Back in 41, Henry decided that wrapping rubber around a buggy spring would make a fine and dandy dampener. Well 60 years later it still kind of dampens, but not much any more. I decided to buy a modern front shock kit from Chassis Engineering for a 40 Ford and give that a shot. The 41 pickups have 40 frames, so I thought it would be fine. After receiving the kit, I realized I didn't read the fine print: "Will not work with stock torsion bar installed". Whoops. They're right. All the holes for the fluid type shocks are there on my frame and would work just fine with the kit, but the torsion bar is right in the path of where the shock wants to go. So I made my own setup rather than return the whole thing or buy fluid shocks for $160-$200 a piece. That price is just for the fluid shock mechanism, it does not include the swing arm or connecting rods! The finished product looks like this: Since I could not mount the bottom of the shock at the spring shackle like the kit called for, I decided to use the stock shock linkage hole that would have been used on a 40 passenger car I believe. This requires a higher upper shock mount than the kit provided. Steps follow. 1. Remove the torsion bar linkage. Be careful! That torsion bar is under load if the car is raised and the axle is allowed to hang. Raise the axle as far as it will go before removing the torsion linkage. I have a very banged up finger because I didn't figure this out the first time. When I got the linkage free the torsion bar flew upward and smashed right into my hand. Linkage: 2. Grind off part of the linkage to make room for the lower shock mount. The diameter of the lower shock mount is too large to fit, so grind out the following portion. You can see the ground off section in the above pic also. 3. File out the tapered hole on the lower shock mount just a bit. This tapered hole is for the stock shock linkage, but if you open it up just a bit a 1/2" bolt fits just fine. 4. Extend the upper shock mount. Since I was now mounting the lower portion of the shock at a higher point than the kit was set up for, I had to lengthen the upper shock mount arms. Cut a piece of 1.5" x 1/4" steel to a 5" length. Drill two 7/16" holes 4" apart. Mount the extensions with a star washer to keep the extensions from moving. Welding would be a good option here too. I had to buy a new upper shock mount bolt that was 1/2" longer than the one provided with the kit. 5. Mount the shock. Use a 1/2" x 4" bolt and a couple washers with a nylock. 6. Drill mounting holes with shock mounted so that you can find a proper mounting point. Make sure there is equal distance on each side of the shock when the upper mount is bolted in. Be very precise here. See above pic again. 7. Put it all together. The upper shock mount from Chasis Engineering is offset so their kit will work. Well, with my setup I needed something centered, so I made up the space with washers. And that's it. It's working well, and the truck handles much better. Mike
As a general statement, usually mount your shocks at a 30 degree angle to help control body roll and weld (not bolt) your upper mount extension
[ QUOTE ] As a general statement, usually mount your shocks at a 30 degree angle to help control body roll and weld (not bolt) your upper mount extension [/ QUOTE ] I'm keeping an eye on the bolted mounts a this point. Nothing is moving. I'll probably weld up the mounts and remove the bolts at some point. The shocks are at about a 15 deg angle. You should have felt the body roll before I did this.
Mike, I have some constructive criticism about the design of your extension brackets. They are not constrained -- your design will allow them to pivot around the bolt indicated in the picture below with a green arrow. Right now, you are relying on the friction between the metal plates to prevent them from rotating. Over time, the cyclic force of the shock moving up and down will loosen the bolt and wear down the surface between the extension brackets and the original bracket, allowing the extension brackets to rotate freely. I see two solutions: cut new longer brackets that will pick up the lower bolt hole (shown in blue below), or weld the extension brackets to the existing one. In all though, it looks like clean work and a marked improvement over the laughable factory dampening! Ed
Hey Ed, I knew I'd get dinged on this by you guys, since it was the one thing bugging me about my design. I did use both bolt holes at first, but the lower bolt head came dangerously close to the shock, so I got rid of the lower bolt to maintain clearance. I will weld this. It was getting dark and cold, so I used a star style lock washer between the extension and the bracket. My truck still doesn't fit by my damned low hanging garage door, so all work has to be done outside until the door is remedied. As a note, the bottom of the shock is mounted such that the top can only rotate so far away or towards the fender well, so the amount of rotational force applied to the top is minimal, but I know that over time things will probably move. Thanks for the input. I don't mind people adding their 2 cents. You have to expect that if you post something here. I think its cool that you took the time to Photoshop/Paint a solution. Mike
[ QUOTE ] I think its cool that you took the time to Photoshop/Paint a solution. [/ QUOTE ] I'm at work... don't worry about it
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