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Front Shock Relocation Pics


Andydodge

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After thinking about relocating the upper front shocks on my car for the past few years I bit the bullet and with a mate recently relocated the upper shock mount on my Oz 1940 Dodge, this car uses the 1940 Plymouth chassis and wheelbase.......my car is a hotrod, using vented front discs and an Austin 1800 narrowed 9" rack & pinion so none of those things will be much help to those in the USA however we used Monro Matic shock absorbers that had the following numbers on them........PK14 and 1009, these shocks had an extended length of 12 & 1/2 inches and a compressed length of 8 & 1/2 inches....they are VERY short shock absorbers and use the large rubber eyes at each end.........the front end of this car uses 1955/56 Ford  coil springs with one coil removed and we were able to make upper shock mounts from 3/16th plate that wrapped around the top edge of the chassis with a pair of brackets of the same 3/16th material projecting out between which the upper shock eye fitted..........the upper mounts were bolted to the chassis using 5/16th x 3/4" long high tensile UNC bolts, the bolts screwing into short plates with welded nuts inserted via an access hole against the rear of the outside and upper chassis rail..............I also replaced the heim jointed front sway bar links that had worn excessively with new greaseable heim joints and replaced both upper & lower rebound rubbers.............the attached pics hopefully may help others, my original intention was to use a pair of Dodge pickup truck front shock mount brackets however as the Munro shocks were available they allowed the manufacture of shorter bracketry...............and the blue noellothane sway bar bushes shown in some pics were replaced with better fitting pieces................I haven't had the opportunity to take the car out for a drive as yet as I have a few other jobs being done at the same time and am awaiting the return of some parts from the chrome platers, the steering wheel collapseable section being the main piece........hopefully in a week or two............happy to answer any questions if any.........Andy Douglas.      

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  • 2 weeks later...

Took the car out for a short drive around town yesterday, seems to work o/k, will have a further drive around the block again this weekend and then recheck everything.........and it seems to be handling o/k...........one thing that I didn't mention was that attaching the upper mounts onto the chassis was a bit fiddly because the area where the brackets bolt on was where there was an open section of both inner and outer chassis rails it was still rather difficult to get access to the inside plates ......what i did was make 2 x 3 inch long pieces of 5/16th all thread and thread one piece onto the threaded plate about 6 turns, I then inserted this plate and long "bolt" in thru the access hole with the "bolt" protruding thru the hole in the chassis............once this was done I could grab the "Bolt" and hold the plate tight against the inside of the chassis lined up with the 2nd bolt hole then I screwed the 2nd piece of allthread into the 2nd hole..........I then had 2 pieces of allthread 3" long sticking out from the chassis......as these did not have a nut or bolt head on them I could then slide the shock brackets onto the 2 "bolts" and position the brackets against the outer side of the chassis.............I then undid one piece of allthread and inserted a 5/16th UNC bolt and tightened it........I then undid the 2nd piece of all thread and inserted the 2nd 5/16th bolt and did it up...........once the bracket was tight against the chassis I was able to hold another piece of plate against the inside top chassis edge and thread the 3rd 5/16th bolt(this 3rd bolt hole is not shown in the above pics but can be seen in this attached pic)............sounds fiddly and it was but seems to be o/k so far................andyd. 

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Just wondering if any of the holes through the chassis were those that are already there (from stock).  What I'm getting at is if those holes were used at all to get consistent positioning on both sides.  (This is what i was thinking of doing, but like I said, I haven't tried to design the bracket yet at all.  I usually use cardboard to start, before I make anything in steel, and I've not done any of that yet, just look and think.....)

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Eneto.........nope we had to drill the holes, the area where the bracket lined up is in front of the original brake hose brackets but was really the only spot to fit it......we started with cardboard then made one in light sheet metal  then the 3/16th plate........andyd 

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What about the rear, what have you done back there. I want to do both front and rearshock/sway bar work. At highway speeds my car kinda feels like a sail boat rocking and swaying.

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Hickory...........the rear end is basically stock in general terms, ie, a late model Oz Ford Falcon disc brake rear end that bolted straight up to the original reset rear springs, new heavy duty rear shocks using the original upper & lower mounts, the new spring pads lowered the axle another inch but thats about it............I've thought about redoing the rear end but unless I changed the rear spring shackles changing the upper shock mounts to angle inwards like most cars would be a wasted exercise...........I haven't driven the car that much since doing the front shock relocation but the times I have it seems o/k, a little firmer which could be both the upper shock mount and/or the new sway bar heim joints, as the old ones were past their use by date.........lol.......was gunna take it out for a longer drive around this weekend but have been reassembling the front door garnish moldings & 1/4 vents and its been a wet day so maybe tomorrow........lol.............andyd   

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