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odd rear suspension setup


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Never seen anything like this...any insight?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm more than likely going to go back to original style rear suspension, but this has me curious. The Tokico Shock sticker would lead you to believe that the PO used that brand shocks, but the rear are Gabriel's and the horizontal rear shocks are Rancho's. Maybe the kit was made by Tokico? 

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I am guessing it had a camper on it at some point judging by the rear overloads and the add on rear sway bar. The blue bar under the oil panappears to be a front frame stiffener. The rear shocks don't really appear to be doing much at that angle. Maybe they were setting it up for drag racing?

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Those "extra" weird looking add a leaves are overload springs for carrying extra weight or as a stop gap for sacked out springs. Either way they are not the best route to acomplish either.

 

The forward shocks are usually called kicker shocks and are used in applications where the the rear axle rotates under acceleration causing the spring to twist into an "S" shape. When the spring unwinds it makes the rear tires "hop" and momentarily loose traction....then twist again....then hop again....etc.

 

As was mentioned earlier the rear sway bar is definitely a home made set up.

 

Also as was mentioned earlier it all adds up to someone having an issue with extra weight in the bed....mostly a camper top which would have the weight up high and make the truck want to lean side to side in turns hence the sway bar.

 

The gabriel shocks are also old school.

 

Unless of course someone was just brave enough to road race a Comanche and wanted to optimize handling through the turns  :rotf:

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Their is no proof that I can see that shows that this had a topper or camper shell. No holes in bed rails, no scratches in paint, no clamp marks. It does not have a hitch either, just ball on factory step bumper. Doubt it was installed for weight factor. 

 

If i had to guess, I'd say the previous owner was trying to get it to handle, which I find way cool! 

 

I will keep rear sway bar on it, but might not be the current one. 

 

 

 

 

Unless of course someone was just brave enough to road race a Comanche and wanted to optimize handling through the turns  :rotf:

 

like this...

 

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Their is no proof that I can see that shows that this had a topper or camper shell. No holes in bed rails, no scratches in paint, no clamp marks. It does not have a hitch either, just ball on factory step bumper. Doubt it was installed for weight factor. 

 

If i had to guess, I'd say the previous owner was trying to get it to handle, which I find way cool! 

 

I will keep rear sway bar on it, but might not be the current one.

 

I don't think the SCCA MJs even had rear sway bars, but am not positive. Ben?

 

I like how the bar is mounted on your rig. I mocked it up in various configurations on my LWB but never found the right bar as the fuel tank always got in the way. So I ended up going similar to the S10 factory-type setup picture below. It is a good upgrade for a street truck.

 

 

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I have an Addco sway bar for an old body style Dakota that I plan to use on the rear. I wonder if the bar is forward facing because it would interfere with the add on shocks? 

 

 

I have some old "mini truck" accessory catalogs at home. I'm going to look and see if I can't see anything similar tonight, maybe get a manufacturer name.  

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I have an Addco sway bar for an old body style Dakota that I plan to use on the rear. I wonder if the bar is forward facing because it would interfere with the add on shocks?

 

The ADDCO bar has a crappy mounting system on the SWB MJs - it uses "L" brackets on the upper shock studs to mount. I know guys who have them and are less than happy to put it mildly.

 

 

 

That can't be your truck Don, too much dirt and grease.  :rotf:

 

Lol. No Mike, that's a pic of the factory optional ZQ8 bar on an S10. That bar would probably work fine on a SWB MJ with different end links. There are plenty of them on Ebay. Here's a cleaner one:

 

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I have an Addco sway bar for an old body style Dakota that I plan to use on the rear. I wonder if the bar is forward facing because it would interfere with the add on shocks?

 

The ADDCO bar has a crappy mounting system on the SWB MJs - it uses "L" brackets on the upper shock studs to mount. I know guys who have them and are less than happy to put it mildly.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the input! 

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The helper spring on the rear leafs looks like a Hellwig unit, and the forward facing rear sway bar looks like a custom install from perhaps a Camaro. No idea on the horizontal shocks.................

 

Has this rig been lowered a bit?

 

The horizontal shocks are to control axle wrap.

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