure you use a good thick walled tubing.

 

Brian Thanks. I know I know the right way to do it just wanted a bit of reasurance from the great and the good. That link was spot on and enabled me to visualise what I have to do.

Squirrel, the answers is Yes

Thanks guys, will take pictures and post how it comes out over the next week or so.

P.

 

Hey Paul Y,

if your still wanting a couple pics of a C notched frame, im pretty sure like 3 months ago i did a thread , because i was unsure how to do it. I will look for it...

Kyle

 

Thanks Kyle I would appreciate that. I did use the search function before posting but could find nothing that helped. Might be the search terms I was using, better with a spanner than a keyboard.

P.

 

i used some pipe cut in half to notch the rear of my 57 to gain clearance for the flipped axle, here are a couple pics.

 

Thrasher, Thanks for the pictures, it was exactly what I was hoping to get.

Nice truck, what gas tank are you using?

P.

 

Paul Y sorry for taking so long, if you do a search of my name "wagoon" in the advanced search things i got a bunch of threads i made about 55-59s...heres my old one

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=130354

Kyle

 

Thanks Kyle.

P.