where to buy shock plate thingies; also rear shock question

As best I can tell from googling on yahoo, ebay, etc, these are called a shock plate:



The broken one is from my 61 Ranchero and the intact one is from my 62 donor Ranchero. (Both from passenger side.)

The only ones I can find online are for late 60s Fords (catering to the Mustang crowd) and those ones look similar, IE:



However they are flatter in design. Mine are shaped with a notable indentation which runs perpendicular under the leaf springs, and the single bolt that comes through the center of the bottom leaf sits within that gap.

Does anyone know if my version are available anywhere as reproduction parts?

And while I'm under there, I do know that I'll be replacing rear shocks eventually, which I've never done on a Ranchero. How do I access the nut holding the top end of a rear shock absorber? Does a panel from the bed have to come off? That seems drastic but I can't see any other way!

 

You do have to remove the bed drain hatch to access the shock absorber's upper attachment. Be prepared to find lots of junk/trash/crap when do do...it's the notorious place where rust forms from plugged bed drain holes from "stuff" finding its way in there...

 

After you remove the front bed panel, you'll see the top shock mounts; they may be covered with plastic plugs. Sorry, I can't help with the shock plates.

 

Just have yours welded, it will probably be less money and be just as strong, if not stronger.

 

Yikes! I was 'fraid of that. Removing that panel is going to be like 80% of the project. I can't see many of these screws coming out without stripping! I'd expect a lot of drilling out and retapping threads, just to remove-n-replace this one panel, plus it looks like there are 2 trim pieces on opposite sides of the panel which also need to come off first, with multiple smaller screws in each.

I suspect I'll be driving without a right rear shock for awhile, until I'm brave enough to tackle this bed panel.

I got the unbroken shock plate installed into my 61 but the lower nut of the existing shock absorber was seized, resulting in permanent attachment to the fragment of the old shock plate which had broken off. This meant I couldn't attach the old shock absorber onto the replacement shock plate even as an interim step. So for now I just cut out the shock absorber with an angle grinder, high up near the top so there's just a couple-inch stub left hanging way up there, out of the way.

 

I will keep the broken pieces in case it comes to that. The one from my donor car will suffice for now, but I am concerned about it.

My 61 Ranchero had the right one broken clean off, and when I looked at the left side, it is cracked and obviously on the way to a full break. I never specifically examined either of the rear shock plates when I first bought the car back in April, nor when I got the engine installed and started driving in June. However it definitely wasn't broken clean off until just recently because I've been underneath the car many times and a detached rear shock hanging there is pretty obvious, once it happens.

Thus I strongly suspect it was my primitive road which pushed it over the brink. I have 3 miles of unpaved dirt/gravel road between me and the highway, which is so inferior that the county actually maintains a sign where the pavement ends warning people "primitive road ahead." Every trip to town therefore involves 6 miles (round trip) of severe suspension punishment.

That said, if I lived on a paved road I would have no worries about putting the intact shock plate from the 62 donor Ranchero onto my 61 driver, and then forget about it. But the shock plate from the 62 already has decades of stress from normal use, just like the one it's replacing, and now will suffer 6 miles of rough terrain punishment every time I drive to town, just like the one it's replacing.

So I think this is one of those cases where a new reproduction part would definitely be the wiser choice instead of an intact "original" part. Unless maybe it's NOS and hasn't suffered years of real world stress yet.

If I can't find an exact reproduction match, the ones they sell for Mustangs looks very similar and maybe I could make those work with some minor modification.

 

On the bed panel: I ended up drilling out the small screws on the two side pieces. The main panel screws came out easily with an impact driver. I was able to buy a set of screws and connectors from one of the Ford parts suppliers(I think Autokrafters).

 

I wouldn't worry too much about using the '62 shock plate; what's the worst that could happen?- you may have 2 to weld at some point. I say put off worrying until it's actually required.

I also think you may be over-thinking the front bed cover removal. Those screws are threaded into C-clips with not many threads, and pre-soaking them for a day with PB Blaster or Kroil will make that easier. Some of my factory clips were missing; here's what I replaced them with:



And the trim pieces are attached to the panel- they come out with it.

If you get the bed panel off, and it looks pretty rust-free, you may want to take the time to clean it out, apply seam sealer to any seams, and shoot on some rattle can undercoating. After that, you won't have any worries for a long time.

 

The piece that is broken, that you are looking for... according to the Ford Parts Manual, is referred to as "Rear Spring Clip". Ford Part number 5798 for the RH side. 5799 for the left. Section 53, 54, Springs and Stabilizer.

Looks like it was used on every model from 60-64.

Looks like National Parts Depot has them...

Product Search - National Parts Depot (npdlink.com)

 

A little knowledge goes a long way, WOW.

Very helpful to know that these are screwed into clips. Also I've never used an impact driver before but my son had one right here! (He's got tons of tools I don't even know about.) That is proving to be essential... these things are REALLY stuck but with much effort and sweat, over the past 2 nights I've gotten 4 removed so far. A fifth one now spins but it feels like the clip broke and now the (presumably) rusted remnant of half a clip is still bound to the fastener under there and just spins in place. Not sure what I'll do about that yet.

The way it's going so far, my original assessment that this panel removal would be 80% of the project still seems about right, however with the use of this impact driver a lot of that time will be pounding instead of drilling. From my perspective, the more I can disassemble without drilling the better

However even if they only take 30 minutes each I've still got a LONG way to go...

Anyway thanks again for everyone's help! Without this knowledge I was too intimidated to even start on this so soon. But now I've got shocks ordered and en route, so that's a pretty good indicator of my increased optimism about this project!

