Back in the day that I worked in truck shops we did much frame work. Heavy truck frames are often bolted together rather than riveted. Many frames and replacement frame rails had a caution sticker that ominously said "Do not drill flanges or weld to rails," a caution I have observed since. In retrofitting my 1-ton for rear shocks I made brackets out of spare spring leafs bent at a 90 with a couple of bolt holes torched in them. Then I found a convenient bolt hole already in the frame and bolted on the bracket. Drilling bolt holes in truck frames is not fun unless you have a magnetic drill press for the purpose. On aluminum frames we used a clamp affair to hold the drill. One caution is to make the bracket to take a shock with an eye on top rather than a stud. Your choice of shocks will be much greater. The AD 1-ton RPO for shocks used a forged bracket that riveted or bolted to the frame and used shocks with eyes top and bottom. Keep an eye out for that bracket.
