I got the new upper and lower shock mounts in place as well as shock in. I know I asked about shock mount pins/ bolts being lined up but here is a visual what it looks like from the top of the shock slightly in board of the shock so the bottom bolt can be seen. I can get actual measurements tomorrow of the difference in degrees. How does it look?
I am not a chassis engineer, but I play one on TV. I don't think the shocks are going to care that those bolts are not parallel. They may care how upright they are. It looks like they are rather vertical but it may just be the camera angle.
I tend to think it will be fine. It's not ideal but with the limited suspension travel our cars have you won't notice. The shock rod piston assembly will twist on itself slightly and take up the difference. If your worried about it pull the spring shackles and cycle the suspension. First the entire axle then one side at a time.
it is camera angle. During the mock up stage, I think I measured angle in the 10-15 degree range. I’ll try cycling the suspension once I get both shocks bolted in securely.
I will look at this but there might be a clearance problem between axle tube and crossmember if I bend plate correctly to get shock pins parallel to each.
Recycling the suspension by hand won't tell you much. Sudden hard compressions such going over potholes or railroad tracks is where the problem with them not being parallel will show up if there is one.
To be on the safe side, you could ask a professional and not the internet. QA1 has a great tech line, I am sure others do as well. The aesthetics side of my brain says I would build them parallel to each other, but the logic center of my brain cannot come up with any reason that matters. The people that made the shock would let you know if they be clocked like that.
Both..... The bolts/pins should be perpendicular to the axle's arc of travel during suspension cycling. And, it just looks better.....
Think about what's *inside* a shock absorber. They should not be welded on. Both, but mainly the second. Anything that doesn't put the pivots points of the shock absorber parallel to each other will introduce a bind as the shock extends/compresses. Would it be enough to matter? Maybe, maybe not; but since he's still at the stage where he can do something about it, why not build it correctly?
I can’t wrap my head around the shock caring. The operating shaft will go in and out of the mounts are the same or not.
There's more than enough compliance in those shock bushings to more the. Make up for the misalignment . Every truck arm / radius rod/ split bone that travels in an arc sees that much misalignment in every suspension cycle . AFA welding on the shaft end of a shock , seriously , the heat isn't significant enough to cause a metallurgical problem ( unless you don't know what your doing welding ,) IMO..
Hydraulic shocks don't have a lot of pressure in them. If you weld on them and it doesn't work they just leak. Torn the eye off one on my jeep. Took it off welded the eye back on with stick welder. Kept it as cool as possible. Lasted for years. Some guys make up problems for every solution....
Those stem style shocks have been returned….so no cutting and welding going on with them. ….and I got the bottom shock mounting plates bent and aligned with the upper shock pins. Pictures to come later today if I get out to the garage.
Good call. You want mounts parallel for all reasons, aesthetics being last on the list. Just because we don't see or perceive it doesn't mean a measure of arc travel isn't one of the movements. It is.
Shocks are back in. 2 1/2” of shock shaft exposed at ride height so I should have 2 1/2” each way (compression/extension) I measure them at 20 degrees. They look fine to me. Guess truth will come out when I drive it sometime next year.
To illustrate for the subsequent commentary, see attached screenshots. These are modeled to approximate dimensions for a '32 rear suspension. One set with fully parallel mounts, the other with lower mounts parallel to the to the radius rods in one direction and the ground plane in the other. Bushings only have limited amount of compliance, and there is more movement to a shock absorber than simply the shaft moving in/out of the body as the suspension articulates. Every degree of misalignment between the pivots will increase the amount of bind in the bushing. Once the bushing reaches its maximum amount of deflection any stress due to the misalignment will then be directed into the mount, the rod of the shock, the weld retaining the bushing sleeve to the shock body, etc. A stud will have a larger range of motion than an eyelet - with exception of rotationally around the eyelet's axis. The amount of deflection when at full compression and rebound will be even greater than when at the nominal position if ideally installed. Every degree of misalignment is going to work against the effectiveness of the damper. Putting the damper into a bind from the start only further reduces that effectiveness. There's a reason why you don't see OEMs mounting their eyelets in misalignment. Fun fact: Shocks have two ends and some are filled with pressurized gas rather than oil. Superheating a gas in a cylinder can potentially create an over-pressurization situation that results in steel becoming shrapnel. Why risk it?
Oh I understand all of what you said, he has a maximum of 2.5” of suspension travel, I’m guessing there will be more then enough bushing deflection to deal with the very limited movement
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