 

"rear spring clip"

Never woulda guessed! That's fantastic intel, thanks!!!

 

Keep trying the PB Blaster, and tap on the bolt heads after doing that to help it creep down the threads.

 

Like beerbelly says Keep soaking with PB Blaster. The spinning ones you will just have to drill the heads off. Heat works but without access to the other side I to put the fire out I don't recommend that.

 

Success! Or at least qualified success...

By Wednesday night I'd identified which ones were definitely not gonna come out nicely, and by the 4th evening (tonight) the panel is finally liberated!

Every night after work is racing against a sunset so by the time I got the panel off, it's too dark to assess what's underneath yet... I just put my car cover on and called it a night.

But the score (out of 19 bolts) is 6 destroyed and 13 removed intact. On average, the ones which came out by impact driver took much longer than the ones I had to drill. So that strategy didn't save me any time but it did save me some of the bolts, which I felt was more important, or at least more emotionally satisfying to me, to do the least damage possible on my precious rig. I'm certain if DJ Clinton hadn't clued me into that tool, there woulda been a lot more drilling and far fewer bolts surviving.

Special thanks also to beerbelly for "the trim pieces are attached to the panel- they come out with it" which no doubt saved me a lot of unnecessary work battling 8 smaller, painted in place (and probably rusted in place) screws. That design is a real optical illusion, very much appearing like that panel won't come out until the 2 trim pieces are first extrapolated. SO much easier to just leave them in place when they don't actually need to move at all.

My replacement shocks are scheduled to arrive Monday and by then I hope to have the old ones fully evicted, although... I'm not sure how the retaining nuts at the top of the old shock absorbers are meant to spin considering the center bolts must be held firm by a separate tool to prevent both turning together. So if you cannot get a socket over the top of the center bolt, how are you possibly supposed to get a wrench to fit alongside of the retaining nut, when that nut is positioned well below the opening of that narrow access hole? It doesn't really look like there's room for a wrench to turn in there, only a socket. Am I right?

But since I'm not needing to preserve the old shock absorbers, maybe I should just find a dremel or something, and cut right through the retaining nuts to get those old shocks out. And although I'm sure that would work, then aren't I still faced with the inverse problem when installing my new rear shocks? How to secure the new retaining nut whilst holding the center bolt of my new shock absorber.

If you've done this before, please chime in

 

Life will be so much easier if you can find and bribe a friend or the wife to place the rubber bushing, washer, and nut on the top of the shock stud then hold it still while you turn the shock with your hands from underneath. Have them hold the nut in place with a deep well socket and ratchet and have them tell you when the rubber biscuit is compressed so that it matches the outer diameter of the retaining washer. That will be tight enough, avoid cranking down so hard that the rubber is distorted.

 

That's so simple it's genius, I will absolutely do it this way! My son will be glad to help...

Man I can't wait to drive this baby down my gravel road without fishtailing

(It's 3 miles of "long and winding road" between my house and the first pavement; when I take the Ranchero out for a spin I have to drive at half speed all the way from here to the freeway just to keep safe.)

 

National Parts Depot actually had reproductions from TWO different manufacturers for these part numbers! I just ordered up the 19 dollar versions, left and right... man that's cheap insurance against needing to get the rear suspension apart again anytime soon. Obviously I hadn't been searching using the correct part names *or* part numbers before... VERY grateful for the intel here, thank you!!!

 

If you are just getting started... might want to invest in a set of manuals from Detroit Iron Information Systems.

NPD uses the same part numbers. Makes it easy to find the correct parts.

 

The tools used are a special 'deep' offset 9/16" box wrench and a very special 'double D' socket that would hold the center stud while the wrench undid the nut. I had access to those from my late friend who sold me my '74 Squire, since he was a Ford fanatic.

 

I ordered 5798 and 5799 from National Parts Depot but ran into a hitch. At first the customer service seemed pretty on top of it because on Tuesday I emailed to ask about ETA and they replied back next day providing me a tracking number.

I received the package yesterday and here's what arrived:



Here's the left (driver's side) that they sent me, pictured alongside the original 5799 that I pulled off of my 1961 Ranchero:



I think I could make this work with modifications. I'd need to cut off about an inch from the edge that's closest to the brakes. I could use the hole where the shock absorber attaches, plus the 2 U-bolt holes closest to it. Then use my existing 5799 to mark where 2 new U-bolt holes should go, so that the U-bolts are both snuggled against the leaf springs on either side. Then widen the center hole to accommodate the post which runs through the center of the leaf springs and protrudes below.

But I'd rather not modify if the correct reproduction is available somewhere.

From the labeling, it seems perhaps that someone substituted a Mustang's 5796 for both the 5798 and 5799, except they are marked 5796-L and 5796-R.

For example, on one box (for the driver's side) it says C5DZ-5796-L on a large label, but a smaller label placed over the top of the large label says 5799-1B. As if someone is assuming that 5796-L is interchangeable/identical to 5799. Looks like this:



So I emailed to National Parts Depot again, attaching a picture of the 5796/5799 side-by-side comparison, and asking if they had any reproduction of the 5798 and 5799 parts which I'd ordered. That was early afternoon yesterday.

In the meantime I've installed the 5798 and 5799 which came off of the donor 62 Ranchero onto my 61 Ranchero, just so I could finish installing rear shocks today. But if National Parts Depot can come through with some accurate reproductions I will gladly take my Ranchero back apart, both sides, install the new (unstressed) metal and put the original 5798 and 5799 into my reserve storage.