Rear shock hack job

[kdad]

Jeez some people should not work on these or any vehicle. Glad your getting it all fixed up again.

As for your drawing: You can see that by standing the shock at more of an upright position you will have more dampening as well as less stress on the mounting points. Shocks mounted at a higher degree of angle will get progressively softer on compression which is not recommended. Can you grind off the PO work and go back to stock location? Mounting the shocks more outboard or outside the frame will help reduce body roll and give good stability.

[SkinnyG]

The trailing arms are so long, and the suspension travel so little, that it really isn't going to matter that much. Keep them close to vertical and you will be fine.

Re-draw your picture with a scale length of trailing arm, and draw your dotted arc using the trailing arm pivot as the center point, and you will see what I mean.

[RBW]

Thanks for the input. I'm realizing I've been over thinking the shock location. The point about the wide arc and relatively small amount of travel was a good one. While I'd still prefer to put them forward of the axle, moving them more outboard (even if they're going backward) is probably the more beneficial change compared to where the previous owner had put them. I can use the OEM shock mounts. Just need to re-route the tail pipes, because right now, they're where the shocks would go.

[SkinnyG]

Moving the shocks outboard should allow the shock to give better roll control, and keeping them behind the axle should be better too - a longer shock stroke is easier to control/valve than a shorter stroke, but it's super wee changes on a half ton truck; you're not building a track monster.

On my '61, I will place the shocks behind the axle and outside the frame.

(I'm also really passionate about suspension design)

[RBW]

It looks like the OEM '62 mounts will require some pretty long shocks, even with the 2" drop I'm running. I'm seeing an unusually high degree of variance in the year ranges for shocks that will supposedly fit. For instance, the Truck Shop of Orange Co says their shocks fit from '60 to '72. Classic Parts says theirs fit from '60 to '66 and Performance Online says '60 to '62. Any suggestions or shock lengths would be appreciated.

[theastronaut]

FrizzleFry has the best rear shock relocation solution I've seen. I did this on my '66 and it made a huge difference in how the truck handled compared to my dad's completely stock '66. Check post 11 in this thread for details.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...postid=4730005

[pdxhall]

I agree with John, I did frizzles mod on my truck, also.