School me on shocks

Keith1138

Keith1138

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 18, 2015
Location
Harrisburg NC
Now that I'm done with the suspension on my jeep I need to figure out what length of shocks I need.

Right now at ride height the front is sitting at 23 inches. This shocks is almost fully extended. My goal was to use the doestech shocks and their built in bump stops to keep the tire out my fender flair. Right now I was 7 inches of space from the top of my tire to the fender so I was thing a 19 or 18 inch collasped shock. Then this will leave a good amount for down travel.

Does this sound alright?

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Why not just make some new bump stops with some scrap metal? It doesn't have to be KOH worthy. Not sure a shock and bumpstop combo is a great long term idea especially under the front of the jeep.

I am biased to bilsteins. The link is to 12" travel shocks. Your new radius arm suspension will offer a ton of droop likely limited by your drag link/steering geometry. The 14" travel shocks could be the ticket also.

https://www.amazon.com/Bilstein-33185569-5100-Shock-Absorber/dp/B009FU6I6G
 
Ideally, the shock has 1" of shaft showing when the axle is sitting on the bumps, and 1" of travel remaining when the axle is at full droop. Depending on what you're willing to move, that may not all be possible.
 
Take the coils off, use jack or engine hoist to hold the chassis at correct full bump position.

Mount bump stops. Give some margin if the bump stops can compress some.

If the compress a lot, use wood blocks to temporarily hold them inbetween and set weight on then to measure compressed height.

Once bumps are set, raise chassis to simulate full droop. Check steering, brake lines, and driveshaft for binding. Also check that the coils won’t fall out at full droop.

Mount limit straps.

Compare distance from axle to frame in all this to measure actual travel.

Try to get shocks with a bit more travel than the actual travel so the shocks don’t bottom or top out before the bump and limit straps.

1” margin both ways is a good rule of thumb, unless the bump stop is the same distance from the vehicle centerline as the shock.
 
Mac5005 said:
Take the coils off, use jack or engine hoist to hold the chassis at correct full bump position.

Mount bump stops. Give some margin if the bump stops can compress some.

If the compress a lot, use wood blocks to temporarily hold them inbetween and set weight on then to measure compressed height.

Once bumps are set, raise chassis to simulate full droop. Check steering, brake lines, and driveshaft for binding. Also check that the coils won’t fall out at full droop.

Mount limit straps.

Compare distance from axle to frame in all this to measure actual travel.

Try to get shocks with a bit more travel than the actual travel so the shocks don’t bottom or top out before the bump and limit straps.

1” margin both ways is a good rule of thumb, unless the bump stop is the same distance from the vehicle centerline as the shock.
Click to expand...
And when all this is done be prepared to compromise or change the mounting points. Every custom lift I ever created had to be limited in compression or droop unless I moved the shock mounts.
If I had to compromise I used to do so in compression to gain travel in droop. I've changed my mind over various experiences in favor of maintaining contact pressure over a tire dangling deeper in a hole. So get all the compression you can without binding and smacking sheet metal around.
What tire size are you shooting for?
 
WARRIORWELDING said:
And when all this is done be prepared to compromise or change the mounting points. Every custom lift I ever created had to be limited in compression or droop unless I moved the shock mounts.
If I had to compromise I used to do so in compression to gain travel in droop. I've changed my mind over various experiences in favor of maintaining contact pressure over a tire dangling deeper in a hole. So get all the compression you can without binding and smacking sheet metal around.
What tire size are you shooting for?
Click to expand...
Heres the thing I used the rustys long arm kit. I dont think there is much I can do. My plan is to get the shocks since I've got my measurements for them then bump stop and possibly use limiting straps if necessary.

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Most important thing is how much do you want to spend. Shocks can be $30 for a 12” travel shock that will fit a 17” collapsed length, and still have a stud mount up top and a bar pin bottom. Or it can be $120 a pop and you’ll have to convert the stem to an eyelet and it’ll take up some of that space. Last XJ I helped a guy build, was a dirt bound offroad 3 link that the guy opted to do a cheap front shock package till he figured out what he wanted to run. Sucks he never wanted to change the track bar setup when he did the same companies crossover steering setup. So it made it all a little weird. The factory track bar mount, axle side will limit your droop a good bit because you’ll have interference with the track bar.
 
Keith1138 said:
Heres the thing I used the rustys long arm kit. I dont think there is much I can do. My plan is to get the shocks since I've got my measurements for them then bump stop and possibly use limiting straps if necessary.

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Imo I would wait till you get the new wheels you mentioned, and then take measurements with them on the jeep. Figure out what size bumpstop extensions ( do top and bottom in the front) you need to keep the tires from major rubbing, and to keep the suspension from binding, then measure for shocks.

On my old xj, I ended up running 3 different sets of shocks because I was too lazy to do it correctly the first time.

What I ended up with on my xj was 2 inch "pucks" in the bottom of the coil and I ordered the longest daystar upper bumps for the top. The top was easy to trim with a sawzall between the coils to get it exactly right. Doing this allowed me to fine tune it without removing anything.
 
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