Shock geometry question

[mustangmike6996]

Looking for input on shock mount location/fabrication.

I have a 1951 F1 truck, lowered with ranger spring mounts and explorer leafs, 2001 Explorer 8.8 and a Cobra powerplant.

I need to fabricate some rear shock mounts for the uppers and weld on some shock mounting tabs for the lowers to the axle. Does anyone have any guidelines as far as geometry or recommended shock selection? Im not looking to do anything crazy fancy, its just a cruiser. I just want it to be safe and drive predictably

 

[DarkoStoj]

if you draw a line off the travel of the suspension the shock needs to be in that same plane for maximum dampening, but a lot of OEM's don't even set it up like that and sometimes its not even possible.

If it was me I would do this if you have leafs and build the lower shock mount off the lower leaf spring perch. That is what a caltrac does.

The caltrac design is awesome with leaf springs, it creates an anti-squat when you apply power to the rear tires which forces the body up and forces the axle down for traction. It will take care of wheel hop and will hook better.

http://www.hotrodsandhemis.com/Traction.html