What is it? I recently picked up a 1958 apache and I have been looking at different ways to lower the rear. I've seen several references to "flipping" the rear. Why is it called flipping and what is a c-notch? Is there a better way of lowering the rear? Thanks Tim
Flip the rearend from below the springs to above the springs... that usually lowers it quit a bit, then if it's too close to the frame for travel, you put a C notch in there or piece of half pipe and weld it up for clearance.
On that truck flipping the rear end is moving it from under the springs to on top of the springs to lower the truck several inches. A C notch is a reinforced cutout in the frame for clearance for the axle. Quite often it is a section of pipe a bit larger than the axle inserted in the cutout and then boxing the frame although now the guys who are using air bags often use a much larger kick up there so the rig will sit flat on the ground and the axle will still clear the frame.
The c-notch doesn't lower the car at all, it allows the much lower rear to still have decent suspension travel. What chaddilac means is that you put a notch in the frame above the rear axle so that it doesn't hit constantly. Depending on how much you lower a car or truck the "notch" might just be a small half-circle cut from steel pipe slightly larger than the diameter of the rear axle tubes or it might be a complex piece that replaces that part of the frame. If you do a search I'm sure you can find cars with air ride or air bag suspensions that have a notch of various kinds, and the episode of Jesse James' program "Monster Garage" shows them using the pipe method on the frame of his '54 Chevy car.
here is a pic of a c notch There are kits that bolt in kits that weld in or build it your self. flipping the axle to atop the springs drops the rear about 6 to 7 inches. you can do more with blocks and or changing the shackles.
Outstanding! Thanks for clearing that up... I was imagining all kinds of bizarro ideas!! Thanks again guys!!!
And don't "flip" the rear end like goofy Ronnie Johnson back in my hometown did. He moved the rear axle from the bottom to the top of the spring pack, but instead of rebuilding the perches on the axle, he literally "flipped" it over, so that the spring perches which were originally UP were now DOWN. Took a while to convince him that he was now going to have four reverse gear ratios and one really slow one going forward.
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