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Clueless brit buys '54 C1


n00dle

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Afternoon all,

First up, Hi! hope this is in the right place n all.

Just bought myslef a 54 c1 and whilst looking fairly good on top the underneath seems a little 'modified' by a man, his welder and an angle grinder ...

As shop manuals are non-existant over here and the 20 day wait for the postman is wearing thin i wondered if any of you knowledgable chaps could help with my rear suspension confusion. Now, this might actually be the correct way to do it, but it all looks a little bodged to me...

 

IMG_1071(1).jpg.641f0a3051ce02a796a36bc0792fb195.jpgIMG_1056(1).jpg.eaff381727ce886ed01a6690c9b5d00b.jpgIMG_1069.jpg.7eea2a8fad4a91cb41208de084ac0a6f.jpgIMG_1070.jpg.070abb0e0a097aa25eb4e23ef4bd5972.jpg

 

The two shocks have been bolted to just one side of the cross beam and not in the middle so as, from what i gather, to miss the fuel tank that's been put in the rear, and then theres some fabricated brackets at the other end which also bolt to a piece of steel welded to the axle?

The crossbeam has a visible twist, all be it a slight one, that i'm putting down to the offset nature of the shock. So what to do? i could remove the crossbeam and mount it forwards towards the cab to bring the shocks in line, but this would then require exhaust adjustments and all sorts .. if i make up a new mounting plate for the bottom to bring the shock back inside the cross beam i'll then run into the fuel tank ... ultimately as a man who's just dived in (head first at the deep end) with these lovely old trucks i hoped some initial right direction pointing could be found here! or just tell me that's how it should be and move on. I have tried google for a few days now but i'm coming up empty.

 

Cheers

Karl

 

 

oh and the outside as she's not a bad looking thing

IMG_1063(1).jpg.893500a7484935c427b8cbbc9ca75c1f.jpg

 

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Hi Karl;

Yes it has definitely been "bodged". It is not even close to the way it should be. The shocks should run in line and in board of the main frame rails. Shock mounts should be on the underside of the axle and be pointed forward.

I don't have any photos but I am sure someone else here will.

On the plus side the body looks great!

Cheers, Jeff

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I suspected as much *rolls eyes*

It looks like the mount is still on the offside under the axle but they've cut it off on the drivers side to fit their wonderful welding in. The only thing is there's no mounts on the main frame so i assume they've been disposed of too...

Cheers for the help!

 

Body is lovely, interior not so much ... bench seat required asap

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Edited by n00dle
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10 minutes ago, n00dle said:

Had a look and couldn’t really see anything resembling mounting brackets, might just have to make these up myself and get rid of all the crap they’ve done. 
cheers anyway

My apologies. Looks like they have the studs but not the bracket piece. The bracket is a U shaped channel that fits just inside the frame to form a box. Then the stud is bolted through it. At least that is how it works for the earlier series trucks. 

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Karl;

Here are a few photos of my 52 3/4 ton after I swapped in a Grand Cherokee rear axle. The shock mounts are in the same basic position as they were before the axle swap. My fabricator buddy removed the shock mounts from my original 4.11 rear axle and welded them to the GC axle. The upper shock mounts on the frame were not modified.

I hope this helps.

Jeff

rearaxle.1.jpg

rearaxle.2.jpg

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Cheers chaps, awesome stuff. Looks like I have a bit of work ahead of me sorting this out!

Jeff, any chance you have some pictures of the shock mounts on the axle
I found these on eBay and whilst I can’t get them over here it’ll give me an idea of what I’m aiming for:

E24656FA-7CA1-4615-85FF-04C7311DBF34.jpeg.ddfb3b5c553d004312a091d2f7ee77d9.jpeg
thanks again

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Everything shown, and talked about so far are for earlier series trucks. I don't have first hand knowledge of the shock mounts on C-Series trucks, but I know we have several C-Series owners in this group that can probably offer some advice. I can't imagine that there are major changes, but there are probably some differences between the B and C series in that regard.

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I've got some pics I can email you, work network won't let me into my cloud storage to put on the site. If you need more, I'll do what I can. 

