best rear shock mounting

i was thinking of mountint my shocks in this manner. weld a bracket on the leaf spring mounting pad (the pad that the u-bolts go through), for the lower and a tube from side to side of the frame rail for the upper mount. both shocks would be tilted toward each other at the top.. good ?? bad ?? what would be the best way ?. i would like to get the lower shock mount above the axle tube.

scot

The idea is very sound as long as you do your homework!The shocks dampening effectiveness is reduced as you lean them in,travel effectiveness increases!

Not sure if you would say the best way, but it fits 14" travel shocks without losing any dampening.

I love everything about your jeep(cagedxj), and it is even my wallpaper right now (not even my own jeep). Wish you could come build me a cage hehe

I think after doing a few calculations you'll find that the u-bolt plate is too high of a mounting location. The shock will be on such an angle that it will barely move during road driving and the shock effectiveness will probably be down around 60% (Assuming it's a little over a 45* angle)

I'd say stick to the axle tube for a mounting location... either the front or back depending on where you want to put your upper shock mounting bar.

I'm with Bender unless you want to cut a hole in your floor and put the frame mounts in the cab. Beautiful cage though.
mattk

i've read that sliding the mount to the rear of the axle works fairly well. but again, the angle of the shock will change it's effectiveness.

What i have found efective is using 2x2 1/4 wall tubing or channel. I take the tubing and cut it down the middle to give me basical a 1x2x1 chanle then notch it(oh ya about 4in long) back in about 1 1/2 so that it will clear the ubolts. then welda bolt to it over the notched end for the shock to mount to. then bolt the shock to it so that you can position the mount as far over on the tube almost under the springs and tack it in place remove the shock and weld in place. Yes you need to use shorter shocks but when your cheap like me and you go from 3 to 6 inches of lift this set up works nice with the 3in shocks or as we did on yupiexjs jeep we used stock shocks with 3.5 inchs of lift and gone are the ancors that catch on everything that you swear you have cleared. I'll try to post some pic later.

xjjunkie, take a look at mine that I just did. It is not as talented as cagedXJ, but it works. Go to my web page and then use the link XJ page. You can click on the image to make larger. If you are interested in this let me know and I will give you the information. BTW, the tubing is 1 1/2 " by 1/4" , and I drilled and welded the new shock post in. I only welde the tubing on the axle on top and bottom. You can see the tacks on the sides, but it is not welded there. I have stuffed the tires completely and articulated out completely, and still have shock left. This did take some time by figuring the shock travel and angles. The work was fairly simple, the layout, now thats another story. The rail is both bolted with grade 8 bolts and welded..
Hope this helps.
http://www.cybertrails.com/~casper
Casper

Thanks guys, I really like the way it works. I tried several other ways of leaning the shocks over keeping them underneith and finally gave up. I built a crossmember alot like what I later found on the Cross Ent. site. It worked the best with the new RS9000x shocks.