Do you guys think this shock mount will work welded to the fender brace . it seems like it would be plenty solid enough and would be super easy to do thanks Vern
Nope, not strong enough. And will relay lots of stress and vibration to the fenders. They already crack enough without having the suspension hooked to them.
I've seen enough of those fender braces cracked without anything like that hooked to them. OK I can't draw worth a damn with the mouse but the general idea here is to make a shock bracket that welds to that plate or bolts to those bolts that the plate bolts to with a gusset or brace to strengthen it and use one of those shock studs that come with a lot of shocks with an upper or lower eye at the top. That would be the joe cheap way. A bit nicer would be to get a pair of F-1 shock arms and bend them to the right angle and bolt them to the frame. that photo makes me glad I threw those shoes away.
Well , I had my su****ions , that's why I run it past the Pros , I thought that was just to easy , I guess I will go with the F1's , just a little more drillin , bolton and benden , Thank you all for your advice Vern
I was recently cruising Steadfast Mfg's Instagram page and I saw he did a deuce ch***is which was full fendered and had the upper shock mount tubes welded to the fender braces. I'm sure he's done it before.
You would need to heat them with a torch and bend them to shape, so the pin lands where you want it. Allow them to cool slowly. Do not quench.
I've seen fenders hanging on shock mounts, but shocks on stock fender mounts are a no-go. A shock's purpose is to control the bounce and rebound of your axle. That's a LOT of force in both directions, way more than a stock fender brace can take.
The constant road produced, bump shock work hardens the brace metal. Failure is inevitable. Glad you are going another direction.
Like others have said the F1's work. Just heat them up with a rosebud torch tip and bend them out to clear the fenders. You also need to relocate the mounting holes that go through the frame. Do a search on here on how to. If you don't use the existing rivet spots where you'll have sufficient strength, provide additional backing reinforcement or large washers on the back of the frame.
Doesn't mean it is right, Dwight got a lot of stuff wrong. His Volare suspension kit was garbage. We were trying to fix one in a customers car. Dwight admitted to me he could never get them to work right either!
Not saying if it was Dwight's doing, & probably not the best alternative where the sheet metal is concerned, but it would seem if properly reinforced it could work, plenty of 'U' channel there to conceal additional iron if so desired.
Those look simple and great, the shock mounts are really attached to the ch***is rails with the fender brackets sandwiched between the two. There’s no reason why they would fail as shock mounts. Opening up a can of worms maybe, but some of the F1 shock mounts that have been bent or modified so the mounting bolts(holes) run parallel to the ch***is rather than as designed to mount almost vertical(or at least 45degrees) on the ch***is are destined for failure. Cut and shut so the upright is 90 degree to the mounting holes are the ones that seem to be welded(repaired) on the run to get home. Imho.
I've seen aftermarket s/s F1 style mounts broken. It's amazing how much a wheel and axle flaps round without a shock attached.
Stick to the tried and proven, that way your wont have to revisit it later... IMHO, do it once and do it properly.
F-1 bend or weld ( Forged ) as needed. Or TV dinner / Cereal Cardboard & 1/8 th plate 7-16-1/2 Od tube . Welding required.
bump stops = actual travel of suspension = actual shock range of travel or simply put where are you putting your bump stops do that first
It’s a nice clean idea. bit that thin stamped brace was only intended to hold the fender . Not the stress of a shock working. If you re-engineered the entire fender brace and incorporated the shock mount it would work. bit simply taking a shock mount to the flimsy stamped steel fender brace would be a hard no from me
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