Front hydraulic shocks for a Spirit chassis...

[Lee_in_KC]

For T-odd, Duke and anyone else interested, here are some pix of my new front shock set-up. I designed the shock towers after I found that the CCR parts wouldn't work with the Spirit frame design. My design is essentially the CCR profile stretched forward to properly line up with the spring shackles I am using. RPM made the towers from a CAD file I sent him. I polished them and had them chromed. It cost more to chrome them than Ron charged me to make them!! I have the design in CAD and PDF format if anyone wants it. Pix are hosted on Photobucket... sorry Todd. I'll e-mail you your very own copies! By the way, I have a pair of CCR shock mounts if anyone is interested!

The sharp-eyed folks will notice that the shackle is bent in the above pic. That's because I had to bend it away from the spring pivot for the bottom of the shock to clear the bulge in the spring pivot. The proper way to do this would have been to have a shackle plate made with the proper spacing, but I didn't have the patience to deal with it. Maybe next winter.

Sorry for how dirty everything is... still haven't found the time to wash the T and shine up everything.

BTW, the shocks are Pete & Jakes shorties. I think they're about an inch too long, but I can't find anything shorter. Or the mounts are an inch too short... design error. So far, I haven't bottomed them out, but I haven't hit any big chuck holes yet!!

I should also note that the front of my Spirit chassis sits about 3" lower than a stock Spirit, because I had them raise the spring perch about 2.5" and I used a reversed-eye spring. If you use these shock mounts with a stock Spirit front end, you'll need longer shocks.

 

[Duke]

Thanks Lee, Looks really good. :lol:

 

[butch27]

Thomas: This is what you're looking for!

 

[butch27]

Actually TOTAL use to sell angled spring mounts for the bat wings.

 

[GT63]

I used the CCR brackets, just mounted them on the outside of my Spirit frame. I also used them for my headlights.

 

[Ted Brown]

Lee, where is your safety washer for your heim joint on your steering arm?? you know I had to say that hehe lookin pretty good, like you say the shock mount is a bit short, if you do hit a bigger bump, you may break something as that will be your final stopping point... Ride safe my friend. :win:

 

[Steve R]

Lee, this is Steve R from Olathe. can you post picture of th shock mounts. Drove my T this weekend and have a bad shake in front. Shocks might help.

 

[debgeo]

Steve check the beginning of this post. There are great pictures already there.:win:

 

[Lee_in_KC]

I used the CCR brackets, just mounted them on the outside of my Spirit frame.

Yeah, I could've used the CCR brackets by mounting them outside the frame also, but I didn't like the look of the shocks being straight up and down.

 

[Lee_in_KC]

Lee, this is Steve R from Olathe. can you post picture of th shock mounts. Drove my T this weekend and have a bad shake in front. Shocks might help.

Steve, the photos in my first post are hosted on Photobucket. If for some reason you can't access Photobucket, you will not be able to see the pix. Send me your e-mail addy and I'll send the pix to you.

 

[Lee_in_KC]

Lee, where is your safety washer for your heim joint on your steering arm??

You're absolutely right, Ted! I need to get washers on all my heim joints. I'm on it!

 

[T-Odd]

Lee, if you can pop those pics off to me I'd appreciate it.

Might even be able to catch RPM on his way through Memphis to get a pair!!!

Thanks!

 

[Lee_in_KC]

Lee, if you can pop those pics off to me I'd appreciate it.

Done! (extra letters to make the message long enough)

 

[Lee_in_KC]

I designed the shock towers after I found that the CCR parts wouldn't work with the Spirit frame design.

I should clarify that statement. The CCR towers won't work if you mount them on the inside of the frame rails, because they don't project forward far enough for the shock to clear the front crossmember. They will work if you mount them on the outside of the frame, like Grant did. But depending on the position of the shock mounting hole on the shackle plate, the shock is going to be pretty much straight up and down. This will function fine, but I didn't care for the look. I wanted my shocks to lay over a little, which meant the towers needed to be inside the frame because you don't have many options for the lower mount (with the commonly available shackle plates. If you're a fab guy you could probably come up with some other options.).

 

[T-Odd]

Lee, I got the pics and that's exactly what I need. Now Ron's gotta bring me some rear radius rods and some front shock mounts.

Now I wonder if the old Merc shocks will fit???

 

[WhiteTBucket]

For T-odd, Duke and anyone else interested, here are some pix of my new front shock set-up. I designed the shock towers after I found that the CCR parts wouldn't work with the Spirit frame design. My design is essentially the CCR profile stretched forward to properly line up with the spring shackles I am using. RPM made the towers from a CAD file I sent him. I polished them and had them chromed. It cost more to chrome them than Ron charged me to make them!! I have the design in CAD and PDF format if anyone wants it. Pix are hosted on Photobucket... sorry Todd. I'll e-mail you your very own copies! By the way, I have a pair of CCR shock mounts if anyone is interested!



Hi Lee, looks really good there, can I take you up on your offer of copies of the plans for these please, looks like just what i am after to replace the frictions on my TP frame

Best Regards, Paul, Bristol Hot Rods U.K

www.bristolhotrods.co.uk/

 

[Gerry]

Hi Paul
Hows it going
Gerry

 

[RocknT]

I have a pair of those coming from RPM and I have a question,, did you just tap threads in the frame or what ?? I really like the look of these ..
Thanks

 

[Lee_in_KC]

Paul, what file format would you like the plans in? I can do DWG, DXF, PDF, DOC, JPG or BMP.

Rockn, you need to be really precise when drilling the bolt holes into the frame. What I did was clamp the mounts to the frame using two heavy C-clamps, one vertical and one horizontal, then used the holes in the mounts as a drill guide. If you just center-punch the bolt holes and drill them free-hand, the bit will walk on you and the holes won't line up. Don't ask how I know! I did this before I had the mounts chromed. I them tapped the bolt holes. I forget what size I used. Also, my frame rails are .188 wall, so I'm pretty confident the bolts will hold. Got two seasons on the mounts and they are still tight.

 

[RocknT]

OK thanks..I just didn't really want to welde'm ... Those chromed are darn nice looking,,