So, my 39 with a 4" dropped axle and unsplit bones. I have P&J's shock mounts for tube shocks up front. Fortunately I have 3 1/2" wheel rims for the front wide 5s, but they're still going to hit the shock mounts at the spring shackle. I've been told get a 36 axle or bones (??), run it as is with the limited turning radius, split the bones, try different shocks and more. This just seems to simple and too common an issue that's been dealt with for a generation and I'm just too close to the problem. Maybe it isn't a problem at all, but I can't get all the way done and built only to find I have to revisit an issue that would be better corrected without the whole front end in place. The 5 1/2" commercial wide 5s will NOT work at all, the offset puts it on the lower shock eye and leaves a good 3/4" to the steering stops. That's a lotta radius to lose, no? I mean, dammit, it's a Ford. Should be a simple fix, and NO, I don't desire taking it backwards to Houdailles after what it took to get to this point already. I feel like I'm mssing something simple and not too proud to ask. I'll take close up pics tomorrow but hoping someone else is there or been there. As always, thanks in advance.
I figured out that problem with the Pete and Jakes front shock kit 40 years ago when I was building my avatar. I built a setup similar to what was available in the 50's, and then refined it and it is what we have had in our catalog for the last 34 years.
I used an old western auto tube shock conversion kit that put the shock on top of the axle and used the original lever shock attachment point on the perch pin and the bracket bolted on to the lever shock location on the frame. Clears everything nicely.
Also the 36 axle and wishbone wont make a difference as they have the same spring width as the 39 wish bone. Since they use the same spring.
There a lot of ways to mount tube shocks,putting them in the way,is not a good one,nether is putting them too far away from tire. The 48 Ford axle has a shock mount hole for it's shock mount bolt,but often is not used,do too going back to side steer,vs cross. Yes,a photo of what you have,could being forth some ideas.
Could you post photos of your set-up? I have a 2" dropped axle and unsplit wishbones but still have the (worn out) Houdailles. After pricing rebuilt original shocks, I think tube shocks are in my future as well.
weedburner40 and nailhead jason nailed it. Get rid of those and mount bottom of shock to top of perch pin-weedeater has them I think. I have some as well.
The kit from Weed Eater street rods is the best one out there. Works great and is just like the old Western auto one I used. https://www.weedetrstreetrod.com/ec...hock-kits/front-shock-kit-for-37-40-ford.html
So here's the gig. Even without the shocks the backing plate hits the spring mount in the bones and leaves at least 1/2" gap at the steering stops (king pin retainers)... With a 3 1/2" wheel the rim area hits the shock, or more accurately the drum will hit the shock. Even if I trim threads and use a thin nut things crash. With the 5 1/2" wheels it's even worse so those are out no matter what. It did have what I think was Chassis Engineering shackles that were also extended to drop the car more, in fact way too low (yes, too low is possible). Here's some shots of how everything relates... So assuming I scrapped the whole idea I still lose turning radius because the backing plate hits the top of the wishbone where the shackle goes through and leaves a minimum of 1/4" at the stop, but I'm thinking with Akerman angles and such I could live with that. I have one of the old school conversion mounts but they don't fit the frame without modifying the mount holes in one or the other. This is a 39 Standard so several things 1940 don't apply. I also thought about flopping the shackles to mount the shock on the spring side vs the bones, but that seems wrong from a function way of thinking and I also think I'd lose the added stability of angle mounted tube shocks. So, round 2. I can take more pics if needed.
On my 39 standard I swapped to F100 front brakes, so I don't come as close the shackle with the drum or backing plate. It did however hit the bolt on the Chassis Engineering dropped steering arms. The bolts hit the axle and caused almost the same amount of steering loss. I ended upmilling down a little of the mounting bosses and using button head bolts to hold them on and go my steering clearance back. Don't you just love the puzzles we build for ourselves?
It's not perfect, but I'd probably try flipping the shackles like you thought. Only other answer is to get the shock clear out of there and up on the axle perch like the new kit shows. May need to drill some new holes, but that's hot rodding, right? I've seen guys use long wheel nuts (available in chrome) in place of the stock Ford kingpin stop nuts. They can be cut to give a proper stopping point just before your other parts would crash together.
Perhaps you can locate one of these old shock mount kits. They appear on Ebay once and a while. This is on a 40 Ford.
And that's what our kit looks like and fits like. Nailhead Jason attached the photo and link from our website.
