I have been looking for a different front shock for my '37 Chevrolet truck, it has gasmatic tube shocks on it now that fit on the rear of a Pinto, the length, travel, and mounting type fit the room I have. So instead of changing shocks, I want to change the mounting angle. I have read through a lot of post and came across this older one, question-about-mounting-rear-shocks.1024223 that has a chart ( shocks-jpg.3257177 ) that shows how the mounting angle decreases the dampening ability of the shocks. The '37 Chevy truck front leaf springs are mounted with the shackles to the front and the pivot bolt to the rear. Knowing that, does it matter to the shock which way I lean it, forwards or backwards? Joe NOTE: The shackles are now longer then the ones in the photos, I needed to raise the front slightly.
As for the shackles, you may want to rethink that method of raising the front end as the longer shackle will reduce your caster , maybe only slightly. I would make a spacer for between the axle and spring and use longer u-bolts, that will keep your geometry in spec. As for the shocks, unless there is an issue with travel length, running them straight up and down isn't an issue. I ran my front shocks like that on my 36 pickup for many miles without issue. Just my thoughts, Mitch.
The issue is finding softer shocks, I believe they are to stiff, and with the limited space, these are the only ones that fit. If I lean them forward 20 or 25 degrees, it would soften them. The shackles are only a 1" or less longer, had to raise the ride hight so the springs wouldn't bottom on the frame rails. I bought new springs with a softer spring rate, and they would bottom out on speed humps or large pot holes. With the slightly longer shackles, that went away. Raising the spring off the axle would leave me with the same problem with spring and frame rail. Joe
Get your shock length at ride height, the weight of your vehicle and call these guys, I bet they will have a shock ready made for your application or can build one for you. A lot better than fabing new shocks mount and guessing at a shock. https://www.qa1.net/suspension/stre...ruts-and-pro-coil-systems/custom-mount-shocks
If it was mine I would be looking for a set of top and bottom brackets from a 50-54 chevy truck they angle forward and mount almost like what you have
The Jalopy Journal
