My "Official" Stepside Restoration Thread and LS Swap 2021

[Deuling]

Or just chop the lower mount off, and Ill send you some of my axle mounts and you can rotate them down, and then the stock frame mount will work fine..

 

[Chevy305]

I should have clarified, the ford tower isn't attached yet, its just sitting on the leaf spring to check the real estate. It will have to sit a little higher on the frame when i attach a shock to it.
Also the shock you see in the pics is the short one. I let it fully extend because thats about the mid travel point of the longer shocks.

For the Ford shock towers I am planning on drilling and bolting them on and cutting off the extra.

 

[K85 Octane]

Sounds like a plan Glenn. If you can whip up a bolt in gusset for the back of the tower, that would be even better. Maybe from the top of the frame rail to as high up on the tower as possible.

When I had mine in, I made a plate for them. The 4 bolts were probably ~8" apart, helping to spread the load.
Otherwise, I'm not sure how "weak" that area of the frame is or how much the leverage of the tower will want to rip the bolts out.

 

[82355]

Too late now, as you already have the Ford Shock towers, but couldn't you just have nabbed a set of quad shock auxiliary mounts, and used them as the upper mount?

I don't get much of a hard on for shocks, so I am far from an expert on the situation.

Martin

 

[Chevy305]

Too late now, as you already have the Ford Shock towers, but couldn't you just have nabbed a set of quad shock auxiliary mounts, and used them as the upper mount?

I don't get much of a hard on for shocks, so I am far from an expert on the situation.

Martin

I don't know what they look like

 

[andyblack]

I think they're just a hoop made from steel tube.

 

[82355]

Nope.

Martin

 

[82355]

Not a great picture.

Martin

 

[y5mgisi]

I know what your talking about Martin. On a stock truck, stock rear shocks will bolt into the quad shock location. Whatever that tells anyone...

 

[y5mgisi]

These look like them.

 

[Chevy305]

That's exactly where I'm going to put the ford towers. But I figure I already have them so I might as well use them. Drill a few holes and cut off the excess shouldn't be hard.

 

[y5mgisi]

Well then do it to it i reckon.

 

[Chevy305]

Some progress tonight:

Set it perfectly to 22.25" at ride height, the exact 1/2 travel point of the shocks.

I had to grind some material off the back for the frame bump for the original shock mounts. I'll have to do the same on the other side.

Speaking of the other side, I had to remove the inner fender because it had to be clearanced a little. I stopped for the night there, I'll get back to it tomorrow.

 

[Chevy305]

Continued progress on the Ford Shock towers:

Plenty of room around the steering shaft:

About 1.25" of clearance on the drag link. This is at ride height, I'll have to test this while flexed out.

Passenger side:

I'm happy with how it came out. Let me know what you guys think.


Unfortunately I nicked the fuel supply hose while drilling the passenger side. You know you're drilling all fine and then suddenly it catches and pulls the whole bit through the material... It appears to just be the outer nylon. Should I run it as is or cut out the nick and splice it back together?

I also tweaked the XJ steering shaft a bit by installing two set screws to keep the two halves tight while still allowing it to slip in a collision. I also tacked the lower u-joint yoke to the shaft as it was sloppy from all the hammering I did to install it originally

I haven't had the chance to drive it yet as the roads are a nice salty white and I don't see them getting clean enough anytime in the near future.

 

[ryoken]

looks good.. the Bilsteins should treat you well..

ditch the boots tho IMO, no purpose other than catching mud and looking sexay at the mall...

 

[Deuling]

Looks good, if you just hit the nylon, id just run it and not worry on the fuel line.


I need to try that on the xj shaft, after I burned out the nylon thing to extend it, I think i got a bit sloppy.

 

[max 02]

Too late now, as you already have the Ford Shock towers, but couldn't you just have nabbed a set of quad shock auxiliary mounts, and used them as the upper mount?

I don't get much of a hard on for shocks, so I am far from an expert on the situation.

Martin

These look like them.

I just got a set of those on a truck I`m parting out...have to save them!

Glenn...what you did looks great!
I agree with Paul about taking the boots off.

With out the sway bar and the new mounts it should work sweet!
Is your drive shaft long enough?

 

[y5mgisi]

Looks good man!

 

[Deuling]

Thats weird, the quad shock bracket that was on my blazer looked totally different than that. I was another bracket riveted to the frame that was in line with the more rear shock bracket here. The 2 shared the same bolt. But the brackets were definitely factory looking with factory style rivets.

 

[y5mgisi]

I have never seen the type that share the same top bolt that were riveted. Thats crazy. Wonder if that was an early dealer option way of doing it?