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89 k5 Trazer build "The Dirty Girl" *Tubed front/taper, full hydro steer*

Ok well I think I am going to have to make some rough tabs for the frame end and tack weld all the tabs. Then cycle the suspension and make sure everything clears. But that will have to wait till next weekend, it really sux not having the truck at my house :(
 
Nice work man! I feel for you, i have to drive all the way to my dads garage to work on my truck and never get as much done as i wanted to.
 
cycling the suspension is going to tell you a lot. I can't see there being enough room to mount it between the frame and steering shaft and not have it rub something.
 
As Vice-President of the Trazer Militia, I vote the 2nd or 3rd way. I like the tabs being utilized cause I have some sitting on my bench that still need to be mounted as well. Haahah. That and I can copy your hoop when its done. :wink1:
 
Cycling your suspension will tell you how you'll have to do it.

But here's my opinion, stay on the outside of your steering shaft. There's very little room in between and I'd guess that it would get pinched, bent or knock out your steering. That would suck:laugh: If you're not running inner wheel wells it won't be that difficult to fab up an upper shock hoop. Or if you have an idea, I'm sure someone can build one for you.


Brett
 
gmc4cw said:
cycling the suspension is going to tell you a lot. I can't see there being enough room to mount it between the frame and steering shaft and not have it rub something.
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I see what you are saying and the more I think about the more I'm sure that the upper end will be outside the steering shaft.

mrdrinksalil said:
As Vice-President of the Trazer Militia, I vote the 2nd or 3rd way. I like the tabs being utilized cause I have some sitting on my bench that still need to be mounted as well. Haahah. That and I can copy your hoop when its done. :wink1:
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Lol ok buddy I'll let ya copy.
Stomper said:
Cycling your suspension will tell you how you'll have to do it.

But here's my opinion, stay on the outside of your steering shaft. There's very little room in between and I'd guess that it would get pinched, bent or knock out your steering. That would suck:laugh: If you're not running inner wheel wells it won't be that difficult to fab up an upper shock hoop. Or if you have an idea, I'm sure someone can build one for you.


Brett
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Yea that would suck. I probably won't be running the stock wheel wells more likely some rubber mating cut to fit. I don't own a bender....yet, but I could make a hoop out of conduit and then take it to the local fab shop, they just recently bought a bender from The Badlands machine shop. I also have a pair of f-250 shock towers, I'll see if those might help me out.

Now for making a shock hoop, what kinda material should I use? what thickness? Does it need to be a thick material? Because last time I was at the junkyard I picked up a pair of seatbelt mounting hoops from an Izusu Amigo. They mount on the rear wheelwell and have the upper seatbelt mount for the rear passengers. I'm not sure how thick the tubing is, I will cut a piece off this weekend and take a look.
 
You'd be amazed at the leverage that is applied against an upper shock mount (or hoop) especially an extended one.

My vote is to put the shock on the outside of the steering shaft, on a hoop of some sort....and then tie the two hoops together across the top of the engine with a crossmember. It can have bushings on either end so that it can be unbolted and swung out of the way for engine servicing.

Failing that, take a look at creating some triangulated braces off the top of the shock tower and tie them to the firewall and core support areas.
 
Greg72 said:
You'd be amazed at the leverage that is applied against an upper shock mount (or hoop) especially an extended one.

My vote is to put the shock on the outside of the steering shaft, on a hoop of some sort....and then tie the two hoops together across the top of the engine with a crossmember. It can have bushings on either end so that it can be unbolted and swung out of the way for engine servicing.

Failing that, take a look at creating some triangulated braces off the top of the shock tower and tie them to the firewall and core support areas.
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mrdrinksalil said:
Make the hoop outa 1" .120 wall DOM
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Thanks for the tips, guys.
 
The advice I provide is free. The solutions I recommend seldom are...
 
Ok worked on the truck a little and did some brainstorming. After my brother and I spent a good hour bending up a piece of conduit just how we wanted. We came inside to warm up and I remembered I had a pair of F-250 shock towers (the stamped steel ones, not the cast ones) sittin in the basement. So I grabbed one and we went back into the garage.

It took about 1 second to see that the f-250 mount is the way to go. It's going to take a little modifying but it will be so much easier than bending up a shock hoop. 1st we will need to clearence it a little for the steering shaft. 2nd, with it mounted at the bottom of the frame, the upper mount is a little higher than I wanted. 3rd when the axle comes up, the shock body will hit the steering shaft.

So we decided that we will pie-cut the mount and bend it down so that the upper part will lean outward and at the same time will come down, then reweld the mount. Also I may not be able to bolt these to the frame due to the fact that the engine mounts are just inside of where the shock mounts will be, so i might have to weld em to the frame.

We marked where the mount needs to be clearenced (for the steering shaft) and my brother is going to take it to work and hit it with the die grinder. We would have done that today but our air compressor doesn't like running in the cold and todays high temp was 5 degrees!
 
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Some progress has been made on the shock mounts, still a little more left to do, then I will mod the pass side shock mount.
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I looked in to doing that and decided to build some tube mounts. I just ordered the knuckle mounts and shock tabs today from DIY4X and will have some pics up in a few days. I guess my big limiting factor was my Ford mounts were already cut down because of the shocks being angled back using the stock lower mount.
 
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