Baystate Jeepers

Since I am goingto have to buy new shocks, could I move my shock mounts to my axle tube to the left of each spring and buy a shorter shock? The front is set up this way???

When I had my CJ-7 I added a crossmember at the tops of the "axle humps" in the rear frame, mounted my shocks to my rear axle tubes and ran the diagonally to almost the center of the crossmember kinda like this _/\_ .

For the crossmember I used 2 pieces of angle iron welded across the frame like this _I I_ to make a double shear mount for the tops of the shocks.

For the shock mounts on the axle tubes I took a piece of 1 3/4" tube about 2" long, cut in half to make 2 "C" shapes and drilled a hole for a bolt in them. I then ran the bolt through the 1/2 piece of tube and welded it in place like this -c then I welded that to the axle tube like this -cO if you can make sense of my crude descriptions.

You could probably take a piece of C-channel and weld it parallel to the axle tube for a simple double shear lower shock mount easily enough though.

It worked well and allowed for a lot of articulation with little to no binding. I used Ranch RS9000 shocks at the time (13 years ago) so that I could stiffen the shocks and fine tune the ride.

I also did a M.O.R.E. front shock hoop set-up that spanned the engine compartment that used the same shocks as the rear.

You can move them... just have to make sure the new location / length won't limit your droop / compression.

JW

SidewaysTim wrote:When I had my CJ-7 I added a crossmember at the tops of the "axle humps" in the rear frame, mounted my shocks to my rear axle tubes and ran the diagonally to almost the center of the crossmember kinda like this _/\_ .

For the crossmember I used 2 pieces of angle iron welded across the frame like this _I I_ to make a double shear mount for the tops of the shocks.

For the shock mounts on the axle tubes I took a piece of 1 3/4" tube about 2" long, cut in half to make 2 "C" shapes and drilled a hole for a bolt in them. I then ran the bolt through the 1/2 piece of tube and welded it in place like this -c then I welded that to the axle tube like this -cO if you can make sense of my crude descriptions.

You could probably take a piece of C-channel and weld it parallel to the axle tube for a simple double shear lower shock mount easily enough though.

It worked well and allowed for a lot of articulation with little to no binding. I used Ranch RS9000 shocks at the time (13 years ago) so that I could stiffen the shocks and fine tune the ride.

I also did a M.O.R.E. front shock hoop set-up that spanned the engine compartment that used the same shocks as the rear.

That sounds like a great idea for the rear.

For the front, you can use Ford Super Duty front upper shock towers and run a longer shock.

Thanks for info and comfirming my suspicions.

Curtis

Curtis : Did you dent the shocks from being on the spring plate hitting the axle tube ? I dented all 4 of mine so I put mounts on the axle tubes. FjR68

Yes, for the rear only the fronts are mounted on the tube. I need to do something just not sure what.

Some of the older models had a raised mount that you could bolt or weld on. A lot of people use the F-150 Ford shock mounts as they allow a huge shock to be installed. Some trimming to the inner fender. Move the front toward the rear on the frame to avoid hitting the tube on droop. The rear should be okay. FjR68

Curtis,
Have you looked at the B3 u-bolt plates from JKS? They wrap around the leaf pack, keeping the u-bolts out of harms way and the lower shock mount sits about in the middle of the leaf pack keeping it fairly protected too.

No John : WE haven't seen them , got a site ? FjR68

Frank wrote:No John : WE haven't seen them , got a site ? FjR68

http://www.4x4rockshop.com/scripts/prod ... duct=10899

From the JKS site...


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Thank You

Dynatrac has flip kits though. http://www.dynatrac.com/products_ubolt.html

That first kit looked to be well thought out. This flip thing looks simple enough. Thanks Kurt. FjR68

Frank wrote:That first kit looked to be well thought out. This flip thing looks simple enough. Thanks Kurt. FjR68

I went to a junkyard and got plates from a pickup that matched the tube diameter and flipped my rear u-bolts. Fabbed up a plate on the bottom with little ramps to protect the bottom of the u-bolts hanging under the spring. I welded lower shock mounts to the axle tube, lost a little travel but I don't bang the shocks on the rocks less often. Very happy with this mod. Have thought about outboarding or doing a triangle setup for shocks to get some more travel but haven't done anything yet.

http://www.jeeptech.com/susp/ubolt.html

-Andy