Shocks on leaf springs?

R Q

R Q

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 4, 2005
Location
Charlotte
My old Bilstiens (spelling) are hammered.
Rig is '68 Jeepster Commando on SOA reverse eye Alcan springs. 101" wheel base on 37" SSR front/ Bogger rears. My last URE video shows me bouncing around a good bit. It's time for shocks.
Recommendations?
 
I have been very happy with my Doestch shocks. They come with built in bump stops too. Not bad for the money.

Doetsch Tech 8000 Prerunner - Iron Rock Off Road

A phone call to them telling them the collapsed and extended lengths you need, and if you need loop-loop or stem-loop and you’re good to go.
 
77GreenMachine said:
I have been very happy with my Doestch shocks. They come with built in bump stops too. Not bad for the money.

Doetsch Tech 8000 Prerunner - Iron Rock Off Road

A phone call to them telling them the collapsed and extended lengths you need, and if you need loop-loop or stem-loop and you’re good to go.
Click to expand...

I run these as well but not on leafs. Bronco Graveyard has better prices on these btw, along with carrying more of the part numbers.
 
I'd probably stick with the Bilsteins if you were happy with them. You can find some info on valving for leaf sprung vs coil to make sure you pick the right ones. I found 51xx series Bils for about 70 a piece a few years back, but the place I got them has gone up to $90 per.
 
It is and I have pictures.......
Tellico, windrock, Harlan, and Moab........

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk
 
I was looking to see if my Shocks, were still listed. Either I deleted the add, or it timed out.
I've got a New set of Gabriel, Guardian-Classic shocks, that was for my CJ. They actually sent me the wrong valved set, & I tried them, but thought they are too stiff for me. Gas charged. Extended - 20.23". Collapsed - 12.37". Stroke - 7.86".
$30 for 4. Your welcome to test drive them.
 

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rodney eppes said:
I was looking to see if my Shocks, were still listed. Either I deleted the add, or it timed out.
I've got a New set of Gabriel, Guardian-Classic shocks, that was for my CJ. They actually sent me the wrong valved set, & I tried them, but thought they are too stiff for me. Gas charged. Extended - 20.23". Collapsed - 12.37". Stroke - 7.86".
$30 for 4. Your welcome to test drive them.
Click to expand...
Thanks, wrong dimensions for me.
 
Call up Accutune offroad, or a similar company they will probably get you to take a few measurements but they sell valved shocks for your specific application.
 
valving chart
Picturea.png
 
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If you want to try a generic shock, doestch tech.

A step up would be to get some of n2 or n3 whatever rough country calls them. Thy have a decent shock for leaf applications, plus lifetime warranty.

If you want to spend $$ get some tuneable shocks like radflo,fox, ads, king, swayaway.
But there needs to be a large asterisk with that. Prepare to spend the time/money to tune them or have them tuned to take advantage of the investment.

Bilsteins suck for “most” solid axle vehicles.

I have valve shims for Fox/radflo if you want to go that route and tune them.

If you do choose to go that route, buy threaded body shocks, and put the hardware in your tool box for the coils. This way if you ever want to link it and convert to coilovers, you don’t have to buy new shocks.
 
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Mac5005 said:
If you want to try a generic shock, doestch tech.

A step up would be to get some of n2 or n3 whatever rough stuff calls them. Thy have a decent shock for leaf applications, plus lifetime warranty.

If you want to spend $$ get some tuneable shocks like radflo,fox, ads, king, swayaway.
But there needs to be a large asterisk with that. Prepare to spend the time/money to tune them or have them tuned to take advantage of the investment.

Bilsteins suck for “most” solid axle vehicles.

I have valve shims for Fox/radflo if you want to go that route and tune them.

If you do choose to go that route, buy threaded body shocks, and put the hardware in your tool box for the coils. This way if you ever want to link it and convert to coilovers, you don’t have to buy new shocks.
Click to expand...

Was waiting for the shock guru to chime in, lol.
 
iwaxmyjimmy said:
That’s so generic for valving, why I’m suggesting get some tuned shocks for it and enjoy the ride.
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Yeah no doubt having a set of tuned shocks is probably great, but in case anyone was wondering about Bilstein's general shock tuning, there's a chart. I bought mine based off of that, and for my rig, they helped tremendously over the blown out procomp cheapos it had. I can't personally justify spending $1k+ on shocks for something that's a weekend trail rig, as much as I'd like to.
 
paulevans76 said:
Yeah no doubt having a set of tuned shocks is probably great, but in case anyone was wondering about Bilstein's general shock tuning, there's a chart. I bought mine based off of that, and for my rig, they helped tremendously over the blown out procomp cheapos it had. I can't personally justify spending $1k+ on shocks for something that's a weekend trail rig, as much as I'd like to.
Click to expand...

I picked up 14” travel fox smooth body 2.0s for $520 shipped to my casa. It’s more obtainable than people think.
 
paulevans76 said:
Yeah no doubt having a set of tuned shocks is probably great, but in case anyone was wondering about Bilstein's general shock tuning, there's a chart. I bought mine based off of that, and for my rig, they helped tremendously over the blown out procomp cheapos it had. I can't personally justify spending $1k+ on shocks for something that's a weekend trail rig, as much as I'd like to.
Click to expand...
Buy a set of rebuildable and tunable shocks that can grow and change with your rig as you modify it over the years. Or buy a different set of shocks everytime you change your setup. It's pretty easy to justify once you think through it.
 
Thanks, y'all have given me a lot of homework to do. I was never in love with the Bilstiens but Alcan highly recommended them to go with my springs so I got them. I have a crazy amount of travel in front but rears are much less. I want to link the rear soon but that may be a year or may be three years. I've done nothing but repairs the last 3 years and I'm ready to just wheel it for a while.
I need to stiffen up the rears to help some with bouncing. The front, I never noticed it needing shocks until I saw the video of my coming up Dickey Bell.
Keep thoughts and comments coming and thanks for the help!
 
R Q said:
Do you mean RuffStuff? I see that they have shocks but don't see N2 or N3
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Rough country. They make decent shocks, believe it or not.
 
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