Rear shock mount location

[Wrencherer]

Can anyone tell me the pro's and con's of shock placement on a leaf spring car? Is it better to have both shocks behind, ahead, or stagered of the rear axle? If stagered, which side goes in front and which goes behind and why? Should you mount to lower spring plate or to axle? Should you mount the shocks straight up and down or on a slight angle and why?

[Wrencherer]

What, Nobody has an opinion on this subject? :confused:

[wvdirtracer30]

I couldn't tell you which way is the best but my car has both shocks located in front of the rearend on the springplate. They are angled in at the top slightly. My car is a Pinto and was built back in 1990 or 1991 when my dad was just starting out in ministocks. You can get the spring plates with locating points to mount the shocks in front of or behind the rearend, then you can experiment if you like. I also use lowering blocks. The lowering block on the RR is adjustable so I can move the rearend forward or backward to tighten or loosen the car up.

You may look at some of the leaf spring manufacturers websites like Landrum or Afco in the technical information section. They may have some info on this.

Here is one link I found. It is a Camaro with LR shock behind and RR shock in front of rearend.
http://www.onedirt.com/project-cars/upgrading-our-street-stock-suspension-part-2-the-rear-end/