[Big-n-Broke-YJ]

so it's time for shock hoops. front is simple. i can manage that. i think. a 180 degree bend with 1.5" DOM and i'm set. anyone looking for some, a guy on eBay sells a weld together kit for about $40..... i'd buy it if i didn't have a bender... in fact, i'd almost buy them anyway but i want to be able to brag about making them myself


for the rear.... i originally planned to weld in a crossmember above the axle and mount my shocks angled "in" towards the mount..... they would look like this: / \ problem with this is to get the most travel i'd be forced to keep my 2" body lift that i wanted to get rid of, or cut in half..... i'd also have some minor issues with my fuel pump mounting location and backup light location but that's small stuff that coudl be easily moved around....

BUT..... now i'm thinking about building shock hoops at the frame that would extend into the cab just a little.... they'd basically be just like the front shock hoops. that would put my shocks having MUCH more travel, be much more effective on road because of their vertical orientation, and leave me with more space under the jeep which would allow me to remove most of my body lift like i plan to....

cutting the body isn't a problem or concern. the interior where the shock hoops would come out would be on top of the wheel wells..... i don't keep things there anyway... no biggie if a shiny black bent tube and the end of a shock pokes out a couple inches.....

i see this setup most commonly with those running coilovers... such as 1 TON YJ's setup. you can a picture he posted that shows his setup in this thread: http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f12/led-tail-lights-375065/

so guys... what are your thoughts? anyone who has done either of these rear setups, please speak up.... same for the front if you have any suggestions....
'

then comes the choice of shocks. i want an external resevoir b/c they look cool. i'm not gonna lie, that's the only reason. The bilstein 5150's have GREAT reviews.... i really like them and they are my first choice as of right now. An alternative which i'm slowly moving towards are the Pro Comp 9000's. i think that's the model..... they have an external remote mounted resevoir. They are roughly the same price of $110-$125 each..... they are made by edelbrock, which i like... but that's all i really know... besides that they look nifty

so... shock suggestions! valving suggestions!

thanks

-Erik <--- will be running stock or 1.5" lift springs on the SOA shortly, NOT the 3.5" currently installed

[PoorFool]

Here is what I did. I had inboarded the upper mounts when I had a 2" body lift and later decided to remove it. Rather than go with a completely different mount system, I just cut the floor. I'm currently in the process of building tube fenders and boxing in the hole I cut in the floor.

I'm running Bilstien 5100s with 175/60 valving and 12" travel (or something like that) on my Superlift 3.5" SUA lift. It rides WAY better than it ever has before. I run 14" 5150s with the same valving up front and like them really well.

[Big-n-Broke-YJ]

that is exactly what i was thinking for the rear if i inboarded them.... only problem i might run into is my fuel cell as it is going to be very close to that area..... we'll see.... i'm sure i could get around that.

thank you very much for the info. it's greatly appreciated.

anyone else have pictures of their setups, or suggestions from suspension setups they've seen?

[BudmanV6]

I would grab some bilstein 7100's or fox remote reservoir shocks. I bought some of the 5150's and then changed my mind and resold them before even mounting them up. I paid 350 for 4 fox remote reservoir shocks that were used twice over on pirate4x4. That forum is a real good place to find good deals on shocks. The cool thing about the 7100's and the fox shocks is that they are rebuildable, if you ever bend a shaft, they are 25 bucks and you can install it yoursaelf. This is one reason I made long travel rear shock mounts was so that I could raise my lower shock mount in the rear cuz I pent two RE monotubes and busted them. You can revalve them if need be, and you can easily replace busted seals or worn out shock fluid. Heres some pics of the mounts i made...I'll try to take some pics on the jeep later on if I get a chance.



They're pretty much the same idea as the more's, just built a little differently.

[DevinB]

For the front you could do the F250 shock towers. They're less than $20 and will give you all the height you need.

[Tomb Raider]

Be careful of angling your rear shocks in. It may not be of concern to you being on the beach, but on the rocks...that promotes roll. It's always better, if it's possible, to keep the shocks vertical.

[PoorFool]

I have some of those MORE brackets. I need to clean them up and sell them sometime.

I haven't noticed any instability since inboarding the shocks. I think it has a lot to do with your spring rates and such. Me being SUA and having somewhat stiff Superlift springs, inboarding actually made the ride and flex better but didn't noticably increase body roll on the trail or the street.

