Technical Dog bone shock links

I'm wondering if anyone has ever had any success sectioning these dog bone shock links. I don't like the angle of the shock arm on mine and also I will run out of shock travel if the suspension bottoms out. I'd like to take out an inch or so and just use one bolt to hold it together. I'm ***uming they are cast and skeptical on how they would weld. Thanks in advance

 

Yeah what you have there isn't going to work. Whose spring perches are those. Looks like a Model A frame. I would look for Model A perches. That's quite the notch you have in the frame too. Not sure why you did that??

 

I think they are stamped steel. I had to make mine a bit longer for my custom application and they welded fine.

 

They are original '32 perches with the mechanical brake mount cut off. The frame rails are '32 and the notch is for spring clearance because it has a flat front X-member to lower the front.

 

I don't think you will ever get the correct geometry given the location of the shocks and the lowering.

 

Move the shock bodies up. A lot.

 

Just buy shorter links though I have cut and welded them way back. http://lbcunited.com/earlyford2/index.php/cPath/89_216?osCsid=08783f3cb095fb356150e6ffaac9ea01
Model A pins will get you a tiny bit but then you would have the problem of the shackle hole being 11/16 and your spring being 3/4 and if your happy with drilling it out. Move the shock bodies a bit. Do all 3 and it will be close enough I reckon.

 

Model A perch pins have a shorter shock mount, check them out.
Al.

 

What would happen if he just moved the shock back until the link and shock arm were nearly horizontal? It may look odd and perhaps premature wear of the rubber inside the links?

 

Looks as though it is sitting on wheels with spring loaded, yet the shackles are not where they should be at 45 degrees. You also need to determine where shock is at full compression and full extension in relation to mounting points on axle once ride height is established. Get that sorted first as everything will need to be redone later to correct if not done now otherwise I can see shock bottoming out and something being bent or broken.

 

That notch in the frame just doesn't seem right, for some reason.

 

Fred, what about the notch doesn't seem right? Just curious if you see an issue I don't and I would like to correct it now. Thanks

 

In this pic you can see how flat the front X-member is. Thus the need for the notch and the cause of my shock issue

 

I have used lever type shocks and I prefer to have my shocks back and the attachments on the radius rods. That allows the levers to be level. The one that I am setting up now will have attachment on the inside of the rods. This also helps the front look less busy

 

I don't see any problem taking a section out of the dogbone.
Can you just rotate the shock to center the movement and re mount it to the frame rail?

I also don't see any problem with your crossmember notch, it's not like there is any weight in front of the crossmember.

 

I'll probably end up moving the shock up a couple inches and getting some shorty dog bone links. I'm not to hot on the idea cause I think it takes a little away from the lines of the frame. Here's some mock up pics

 

The pic you posted explains it. I'd just never seen someone notch the frame for clearance.

 

A c notch in the rails for spring travel is about as common as sliced bread guys

 

And yes, you can section the dogbones

 

That might work... You're only talking about a few inches travel, so you don't need a link that long to compensate for the arch of the shock arm...
I think I would have just moved the shock back a bit so the arm was under the perch and you had like a 60 degree down angle to the link and arm, respectively... Again, because there's only a couple inches of travel there, I doubt the link would ever contact the spring.

As for the notch... A notch is fine, but again with the travel involved here, I don't think you need one that deep. They're usually no more than 3/4" from what I've seen.
That said, you probably aren't going to have anything heavier than a license plate riding on the end of those frame horns, so it's probably not a big deal either way.

 

Never seen it before; but I'm still pretty new to this.
Somehow cutting out half the frame with the motor sitting on top makes me nervous.

 

What if you rotated the shock 90 degrees so 1 bolt went through the frame. You could re-clock the arm and get creative for the fluid fill.