rear shocks didnt fit??

[jasonroman]

so i bought a kit from ccp.
5/7
spindles, coils, shocks all round. flip kit, shackle and notch
planned on doing it myself. but figured if i had to spend a couple hundred on needed tools, id have a guy i know do it for me for 300.
so today i pick up truck.
dude tells me he didnt put in the notch. or put the rear shocks on????
that the rears didnt fit. or wouldnt work.
i noticed that the passenger side has some play, as in movement
and the driver side is solid. no movement.
gonna have to look at it in the morning and see exactley what i have.
any reason why the shocks would not work????
guess ill be buying a uni bit and trying to notch it myself after all....
do i need to undo the rear flip kit to see where the axel will touch or is there another way to go about it without undoing everything????
pics in the morning.

[lolife99]

What year truck are you working on?
Also post as many pics as you can of the rear suspension, please.
Pics always help.

[jasonroman]

85
ill take and post pics in the morning. forgot to mention. not too long ago, i got taken for a ride on exhaust. and today when i went to get truck. i noticed he cut off one side of exhaust. not tru duals. but had cat back done.
with 2 exit pipes from muffler. now only have one. and pipe in bed of truck. not sure why.
pics to come.

[SCOTI]

Job doesn't sound done to me. He owes you some of that amount back if the c-notches & shocks were part of the agreed deal. I would say a 1/3 of it needs to be refunded.

[lolife99]

I would also look at the front of the truck.
If he half-A$$ed the rear suspension,... why wouldn't he cut corners up front?

[jasonroman]

[lolife99]

WOW.
How doe it ride?
Like crap?

Up front:
1) Looks like he put the rear shocks on the front.
Those shocks laying next to the c-notch look like the front shocks.
(He didn't read the instructions,... if you had any)

2) With those 15x8 ralley wheels,... you need to look at the lower a-arm,... rubbing on the wheel.
They have too much backspace, to not rub with drop spindles.
Did he even install the drop spindles?
(Usually you will need to trim the lower a-arm around the lower ball joint area for clearance)

Rear:
1) Not installing the notch,... was laziness. You need some of your money back.

2) Rear shocks didn't fit because they are on the front of the truck.

3) Nice torch job. No way around "clearancing" the bed brace with those drop shackles,... but there are cleaner ways.
You have the 52" leaf springs that require the bed brace notch.

4) Looks like some leaf springs are missing from the pack.
(may have been that way when you got it)

5) I would take the u-bolts out and verify the position of the flip kit "saddle".
The hole in the saddle needs to be towards the front of the truck.

6) When you are done,... cut off those u-bolts!!!
They create scrub line issues.

[jasonroman]

rides not the greatest. my 82 that was lowered and notched out back. rode real nice. right now im thinking the front is a little more bouncy than id like and the rear is hard. not sure why one side has play and the other is solid?
guess i should have waited. this morning i went and got an alignment. tires are new and didnt want to mess em up. so i ran and got truck aligned.
great. if parts are put in wrong or backwards, guess ill have to check.
only gave dude 300. but was hoping for job done right.
as for shocks. i thought they were same front and back.? guess not.
maybe i shoulda just tried it myself.... seems to me everytime i think about trying something and then pay someone to do it, i get screwed anyway.
today, get alignment and when they give me back my truck wont start.
clicking. clicking. clicking. prior to this i never had an issue with truck starting.
now i have just spent money on alignment and prob gonna end up doing it again. great.

[Gobbles]

Originally Posted by lolife99

6) When you are done,... cut off those u-bolts!!!
They create scrub line issues.

Hey Lolife,

what do you mean by this? What are scrub line issues? Effects?

Thanks!

[lolife99]

Originally Posted by Gobbles

Hey Lolife,
what do you mean by this? What are scrub line issues? Effects?
Thanks!

The un-cut u-bolts hang down "lower" than the 15" wheel.
In the event of a rear flat tire,... the truck's u-bolts would make contact with the ground. This could make the truck uncontrollable because the rear brakes would be ineffective.

Years ago,... when the mini trucks phase had just begun,... a local mini truck was totaled,... when this exact situation happened.
You want nothing in the trucks supension hanging below the scrubline of the wheels.

[jasonroman]

rainy weather is gonna keep me from doing anything today i think.
plan to jack up all 4 sides and pull wheels. ill take pics of whats there.
think i might have to undo flip kit again. cause the bracket you showed with only one hole. holes towards front of bracket. since mine had 2. i thought i read that i needed to have bolt towards the front. sooo.
i moved things around to get me with the one hole sitting on leaf spring bolt and the other empty hole pointing towards front of truck. not sure but i think ill have to move things around again.
took truck to work last night. and this morning it didnt start.
seems i must have lost a belt in transit at some point. thinking its the alternater belt.
checking into what to do to fix now.....<< i know, probly easy, but im learning late.
thanks again for help.

