Angle of air shocks / coilovers

Loganwayne

Loganwayne

#BTL
Joined
Feb 15, 2013
Location
Clyde, North Carolina
Is there a point where I shouldn’t use air shocks and go to coilovers, my shocks will be angled away from axle front to back. How will this effect the way the air shock handles


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Well...one thing about air shocks that I'm not sure about is if they are a linear rate as most coilover springs are. Regardless, you can still calculate what the effective load on the shock is and compare that to what they can handle. I know nothing about air shocks, but I assume there's a limit to what they'll take? I'm sure someone more knowledgeable can chime in and pitch their buck-0-five.

If you know the corner sprung weight of your rig, divide that by the cosine of the angle of the shock from vertical position, i.e. if your shock is mounted at a 20 degree angle, divide your corner weight by cos(20) and you'll have the load that is on that shock. Example: 1200/cos(20) = 1277.

I hope that helps. If not, I'll go back to my corner and continue eating paste. :D
 
Last edited:
Scooter402 said:
Well...one thing about air shocks that I'm not sure about is if they are a linear rate as most coilover springs are. Regardless, you can still calculate what the effective load on the shock is and compare that to what they can handle. I know nothing about air shocks, but I assume there's a limit to what they'll take? I'm sure someone more knowledgeable can chime in and pitch their buck-0-five.

If you know the corner unsprung weight of your rig, divide that by the cosine of the angle of the shock from vertical position, i.e. if your shock is mounted at a 20 degree angle, divide your corner weight by cos(20) and you'll have the load that is on that shock. Example: 1200/cos(20) = 1277.

I hope that helps. If not, I'll go back to my corner and continue eating paste. :D
Click to expand...

That actually mad it stupid easy. I think 2.5s are rated for 1000 pound sprung weight.


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Loganwayne said:
That actually mad it stupid easy. I think 2.5s are rated for 1000 pound sprung weight.


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Click to expand...
Awesome! and once I read yours, I noticed I made a typo in mine [unsprung weight]. Fixed it now though.
 
Like any shock or spring, the angle changes during bump and rebound, as the mounting points are offset and the distance between the mounting points changes in bump and rebound. You probably don't need to concern yourself with what happens at any given point along the range of travel, but you should make sure that the shock load is acceptable for each angle at max bump, max rebound, at normal ride height, etc.
 
I was also wondering how
It effected the air shock, I know it’s not an ori but those have to be mounted near vertical to work correctly


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The angle of a coilover affects its effectiveness. More angle reduces both the spring's effect on wheel rate as well as the shocks ability to dampen the spring. Air shocks are the "spring" so angling them will reduce the effective "spring" rate. I would guess an air shock would be near the same as a coilover in that they should be limited to 20* angle (some say 10*). Under 20* the dampening effect of the shock and the effective spring rate are not diminished to any discernible amount.

Also, It would be an exercise in futility to try to plot what would be the ideal angle at all the different attitudes a shock could find itself in under all the different flex conditions. Keep it within 10*-20* of vertical and it wont change the rate or dampening enough to notice.

My $0.02...I always recommend against air shocks. Run ORIs or Coilovers. (I would even recommend stock type coil springs before I would run air shocks!)
 
IMG_2125.JPG

The blue line is about where the mounts are now, orange is about where I was thinking of moving them to, to get a better angle to the axle.

I was planning on coilovers but some things have come up that have deceased my budget for the build for now, was going to find a used set of air shocks for now and upgrade to coilovers in a year or two


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Loganwayne said:
View attachment 262588
The blue line is about where the mounts are now, orange is about where I was thinking of moving them to, to get a better angle to the axle.

I was planning on coilovers but some things have come up that have deceased my budget for the build for now, was going to find a used set of air shocks for now and upgrade to coilovers in a year or two


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Click to expand...

Sounds like a good plan. Shoot for the shock to be perpendicular to the lower link at full bump.

Blue line looks a bit excessive orange line looks better.

Find the max oil volume for your air shock and subtract 10cc and start with that. Use whatever nitro pressure to get the ride height correct.

If you can’t find the max oil volume, fully compress the shock and fill with oil. This is the hydro lock volume. Subtract 10-20cc from that amount.

Ie you want the most oil you can put in the shock without hydro locking it and the minimal nitrogen only to get correct height.
 
Loganwayne said:
View attachment 262588
The blue line is about where the mounts are now, orange is about where I was thinking of moving them to, to get a better angle to the axle.

I was planning on coilovers but some things have come up that have deceased my budget for the build for now, was going to find a used set of air shocks for now and upgrade to coilovers in a year or two


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Click to expand...

You might can save some if you can get by with 2.0s. If you need 2.5s because of the weights, even used they push close to the cost of coilovers. While you should likely run one with any spring, you will want to add in cost of a sway bar with the air shocks.
 
ol'Jeeps said:
No way your that heavy! The Bogger guys who ran air shocks, ran 2.0 Big Horns on those big ass (6000#!) rigs and beat the hell out of them!
Click to expand...
The big horns were a different breed of air shocks though. More like a 2.25".

Biggest reason for going to 2.5 is to keep pressures low. Higher pressure in the shock equates to worse unloading and more pogo action.
 
paradisePWoffrd said:
The big horns were a different breed of air shocks though. More like a 2.25".

Biggest reason for going to 2.5 is to keep pressures low. Higher pressure in the shock equates to worse unloading and more pogo action.
Click to expand...

Exactly. 2.5” gives larger compression ratio and increased oil volume with less n2 to get the correct ride height.

All good things when using an air shock.
 
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