whats a good shock angle

4x4fever

4x4fever

New Member
Joined
Jul 5, 2005
Location
abingdon,va
i have the rear axle finished. i took out two leaves to let it sit a little lower and have softer spring and i put the shock mounts on top of the axle tube and now the shocks are at a 60 degree angle. is that too steep? i can change it but if thats an acceptable angle ill leave it be.

rollcage20.jpg
 
Closer to vertical would be better, since as your axle moves up, the angle will become less and less, making the shock less effective.

But they won't be totally ineffective, just not as good as they could be.
 
To answer the question, 0 degrees from verticle is ideal. Realistically, how much dampening loss are you willing to give up due to pratical mounting options? The further the shocks are mounted from verticle, the greater the leverage loss and the less effective they become. A car builders book I have indicates that shocks mounted 30-60 degrees from verticle lose about the same % of effectiveness, ie shocks mounted at 60 degrees lose 60% of their dampening effectiveness.
 
I heard that if you angle them like that it helps with axle wrap?


Not to steal your thread or anything Aron but here's a related quesition I've been wondering about: If you are trying to mount dual shocks on the front axle to help with jumping, should you not angle them somewhat in the direction the impact would push the axle? ie: laying back towards the center of the vehicle some? Also does it really matter what shocks you run if your going with double shocks? The ones I have now are the superlift 12" travel ones . . .
 
My old set up we ended up leaning the shocks forward due to spacing issues. They were inboarded as well. It worked good enough but it tended to hop pretty bad on climbs.

After talking with a few close friends I decided to outboard the shocks and set them vertical. Haven't wheeled it yet, but a few high speed runs through the back pasture have made me pleased :).
 
looks like im gonna straighten them up. vertical isnt possible but should be able to get it around 15 degrees
 
CYJKrawler said:
To answer the question, 0 degrees from verticle is ideal.
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Aaaaaactually, you really kinda want them 10-15° leaned in, so that when the one tire compresses, the shock doesn't go beyond that 90° mark and become almost non-existent.
 
the top is leaning in from the factory just leaning way back at the same time. im halfway there
 
Rich said:
Aaaaaactually, you really kinda want them 10-15° leaned in, so that when the one tire compresses, the shock doesn't go beyond that 90° mark and become almost non-existent.
Click to expand...

I'm quoting from "The Car Builders Handbook" by Doug McCleary. I'm sure there are lots of differing opinions on shock orientation.
 
Doug McCleary doesn't build off-road vehicles, he builds hot rods that have maybe 3" of suspension travel at the most.. ;)

That's the cause of the necessity for leaning them in - street cars don't get the kind of axle angles that we do.
 
Probably wouldn't hurt a bit to lean them in some. In fact the dampening loss chart shows that up to around 30 degrees the loss is pretty insignificant.
 
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