Upper Rear Shock Relocation 63-72

[Lakeroadster]

I posted this data in my build thread and thought it might be worthy of its own post. My truck is a 1965 SWB C10. I am pretty sure this modification will also work on 67-72's.

Because the rear of the truck has been lowered 5” the rear shocks are inclined about 40 degrees. Therefore they need to be repositioned so the shocks are more vertical.

Upper Shock Brackets:
I designed some new upper shock brackets to accomplish this. The new brackets replace the stock upper mounts and bolt to the frame using the rivet holes from the original stock upper mount. (Per Monroe, shocks cannot be angled more than 30 degrees. If they are more than 30 degrees they may tend to have lapses in dampening.)

Rear Shock Brackets:
The stock lower shock mounts on the 63-66 coil spring trucks are far superior to aftermarket mounts. The stock mounts are a heavy steel stamped part that captures the shock on both sides. Supporting on both sides makes a huge difference in the brackets strength and ability to properly load the shock. There is simply no need to replace the stock mounts. The replacement mounts that are being sold capture the shock on one side only. If you are replacing the lower mount with one of these aftermarket brackets you are replacing a strong part with a weaker one. Based on the numbers I have crunched the stock lower shock mount is twice as strong as the aftermarket ones.

The stock shocks were bottoming out when I bought the truck. I did some research on Monroe Shock Absorbers website http://www.monroe.com/catalog/miscApplicati ons.asp . They have a pdf entitled “Mounting and Length Sheets” that lists all their shocks and includes mounting configurations and lengths. Using this data and the dimensions of my new set-up I selected Monroe shocks 32207. These have an Extended length of 17-7/8”, and a collapsed length of 11-1/4”. These shocks were originally used on ½ ton Ford trucks and therefore the valving will be correct. With my rear spring and custom snubber set-up the shock length = 11-3/4” with the rear axle against the snubbers. Therefore the shocks won’t bottom out before the snubbers engage. Ride height shock length = 14-1/4”.


Stock Upper Mount

To remove the stock rivets I drilled a 3/8” hole in the center of each rivet.

Then used a chisel to shear the head off the rivet

Here is the new bracket I designed and fabricated above the stock bracket

New bracket moves the top of the shock back about 4 inches

And up a little over an inch

[/INDENT]

 

[Lakeroadster]

Upper Rear Shock Relocation Post #2

New bracket bolted into crossmember with (2) 7/16"? bolts, nuts and lockwashers. (Used a step-bit to open up the original rivet holes in the crossmember about 1/16"?.)

As viewed from above

And plenty of clearance between shock tube and axle tube

Shocks are now 18.5 degrees off vertical at ride height. (90 - 71.5 = 18.5)

Here is a drawing I made of the upper bracket. It is made from 2"? square tubing, 3/16"? wall thickness

 

[vwnate1]

Shock Absorber Upgrades

It is always nice to see a Professional at work ! .

What I do is to always use the heaviest duty gas charged shock I can find .

First I look up the application and jot down the part # then I use the
" Buyers Guide " to see what else this shock fits then I go to the biggest application and use the heaviest shock available , usually a Bilstein HD .

Example :

My 1959 Metropolitan Nash Coupe wallows a lot and blows out any Monroe gas shock easily in less than one year (O.K. so I drive it maybe a teense faster & harder than others but I still need good shocks for safety reasons) .

So , looking them up reverse , I see the Met uses the same rear shocks as numerous full sized American cars including the Brand 'F' Galaxies , Town Cars etcetera from 1965 ~ 2007

*BINGO* ! I order up some 2007 Lincoln Town Car Bilstein HD socks .

The lower bushings are different so I push them out using two sockets and a vise , press in the Met bushings , slap those $125 each puppies on and and Lo ! my tiny 50 year old Sports Coupe is flat tearing up the mountain and canyon roads I love so much....

Not to mention easily passing al the Corevettes , Porsches and BMW's that slow down to 40 MPH in hose tight freeway cloverleaf off ramps ~ I can blast right by them going 55 + .....

My old Chevy C/10 is similar , of course the rear end unloads more than the Met does but I still hold the high speed sweepers really well and you can too