Author Topic: shock towers  (Read 2652 times)

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Offline neale_rs

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Re: shock towers
« Reply #15 on: December 28, 2009, 10:39:03 AM »
If you want more droop:  If you raise the upper mount say 4 inches, make sure you can get a shock that is at least 5 inches longer extended than the ones you have now.  In my case, the current shocks are about 30.5 extended with 13 inches of travel.  I found some Teraflex shocks that are 33 inches extended with 14 inches of travel and are supposed to be used with the revolver shackles.  If I were to install the extended mounts 4 inches higher I would actually lose 1.5 inches of droop. Oops!  So a better plan would be to extend the upper mounts only about 1 inch and gain 1.5 inches of droop.  0.5 inches of compression would also be lost so I would have to be careful about bottoming out the shock.  If your tires are limiting the compression, it would be cheaper to extend the bump stops and lower the upper mount (or raise the lower mount) to get the extra droop you want.

Here are some examples of Rancho long travel shocks:
34“ extended length shocks offer 14” of travel
36“ extended length shocks offer 15” of travel

Bilstein offers several with about 14 to 14.5 inches of travel with from about 33" to 35" extended length.  Then they jump to 17" but those are over $300.

So about 14" is about all you can reasonable expect to get. As you can see the extended length grows more than the travel and the travel does not increase all that much.  You have to be very careful to position the shock exactly right to get the full benefit. A lack of analysis could make you end up with the opposite of what you wanted to achieve.
The point is to be careful, think about your budget.  What shock will you be able to afford?  Make sure you don't end up having to buy some really expensive specialty shock. Will your springs actually allow you to take advantage of the added shock travel?
'95 YJ, 33 x 12.5 mud tires, RE 4.5 ED lift, Atlas 4 speed, rear D44, ARBs front and rear, 4.56 gears, 8000# winch

Offline aw12345

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Re: shock towers
« Reply #16 on: December 28, 2009, 01:42:59 PM »
If you go for longer shocks to get more droop make sure the rear drive shaft CV joint does not bind at full drop, the centering ball is very short lived if the CV joint binds at full droop
2006 Jeep Wrangler TJ SE
2004 Jeep Wrangler TJ SE