Front Shock Mock Up Tool

[astroracer]

Made this to support the front suspension of my Astro Van build at Ride Height and full Jounce positions. Made for accurate positioning when rebuilding the front wheel wells.



Mark

[Frank S]

Mark you did what a lot of builders sometimes forget when making custom changes to a build.
I've even seen those guys on TV make the mistake of not taking into account the total up and down travel on their builds only to have to cut out the wheel wells or spread the body panels after the build was thought to be complete and the paint had already been applied.
When taking their time and making a simple fixture like you did would have saved them a lot of aggregation

[astroracer]

Thanks Frank! There is a lot going on that needs to be understood and addressed in a totally custom build like this Astro I am putting together. Most people have no idea how much thought, design time and work goes into a build like this.
In those pics the ONLY pieces I didn't design and build are the ball joints, bushings and the bolts holding stuff together. Everything else was done in my shop.
Mark

[Frank S]

YOu are quite welcome mark. I couldn't help noticing your choice of control arm mountings are more in the old school design instead of the now so popular Heim joints. I was just wondering if this was done for looks or that you just like putting yourself through the challenges critical design. Don't get me wrong I much prefer the zerked bushings you have used and IMHO they look cleaner. the down side is the enhanced difficulty in caster and camber adjustment when setting up for race or street

[astroracer]

I stay away from the heim ends on critical components for a street car. The harshness and wear factor are just too great when they get filled up with road grit. And they will get filled with grit. A race car sees/needs more maintenance then I want to do on a driver.
The LCA's are static in this build. All of the camber/caster is done with the uppers. The uppers were designed and built around off the shelf Mid 80's G body cross shafts and bushings. Easily replaced in the future over one off custom parts.
You can get a better look at the shaft in this pic. This was taken during the build phase of the UCA's.

[Frank S]

That make perfect sense more time in the build less time under the vehicle later on. The added plus ti this being a cleaner build.
Lately it seems that almost everyone is going to the heims they think they offer a racier look most don't use them as drivers though or in the case of rock crawlers and other extreme builds field replacement plus the semi forgiving range of angularity when a suspension part is stressed outside of its intended plane of articulation Heims can be a better choice for them even with the higher maintenance.
It's still good to know that not everyone has gone the way of just bolt it together then deal with their decisions forever.

[astroracer]

I did go the "rock crawler" route on the rear arms. Johnny Joints in the front of the 4 bars allows lots of articulation for axle tramp.

These joints are fully rebuildable though.

[DIYer]

Thanks astroracer! We've added your Front Shock Mock Up Tool to our Suspension category,
as well as to your builder page: astroracer's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Front Shock Mock Up Tool by astroracer

tags: suspension