1982 C/K 6.0L Caitlyn Mall Crawler (Interior time)

[Babaganoosh]

Sounds like a good idea, I have never taken apart a spring pack before any tips? I would assume take the center pin out, and bend the piece that prevents them from fanning out.


What is the proper angle on how to mount a shock? Straight up and down laid in towards the engine?


Thanks guys!

 

[max 02]

Sounds like a good idea, I have never taken apart a spring pack before any tips? I would assume take the center pin out, and bend the piece that prevents them from fanning out.


What is the proper angle on how to mount a shock? Straight up and down laid in towards the engine?


Thanks guys!

Hold the springs together with some C clamps before you take out the centre pin!

 

[miniwally]

Sounds like a good idea, I have never taken apart a spring pack before any tips? I would assume take the center pin out, and bend the piece that prevents them from fanning out.


What is the proper angle on how to mount a shock? Straight up and down laid in towards the engine?


Thanks guys!

Clamp the springs together, loosen center pin, remove, slowly remove clamp. Also assuming you have spread the clamps.

FYI I think you did your trig wrong. I get 45.58" for the shackle hanger location.

Bottom leg 49" This is your spring length when full compressed and flat
Right leg 4" Shackle length.

Inside angle on the right side of the triangle is 30 degrees.

Yields 45.58" long third leg of the triangle. Which is the length you would measure from the center of your main eye to the center of the frame side shackle hanger.

This is assuming a 4" long shackle angle. I used this website.

http://ostermiller.org/calc/triangle.html

45.58" sounds much better.



I entered Stephens 52" spring example in and got 50" so it's right in there. It drops some parts of the smaller diminsions.

Edit: Figured out that website wants you to enter a bunch of numbers so 49" isn't 49 IT'S really 49.00000 Do that for all the entries and you get more accurate results.

 

[Babaganoosh]

Thanks for the recommendation. I will be using a 6 inch shackle.

Does the 49 inches sound right the way I measured? I really have no clue what I'm doing if you guys can't tell...

 

[miniwally]

You are measuring the spring correctly to get it's overall length. You need to know how long it is when it's flat, 49" sounds about right for one of Stephens springs.

I am not sure what your after for Shackle angle honestly. I think? you want 30 degrees off of the spring when it's flat at full compression. Is that what your after? Or do you want 30 degrees at ride height?


Did Stephen design in any negative arch?

With the 6" shackle you have 43.906 in the calc. I used. Same as you came up with.
IF you want a 30 degree shackle angle when the spring is flat.

Edit: Keep in mind that there is a vertical component to this that I am not sure how to take into account. I know the Trig is right, you need to put the center of the shackle hanger at 43.906" back from the center of the front main hanger. BUT at what elevation do you mount it in the frame. You might have to mount it as low as it will go and also turn that 43.906" number into say 44.5" just to get the spring to not hit the frame. I would pull a pack apart, throw the main leaf in and set it flat across the two bolt. SLip a piece of something between the spring eye at the back of the frame to give you spring to frame clearance 3/8"??? then see what a 30 degree angel gives you for a vertical elevation and location back from the front eye.

Honestly I just use the dimensions Stephen says I should use and I haven't installed a shackle hanger in well maybe forever? No I take that back I put the SAS kit on the UA truck but I just used the measurement that was handed to me.

Shocks are most effective mounted vertical, right next to the tire. You won't get both of those but keep them as far out board as you can and as close to vertical as you can.

 

[82355]

I also forgot to mention this is the hi lift jack I have, not sure if it's going to work to compress the springs but I will play with it.

Seems it's missing some pieces but it will go in both directions with a flip.

That is not a high lift jack. That is an old bumper jack from a car from the 60's-70's. A lug wrench will slip right into the handle, try it.

Martin

 

[Babaganoosh]

You are measuring the spring correctly to get it's overall length. You need to know how long it is when it's flat, 49" sounds about right for one of Stephens springs.

I am not sure what your after for Shackle angle honestly. I think? you want 30 degrees off of the spring when it's flat at full compression. Is that what your after? Or do you want 30 degrees at ride height?


Did Stephen design in any negative arch?

With the 6" shackle you have 43.906 in the calc. I used. Same as you came up with.
IF you want a 30 degree shackle angle when the spring is flat.

Edit: Keep in mind that there is a vertical component to this that I am not sure how to take into account. I know the Trig is right, you need to put the center of the shackle hanger at 43.906" back from the center of the front main hanger. BUT at what elevation do you mount it in the frame. You might have to mount it as low as it will go and also turn that 43.906" number into say 44.5" just to get the spring to not hit the frame. I would pull a pack apart, throw the main leaf in and set it flat across the two bolt. SLip a piece of something between the spring eye at the back of the frame to give you spring to frame clearance 3/8"??? then see what a 30 degree angel gives you for a vertical elevation and location back from the front eye.

Honestly I just use the dimensions Stephen says I should use and I haven't installed a shackle hanger in well maybe forever? No I take that back I put the SAS kit on the UA truck but I just used the measurement that was handed to me.

Shocks are most effective mounted vertical, right next to the tire. You won't get both of those but keep them as far out board as you can and as close to vertical as you can.

Stephen recommended a 30 degree angle or a bit less. I'm not sure what he designed these, I told him what I wanted and he looked off his chart. I told him I wanted a nice cushy ride with lots of travel and the ability to tow another vehicle on a trailer.

If I'm understanding you correctly, you are saying drill the 2 inch hole for the bushing at around 44.5 inches? This weekend I plan on taking the pack apart and measuring and seeing what I can come up with. If I can get a 30 degree angle with about 3/8ths frame clearance drill and call it a day?

 

[Babaganoosh]

That is not a high lift jack. That is an old bumper jack from a car from the 60's-70's. A lug wrench will slip right into the handle, try it.

