Moving Shocks - Dana 70

[Android04]

Good day my friendly truck family. So I've been pondering in my little brain of moving my both rear shocks behind the rear end and moving them straight up and down on my 85 Dually. I did this a couple years ago on my 65 C10 with TW kit and the ride quality was 10x better.

I've been searching online and some of the older Dana Rear ends and haven't seen anything. So I'm considering welding on new shock tabs on the rear end and on the cross bar frame stiffener that I've installed.

Any thoughts? Suggestions? Or does anyone already know of a kit out there?

Just trying to make the dually ride a little better, especially since I drive it nearly daily at this point. Already removed a few leaf springs and the overload spring, and that helped. But for some reason I really think moving the shocks both equally behind the rearend will be game changer.

[SCOTI]

My set-up on the dually is 'custom'. The lower mounts are attached to the lower 4-bar bracket/s & the upper mounts are attached to the main rear crossbeam that bolts to my rails.

I used the original spec shock (I use/like Bilsteins) & set them up to have a slight tilt/angle to them vs straight up & down as that was how the originals were.

My goal was an OE spec'd shock (length; piston volume/travel; & similar angle of installed position). Instead of them tilted fore & aft, they're tilted inward but at a similar degree of tilt. They work good.

I relocated the rear shocks on my '99 OBS crew-cab as well. The distance/angle of each side was not similar & they def didn't have a decent angle once the truck was lowered so I 'fixed' it.

[Android04]

Originally Posted by SCOTI

My set-up on the dually is 'custom'. The lower mounts are attached to the lower 4-bar bracket/s & the upper mounts are attached to the main rear crossbeam that bolts to my rails.

I used the original spec shock (I use/like Bilsteins) & set them up to have a slight tilt/angle to them vs straight up & down as that was how the originals were.

My goal was an OE spec'd shock (length; piston volume/travel; & similar angle of installed position). Instead of them tilted fore & aft, they're tilted inward but at a similar degree of tilt. They work good.

I relocated the rear shocks on my '99 OBS crew-cab as well. The distance/angle of each side was not similar & they def didn't have a decent angle once the truck was lowered so I 'fixed' it.

Thanks Scoti I knew you would reply.

Was it worth the relocation for the ride quality?

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by Android04

Thanks Scoti I knew you would reply.

Was it worth the relocation for the ride quality?

For an apples-to-apples comparison, I feel it was on my OBS 3/4 ton as there was a big diff in angle when comparing the sides (Pass side has more angle). This was made even worse after the drop. Once the angle of the shock is 'too much' the shock really isn't doing much for stabilizing the ride quality or absorbing the road irregularities.

The dually while similar is diff because of the change in position (staggered placement; fore/aft mounting to behind the differential & side to side). The combined changes are notable (*the spring type was also changed so the ride quality was MUCH improved vs original*).

How much better the ride would have been just minimizing the installed angles? I would bet it would be similar to my OBS 3/4 ton since the rear spring & shock set-ups for the squares & OBS body styles are very similar.

[Android04]

Originally Posted by SCOTI

For an apples-to-apples comparison, I feel it was on my OBS 3/4 ton as there was a big diff in angle when comparing the sides (Pass side has more angle). This was made even worse after the drop. Once the angle of the shock is 'too much' the shock really isn't doing much for stabilizing the ride quality or absorbing the road irregularities.

The dually while similar is diff because of the change in position (staggered placement; fore/aft mounting to behind the differential & side to side). The combined changes are notable (*the spring type was also changed so the ride quality was MUCH improved vs original*).

How much better the ride would have been just minimizing the installed angles? I would bet it would be similar to my OBS 3/4 ton since the rear spring & shock set-ups for the squares & OBS body styles are very similar.

Thats what I love to hear! Time to tackle a new project. Thank you sir as always.