iam not sure what has been done here,but would the shocks do better in a more upright position, than at a slant, comments welcome....
I'm not sure what's been done there either. shocks need to be at an angle... I'm thinking a left-right angle rather than a front rear angle. how does it ride and steer? don't fix it if it ain't broke
different manufacturers have different suspensions designs. Ford has two shocks on opposite sides of the axle at different angles. chevy has them going straight up on the smaller designs but they will work up to a certain degree
It looks like a band-aid on a shock that's too long. I couldn't leave it that way if it were mine. I'd install new mounts at both ends with a shock of the correct length and stroke.
Kind of a different way of doing things, but should work just fine. Someone obviously put alot of thought into that long before you could open the TCI catalog and just order everything. Not how I would have done it, but probably far more creative. Unless you determine it's not safe from a welding/fastening standpoint, I would change it a bit.
Short answer would be to put a shock stud on the wishbone and fab an upper mount that looks nice. I can't tell if the headlight is on this mount or not. The bones you have look like late '40s. Is that a shock mount on top behind the perch bolt?
the headlight is not on the mount,well it looks like it was welded or made onto the perch bolt...or it could have came that way, i have no pics of a 41 ford front susp..
Shocks being mounted at an angle that slight isn't a problem at all. Get much more angle than that, and they start to lose effectiveness (dampening quality), I've run across several calculators on the interweb that explain how much effect is lost at a given angle. You can compensate for this with a different shock valve rate, oil height and nitrogen pressure. You wanna see some wonky angles on shocks, take a look at a Baja racer. They'll put some wacky shocks at even wackier angles and pretty high on a control arm to get the super long travel and squish they need to run such high speeds across the desert (some of the Trophy trucks are pushing 140MPH). About the lower tabs, that's an easy enough remedy. You can pick up some tabs at a supplier like A&A Manufacturing and weld them in, or find an appropriate stud, and figure out a way to mout it so that it's in double shear and you're golden.
What Frame Is Under That Car ?? Those Mounts Look Like The Old Aftermrket Kits You Could Buy For A '48 Ford Ch***is, Almost Looks Like That Car Sits On A Similar Ch***is. Lower Mount Looks A Bit Odd But If It Works..... Run It !!
its a shortend 41 ford to 103 wheelbase,when i got the car it had bad side to side movement in the front end while driving it , so i took a panhard bar from a 48 merc, and made a bracket to mount it to the spring shackle, and mounted the other end to the driverside frame, and drives great,iam not shure if thats right but it works....
A Shock Is Designed To Smooth The Ride Not Control It. IF YOUR HAVING ISSUES I WOULD HAVE TO GUESS ITS THE SUSPENSION NOT THE SHOCK???
What you show in your pictures looks like a stock Ford front end of about 1946-48 vintage. I've found this same shock setup on a couple 1940 Fords as well.
it drives great, i just wanted to know what someone did to this frontend thats different from a stock 41 front end,
On my 36 PU I used a longer upper shackel bolt for the lower shock mount. I think Pete and Jake sells the shackel with the longer bolt. BUT you know the old saying " If it isn't broken, don't fix it." If it works for you; screw em if they can't take a joke. RC
I think what you've got there is a stock '40-and-later Ford axle perch bolt, and where there used to be a connecting link for a Houdaille there is now a bolt for your "airplane" shock. The upper mount looks like stock '48 Ford. I think you probably couldn't get any better than this in the function department. But, in the looks department, they aren't so hot. Like the guys have been saying, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
that looks to me like a stock shock set-up (upper mount) from a 47-48 ford..i think its a direct bolt in to the 41....but i could be wrong as i dont have a 41 Zach edit...im too slow!
The shocks will work fine like that. Some guys angle 'em in toward the center of the car with the idea that it works a little like a panhard bar. I've seen 'em run from front to back on cars with a suicide front end. A shock supports more weight the straighter up and down it is, and I've seen 'em layed over as much as 30 degrees. Now its isn't the shocks job to support weight and I wouldn't suggest laying them over to the extreme either but they will work either way. if you crawl under most cars yoyu will see that the shocks lay at an angle of somesort.
in the top pic, where i made the bracket for the panhard bar,would it have been better to used a longer shackle bolt that would let the shock mont there,or bolted the end of the bar to the axle..
I wonder how much shock travel you actually have? It looks like the shock is mounted to a sway bar and is not allowing the shock to work effectively. Is that what you are calling a panhard bar? Edit: Never mind, now I see the wishbone. Well, what was the question? (where's that coffee?) Yeah, move the top shock mount back over the axle.
sorry for the mixup, as for the panhard bar, iam looking for the safest way to mount it, like i have it now, or with the right shackle bolt, or mount the end of the bar to the axle...
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