[BigMikey]

Big n Broke YJ--I like your idea the best. Your shocks will be vertical and having them in the cab is not a concern as you said. If you go this route may sure to post pictures. Im currently building my YJ on full width 44/60 SOA. How come you are going to smaller springs? Was it too much lift?

[atomicmoose]

Originally Posted by Tomb Raider

Be careful of angling your rear shocks in. It may not be of concern to you being on the beach, but on the rocks...that promotes roll. It's always better, if it's possible, to keep the shocks vertical.

I've always wondered this...

[Big-n-Broke-YJ]

Because I moved my axle back 8" i'm unable to use my stock upper shock mounts or brackets attached to those mounts. i'll need to fabricate something from scratch no matter which design i choose to go with. this obviously rules out setups similar to the MORE extensions. i should have noted this in my original post. my apologies.

the ford shock towers up front, and even in the back, would work fine.... but then i couldn't brag about building them myself.... and they wouldn't look as bling bling as what i'm going to bend up in the ol' tube bender..... very good suggestion though.... that was actually my original plan.

scott i hear what you're saying about keeping the shocks vertical for the best stability..... i'm building this to be my daily driver to school and work.... my transportation to the beach for me and my surfboard.... and my weekend toy to tow to uwharrie, tellico, etc...... i see a ton of folks who angle their shocks in to avoid hindering their flex..... with that comes the added risks of instability.... the question is where to draw the line. to me, it doesn't seem like inboarding them would do any good unless they were angled all the way to the middle as pictured above.... any less of an angle and you give up travel which totally defeats my purpose in researching this topic. all in all, we'll see.... i've drive a few rigs with inboarded shocks and once used to it in the rocks, it's not that much of an issue... but at the same time, i don't want any more issues than i already have to deal with and remember on a daily basis.

BigMikey..... i'll be sure to post pictures as it progresses. I'm lowering it because the 3.5" springs have so much arch that they won't/can't flex nearly as much as a more flat stock or 1.5" lift spring would. at this point i want to get as much flex out of these leaf springs as i can before i move to coilovers and this seems to be the best way. my rig is too tall.... i can't even come close to fitting in the downtown parking deck that claims to be 7' clearance. this poses a BIG problem as i enjoy frequenting my favorite bars and parking on the street is near impossible. oh, and a lower center of gravity is better/safer offroad should that be my first reason???

we'll see... keep the suggestions coming guys. i wanna see some more pictures of what you're running just the way PoorFool did....

-Erik <---- is looking into fox and the 7100 series bilsteins now....

[BudmanV6]

Originally Posted by Tomb Raider

Be careful of angling your rear shocks in. It may not be of concern to you being on the beach, but on the rocks...that promotes roll. It's always better, if it's possible, to keep the shocks vertical.

This is onyl true if you run the same valving that you did with the shocks vertical...if you run shocks with stiffer valving, which you should, then it makes no difference if you angle the shocks toward the front of the vehicle with more mounts, or fabbed ones like I made.

My fox reservoir shocks came in today, so this weekend I'll get them mounted up and I'll show you what I ended up doing to the front towers to make more room.

[1 ton yj]

Mount some 14" travel 5150s vertical on the outside of the frame. If you need more travel than that you either need lockers or you need to get the girl out of your right foot.

F250 towers would work fine but if you're dead set on playing with your tube bender (I'm jelous I wish I had one) then build them out of 1.75x.120. This way if down the road you ever do decide to link it with air shox or coilovers, you can just bolt them on. If you mount the lower eye to the back of the axle tube and use 4-5" of uptravel on a 14" travel shock, you could probably squeeze them under the wheel tubs.

[Big-n-Broke-YJ]

thanks for the info.... any problem running 1.5" DOM? i haven't bought a 1.75" sye or whatever it is you call it yet.....

[1 ton yj]

That should work fine for seperate shocks. Mine were 1.25 when I had leaves.

[Big-n-Broke-YJ]

great thanks for the info.

before you went with coilovers in the back, were your shocks setup in the same orientation as your coilovers are now? if so, were you happy with it as opposed to what you THINK you may have been able to get out of a setup such as inboarded / \ shocks?