Shock towers

[sammyg]

Quick question on shock towers. Just lifted my 47 3" with the holbrook kit, and it flexes nicely, but the shocks are too long on the compression and too short on the extension, coming off the stock mounts. What have you all come up with for mounts on the front end? How do I fabricate and measure for the right size shocks?
Thanks

[MrWillys]

A sharp parts counterman (not a minimum wage worker at mega auto) can tell you collapsed and extended rod lengths, and what type of ends it has.
I believe that you could use 59 chevy pickup rear shocks. Let me know if my memory serves me correctly?

[kirbybuilt]

How I measured for my shocks:
Completely compress the suspension on one side and have the opposite side droop out. Measure from a common point on each side of the axle to a common point on both sides of the frame. Subtract the two measurements and this will give you he min. amout of travel you need from your shock. I added two more inches so that the shock wouldn't act a a bump stop or a limiting strap.

Hear is a link to how a guy measured to see how much travel he has, this is basicly what i just explaind. you need to scroll down to the second yellow jeep.
/forum/jeep-hardcore-tech/846526-how-get-most-leaf-spring-flex.html

As for shock towers a lot of people like to use the Ford F sieres shock towers or make your own.

[euroford]

i'm just learning here, but this is how i see it and what i plan to do.

F250 shock towers are part # E5TZ-18183A, very commonly used on these old jeeps. can be bolted on.

After you bolt on your shock towers, and have some bump stops installed and set the heep back on the ground, measure between the two shock mounting points, then measure between the bump stop and the location where it will contact the axle, add to this number to compensate for compression of the bump stop, and then subtract this number from the distance between the shock mounting points. you now have the MAXIMUM length that you shock can be when fully compressed.

compare this compressed length number for the available sizes of the shocks you desire and purchase shocks equal to or less than. the travel and extended length of the shock is what it is.

[CRO]

X2 on the F250 shock towers, I actually cut mine down and welded them to the frame

[sammyg]

Thanks for the suggestions. The other issue I'm running into is trying to wrap my head around the orientation of the mount. Say I have a bolt to mount the top and bottom. On the frame side, do I want that bolt to run parallel or perpendicular to the frame? On the bottom, same issue. When it flexes, the springs twist along their axis as well as spring, moving them inside or outside of the frame. Yet, when it bounces, the axle will move toward the front of the vehicle. Unless I have a rod end, I can't chose the lesser of 2 evils....

[sammyg]

If I had the coin these would be the bee's knees I reckon