ford 9 in Shock relocation

[73kay]

OK,

So I fabbed up some 3in drop blocks for my 53 with a ford 9 in rear end. Now I gotta get some shocks for it. My plans were to cut on the original ford shock mount and mount it on the outside of the frame to match the stock mount closer to the wheel. But now I am wondering after doing some research, should I also change the frame mount angle to a more vertical stance?

I have removed 2 leaf springs from the front and rear for now and the rear have 3 inch drop blocks. Thanks for your input.

[dsraven]

firstly, it is hard to tell by the pics but,I am just wondering if you have built any angle into your blocks. you need to keep the pinion angle roughly the opposite of the trans angle. otherwise you may end up with a vibration and premature u joint wear. usually the trans and engine are angled down 3deg (you would have to check to see what yours is set at) so you would need to maintain a 3 deg upward angle on the pinion. these 2 angles cancell each other out so no vibration.
another thing to check is the clearance abve the frame. you wouldn't wanna bottom out the axle against the frame, there are some really good suspension snubber blocks found on late model pick up. mine are from an s10. you could mount them up to absorb some of the travel just before the axle would bottom. on my 03 avalanche the snubbers run with about 1/2" 0f free play between the snubber and the axle. they start to ride on the axle without much suspension travel and they are progressive so they don't really do much as they are first contacted but the beehive shape makes them harder to squash as they are compressed. maybe just what you need since you have removed some spring and lowered the truck. make sense?
on the shocks, it would be nice to have the shocks work in a straight on angle with the diff, so as the diff moves up and down the shock only has to travel in and out with no real turning motion at the mounts. especially with the stud type of mount that you appear to have there at the top of the shock. that said, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. mine are angled forward more than I would like but have the eyelet style of mount so they turn on the shaft of the mount.

[mr48chev]

Most of us get rid of the old shock mounts and install a crossmember behind and above the axle and run the shocks pretty much like you see on later model leaf spring rigs.

There are a couple of build threads on here that have great rear axle installs and simple but quite functional rear shock mounting setups.


Hopefully you intend to pull the axle back out and finish welding the spring pads and cut the scab brackets off to clean it up a bit and keep what serves as welds now from breaking when you put some torque to it. I'd have to go down and slide under my mom's Ford pickup but I don't think those brackets would work to install shocks on the AD unless you had real short shocks making them serve no purpose for being there.

[Zooms_58_Fleetside]

Originally Posted by mr48chev

Hopefully you intend to pull the axle back out and finish welding the spring pads and cut the scab brackets off to clean it up a bit and keep what serves as welds now from breaking when you put some torque to it.

I've welded a few of those spring perches on Chevy and Ford rear ends over the years. Not to be critical, but those welds definitely need to be burned in better. Especially if you have a motor that puts out decent power. That setup might just move around on you anyway.

[dsraven]

yup, same on the welds. burn em in a bit better but be carefull not to weld too much at a time and warp the axle tubes.

[73kay]

Thanks for the input guys. I just tached them for now to make sure my angles were good. I have a habit of not measuring twice tach once. Lol I put the angle into the spring perch so I don't have to worry about it in the lift blocks.

So you guys think the stock frame shock location works ok? It's one of those things that "while your in there, you might as well..."

[dsraven]

kinda hard to tell from the close quarters of the pic. if you had it on stands and took the tire off, then set a piece of wood or something in there so we could really see, then it would be a better opinion.

[mr48chev]

Tire clearance could be an issue with them on the outside of the frame with some tire and wheel combinations.