JeepcoMJ Posted July 24, 2007 Share Posted July 24, 2007 hey Pete, Just wanting to know what you advise when doing a spring-over and setting up your shock mounts with the factory plate... I'm planning on putting that plate on top of the stock 4wd leaf pack for now, but flipping it over and cutting it like you did. that would allow me to run with the current shocks (as I will be short $$$ for them) and while less than ideal, I am certain it would work. any advice? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted July 24, 2007 Share Posted July 24, 2007 It's fairly straight forward, although I had to do some alterations to make it work with my 9" and the Bronco pads. I think you'll need to buy a new socket-head grade-8 bolt to hold the leaf springs and you need to make sure that the bolt protrudes down past the shock plate and into the spring pad. That bolt is what holds your leafs on the mount. Then just cut away the excess material on the shock mount and install it between the leafs and axle. I fabed my own U-bolt plate, but I imagine you could reuse the stock one. Don't know for sure though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOMJ87 Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 Not to steal petes thunder but i currently run stock shocks (somewhat longer now) with the stock plate. What i did was take the factory shock plate and swap sides and flip it over to the top of the pack and bolt it back together. When i originaly did this i had figured out all the math and with the spring over it would put the shock mount almost exactly in the stock location. There was no fab its strictly bolt up so it is real cheap. :brows: If you need pics i can try to get them tomm. but i may not have the time since i am having to bring my work home and I'm am still currently working on it. :mad: But it should pass in a few weeks. Cole Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 The biggest reason mine are where they are is because they also function as my spring perch. Sorta. :oops: Not the best way to do it, but it's worked fine thus far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeepcoMJ Posted July 25, 2007 Author Share Posted July 25, 2007 Not to steal petes thunder but i currently run stock shocks (somewhat longer now) with the stock plate. What i did was take the factory shock plate and swap sides and flip it over to the top of the pack and bolt it back together. When i originaly did this i had figured out all the math and with the spring over it would put the shock mount almost exactly in the stock location. There was no fab its strictly bolt up so it is real cheap. :brows: If you need pics i can try to get them tomm. but i may not have the time since i am having to bring my work home and I'm am still currently working on it. :mad: But it should pass in a few weeks. Cole if you simply flip it, doesn't that put it on the other side of the axle? what I mean is, say the lower shock mount was in front of the axle before. then you flip it...well, it's still in front of the axle, but now pointing toward the brakes. so you have to turn it 180 degrees and then it is now on the inner side of the leaf springs (as desired), but now the mount is behind the axle. I have no explicit problem with this, BUT I want my shocks to work properly. discuss. p.s. if anyone has done this, you will know what I'm talking about. if you're scratching your heads, back to geometry 101 for you (don't put the square plug in the round hole...it won't work :P) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oizarod115 Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 pointing towards the brakes? i don't follow, but my guess would be swap left-right shock mounts. havent tried it but it sounds good in theory :nuts: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeepcoMJ Posted July 25, 2007 Author Share Posted July 25, 2007 pointing towards the brakes? i don't follow, but my guess would be swap left-right shock mounts. havent tried it but it sounds good in theory :nuts: longbed mounts as I believe were suggested here...on project tatersalad this is hard to tell...but a longbed the shocks mount in front of the axle tube, rather than behind. sorry twist for stealin a couple of your photos... this is what a shortbed one looks like...the shocks mount to the back of the axle, rather than the front like a longbed... So, if I put the stock one on top of the springs, then this being a shortbed, the shock would end up mounting in front of the axle on the bottom, and behind it on the top of the shocks. BUT I think I am gonna sorta reverse-flip this and do what Petes is, except with the shock pllate mounted on top of the spring (by cutting out a good chunk of it). someone else did that idea on here, can't find the pic. but that's probably what I'll end up doing.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oizarod115 Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 yeah see what you mean now i was thinkin the shock mount came out longways pointin front/back dunno why :dunno: but it looks like if you put the pass one on the drivers side and flip em theyll both point towards each other Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twisty Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 sorry twist for stealin a couple of your photos... No problem!!! If you want me to get some more detailed shots of LWB shock set ups...I would be glad to! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeepcoMJ Posted July 25, 2007 Author Share Posted July 25, 2007 sorry twist for stealin a couple of your photos... No problem!!! If you want me to get some more detailed shots of LWB shock set ups...I would be glad to! hehe, no need. I was too lazy to take pics...I own 3 longbeds with stock shock setups, so it's not as if I couldn't have taken them... thx for the offer tho! