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It's doesn't take more once or twice of hanging up on the rear shock mounts to get a little frustrated. We had bent the rear mounts more than once, and so it was past time to replace and upgrade. Many times those two are the same thing. Poison Spider Customs sells some heavy duty shock tabs for cheap, and they're just the ticket when you're on a budget. First things first: get out your safety glasses, grinder, small sledge, and any other implement of destruction that might be of use. After examining the mount, I decided on a strategy that ground parallel with the face of the tab. That minimized the amount of metal taken off the axle tube. When it was apparent that enough of the weld has been ground off, it was time to take the sledge to it. If you've done enough grinding, then the mount should fall off after only a few hits. With the old mount removed, go ahead and grind the area flush with the tube again being careful not too remove too much material from the tube itself.
Some time ago, our old upper mount had broken, so now was a great time to repair it. It was only cracked, but a couple of washers and quick welds later and it's as good as new. We chose to go back with Rancho 9000 series shocks with their adjustable valving. We have been running RS9012s in the front with Ford shock towers, and the 9005s were the perfect length for the rear. Poison Spider's Burly shock tabs come radiused, and are an excellent fit for the 14 bolt. They only need to be clearanced just a little to fit perfectly. At 1/4" thick, and placed higher on the axle tube, they aren't going anywhere.
We recently had the chance to get on an RTI ramp to get a better idea of how these new shocks would handle under flex. There's still some fine tuning to be done on other suspension components, but this is a good start.
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