Shocking Thread - Page 2

deminimis · 09-11-2008, 11:23 AM

Bilstein 7100 shocks, short body with res, $676.80 shipped, from allshocks.com. If you find it cheaper, please don't tell me.

deminimis · 09-18-2008, 12:00 PM

Maybe I'm the only one that cares about this, but in hopes that it helps others, I shall trudge on. My package of goodies arrived yesterday from A&A. The Dana 60 shock mounts are impressive. They will work great on the rear axle (better than what's on there now for sure). There is also enough room on the front axle to mount them with some grinding on the mounts if someone wanted to go that route (whether you mounted them in a front to rear alingment or side to side). If mounting side to side to keep the upper and lower shock eyes in the same orientation, you've have to do some grinding on the mounts, but it wouldn't be hard. As for me, I'm still going to modify the current spring plate/mount and use it as I have the room due to the addition of single front leafs (or leaves). I got a piece of .25" x 1.5" flat bar to do the trick. After removing the plate/mount combo, I will remove (cut off) the current shock mount. After that, I'll butt weld the 1.5" flat bar to the lower edge of the spring plate. I'll still have approx .25" clearance between the new spring plate and the top of the front axle housing. I will most likely modify a pair of the Dana 60 shock mounts and weld them to the now longer spring plate. These shock mounts are considerably more stout than what came on the conversion. I should be able to gain as much a 1.5" of shock mounting length, but will wait until my shocks arrive before I do any of this to make sure I won't run the risk of over extending of bottoming out the shocks. I'll take pics of the process. Shocks will likely arrive next week, but I'll be out of town, so ya'll have to wait a while for the final report.

scatter · 09-18-2008, 12:29 PM

Yes, pictures and a write up deminimis! I for one am very interested in how it works out for you. If you get it done in time and still go to Baja, I'd like to check it out.
I know where there's a great vado near my place where you can catch some air and we'll see how strong those mounts are.

deminimis · 09-18-2008, 12:35 PM

Wife demands the new shock install before Baja (sometimes I think i'm the luckiest guy alive).

deminimis · 10-07-2008, 05:47 PM

Just a quick follow-up. Nothing much new to report. Shocks arrived. They look great and are hyper-stiff. Wife has me building fence these days for horses I don't want. So, the shock install is on hold for a week or two. My main concern right now is the placement of the front shock rezies. I had planned on mounting them to the shock body. However, the stainless lines are fairly long. What happens when I do this is I create a rather large hoop with the line. In fact, the hoop is so large that it might come in contact with the tires under some circumstances (besides, it looks weird). So, thinking of different ways to deal with this. One way would be to get longer hose clamps and mount the rezies along the upper frame corner (using the bushings of course). Concerend about their exposure to tossed up rocks, etc. Another option is to go ahead and fab some shock hoops and mount the rezies to those (had kinda wanted to avoid that much fab work right now due to time issues, but might not have a choice). Other options would be to order shorter lines and a 90-degree fitting for the shock body and attach the rezies to the shock body as planned (I'll have to send them off to have them re-charged with nitro if I do that). When I ordered these, it didn't even dawn on me that the lines might be too long for my app. To better explain, here is a pic of my soon to be replaced fox shocks on my buggy.

The loop on these is reasonable as I had to mount the rezies high to avoid the tie rods on full compression (buggy). On the Bilsteins (SMB), I can mount the rezzies so they are flush with the bottom on the shock bodies, but the loop is huge and it goes straight out towards the tires. Even when I tried putting the rezies to the side of the shock body, the lines mostly loop out towards the tires. I'll figure it out one way or the other.

jage · 10-08-2008, 09:07 AM

Why not just mount them to the inner fender wall if there is plenty of "hoop"? There is definitly plenty of room in the wheel wells.

deminimis · 10-08-2008, 09:40 AM

Thanks. That's something to consider if I don't install some shock hoops.

jage · 10-08-2008, 09:53 AM

The shock length in the front is reduced in SMBs 4x4 conversion. They work fine but are too short in my opinion. I think hoops wouldn't be a bad idea if you can work them out.

deminimis · 10-08-2008, 10:06 AM

I'm lowering the bottom mounts approx 1.5" to increase the gap. Until I actually get in there with the shock and cycle the suspension, these are approx measurements. I believe the minimum gain needed to keep the shock from bottoming out is only about .5", but I'd like to have a buffer. My leaf stack is thicker now because of the added leafs (or is it leaves?) than when it left SMB, so I've got the room to go lower (as much as 2" if need be). Idealy, I'd like to have about a 1" buffer on extension and compression, if possible, but think I'll have quite a bit more buffer on extension.

As far as hoop, I don't have a 1.5" die yet for my bender. At $300+ and high shipping costs, I'm gonna have to wait to buy the die. I have a 1" die, but 1" tubing is a little light for shock hoops on a buggy unless it is well braced and plated with 14-16 guage chromo plates. So, for this, 1.5" tubing is the way to go. With that, I might just grab a pair of used hoops and mod them to work. Again, would rather tackle this later than sooner as I just don't have the time right now (and my soon to be daily driver convertible Bug is still a couple months shy of being ready).

deminimis · 10-14-2008, 10:09 AM

Finally got some time last night to start fab'n shock mounts. Began with the upper rear eyelet conversion mounts. Sure you can buy them off the shelf, but I had eight of these already

These are great coilover mounts. However, for off-road use the 1/8" steel is a little thin for my comfort. So, I welded 1/8" x 2" flat bar to the outter sides of the mount. Now its a laminated 1/4" thick piece of metal. Overkill.

Still have to dril the 1/2" hole in each mount for the grade 8 1/2" bolt that will fasten the works to the vans subframe/crossmember. Perhaps a little more shaping and some paint too boot. This type of setup is great as one side has a 3/4 hole to allow the shock bushing to side onto the bolt instead of trying to futz around with little bushings and keeping them all in place, along with the shock, while trying to ram the bolt through the mount. Well, I didn't explain that very well, but at least I understood...sort of.

I'm building a different mount setup for the front/lower. I deleated the pic I had, but will post one up when finished. Basically, I had a set of very large 3" radiused axle tabs (3/16"). I've drilled them out to 3/4" so I can weld a bushing in one side and be able to slide the opposing bushing in from the other. Can't explain the shape, etc., without pictures, so like Sarah says, "I'll get to ya on that one."