Ranger Suspension Fab Question

[lukasmcdukas]

so the rear shock mounts on my 89 ranger have rusted completely thru and i need to fab up some new ones. i also need a new crossmember for the same reason. on a limited budget, i figure ill kill two birds with one stone and just use some angle iron and a few gussets, and mount the shocks to the new crossmember. this means that the driver side shock mount will be behind the axle instead of in front of it. means i'd also have to weld a new lower mount on the backside of the axle. my questions for you fab gurus out there are these:
1) welding on the axle... good idea or bad? would welding on the axle potentially warp the axle and possibly screw up my wheel alignment or bearings?
2) would moving the upper mount (and shock position) screw up the handling/overall stability?
3) am i over engineering the whole thing, and should just grind off the old mounts and fab some new ones and keep the mounts and crossmember separate?

suggestions on anything i havent thought of would be appreciated too.

[75K30]

Well, you have interesting questions, but they are good questions.
You can weld all day long on the axle tube and not destroy it. Well maybe not all day, but you are not gonna hurt anything by welding some new yabs or shock mounts on your axle.
Will your handling be affected? Yes, but only marginally. As long as you do not change the angle of the shock, and keep it in the same location. Do not move it closer to the center and do not move it closer to the wheel. Changing any of this affects the leverage and relationship between the axle and the shock. Shock valving is artificially increased as the shock moves closer to the tire, and the opposite is true when the shock is moved towards the center.
Ok, so anyway, using angle iron may not be the best choice here, unless you use two parallel pieces back to back. What I mean by this is that if you only use a single piece of angle, you will only have the option of botling the shock to the angle iron on single sheer, and this will fail. Double sheer is much stronger, and perhaps you can use some tabs as the upper shock mount, and make this a double sheer attachment, but all of this sounds likemore work than just buying a stock shock mount.
Check with your local dealership. Your stock units are installed with some large rivets, and these can be ground down and pounded free. Then you can use a quality grade 8 fastener to install the new ones and probably get another 20 years out of it.
These parts are probably not as expensive as you think.

[lukasmcdukas]

thanks for the tips, I'll scope out some parts from the dealership and do a little cost vs pain in the butt analysis. much appreciated!

[FaselZ71]

Ok well looks like 75 answered all questions in an informative manner! As always! When ever I see 75' name stamped on something I know I'm gonna learn something new! I was gonna say that using a single piece of angle is never a good idea if your looking for strength especially something that with holds as much strain a a shock mount/cross member. Just to be clear your talking about the crossmember under the bed the spans the frame rails right. Not the cross members of the bed itself I hope? If you do plan on going with the angle iron I wouldn't trust anything under 1.50x1.50x1/4. Make sure you measure you old mounting points and match them up on graph paper for a visual reference should you need one. But anyway no matter what you choose to go with good luck. And if you do decide to weld it please for your own safety use a 220v wire feed welder. I've seen people try to use 110v wire feeds and 110v stick welders even and fail on simliar projects. 110v is just not hot enough for good penetration.

[lukasmcdukas]

Fasel, yeah 1.5x1.5x1/4 is exactly what i planned to use, so its good to know i was on the right track there. and thanks for the advice on the 220v, i hadnt thought of that. oh, and yes, the crossmember is the one you mentioned. i'll let you guys know what i decide to do and how it turns out- anything will be better than riding around on nothin but leaf springs! i can bounce the rear tires off the ground by pushing on the tailgate... im sure you can imagine the ride quality...

[87c10slammer]

i can try driving a truck that has the axles sitting on the frame... i had to move the c10 from my house to a buddy garage the other day.. he was pullin me and i only have 1 leaf in the back and no springs up front so needless to say it was a rought ride.. even though it was only like 4 miles...

[FaselZ71]

Oh yeah I know how strait springs ride!! Yeah after working in a welding enviroment you really learn about voltage and whatnot! The best strength to use would be 3phase 440v with a stand alone tranformer but let's face those are hard to just come across... that's what I used at work it was so hot I could burn strait thru 1/4 flat stock steel and weld to the steel it was resting on... it was awesome. And obviously weld the angle together. 1.5x1/4 is the min. I would trust if you can find 1.5x3/8 or better I'd do it for sure!! Good luck man. Have fun.

[lukasmcdukas]

haha i can bounce the rear end up to a foot off the ground just by pushing on the tailgate. did i mention i drive this truck every day? makes overpasses a hoot at 70mph.
thanks again for the input guys, very helpful!

[FaselZ71]

Haha that would be fun!! Hit some railroad tracks at about 30 just to see what would happen. lol just kidding!!

[lukasmcdukas]

funny story, i used to do somethin like that with my old 82 chevy, except they were speed bumps, not train tracks. get some pretty nice air at 40-45, and sometimes a decent hop off the landing. college campus police generally frown on that kind of thing though, heh.