Just shoot me a pm with email. 

Thanks. 

Eric

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24 minutes ago, CO54 said:

I've got some pics I can email you, work network won't let me into my cloud storage to put on the site. If you need more, I'll do what I can. 

Just shoot me a pm with email. 

Thanks. 

Eric

I was about copy and paste some of your pics for the OP, then saw this. 

OP, look over CO54's thread on his build.  54 C1C6 Build.  There are several pics with info for you.

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The shocks actually mount to the underside of the axle similar to the B-series.  I can't find a good clear picture right now, but I'll get some tonight hopefully. 

It's a goofy bracket with the shock mount coming off, and the spring u-bolts securing on the underside. 

 

 

Edited by CO54
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Cheers guys, saw the pics from the c1c6 build and that’s when I realised I’m missing both axle and frame brackets..seems like mine are supposed to be on top the frame instead of inside like the earlier ones so perhaps fabricating a bracket up to weld/bolt on top is the way forwards...

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2 hours ago, n00dle said:

Cheers guys, saw the pics from the c1c6 build and that’s when I realised I’m missing both axle and frame brackets..seems like mine are supposed to be on top the frame instead of inside like the earlier ones so perhaps fabricating a bracket up to weld/bolt on top is the way forwards...

Check out some sites like Speedwaymotors.com, jegs.com, summitracing.com  they may have a shock mount kit that would make it easier to make the upper shock mount in the correct location, possibly some ideas on getting the lower one in a more correct position too. 

 

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7 hours ago, JBNeal said:

Crazy amounts of awesome work, makes me realise my suspension wo's are a mere annoyance compared to the other stuff people have done!

 

10 hours ago, CO54 said:

Check out some sites like Speedwaymotors.com, jegs.com, summitracing.com  they may have a shock mount kit that would make it easier to make the upper shock mount in the correct location, possibly some ideas on getting the lower one in a more correct position too. 

 

Had a good look around and whilst i could get it mailed overseas, now i can see where and how the shocks should be mounted I'll be having a play around with some steel and see what i come up with to get it back on the road ... long term I'll just start coming up with a nice list of things to order over ... what have i started ?

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how those shock are mounted just is plain wrong and where they mount to a problem waiting to happen.  Looks the PO had some ideas of how to do things that make no mechanical sense.

 

best of luck!

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37 minutes ago, ggdad1951 said:

how those shock are mounted just is plain wrong and where they mount to a problem waiting to happen.  Looks the PO had some ideas of how to do things that make no mechanical sense.

 

best of luck!

Looks like the exhaust was more important, and the shocks were an after thought.....

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2 hours ago, B1B Keven said:

n00dle. PM me for help with original gauges.

 

Nice truck!

Pm'd ?

 

 

55 minutes ago, ggdad1951 said:

how those shock are mounted just is plain wrong and where they mount to a problem waiting to happen.  Looks the PO had some ideas of how to do things that make no mechanical sense.

 

best of luck!

Yea, removed one of them today, needs a little cleaning up but it'll get there...

IMG_1099.jpg.8cfee83caa00543375be28c131e53b56.jpg   IMG_1100.jpg.905e03b525336c8ef2cd4470b5dbd3d8.jpg   IMG_1111.jpg.c62ea181ba4765773a0fc93c35a76279.jpg

 

 

Also, side not (sorry for being 'that guy' but my knowledge is only just starting with these trucks) can anyone help identify the rear axle? is it stock or has it come from elsewhere? I'm getting the parkingbrake cable made up and need a few bits for inside the hub too

IMG_1104.jpg.67d26cf9e6b1467f8476c3de4c706da8.jpg         IMG_1102.jpg.0fee248deaf93e2cc8a2581e2ea6a6e5.jpg        IMG_1105.jpg.d7380b007b5f657dc6699dcdeb1f2586.jpg

Also note the big ol tyres seem to have a clearance issue with the bodywork... how do people not realise this stuff!

 

 

Edit ... and yes, i realise there's a stud missing, he was removed to see if longer ones could be found so a spacer can take care of the tyre issue!

 

 

 

Edited by n00dle
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