DirtyComanche Posted December 30, 2006 Share Posted December 30, 2006 Need ideas. I had a little clearance problem with my rusty's and the front leaf springs. I noticed things were riding a little funny, then I went and looked and realized they were getting kinda '>' shaped. Stiff as hell works for me. I'm probably going to get creative with the upper mounts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sinnaevd Posted December 30, 2006 Share Posted December 30, 2006 i would imagin junk yard shocks are the cheapest....lol i can tell you that mine have no numbers or stickers on them, and they are blue...and they don't seem to ride that bad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyComanche Posted December 30, 2006 Author Share Posted December 30, 2006 Well, the catch is they need to be 12" travel minimum. 14-16" would be great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88MJay Posted December 30, 2006 Share Posted December 30, 2006 Check out Performanceoffroadcenter.com (PORC). Look through their brand of shocks for the size you want and give Alex a call. He'll hook you up. I've ran them before and they work decent for being so cheap. :cheers: http://www.performanceoffroadcenter.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goldtooth Posted December 30, 2006 Share Posted December 30, 2006 i've had good luck with doetsch tech Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyComanche Posted December 30, 2006 Author Share Posted December 30, 2006 I need a vendor too if nothing else. PORC only had expensie stuff... I'm leaning towards cheap. My $30 rusty's shocks dampened really well. When you've got front leafs ride is really quite irrelevent anyways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeepthing07 Posted December 30, 2006 Share Posted December 30, 2006 i got mine from superlifts scratch and dent store $9 a shock http://stores.ebay.com/Superlift-Suspen ... idZ2QQtZkm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pingpong Posted December 30, 2006 Share Posted December 30, 2006 I have run both DT shocks and sky crapper. I really like my skycrapper for there side hilling ability as compared to DT's they are around 30 bucs a piece... just pick a vendor of pirate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88MJay Posted December 30, 2006 Share Posted December 30, 2006 I don't consider $29 retail expensive. Call Alex up and I bet he might even come down in price if you order four. Look here.... http://www.performanceoffroadcenter.com/oscommerce/index.php?cPath=33_122 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyComanche Posted December 30, 2006 Author Share Posted December 30, 2006 I don't consider $29 retail expensive. Call Alex up and I bet he might even come down in price if you order four. Look here.... http://www.performanceoffroadcenter.com/oscommerce/index.php?cPath=33_122 Oh, when I looked in the shock category all that was listed was ranchos overpriced crap. Guess I missed that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oizarod115 Posted December 31, 2006 Share Posted December 31, 2006 how does one know which shock to buy for their truck? (plannin on 6" lift) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyComanche Posted December 31, 2006 Author Share Posted December 31, 2006 You'll want 12" fronts. Rear is up to you. The real answer is to lift it, flex it, measure, then buy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oizarod115 Posted December 31, 2006 Share Posted December 31, 2006 so lift it, find an RTI ramp, and measure how long it needs to be for the extended side, and how short for the compressed side then? (I'm assuming a forklift would work as well :brows: ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyComanche Posted December 31, 2006 Author Share Posted December 31, 2006 Forklift is the standard practice. You're supposed to flex it out to determine not only needed travel but the mounting location. If you're running a fab shop, great. If you aren't, you go by what other people did or guessing. For 6" lift using the stock mounts in the front end, 12" is just about ideal. But, it depends where you want to put your bumpstops (if you've cut fenders, run large tires for the lift, etc). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oizarod115 Posted December 31, 2006 Share Posted December 31, 2006 If you're running a fab shop, great. If you aren't, you go by what other people did or guessing. quote] not runnin it...justlive round the corner and 'in' with the owner/main fab guy 8) he's the one with the forklift Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyComanche Posted December 31, 2006 Author Share Posted December 31, 2006 Well, then, that's the easy way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feerocknok Posted December 31, 2006 Share Posted December 31, 2006 Jack the truck up and measure the distance from the bump stops to axle, and that's how much travel you need in a shock. I think I remember 10" lift shocks for new Ford F-350s being 14" travel and cheap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyComanche Posted December 31, 2006 Author Share Posted December 31, 2006 Jack the truck up and measure the distance from the bump stops to axle, and that's how much travel you need in a shock. I think I remember 10" lift shocks for new Ford F-350s being 14" travel and cheap. That works for droop, but, the axle will downtravel more (on each side) while flexing. I was suggested the F-350 shocks. But, anything that's not OEM has to be ordered in either way, so I might as well get the PORC shocks. Another option is monroes, #34687 is a 13" travel shock. But, that would require moving the axle mount up... Blah. If nobody local comes up with something used I'll call PORC and ask about shipping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88MJay Posted December 31, 2006 Share Posted December 31, 2006 I always try and set up suspension with about 25% up travel and 75% droop. Meaning all but 1" of the shock travel is being used up on full compression (bumpstops touching). I don't have access to a fork truck so I do it like this... When building the front suspension I hook up all the control arms and pull the coils out. Mount one of front tires. Jack up that side until the tire is within 1" of touching the fender (after final fender cutting). If the bumpstops aren't touching the distance that remains between them is how much bumpstop needs to be added. For instance if you jack it up and the tire is 1" from the fender and there is a 2" gap between the bumpstops I add 2" to the bumpstops so that they touch when the tire is 1" away from the fender. Now the bumpstops are right and I move on to shocks. With the new bumpstops in I fully compress that side of the suspension again (with or without the tire on)(doesn't matter because the bumpstops are right now!) Next I measure the distance between the shock mounts. I add 1" to this measurement. That gives me the compressed length of the shock. Next you fully droop that side of suspension and measure the distance between the shock mounts. This gives me the extended length of the shock. Now I know what size shocks to order. When ordering shocks I usually look for one that has the compressed length that I am needing and whatever travel shock that ends up being is whatever it is. This method of setting up front suspensions gives you most ideal setup. It sets your bumpstops so your tires don't hit. It gives you the most ideal shock for your suspension height that will give you the most droop possible and gives you a shock that isn't too long or too short. I always hate to see nicely built long arm setups where people are running shocks that are way too short. It drastically reduced the amount of droop that they could be getting out of their front end. I have a buddy with a TJ who installed a Full Traction long arm and installed the shocks that they sent with the kit. The shocks were obviously from a smaller lift kit because they were way short for his 6" lift. This caused his front suspension to only droop a limited amount. He could not use the suspension to it's full potential until we measured for the correct shock. After buying the right length shock it flexes amazing! Shew.... tired of typing now. :cheers: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jared Posted December 31, 2006 Share Posted December 31, 2006 ^^^ you are the man, that was the most informative thing i have ever read on how to measure for shocks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oizarod115 Posted December 31, 2006 Share Posted December 31, 2006 :bowdown: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
comancheman Posted December 31, 2006 Share Posted December 31, 2006 nice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88MJay Posted December 31, 2006 Share Posted December 31, 2006 Isn't that how everybody does it? Thanks for the kind words. :cheers: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pingpong Posted January 1, 2007 Share Posted January 1, 2007 That works really good for static flex, but lets not forget about forced flex. The way you said to set it up is correct though... I have done this only to be able to compress my bumpstops while force flexing it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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