--=BIRTH OF A SAND/DESERT CAR, Rear Socks and Mounts=-

Rear Shock Mounts I purchased 2 FOX Racing Coil-Over emulsion shocks. They are Nitrogen Pressurized with NO External chambers. Total travel per shock is 10 inch's. Also 2 Eibach springs per shock with a total rating of 350 lbs per inch. A combo of 200 lb and 150 lb spring per shock. Cost about $800 total! They must be mounted with the internal reservoir in the upright position. NOTE: SPRING RATE. Spring rate is a pressure over a distance. In this case 350 lbs at the shock will be required to compress the spring 1 in. The next inch of compression will require ANOTHER 350 lbs for a total of 700 lbs for 2 inches. So to compress the spring of each shock fully a total of 3400 lbs will be required to compress the shock a full 10 inches. BUT. Spring bind and suspension limits are also a factor as well as angle of the shock from vertical mount. Limiting straps will stop the unloading of the shock just before the shock is fully EXTENDED. Which will be before CV joint binding. QA 1 shocks were cheaper and are available with manual external dampening control. To adjust dampening on THIS FOX Shock, dismantling and internal valving changes need to be made. The only reason I chose the FOX shock was because of the name in off road racing! Go FIGURE!!!! Hell they didn't even come with a pair of decals I could stick on the side of my car!!! But they LOOK trick!

Bracing of the upper a frames was next. Removal first from the machine. A 1.25 x .095 in crosstube was welded in place. Then a plate was welded on the top and bottom of the a frame. Next a lower shock mount must be cut, shaped, drilled and welded.

I put a floor jack under the lower A-FRAME and lowered and raised it while I turned the axle to see where CV bind would occur. U can definitely feel when the CV joint starts to bind... So, I gave an inch less either way for lower and upper travel limits... I wanted full unrestricted travel through the suspension movement.. There's about 8 or 9 inches of non binding travel.

I made a multiple hole, lower shock mount for fine tuning. The FOX RACING Shock is 26.5 inches eyelet to eyelet extended. Compressed the full 10 inches of travel it will be 16.5 inches eyelet to eyelet. I will mount the upper shock strut with a temp wooden simulated compressed shock. Mounting pattern, 16.5 inches, simulating full compression. These are only rough estimates. A limiting strap will be used for when the suspension unloads(full extension). But I have to make the complete supension components to find out how long the straps will be. The compression will be controlled by the shock bottoming bumpers....

Here I cut and bent the upper shock towers. These are the toughest to do so far. All this will effect suspension travel. Bottoming and topping out of the suspension before CV Joint bind. Plus resulting in length of travel. Ride hight is another variable in the equation. Plus spring bind......

Above right, the wooden temp strut simulating full compression of the shock is in place. An upper shock mount with multiple holes for fine tuning will be custom made and installed once the struts are mounted....

NEXT PROBLEM: Seems the bolt pattern for this FORD IRS rear unit is all METRIC. Including the bolt pattern for the rims. About, 4.5 inch rim bolt pattern... NOT the standard FORD bolt pattern??????... ANYWAY... Just my thought IF DETROIT wants to go METRIC then DO IT. PLEEEEASE don't mix your machines with SAE and METRIC and who know what da fug else... As a PROFFESIONAL HD mechanic I must have BOTH METRIC and SAE tools.(sockets, wrenches and other assorted crap to work on these machines!!!) All the way to 3 inch.......OO00oops... Make that 78 mm..... From a L-10 CUMMINS DIESEL to a damn moped METRIC and SAE are thrown into the mix. Not only do I have tools at work but I have all the tools duplicated at home in my garage. GEEEZ, I won't have to worry about THAT pretty soon. I can bring my working box from work home. Then I'll have everything in double.... YEAAAAA!!!!

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