Ladder Bar Suspension Q

[BBPanel]

I have a back-halved 55 Belair w/ladder bars. The original builder located the red cross bar directly over the rear axle with ~2" of clearance. I have not yet checked the amount of travel I have in the rear suspension but had the red bar been located several inches forward there would probably be 4-5" of travel before hitting anything. The bar is fully welded in place so I doubt it was intended as a temp location.
Since I have never dealt with a suspension such as this I must defer to others and ask "is this typical"? Once I start to work on this project my first inclination is to move it forward but thought I'd see what others have to say about its positioning. Thanks.