[lolife99]

Got any better pics of the spindles?
Especially at the lower ball joint?
Also front shock pics?

Where are the "after" pics?

[jasonroman]

Originally Posted by lolife99

Got any better pics of the spindles?
Especially at the lower ball joint?
Also front shock pics?

Where are the "after" pics?

didnt take wheel off. gotta take wife and kids shopping. and when i get back ill take some more pics.

[lolife99]

Just shoot a pic with the truck on the ground and the wheel on.
You might want to turn the wheel left, (take a pic) and then right, (take another pic).

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by jasonroman

dude tells me he didnt put in the notch. or put the rear shocks on????
that the rears didnt fit. or wouldnt work.

From my perspective, it would be difficult to say the rear shocks wouldn't work w/o @ least first attempting to install them. The hardware on those rear shocks look untouched. Did he explain any reason why they wouldn't fit/work?

I agree w/Lolife99 on the bed support clearance. Trucks w/the 52" springs must have this done but it should have/could have been cleaned up w/a grinder for a better appearance.

The 'new' shocks sitting on the front seat in your pics do look like front shocks but different brands have different appearances (some have the shaft exposed, some don't). Check to see if there are any part-numbers to identify what they are & cross reference that to the manufacturer.

Did he offer up any info on the condition of the existing ball-joints or tie-rods? Any decent mechanic (shade tree or pro) would let you know because that impacts the effectiveness of the alignment.

[jasonroman]

well the guy told me nothing about the condition of my front end.
and i think he did put the rears up front. and thats why the shocks i have left over didnt work in rear. today i decided to jack the rear up and look things over a bit.
loosened lower bracket to flip kit to see what was where.
the bracket that the axel sits on...not sure the name. but they were installed with the second hole towards the rear.
i thought i read that the second hole should be towards front of truck.
so i kind of undid everything with hopes to get the shock to work and to repostition the bracket.
needless to say i could not get the shocks to work. then at the end of my messing around, i took the shock and layed it next to whats up front. and the fronts are a bit longer and a bit more chunky. width wize is what i mean chunky.
sucks that i spent half the day messing around with something that will not fit.
also sucks that i paid a guy to do what he did. and now needs undoing.
truck bottoms out pretty hard out back. but im guessing its the shackles with no notch.
probly should have attempted the notch today while i had rear seperated. but didnt want to spend too much time out there.
so now i guess tomorrow morning when i get home from work ill see about swapping the front shocks. hopefully its not too hard. i work overnight and dont want to spend my day trying to take things apart that wont fit....example today.
hope i did the right thing moving the brackets. would really suck if i did it all for nothing.

[lolife99]

Here's a few tech articles.
I tried to find a good flip kit article,... but I haven't found one yet.
Also look at the c-notch install listed below.

Front:
http://www.classictrucks.com/tech/05...ing/index.html

Front and rear:
http://www.73-87.com/7387garage/chas...nsion_drop.htm


C-Notch:
http://www.73-87.com/7387garage/chas...n/csection.htm
http://www.73-87.com/7387garage/chas.../box_drop2.htm

[jasonroman]

thanks for reply, help so far and links.
did i do the right thing with the axel brackets? replacing them so the leaf spring bolt goes thru the rear hole and leaving the other hole towards the front of truck?
right now with no notch, i have about half inch from axel to frame.
might give the notch a try this weekend.
will i need to undo everything i did today for the notch?
can i just unbolt front shock and swap in smaller shock. then do the same in the rear?
thanks again for help

[lolife99]

There is normally one offset hole in the axle saddle.
The hole goes towards the front.
It sets on the "centering pin" of the leaf spring pack.
This should move the rearend "rearward" by about 1".

It's hard to tell what you did without pics.
The rearend moves back to keep the driveshaft yoke from being jambed into the transmission tail shaft housing too far.

Where is the instructions that came with your parts?
I woulld verify the rearend is correct before attempting the notch.
From what I have seen,... I would swap the front shocks to the rear,... and install the leftover shocks up front.
All this is a guess,... without better pics.
(especially of the axle saddle)

[lolife99]

See the offset hole?

[lolife99]

Better pic,...

[SCOTI]

^^^^^^^^^^^
That's a great reference pic! I'm putting a copy of that away for future use.

[jasonroman]

Originally Posted by lolife99

Better pic,...

Oh man oh man. Well guess ill be undoing it again and taking pics. Problem. Well my brackets have 2 holes not one like the ones in your pics instructions are real vague to say the least.
Posted via Mobile Device

[lolife99]

Just remember,... you want the axle tube "centerline" behind the leaf spring pin.
Take pics up front.
I feel like your front wheels are rubbing on the lower a-arms.

[Gobbles]

Ahhh, I see! Never thought of that before. Thanks for your time and knowledge!