54 chevy rear leaf trouble

I am putting a chassis engineering rear leaf kit in my 54 210 Chevy and have ran into problems. Here is what I have, I installed the leaf mounts per directions, installed rear end, measured wheelbase. I have 115 inches. Installed upper shock mount 2 1/2 inches forward to rear bump stop rivet. Now my problem is the upper shock mount and rear mount on rear end do not line up. The upper mount is too far forward, making the shock angle forward to the rear end. Has anyone else experienced this problem, any suggestion on solution. Thanks

 

No rockstars that have run into this on a 54?

 

pictures might help. hard to figure what's up.

 

Any chance you installed the upper bar 180 out ??

 

It's been a long time since I did the CE kit on my old 52 sedan, but it seems like the 53-54 frames needed more adjustment on that upper mount than the 49-52's did. My own theory is that the dies and jigs that the factory used to build the 53-4's were starting to get worn and sloppy after being used for 4 years already.

Are you trying to line up the shocks with the weight of the car on the axle, or with the rear axle hanging down? You'll need the weight of the car pushing down on the springs to get it to line up. Also, work the shock onto both top and bottom at the same time. Tryng to put the shock all the way on one part will not work well when you try to put it on the other.

And if they are a little off, the bushings will take up *some* of the misalignment.

 

Come to think of it, this could really be. The upper bar doesn't mount to a level part of the frame, so that could throw it way off.

And don't forget to finish the welds on that one side of that upper bar. They aren't finished at the factory (by design). Or at least they used to be like that.

 

Body is off frame. Wheels are on the ground but no real weight on it. The studs on the bottom mount to the upper mount stud location in off about 3 1/2 inches. Mount is installed correct ( side that shock mounts to has mounting stubs on it). Really stuck, called CE today they said to move upper mount reward, said years varied but I would think they would as much as I have in difference. If I do that I will have to remove bump stops to get shocks not leaning forward at the top. I have CE lowering leafs, would that make a difference? Thanks for the input

 

I am experiencing the same issue currently with my 53 chevy and CE suspension. Was there ever a solution to this that didnt require moving the shock mount?

 

I had a 52 chevy and used stock springs. When I used a 56 rearend to center the wheel don,t remember, but think it has to go forward to center wheel.
Is there anyway your springs are on backwards.

 

The wheels are perfectly lined up with the wheel wells. I am trying to avoid moving the upper shock mount bar rearward because of the reason 63bigbird stated in his last post. I am using the CE springs as well with the corrcet installation. Maybe extending the bottom shock mount bolt by welding in a coupling nut and some threaded rod?

 

Just move the mount where it needs to go. That is what we did on mine.

 

This may sound stupid but you said that there was barely any weight on the springs. Are the shackels flipped the right way? Without a pic its hard to tell whats up.