19Fordy, I have that same get up. I'll need to modify the mounting holes on either the brackets or the frame or both. Then I'd need to try and get the perch bolts out and either turn them 90 or locate different ones. alchemy, what are your thoughts about the shock being on the spring vs the axle? In some ways it seems like it shouldn't matter but then again maybe it will? Does it remove the benefits of the angled shocks giving a measure of side to side stability? I can see that the spring function is dampened with shock but will it still want to swing side to side at the axle. Steering stop function can be put in, but am I too worried about the turning radius reduction? I'd hate to end up with a car that needs as much steering/parking room as my crew cab dually Does anyone else realize steering reduction or interference with a 4" dropped axle and unsplit bones?
That I did! Its my go to shock set up for these. I'd be using one on my 39 if I hadn't found an old NOS kit.
If the shock was attached to the spring end of the shackle it would be yanking on two sets of shackle bushings instead of just one at every jounce. Probably not optimum. The 40 I built years ago has the shock mounted to the top of the perch on a simple stud that screws into the single eye perch. I don't remember where I got it. I used some F-1 pickup upper mounts to hold the tops of the shocks. I realize the method I used would involve buying more parts, but maybe it's for the best.
Sounds like the perch bolt you are describing is for a ‘38 and later car or truck without a front sway bar. I bought a ‘40 pickup front suspension and it had the perch bolts as shown in the above illustration.
C and G carries the perch bolts. https://cgfordparts.com/ufolder/cgc...searchtextdesc=perch+&sd=Search&searchnumber=
Bringing this back up. It's way past time to get a handle on this whole car and sort out some of the hiccups. So I stared at the idea of mounting the shocks on the spring and I'm still on the fence. Just buying more and more parts to "try" is a fool's errand to me. After careful measuring and a little logic, if I get back to where I was before I swapped out the old dropped shock mount stuff I'll have plenty of turning radius. So now what? Now I'm thinking of just mounting a stud on the perch bolt that's there already. I'd rather go back to sorting out shock absorber mount codes and lengths (also maddening) for a shorter shock and maybe get a bit more proper angle to the final outcome. Im not sure where I'll end up just yet but I miss my car and the clients have had too much of my attention this year. And since a large measure of search engines switched to overseas servers last year doing 'net detective case is worse than ever. You used to type in "1941 Cadillac" and get a vast majority of info. Now you get Rockauto shit for new Cadillacs, tire deals, ebay links to modern shit, pretty much everything EXCEPT what you're looking for. I tried to search pics of shock mountings on any hot rod front suspension and it's crazy. Time to rethink my efforts, maybe try duck duck go again, but that seemed to be just a copy of plain ol google shit too. Where's all the old books I used to have...
There is a huge old time NORS parts warehouse in Palmer, Mass...N.B. Pease & Co. He is sometimes very hard to catch, as he is well in his 80s and recently has reduced his former hours to I think 3 days per week. He has every NORS auto parts book ever printed for the last 80- 90 years, and it was said that he bought out the entire "slow moving inventory" of a major USA shock company some 10? years ago...like 10,000 shocks in one building. 413-283-7620 Bad part is he does not have a phone recorder, and does not have a website. He always was closed Wednesday and Sundays, and was open half day on Sat...but I don't know which days he is now open. He will want lengths, and what type of upper and lower mounting, and sizes of bushing ID. He does ship parts.
This thread is a couple years old, but I sure wish I had come across it before I ordered up parts. I ran in to the exact same problem as the original poster with my 40 pickup. I didn't want to split the wishbones, but I wanted to lower the front of the truck. I put in a magnum 4" drop axle, with stock perch distances, a posies reverse eye spring and the Pete & Jakes tube shock kit. Like the original poster, I immediately ran into the problem of the brake drum hitting the shock. My problem is worse because I'm also using Buick brake drums. The solution so far has been to get rid of the Pete & Jakes shackle and replace it with a roadster supply #60712 shackle and then create a triangle shaped bracket to move the shock to the midpoint between the Spring and the Wishbone. Hopefully these pictures make the explanation clear. Credit to my good friend Bob for making up the new bracket in record time. Kirk
I had this issue. Chassis Eng. made triangular shackle plates with a pin for the lower shock mount, mounted similar to the Kirkf setup described above. Worked for me with 4 inch drop axle 16 wheels. Check your shock travel to ensure no shock bottoming out, may require an upper shock mount adjustment, and equalise your steering travel left and right. Good luck.
Thats interesting. I googled up the chassis engineering kit AR-2037 (No longer available) to see how they did theirs. Looks very similar except they put the triangle bracket on both sides and ran a bolt all the way through. I'm surprised they felt they needed that much strength on the shot mount. Their chassis mount is also stronger than the Pete & Jakes using a 3 point mount. Kirk
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