anyone have pics of their front shock mounts?

[1TUNK5]

im looking for pics of the drivers side upper shock mount position for a 14 or 15" travel shock. im trying to figure out a safe and practical way to mount my ford towers at full length straight above the axle but the steering shaft interferes????

thanks in advance for any pics and tech info....

 

[MTBLAZER89]

I have ford towers and no issues. Its close, but it clears. 15" travel shocks.

I have them set at about 5" up and 10" down, but bump stopped a few inches out of the up travel to save my springs.

 

[NorCalKid]

I modified my 250 towers like how muddermilitia and a few others have done and am running 14.25" shocks with about 5" of up travel. There are some good pictures in his trazer build starting in post 316, the picture aren't working for me right now but here is the thread http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=195380&highlight=trazer+build&page=4. I run mine straight up and down with the bottom hole of the tower in the top hole where the stock bumpstop mount would be.
This is the best picture I can find of mine sorry

 

[Randy92782]

I see the ends of a ratchet strap in that first pic

Oh and them are some odd u-bolt plates. Like little bowls

 

[1TUNK5]

yeah exactly where i wanna put mine is where the bumpstop brackett was mounted....i found those postings in mudmilitias thread but the pics were red x's so i couldnt view them to get an idea of it??? if someone could copy and paste them into this thread would be great or email them to me? we have a big fullsize run im trying to get this ready for here in new hampshire so any help would beappreciated!!

 

[blazinzuk]

On my old blazer I mounted mine a little different.

Basically put them more or less in line with where the orginal shocks would go. I found a pic but its not very good. I had measured and I needed a 16" travel shock for my flex (this is on my old blazer) if it was mounted straight up and down, the angle it was at meant that the 14" was more than enough.

Here is a somewhat crappy pic

 

[NorCalKid]

Oh and them are some odd u-bolt plates. Like little bowls

They look like kerts u bolt plates, same ones I run, beefy things.

For the modified mounts, you cut a wedge out of both sides and bend the mounts in so the bolt for the shock mount comes out off the frame a few inches and weld it up. Then you grind or cut out semi circles where the steering shaft hits the tower. Mrdrinksail or whoever built black betty did the same thing I think I will look for pics.

Edit here they are

 

[1TUNK5]

They look like kerts u bolt plates, same ones I run, beefy things.

For the modified mounts, you cut a wedge out of both sides and bend the mounts in so the bolt for the shock mount comes out off the frame a few inches and weld it up. Then you grind or cut out semi circles where the steering shaft hits the tower. Mrdrinksail or whoever built black betty did the same thing I think I will look for pics.

Edit here they are

ok cool now i get the idea? how about the other pics only one came through?

 

[howdiy]

 

[garydan]

Those are Gabriel shocks with 12" travel. I'm running stock length 6" TC EZ ride springs up front. I cut the F250 towers. They are using the same holes in the frame for the bump stop. Although... I still haven't replaced the bump stops...

 

[Avery4jc]

 

[muddermilitia]

I had my old pics hosted on cardomain.com. Cardomain changed their format awhile back and now I can't copy/paste pics anymore. Here is the link: http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2186902/7 Scroll down near the bottom of the page and there are several pics of my front towers. They do bottom out though, so I plan on cutting/re-drilling a hole on the lower shock tabs that will give me another inch of uptravel, then I need to make front bumpstops. Hope this helps

 

[NorCalKid]

ok cool now i get the idea? how about the other pics only one came through?

I didn't know all of that was going to show up, it was just me trying to copy the picture instead of going through its location.

Here is muddermilitias setup for those not looking at links

 

[1TUNK5]

awesome that is exactly what i was looking for!!! now my other question would be....is there enough room for the shock up in stead of down, thats how i planned mounting all four shocks?

thanks again for the link and the pics guys!!

mark

 

[NorCalKid]

Definitely I run Bilstein 5150's right side up with no issues and they have a piggyback taking up more space. Make sure to post up some pictures when you get them all mounted

 

[BadassBlaze]

I have some in my build thread, should be in the last page or 2. I built mine from 3/8" plate. Wasn't too bad. Have edelbrock IAS resivoirs with 14" of travel or something like that. I think it was 6" up and 7" down. The shock has about an inch of downward travel left with the spring at full droop

edit: here ya go http://coloradok5.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2567920&postcount=76

 

[sponsoredbydad]

After all is mounted are the towers strong enough without a cross brace tying them together?

 

[NorCal_Chris]

i would say they would be fine without cross brace. They are just dampening, as opposed to a coil over/air shock that requires bracing since it is carrying a significant amount of weight.

 

[NorCalKid]

i would say they would be fine without cross brace. They are just dampening, as opposed to a coil over/air shock that requires bracing since it is carrying a significant amount of weight.

There are lots of horror stories about ripping windows in frames. If your suspension is setup right and your shocks are not acting like limiting straps you will probably be fine but there is a lot of force on the mounts and modifying them like me and many other have done just adds more leverage on the frame. I would add something to spread the load even if it is just a piece of 1/8" plate on the back to spread the load of the bolts. Mine still are unbraced right now due to deadlines of getting to BB09 but I plan on doing something to help my frame last. MrK5 (I think) modified his to mount to the top of the frame as well as the side, which is what I plan to do.

edit:
here is a good thread to prevent cracked frames
http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=267860

 

[1TUNK5]

thanx for the pics guys and assistance with this, here are some pics of what i came up with...

i built a crossmember to tie into the shock towers to help with any stress during suspension movement...

when articulated this is how my shocks work where they are positioned, quite happy with the way they came out!!

i took her out for her maiden voyage on sunday and it worked well!!