Fox-ated on shocks! Third set in 3 years

[arctictraveller]

Originally Posted by REDOVAL

Late to this convo but I went through several sets of Fox 2.0 IFP before upgrading to 2.5" shocks. Scott

Did you find a 2.5 that was a direct bolt in replacement, or did you have to modify the mounts?

[REDOVAL]

Originally Posted by arctictraveller

Did you find a 2.5 that was a direct bolt in replacement, or did you have to modify the mounts?

They are all custom fit to my exact setup, though it's not hard to fit them to others with some creativity and the knowledge of extended/collapsed needs. I am using Sway-A-Way 2.5x8 front and rear as they have the shortest lengths for the most shaft travel (without using custom shocks).

Scott

[Glenn P.]

While I now have a Quigley E350, most of my past adventures have been in a F250 4x4 Supercab 4x4 diesel. I learned a bit about shocks with that truck. After putting on a "good set of Bilsteins" I took that truck out for one of my regular Death Valley adventures which likely had about 100+ miles of dirt road travels. Upon my return my "new shocks" were puking oil on both fronts. My alignment guy whom I know quite well looked at me and asked if I was driving a bunch of washboard fire road, to which I replied yes and asked how he knew. The melted shock boots was the dead giveaway! Apparently many miles of washboard road at speed does a number on shocks. Another round of Bilsteins and it happened again out in Death Valley as the familiar smell of hot shock oil was wafting through the cab of the truck. I then upgraded to Fox with remote reservoirs on the F-250 and it is holding together just fine, including those Death Valley trips and Mohave Rd adventures while fully loaded 1 ton+ in the bed. Good shocks are good, great shocks are better and perhaps dialing back a bit on the speed on the washboard can go a long way to preserving the shock life. I've got Bilsteins on the van now, replacing those front shocks sucks and I just hope they hold together.

[Vanimal]

Originally Posted by Chinook

Thats what the black rubber grommet on the fox shocks is for. If you look at his photo... the black grommet is completely pushed down against the eyelet for mounting. That indicates #1 he pushed it down there himself. #2 the shock is bottoming out. Just push that grommet back up against the bottom of the shock body, go for a drive, hit some bumps, come back and see where the grommet moved to. Of course your grommet is now saturated with oil so you might have to snug it around the shaft somehow to keep it from slipping under its own weight. If its bottoming out it would indicate the shock part# is to long for your application or you dont have bump stops on your truck or the bump stops are to short for your application.

Hence my suggestion to use a zip tie! I also noticed that it appears the upper bracket was added as I can see red urethane between the conversion bracket and the factory shock/coil spring housing. After many years of dealing with stem mount
conversion to EB type shock mounts I no longer convert the top mounts with brackets and when I do I tend to drop the lower mount further or tilt the lower part of the shock outboard wherever possible to retain the most stroke and the whole reason for a lift, being ground clearance and tire size options! Although it appears you have added lift you have limited your travel with the shock conversion bracket. The only fix are restrictive bump stops, removing your upper adapter bracket and finding a stem mount shock (impossible) or the easy way, lowering you lower mount! It is possible, you can also push out the lower mount closer to the rotors so that it is less likely to catch on a rock since I doubt you are rock crawling in a 2wd. Check your clearance with your tire mounted and turning lock to lock. You will also gain better shock damping due to the radial arc of your suspension travel, not much but every bit helps on high speed washboards travel!