A-Body Shock Tower Question

[KCBones]

I have a question about the very top of an A-body shock tower. I have a nice set of frame rails I got to repair my '68 Dart. Once I have my front sheet metal off and can inspect the right front frame rail more thoroughly, I am leaning towards just replacing or grafting the front section on to my rotted left frame rail. If I find major damage on the right one, I'll just replace both.

My question is, does anyone know the exact reason for the ledge at the top of the shock tower (Circled in the attached generic picture)? Is it just a support for the inner fender apron? The ledge of the shock towers on the nice rails I have were both clipped off apparently when the inner fender aprons were cut. It looks simple enough to graft new ones on, fortunately the tops of both my shock towers are fine. It would seem easier to just graft the top ledge back on instead of try to replace the whole shock tower.

Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance for all the expert advice.
K.C.

 

[KosmicKuda]

The inner fenders are spot welded to the top of the shock towers in that location.

Check the frame rails carefully. They rust from the inside out and can be paper thin. Especially where they kick up at the bottom.

 

[jbc426]

As mentioned above, that portion is spot welded to the inner fender well. On my '68 Barracuda, all but one or two of the spot welds there had broken loose. When installing my US Cartool chassis stiffening kit, I welded the entire shock tower to the inner fender and re-welded the spot welds. This stiffened the connection between the two structures.

If I had it to do over, I would connect the firewall to the shock tower (like the under fender brace from US Cartool does) and continue that brace from the firewall to the top of the shock tower and on down to the outside of the frame rail near the front end of it using one continuous tube.

 

[KCBones]

The inner fenders are spot welded to the top of the shock towers in that location.

Check the frame rails carefully. They rust from the inside out and can be paper thin. Especially where they kick up at the bottom.

I agree, I don't think the design was that good. Mine rotted out on the top of the frame rail where the shock tower is located. There's a little "pond" formed there that collects all the dirt and water and lets it pool there until it finally rots out.