55 HT Project Page 8
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55 HT Project Page 8
Still messin' with the rear suspension....
Page 5 of the "body off" work....
Was starting to see too many problems with the single leaf setup, so I added two more
springs on each side, and my modified CalTracs setup using the frame as the lift point, while from an
engineering standpoint I know it will work, there were problems with that approach,
so I turned the rotation pieces around as Calverts intended....
And added the 2-1/2" lowering blocks...
The lowering blocks caused the bottom plate under the springs to hit the rim of the brake drum,
so had to trim that a bit....
Checking out different shock mounting locations for the QA1's, this is the location I used when I originally
set up the narrowed 9" rear back quite a few years ago...
But I don't like the angle, and there is not enough room for the coil-overs, so that's not going to work....
Just kept looking at it and looking at it, I do not like how low the CalTracs hang relative to the ground
with these 2.5" lowering blocks in there. So I moved the front of the CalTracs push rod to the upper
hole in the rotating piece, that looks better, I can trim the lower piece off for more clearance. Then
I put a 5/8" grade 8 bolt in the 5th hole on the CalTracs U-bolt plate for mounting the shocks, and switched
the plates side to side and turned them around so the shocks would be in front. But I don't like the orientation
of the bolts, so I'm thinking of making a piece to allow the shocks to pivot forward and aft, rather than side to side.....
If I had a flat rear tire at speed, these would hit the road, not a good thing in my opinion....
So, am thinking to take the blocks out....
I just do not like the way this bolt is set up for the lower shock mount....
OK, I pulled the lowering blocks out....
After I trim off the bottom of the CalTracs front rotating piece, I'll be a lot happier with the clearance issues....
Looks good, the CalTracs pieces are not likely to hit the road if there's a flat tire....
Now to deal with the shock mounts....
I'm working on some pieces to put on those lower shock mount bolts to change the rotation axis,
let's see how that all looks when it's mounted, then I can mount the upper shock bar....
Then once the motor/tranny are back in, and the body is back on, we can see just how it all sits....
More Later
