Shocks on leaf springs?

If
R Q said:
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!
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If you plan to link the rear then deffinately get a pair of coilovers and like was mentioned before just throw the hardware in your toolbox, so when the time comes they are already there.
 
R Q said:
Do you mean RuffStuff? I see that they have shocks but don't see N2 or N3
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shawn said:
Rough country. They make decent shocks, believe it or not.
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This. Rough country.

Sorry for the typo.

Their valving is far better than bilsteins on solid axle 1:1 motion ratio stuff.

Bilsteins would be better if they flipped the piston and valving over.
 
Geez O Pete! So I got the part numbers off of my Bilsteins and they are so old, they won't come up on a search that I can find. Was hoping to read specs from these and just order from those rather than having to take them off and/or cycle the suspension to get my measurements again. I will be calling their local HQ in Mooresville on Tuesday (Closed for Easter) to see if they can help.
I'll put my part numbers on here in case any of y'all want to try to search and get the specs...:D
Fronts 0819103 6249 H5
Rears 021161 6248 H5
 
I pulled both shocks and got my measurements. It was hell getting the front one compressed back in so it's not totally worn out! These shocks have been through two sets of springs and axles so I think I may need to rework the rear hangars to allow some more extension.
 
I am having a hard time getting manufacturers to share their valving specs with me. My Bilsteins were 255/70 front and rear and I've never been totally happy with them. My rears are going to need to be much firmer and I would like the front to be more firm but not as much as the rears. I am still trying to use off the shelf instead of the high end shocks. Rough Country nor Doetsch will share their info on their chat and no one is there today. Maybe Monday I can talk to a person at their sites.
 
Bilstein’s valving represents the actual forces generated by the valving at .52 m/s piston speed. This is around 20 in/ second, which should be considered high speed valving. Their numbers are in one tenth of Newton’s.

You’ll have to convert Newton’s to pounds to compare to normal force data.

High speed valving doesn’t account for the entire picture of shock performance or ride quality.

If the low/medium speed is too stiff, it will knock your teeth out on washboard and be harsh over small whoops/bumps. This can be, but is not always represented well by the high speed valving.

Their rebound number is represented first, followed by the compression second.


I don’t know of many, if any mfr of lower end shocks will disclose the valving #s as they spend big money and time for the engineers to come up with application specific valving.


Generally for heavy unsprung mass vehicles with relatively light sprung mass, you want fairly light rebound valving.

Increase compression valving as sprung mass increases.

Generally lighter spring rates equate to lighter compression valving.

I’d try to get rough country to disclose the valving for your vehicle application and then cross reference a travel and mounting length shock with similar valving.


I do have a fox master shim kit here if you decide to go that route and want to tune them just for your liking. I also have some whoops, washboard, and a rockpile here for testing.

An off the shelf shock will never perform in the realm of one tuned just for you,

But I completely understand running an off the shelf shock for a number of reasons.

I wish I could look through a rough country catalog, pick a valving and mounting style and length, and order a shock. It would fit a lot of needs below that of a tuneable shock.

But, once you get a set of tuned shocks, you’ll fully understand why it’s not apples to apples comparison.

Keep us updated on what you find out.
 
Mac5005 said:
Bilstein’s valving represents the actual forces generated by the valving at .52 m/s piston speed. This is around 20 in/ second, which should be considered high speed valving. Their numbers are in one tenth of Newton’s.

You’ll have to convert Newton’s to pounds to compare to normal force data.

High speed valving doesn’t account for the entire picture of shock performance or ride quality.

If the low/medium speed is too stiff, it will knock your teeth out on washboard and be harsh over small whoops/bumps. This can be, but is not always represented well by the high speed valving.

Their rebound number is represented first, followed by the compression second.


I don’t know of many, if any mfr of lower end shocks will disclose the valving #s as they spend big money and time for the engineers to come up with application specific valving.


Generally for heavy unsprung mass vehicles with relatively light sprung mass, you want fairly light rebound valving.

Increase compression valving as sprung mass increases.

Generally lighter spring rates equate to lighter compression valving.

I’d try to get rough country to disclose the valving for your vehicle application and then cross reference a travel and mounting length shock with similar valving.


I do have a fox master shim kit here if you decide to go that route and want to tune them just for your liking. I also have some whoops, washboard, and a rockpile here for testing.

An off the shelf shock will never perform in the realm of one tuned just for you,

But I completely understand running an off the shelf shock for a number of reasons.

I wish I could look through a rough country catalog, pick a valving and mounting style and length, and order a shock. It would fit a lot of needs below that of a tuneable shock.

But, once you get a set of tuned shocks, you’ll fully understand why it’s not apples to apples comparison.

Keep us updated on what you find out.
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Thank you, I am coming around to tuneable shocks but my wallet isn't just now!
 
Not to hijack your thread RQ but started looking at tuneabke shocks and this came up.

LOL, didn't know you can get a Faux reservoir.

You've got me wondering if I could improve the ride on my 5.
4114a6c04d9054c866c79ca91658c0d8.jpg


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No fries said:
Not to hijack your thread RQ but started looking at tuneabke shocks and this came up.

LOL, didn't know you can get a Faux reservoir.

You've got me wondering if I could improve the ride on my 5.
4114a6c04d9054c866c79ca91658c0d8.jpg


Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk
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Cant tell if you are joking... those are probably a little small for a jeep.
 
Two thoughts in one post, funny you can get the faux reservoir.

Also need to look into tunable shocks for my 78 CJ5, 2-1/2" lift. Just for mild wheeling now.

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk
 
No fries said:
Two thoughts in one post, funny you can get the faux reservoir.

Also need to look into tunable shocks for my 78 CJ5, 2-1/2" lift. Just for mild wheeling now.

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk
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Yeah, no real point in having a real reservoir on a r/c crawler.
 
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