Martin

Yes, I had no idea about this until XJAbuzer mentioned it to me earlier this morning. It's been in the family for years and I have yet to see it be used.

 

[XJAbuzer]

Yes, I had no idea about this until XJAbuzer mentioned it to me earlier this morning. It's been in the family for years and I have yet to see it be used.

I only knew because my parents had one for their 1974 Monte Carlo. Looks like you are missing the base plate. Like 82355 said, the lug wrench was the handle.

 

[andyblack]

I had an old bumper jack like that in my '70 Cadillac. It had air bag suspension and if you wanted to change the tire, you had to literally use all the travel the jack had to unload the suspension and get the tire high enough to remove it. I mean it had like 2' of droop. I suppose that's why it rode like...well, a Cadillac. There is a steel baseplate that goes on the bottom of it that you remove to stow the jack. The curved piece would hook under the steel bumper and your lug wrench that came in the trunk would be used to work the jack.

 

[miniwally]

Stephen recommended a 30 degree angle or a bit less. I'm not sure what he designed these, I told him what I wanted and he looked off his chart. I told him I wanted a nice cushy ride with lots of travel and the ability to tow another vehicle on a trailer.

If I'm understanding you correctly, you are saying drill the 2 inch hole for the bushing at around 44.5 inches? This weekend I plan on taking the pack apart and measuring and seeing what I can come up with. If I can get a 30 degree angle with about 3/8ths frame clearance drill and call it a day?

I Think???? You are going to end up putting the shackle hanger where it will fit in the frame. I don't think you will have exactly 30 degrees or exactly 43.906".

Break the pack apart and see what you can do is what I'm saying. YOu might hit one of those numbers dead on and be close to the other. It's not the end of the world if it isn't perfect, it's a leaf spring on a truck and it will work and ride nicely either way.

 

[Babaganoosh]

Yes I know what you mean, I will try my best to get it as close as possible.
Thank you for your help it is much appreciated. Sunday and Monday I will be attempting this.

 

[Babaganoosh]

Got to take the leaf spring apart the center pin needs replaced for some reason the threads came out on the nut...

Looks like I got plenty of room for the shackle. for a 30 degree angle, 44inches and 3/4 with 3/8 frame clearance for the shackle to hit.

What do you guys think? Drill it?

 

[ktmoutfront]

You've been thinking about it enough. Do something already.

The leaf does not look completely flat. You might want to strip it down to just the main leaf.

 

[82355]

You didn't try pulling the spring pack together with the center pin, did you? It is not meant for that, and it will strip it.

Martin

 

[plyr2k]

With the leafs just hanging, no weight from top or pulling from bottom, set the shackle at about 90-80 degrees. So straight up and down or slightly laid back, ive done this numerous times and always came out with the right angle.

I honestly feel like this topic is being way way over processed.

 

[andyblack]

You didn't try pulling the spring pack together with the center pin, did you? It is not meant for that, and it will strip it.

Martin

What do you mean by this? You mean to keep the spring pack together with c-clamps and then put the center pin in place?

Baba, have you done like everyone said and read Jekbrown's article in the Tech Articles on the CK5 home page? He shows you pretty much exactly where to put the mounts and what his shackle angle ends up being. He apparently had to do some figuring to find out where to drill the hole (not nearly as much as you're doing) and he came up with this:

"In any case, the end result is a bracket that is approximately 2.75" further forward on the frame than stock."

Read the article and look at the pics. Get a good quality 1.75" hole saw and go to work. Don't worry about what time it is or what the neighbors will think. Just get on it and do it. The next pic you post should be of that spring mounted up in it's final position. We don't want to see pics of anything else or read anymore questions. Now get busy!

 

[82355]

What do you mean by this? You mean to keep the spring pack together with c-clamps and then put the center pin in place?

Yes. Or even if you take the spring pack apart, pull it together with c-clamps, and then install the center pin.

Martin

 

[Babaganoosh]

You've been thinking about it enough. Do something already.

The leaf does not look completely flat. You might want to strip it down to just the main leaf.

It was darn near flat, the truck started shifting and making odd noises. Going up that high making it unsafe for my tastes. Stripping down the leafs is a pain in the butt, I felt I could get it flat without taking the extra ones out.

With the leafs just hanging, no weight from top or pulling from bottom, set the shackle at about 90-80 degrees. So straight up and down or slightly laid back, ive done this numerous times and always came out with the right angle.

I honestly feel like this topic is being way way over processed.

I tried that before and the springs hit the frame, maybe these are to soft for that and it ended up costing me $150 to get the frame re welded. I'm just trying to prevent that and not have to take steps back to go forward.

What do you mean by this? You mean to keep the spring pack together with c-clamps and then put the center pin in place?

Baba, have you done like everyone said and read Jekbrown's article in the Tech Articles on the CK5 home page? He shows you pretty much exactly where to put the mounts and what his shackle angle ends up being. He apparently had to do some figuring to find out where to drill the hole (not nearly as much as you're doing) and he came up with this:

"In any case, the end result is a bracket that is approximately 2.75" further forward on the frame than stock."

Read the article and look at the pics. Get a good quality 1.75" hole saw and go to work. Don't worry about what time it is or what the neighbors will think. Just get on it and do it. The next pic you post should be of that spring mounted up in it's final position. We don't want to see pics of anything else or read anymore questions. Now get busy!

I have read jeks tech article, but the problem I see is he has 52's and I have stock length 49 inch springs and possibly a different length shackle.

Either way I will come up with something cool to post today that isn't the same old thing.

 

[andyblack]

Yeah I remembered that after I made that post. Oops. Sorry. I would say just drill the hole three inches closer in, but we both know that may or may not be right.

You got this man. You're making good progress.