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myredracer's avatar
myredracer
Explorer II
Sep 28, 2015

Upper shock mount broke clear off. Flippin' unbelievable!

Could have killed us: We had Monroe shock absorbers installed on our TT care of our dealer when we got it new in April of 2014. The dealer insisted they take care of it so they sent it down the st...
Huntindog's avatar
Huntindog
Explorer
Sep 29, 2015
myredracer wrote:
copeland343 wrote:
Your shocks are to be mounted inside the frame not outside, that is why the weld broke and tire cut.


I'm going to respectfully have to disagree. Maybe you need to come here and look at it close up in person...


He is right and here is why.

With the shocks mounted the way they are, it is impossible for the axles to twist in a tight turn as they should. You may as well have a solid piece of pipe bolted in there. You state that your axles don't twist like others because your springs and frame are so heavy duty. That is an incorrect assumption. The shocks simply are not allowing it to happen. Those forces how ever are still there. looking for a weak link to act on. They found it when the welds broke. Stronger welds are not the solution. That will just cause something else to break.

Shocks are made to dampen unwanted spring oscillation while allowing all normal desireable axle movement to occur.

I also have a sealed underbelly, and I have been thinking how I would install shocks inboard of the frame without cutting it.

I would get a 1/4" thick piece of angle iron, long enough to span the width of the frame rails. 1.5x1.5 should work fine. It needs to be bolted or welded to the bottom of the frame web. One end of the shock will be bolted to it. The other end will be bolted to the inboard side of the spring tie plate, using a premade bracket or fabing one up.
The key here is that the shock will not be straight up and down like it is now, but at an angle. (this orientation is common on autos) With it mounted this way, the shock will allow all normal desireable axle movement to occur without binding, while still doing its job dampening spring oscillation.

Look at your springs. Notice that one of the ends is bolted directly to the hanger. The other end to a shackle/equalizer.
This means that as the spring is compressed, the axle tube moves towards the equalizer. Take this into account when positioning the angle iron, IE the tube should move away from the angle iron as the spring compresses allowing more clearance between the tube and the angle.

The beauty of this design is that if the angle is bolted instead of welded that it can be removed if needed to service what ever it is blocking.

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