The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk '41 3/4 ton front shock links seem too short.

After replacing just the top spring leaves for new ones, with the truck supported on the frame so the front axle hangs free, no tires or wheels pulling down on the springs, the links from the front shocks seem too short. The links are 6 inches from center to center on the holes, and the shocks and links are the ones that came on the truck. The shocks have the correct numbers on them, and the links are the length shown in the factory literature. The left link just fits, the right one would require me to jack up the axle a bit to get the link pin in. It doesn't seem that it would matter all that much with the weight of the truck on them, but it doesn't seem that the suspension would have been designed so the shock arms/bushings and the link bushings should be supporting the weight of the axle,wheels and tires when the truck is up on a lift. Or for that matter during a full rebound of the suspension on a bumpy road. Any thoughts from out there??

This may help you and may not, but I can remember changing rear shocks on vehicles back in the 60's and having to support the rear axle with a jack to let the shocks loose.
The extended reach of the shocks was not long enough to bolt the new ones up, meaning the rear axle would hang lower, so once again to install the new shocks the rear axle had to be jacked up.

It's hard to imagine a rebound of that distance unless you take it off road and drive over rough terrain at some crazy speed.

Dan

Its perfectly normal to have to jack the axle back up to meet the shock, not a problem.
And it was a common practice to do that back then.

Back in the late 1970's I remember the service garage I worked in had a screw jack welded on a pipe and old wheel for doing shocks on a lift. It was a well-used piece of equipment.

Thanks all, on they go!!