I have just put the body back on my 67 after finishing the frame. I added poly bushings and have stock springs.The problem I'm having is the rear shocks need to be fully extended to bolt up?

I had the old shocks on with the same problem as the new ones I just purchased. Has anyone had the same problem?

Is the weight of the car on the rear axle? If the rear end is hanging, you will have to fully extend the shocks to get them on. You may even have to lift the rear end up a little bit too. I think the shocks are what keeps the springs from falling out if some extreme situation ever occured and there was no weight on the rear. You wouldn't want to go flying off a jump at 120 mph and have both rear springs fall out before you land. smile.gif

Tim.

The weight is on the axle, its just the shell, no motor tranny trunk lid bumpers etc but I still thought it was odd that the shocks are fully extended.

Never seen how much the rear suspension might come up with the trunk lid, bumpers, etc off the car. Rear springs are pretty weak so I guess there isn't much weight on them to begin with. Without those parts, you may have cut the weight enough that the suspension is fully extended.

Tim.

Cramur,

Went through the same thing, a lot depends on what springs you are using, but you would be surprised at how each part changes the suspension loading, especially parts that are behine the rear axle, like trunk & bumpers/brackets. Because of leverage these increase the effect of the wt. load - much like when you tow a trailer, but not as extreme.

Either leave the shock unattached at the bottum or do what I did - lay some boards across the floor pans and trunk, then load up the boards with about 300 - 400 lbs of wt (whatever you can find in the garage works) to get the suspension to settle, then connect the shocks while loaded.