Im considering moving my rear shocks from the exterior of the frame to the interior side for clearance reasons and was wondering if anyone has done the same? I believe the 3600 has a shock mount support bracket that positioned the rear upper shock mounts to the interior and was wondering if the same support bracket could be used on a 3100. Ive searched various vendors for the support bracket with no luck so far.
It looks like from your picture that the brackets that the shock connects to are the same for 1/2 and 3/4 ton, but the 3/4 ton has the extra bracket that bolts onto the frame. It looks like that could be fabricated from some flat metal fairly easily if you can't find them from a donor frame. I don't recall seeing those 3600 brackets being available.
Kevin 1951 Chevy 3100 work truck Follow this saga in Project Journal Photos 1929 Ford pickup restored from the ground up. | 1929 Ford Special Coupe (First car) Busting rust since the mid-60's If you're smart enough to take it apart, you darn well better be smart enough to put it back together.
Don't know if it makes any difference, but I think the 3100 frame rails are a lot further apart in the rear than the 3600 are.
'57 GMC 102, Original 347 V8, HydraMatic, 3.08 rear gear, added A/C, disk front brakes, HEI, AFB carb, '98 Honda Black Currant paint. T-boned and totaled 10/12 '52 GMC 152 Stake Bed, Original 228, SM420, added A/C, HEI, disk front brakes, '67 Chev 3.55 rear gear. Gets used as a real truck.
Bill is correct about the frame rails being wider at the rear on 3100's vs 3600 and bigger trucks. 48 inches at the rear, tapering to that width pretty uniformly from the front to about 2 feet forward of the rear. The 3600 frames are 36" wide from about the middle running board bracket to the rear of the frame.
But I think that shock mounts could be moved just inboard of the frame on a 3100, as long as the frame taper is dealt with. It could be equivalent of mounting the shocks just outboard of the frame on a 3600.
Kevin 1951 Chevy 3100 work truck Follow this saga in Project Journal Photos 1929 Ford pickup restored from the ground up. | 1929 Ford Special Coupe (First car) Busting rust since the mid-60's If you're smart enough to take it apart, you darn well better be smart enough to put it back together.
I moved my shock mounts to the interior of the frame since I changed rear ends. I also have one shock angling forward and one angling rearward. The shock mounts are made of angle iron. The angle iron is the beefy stuff - not the stuff that comes from the mattress store!
As Gord illustrates, there are several ways of creating a shock mount. Not to tech heavy. 30 deg max angle is the goal. Here is one I did. Front shock mock up, 1960 GMC 4X4.
Last edited by bartamos; 05/26/20254:58 AM.
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