Rear shock brackets

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Desertstorm

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1978 K20 14 bolt 3" block lift 33" tires. I would like to relocate the factory mounted shock brackets that are welded to the axel tube, they are hanging below the tube and I want to relocate them higher on the tube to gain more ground clearance. Where can I get my hands on a pair of those brackets. If anyone has installed these any information would sure help.
 

Tank6x2

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easier to carefully cut them off as close to the axle tube as possible and then flush the weld off, clean off your new area, reshape and weld again.
 

Bextreme04

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DIY4X and ORD sell weld-on mounting tabs. Or you can just cut off the old ones and weld them back on in the position you want. Honestly, with a 14BFF I'm not sure how you could possibly hit anything with those brackets where they are. Do you have a 13 bolt shave kit on it already?
 

Desertstorm

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No shave kit. Stock 14 bolt 3/4 ton 1978. The shock mounts clearly hang below the axel 2-3 inches. Ill check with ORD and DIY, thanks for the info.
 

Bextreme04

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No shave kit. Stock 14 bolt 3/4 ton 1978. The shock mounts clearly hang below the axel 2-3 inches. Ill check with ORD and DIY, thanks for the info.
Well, yeah... they hang down a bit... but the pumpkin is the huge ground clearance issue on the 14BFF. Have you actually had an issue with hitting anything? I haven't ever had them hit or hang up on anything... ever. I have had the pumpkin drag a trench through some stuff a bunch of times though.

Just wondering why you think you need the extra 1-2" of ground clearance that close to the tires, when you are still rocking lift blocks and no shave kit?
 

GXPWeasel

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I would think something as simple as a shock mount could just be made pretty easily out of stock steel, but maybe getting the axle tube circumference just right is an issue?
 

SquareRoot

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There's a reason they hang down. Move them to the top and you lose 3 inches of shock travel. Better off chucking those lift blocks and doing a proper lift. Two wrongs don't make a right.
 

shiftpro

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If you raise the bottom of the shock upward, you will loose wheel droop.
 

rjm60

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Honestly, with a 14BFF I'm not sure how you could possibly hit anything with those brackets where they are.
Bextreme04 - have you ever been on a rocky trail? If you had, you'd know that those hanging shock brackets will get mangled. Just takes one hit to severely mess them up.
 

Bextreme04

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Bextreme04 - have you ever been on a rocky trail? If you had, you'd know that those hanging shock brackets will get mangled. Just takes one hit to severely mess them up.
Yeah, all the time. I suppose it's possible to whack them on something, but it's never been an issue for me... I'm not rock crawling. We used to go all over the place in socal, arizona, and utah in my dads old 2wd 73 F150... the K20 with 35's and 4" of lift has WAY more ground clearance everywhere than that thing did. The 13 bolt shave kit gets you several more inches of ground clearance and relocating the brackets so they don't hang is good if you knock one off, but I've personally never seen anyone do that.
 

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