Called Gabriel and I have the shortest pin style shocks they make. Looks like I am going to have go with plan B because I installed the shocks, installed bump stops and loaded bed with 400 lbs of weight. I got in bed and jumped up and down to find shocks did bottom out before bump stops hit. Current bump stops are 1 1/2” tall and would need to be another 4” tall to prevent shock from bottoming out. Plus I found that bottom bracket is cracked from mounting hole out to edge of bracket. I am going to design a more robust bottom bracket and install a bolt on or weld on upper stud on front side of rear cross member to accommodate a hoop mount style shock.
I actually own and drive a 34 truck, Get some So cal eye type short shocks. Use GM shock pins. Drill and bolte em through the rear crossmember. A simple mount with a bolt through on the bottom. Measure the distance from the top of the axle to the bump stop. Do the trig to get the amount of travel you actually need. Drill hole in crossmember to suit. Don't guess. Math is your friend. Pin type shocks suck.
He's saying do something like what your "Plan B" would be from post #30. You could fabricate it yourself for less, or pony up the cost to buy that pre-made mount from NZ. You'd use shocks with the highlighted mounting styles from the previously posted Monroe catalog. The aforementioned kit is including the pin like is used by the "Cantilever Pin" type.
Not sure if this helps maybe worth a look. https://www.snydersantiqueauto.com/content/Snyders/Product_PDFs/A-18014.pdf
IF you do go for a spring shackle with a combined shock pin, make sure to get ones for the 'narrower than 35-40 2.5'' rear springs, as the 34 rear spring is i think 2 1/4''
Yes, worth a look. Thanks. My thoughts were similar but making a bracket that consisted of vertical flat plate bolted to inside of rear radius rod bolts with an adapter in pic bolted or welded to it.
@tarheelrodr bad picture but I think you can see what I mean. GM mount through the x member. Eye style shocks. Bottom mount is another GM pin welded to the lower spring plate.
One other thing to consider is that with the shocks at that extreme of an angle they will not do much and will be in a bind with much body roll. If you are going to change them and make stronger mounts you should try to get them as close to a 10 degree angle as possible.
My roadster has a 34 rear axle, the picture is not the greatest, but I made my lower mounts to bolt on though 2 of the backing plte mounting bolts to get them down and at a 10 degree angle. I also much prefer stud mount shocks for movement.
You can repair and strengthen those cracked lower mounts easily by just putting a thick washer over the top and welding around the perimeter of the washer. I've done this on a lot of stud type mounts and they held up for decades. Repairing the lower mount, and building a new upper that is taller and stronger will solve your problem and save you buying new shocks too.
Another great idea….but I already returned shocks to Amazon. I’m going to give it go with the shock pins option and ring or hoop style shocks.
There are different lengths and diameters of shock pind. Get your shocks first to make sure you get the right pins. Also, some shocks include the pins.
Those are the right style mounts. Buy the short shocks first. I like the Pete and Jakes version. A shade more travel and not gas charged. But I've got so cal on my truck and they work fine. Once you have the shocks then figure out where the mounts have to be. TIP: the flared end of the covered shocks tends to want to interfere with everything back there, but the cover is nice to save rock chips on the shaft.
I’ve got P&J shortys for the front (1084 ones without the top cover) and I was using one of them yesterday to play around with mock up on the rear. I noticed that the shaft was very close to the lip on the rear crossmember and if I had the covered shocks it would hit the lip unless I ground the lip for clearance. I’m going to look at P&J and so cal shocks today to figure out which set to order. question on the upper and lower shock pin; is it critical for the upper and lower pin to be parallel to each other or can they slightly misaligned ie less than 5*? Or in other words the shock eyes slightly askew from each other?
The shock mounting pins will only be parallel at one point it the suspension travel, due to body roll and the arc that the radius rods move in. A bit like a stopped clock is right twice a day. Just set them near as parallel you can get them with the car at ride height and that'll do.
I used these: https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/banjo-ford-shock-mounts.1241485/#post-14844654 My only hitch was not considering the angle of the upper crossmember. My shocks ended up about 32 degrees from vertical, or about 85% which I'm fine with. The angle looks more extreme in the pics. I had quite a time finding the right shocks. Ended up with NAPA heavy duty gas shocks. All in I have about $120 in all 4 shocks plus the mounts gig above.
those are nice. I may consider them as plan C, haha, if what I planning to fab doesn’t pan out. I am curious on a measurement on those. Can you give me the measurement from bottom backing plate bolt center to shock pin center on that bracket? I assume top shock mount is a weld on or bolt on pin attached to crossmember?
The pins don't have to be perfect, that's why they have rubber bushings. With your parallel leaf rear the angle between them doesn't change drastically. And having them at an angle helps control body roll, which is a good thing. In reality you are likely dealing with a suspension with less than 5" total movement. A lot of what has been posted here become sort of irrelevant based on the small fractional changes. Compare this to an off road vehicle with 10" of up travel and 30" of articulation and it becomes more critical. Get it close. Make sure nothing rubs or hits, make the mounts stout and you will be fine.
The lowers are longer than the OEM Ford mounts that work the same way. I may be at my shop later and I'll shag some basic measures. The upper is pretty stout stud mount. In my build thread I talk about how I had to pinch the crossmember to get them square. In my case I had to grind a wee bit from the axle side of the lower mount. It may fit an earlier bell without grinding, and it wasn't much, less than a 1/16 so the bolts lined up. Saved a lot of fab and search time.
Ok gents, made a template from 1/4” plywood to mock up my lower shock mount plate with the shock adapter bolted to it (it will be welded to plate when design is finalized). Used my front P&J shorty shock from the front for mock up. Just clamped the top of the shock to the crossmember using spacers so shock shaft would clear edge of crossmember. It is clamped on crossmember 6” inboard from vertical side of frame rail. This design puts the shock mounts at 12” apart at ride height. P&J shorty shocks are installed half extended, so I should get 2.5” compression and 2.5” extended with these shocks, right? They have 5” stroke, 9 1/4” collapsed length, 14 1/4” extended. I will remeasure compressed and extended gaps tomorrow based on new mounting points. also should I add gussets from the plate to both sides of the the u shaped shock adapter? See pic with blue triangle added to image.
That’s kinda what I did for the lower mounts on my sedan, except I didn’t use the ready-made U bracket. I just welded a tang made of 1/2” to the bolt-on upright like you made. Mine has a gusset in the inner angle, pointing forward. Then one of those universal shock studs like you pictured above bolts to the tang. My bracket is perfectly aligned with the axle both front to back and side to side. No need to take the easy way out and have to live with the bad angle. I did bend the lip on my crossmember so the shock could fit tighter to it. Not much room between the axle and crossmember there, and I didn’t want the shock angle to be wrong.
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