Well i started working on the rear suspension today... There are 5 things I want to address while doing all of this:

1. Relocate shocks to back of the rear end and place them at a better angle.
2. Cut and realign the spring perches to set pinion angle correctly and do away with the shims.
3. Reconfigure/remount the rear sway bar
4. Replace the rubber leaf spring bushings with poly urethane
5. Add Assassin traction bars


So first up was the lower spring mount. The sides were made out of 3/16 and the other sides were 1/8 steel. After drawing the templates out, i cut everything out with a jig saw, the saw worked suprising well, i just had a little clean up with the grinder..

Here are the pics.






All the edges that are going to get welded i grinded down the edges to ~45*. I drilled starter holes for the shock bolt and some alignment holes to keep everything square.



i used some bolts and nuts to keep everything square and lined up.






Next i bent and welded the 1/8 plate. The 1/8 plate was surprisingly easy to bend and work with



Everything all grinded down! I may not be the best welder but that is why they invented grinders i will add in the top piece of the plate after it is welded to the axle. That way i can weld it inside and out.





Here is what it looks like mounted and the rough placement of the lower mount. They are about .75-1.0 inch lower that my existing mounts with the shock relocaters








Next i will work on the upper mount. I am trying to get the shocks to lay back at an angle that is roughly 0-5*, it just depends how much room i have. Also i am trying to get the greatest length so i can stick with stock length shocks. I think i am going to use some 1.0 or 1.5 round tubing to run in between the frame rails them fab up some mounts to the frame. Then i can cut out the existing tubing back there...

 

Nice looking Fab you got going on there! Damn almost looks like your stuff was CNCed !

 

Keep us update ...been wanting to do the same thing ...

 

Thanks man, i was really happy with the way the jig saw worked. I figured out you just steer it, don't push it.. It will slowly eat it's way through the metal, if you force it, then it starts wandering... Also i figured out you can do gradual curves, like that 3in round cut i did to mount to the axle.

 

theres plenty room under there to get any angle you want. the cross bar with some shock tabs welded down was the route i went. theres not much frame around there to grab onto. out of curiosity, where did these fab skills come from?

 

I have been working on cars since i was like 11-12... I Fully restored 2 vehicles (66 ford and 70 mustang) before i was 18, basically by myself. i have worked in alot of different places while in High school and college to learn more... In High School i worked at a body shop so i learned how to paint, body work and do metal work. In college i worked in an exhaust shop so i learned how to weld, etc... Honestly this metal work comes easy to me, basically i just think it up and do it... Rather crazy cause my job is to develop software and i do nothing with my hands besides typing on a keyboard.

 

that's why i asked. i know you're a white collar guy so it had to be picked up somewhere... i'm about the same way. some of my neighbors think i'm some kind of mechanic or something. random people that i dont know will stop and ask me to work on their cars i tell them to get lost haha. I'm always in the garage or the yard wearing boots with shorts with a sleeveless shirt and alot of the time i'm dirty from head to toe wrenching on quads or trucks so when i tell them my occupation they give me a blank stare like WTF lol.

 

Ya, i prefer to be out in the garage working on something... that is why i always have some little project going, it basically helps me unwind from a busy day at work... The downside to all of that is my hands and arms are usually cut up or burnt, so i will be sitting in meetings giving a presentation and i have like 50 gashes on my hands and arms... people always ask me WTF i did to myself...

But back in the day when i was learning, there was no internet, i had like 5-8 magazine subscriptions that always had how-to articles... that is how i learned to do alot of stuff..

 

Dang, that looks pretty good!
You could be dangerous if you had a machine shop

 

i wish i had more time behind a welder. my dad was a welder and they would xray some of his welds in inspections for oil rigs...theres no way i can lay a bead like him so i just have him weld most of my stuff. i'd like to get a tig machine and go to town with it but like everything else $$$$