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carnuck Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 I have a flat plate that was part of a swaybar setup from an early FSJ with the mounting stud built into it. As soon as I get time (or a stronger axle) I'll put it in and take pics. It hangs in such a way that bone stock shocks fit in normal position. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOMJ87 Posted July 26, 2007 Share Posted July 26, 2007 yeah see what you mean now i was thinkin the shock mount came out longways pointin front/back dunno why :dunno: but it looks like if you put the pass one on the drivers side and flip em theyll both point towards each other Thats exactly what i was trying to say but I didnt do a good job of explaining it to you. I was going to get pics but i havent been able to go do it. I wish i could take a week off from all the crap they are making me do at work. Anyways mine work perfect like that and i havent had any issues.Hope you understand it better now since it was kinda explained better. Cole Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LEAD_NOT_FOLLOW Posted July 26, 2007 Share Posted July 26, 2007 Why would you want to run a shorter shock? It will limit the flex in the rear. Ok I guess I see 2 reasons to run it how your talking... 1) No $$ to buy new shocks (even though a set can be bought from Rusty's for ~$50) 2) You gain the ground clearance having your lower shock mount higher. I'd gladly compromise the above 2 to have a longer shock where I don't have to worry about my shocks being my limiting factor. Maybe thats just me though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeepcoMJ Posted July 26, 2007 Author Share Posted July 26, 2007 Why would you want to run a shorter shock? It will limit the flex in the rear. Ok I guess I see 2 reasons to run it how your talking... 1) No $$ to buy new shocks (even though a set can be bought from Rusty's for ~$50) 2) You gain the ground clearance having your lower shock mount higher. I'd gladly compromise the above 2 to have a longer shock where I don't have to worry about my shocks being my limiting factor. Maybe thats just me though... I agree 100%. BUT this thing needs to be ready to go by august 10th, and budget is constraining as I have some paint to buy still, and a few other things are needed. It will be changed later and upgraded to nicer shocks, and I'll be buying new front ones next week. so the main reasoning for doing that is just to save $$$ now and get it done quick. not exactly like I have alot of time to work on it, and while my shop is ginormous, shop space is kinda limited for long periods of time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pingpong Posted July 26, 2007 Share Posted July 26, 2007 YOu always can run shockless. I did that for a long time on the rear. Its fine as long as you don't do high speed dune running or ride real bumpy highways Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeepcoMJ Posted July 26, 2007 Author Share Posted July 26, 2007 YOu always can run shockless. I did that for a long time on the rear. Its fine as long as you don't do high speed dune running or ride real bumpy highways hehe, this is my new DD too :P so shocks are a must. I like that idea, so I'll copy it. bent my lower control arms today. now just gotta lengthen them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted July 26, 2007 Share Posted July 26, 2007 With my stock shocks (SOA with 33" tires), I lose one inch of uptravel (which is fine because I want to keep my stock flares) and one inch of downtravel. It's worked out great so far, but having said that, I'm eventually going with longtravel MX-6 shocks out back. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOMJ87 Posted July 27, 2007 Share Posted July 27, 2007 I do see your point about short shocks but the reason i havent upgraded is After i ran up a ramp with them hooked up and with them disco'd i didnt gain but maybe 1/2" of droop if that. It didnt seem like enough to make me want to fab new mounts up so it stayed. Cole Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeepcoMJ Posted July 27, 2007 Author Share Posted July 27, 2007 So Pete, do you think that the shock mounts themselves could be used as my spring perches? that seems to be what you did...how did you control centering of the axle? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted July 27, 2007 Share Posted July 27, 2007 This is the best shot I can find. You can just barely see the Bronco leaf perch under the shock's mount. But the Bronco perches don't line up with the MJ leafs, so the shock mount is sorta a leaf perch, but not really. If that makes any sense. :hmm: Bottom line: I wouldn't trust the shock mounts on their own. They aren't thick enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oizarod115 Posted July 27, 2007 Share Posted July 27, 2007 This is the best shot I can find. You can just barely see the Bronco leaf perch under the shock's mount. But the Bronco perches don't line up with the MJ leafs, so the shock mount is sorta a leaf perch, but not really. If that makes any sense. :hmm: Bottom line: I wouldn't trust the shock mounts on their own. They aren't thick enough. you don't have spring wrap problems with that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted July 27, 2007 Share Posted July 27, 2007 The 1" spacer disappeared long before the truck ever hit the pavement. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bacon Posted July 27, 2007 Share Posted July 27, 2007 drool.....comanche on boggers ....i want! i want! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bhorocks Posted July 29, 2007 Share Posted July 29, 2007 i did what jojm did flip the plates to the top and reverse the left to right and vice versa.. but my shocks are to long and the fully compress. so i am welding in custom shock mounts. i already have a set around. you don't want to ride on a truck that has no compression. trust me i did it yesterday for 1 mile before realizing how bad no suspension feels on our back.. i had 1 inch of up travel left. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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