Front shock relocating bracket

[Cricket59]

Hey guys I'm lowering a 70 c10 short box with 2" under stock Springs and 2.5" drop spindles. Installed 1.25" sway bar and of course disc brake conversion. Now comes the new shocks! The springs, shocks, adjustable pan hard bar and relocating brackets for shocks all came in a kit. The last thing I have to do is install the shocks with new brackets in place. Here comes my problem, I've got the truck up in the air on the lift and the new shocks will not reach the newly relocated brackets on top of the frame rail just above the original mounting point. My thoughts are the shocks should fit on with no load weight on the springs. Am I right or wrong? If I put a weight load to it they will fit but I'm afraid if the front end comes up for some reason it will just tear the shocks apart. Any help would be appreciated.

[Trevor]

No, you're right - shocks should Never bottom-out or fully-extend, that's what bump stops are for.

If you have bump stops (both upper and lowers) ? Then you're needing different shocks, or you need to skip the relocators.

Proper (not 'what you can get away with') shock fitment allows for full suspension travel, shock and suspension manufacturers/engineers recommend no closer than 1" to full-travel at either end of it's stroke, under driving conditions bump stops do compress after all, so any closer than that 1" and ... well ...

[Cricket59]

Thanks for confirming my thoughts Trevor. I'll either use the original mounting studs or source some longer shocks. I do like the idea of putting a better angle on the shocks with the relocation brackets though. I think they probably pulled the wrong shocks off the shelf for this kit. I'll take that issue up with the supplier.

[seafoam68]

This is the same drop I did but I didnt know about a shock relocating kit. I used "drop shocks" from CPP for the recommended inches of drop on the stock mounting bolt with a reinforcement bracket.

[Cricket59]

The shocks I have would work on the original shock studs but I've never heard of a reinforcement bracket?? That's what the supplier did was send me the shorter shocks that work with original mounting locations instead of a shock that works with the relocating brackets. I liked the idea of using these brackets because the stud bolts ovaled out one side of the trucks frame rail mounting point. Any info on the reinforcement bracket is appreciated.

[Trevor]

I'm doing a ground up resto on my 71, trying to keep it as factory original as possible.
One of the few things I'm going to do up front is a 2-1/2" drop spindle and so will use a stock length shock with the stock mounts. Even though my upper mount holes survived their first 45 years unaffected (still like new) when I found out about these reinforcement brackets it was a no-brainer, they immediately went on my small list of 'upgrades'.

These particular pics are of the CPP version, other vendors sell them too and apparently the 4x4s came with these from factory.