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low lift, long shocks, and DIY shock shifters... what's the advantage?

172K views 383 replies 91 participants last post by  Fargo 
#1 ·
finally got some more decent pics so I'll shed some light on the subject.

running 10" long travel shocks on 2.5" lifts poses an uptravel problem in the rear, they tend to leave about 2.75"-3.25" before the shocks bottom out, which can lead to mount, shock, bushing, and bar pin damage. there's a couple different threads with arguments on whether or not 2.75-3.25" of uptravel is enough. it's not for me, or especially a daily driver.

I've made several pairs and even sent off a few mounts to other forum members to run. I've yet to see any of em installed tho.

here's a couple different relocation brackets I made and installed on Saturday and the process involved... dbbd1's tj and cb3's LJ.

all that's needed to make these is a grinder and a 12" piece of 2x3" 3/16" tube steel... then weld em on, I'm still working on some bolt on's but it's kinda a PITA, I prefer to burn em anyhow.

I have a couple different patterns, high clearance, which I use for fully out board shocks, and longer mounts that accommodate the long shocks in the stock upper mounts and give about 1.5" in additional travel which improves the ride quality and they also seem more stable.



mark em..



use a 4" cutoff wheel in the grinder and cut em out.




form the radius if ya don't have a torch to use.





this version gets the center pushed in for more welding surface on the axle.




punch and drill a 5/8" hole.




a 1 ton Chevy front shock mount works great to mount the shock, I actually prefer a 3.25" long grade 8 fine threaded bolt...



the other version.



mount em parallel to the shock on the axle, which is generally 4" from the control arm bolt.




burn em on....




so..... what did we accomplish here with a 2.5" lift and 24.25" long extended, 14.25" collapsed shocks?

it's self explanatory if you can read a tape! they are measured at ride height... ya, no joke this is the advantage.. went from 2.75" uptravel to 4 5/8" without loosing any downtravel....

stock mounts...



DIY lower shock shifters...




I have the mounts on CAD now and have them made as needed!

 
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#193 ·
I thought it was adding shock lengths by relocating the shocks further over.

pretty soon I'll be running 3" bds rears, and a 3/4" spacer on my bds front, and id really like to run some of the fox shocks that savvy offers. They are recommended for 4" lift in the rear, and that would help with up travel. Eventually I want to outboard the rear, but as of right now, its not really in the plans. I need some better shocks, and I want a better ride. I can't see spending 90 each for some ome's when I can get the fox for a little more
 
#194 ·
I thought it was adding shock lengths by relocating the shocks further over.

pretty soon I'll be running 3" bds rears, and a 3/4" spacer on my bds front, and id really like to run some of the fox shocks that savvy offers. They are recommended for 4" lift in the rear, and that would help with up travel. Eventually I want to outboard the rear, but as of right now, its not really in the plans. I need some better shocks, and I want a better ride. I can't see spending 90 each for some ome's when I can get the fox for a little more
To run fox's effectively you need to outboard. That's that, its a waste and they're flat out too big of a shock to fit properly in the stock location. Mine sat for 9 months before I outboarded purely because I couldn't fit them.

You're moving them over to achieve something. That something is to allow moving the upper mount up, and the lower slightly down. By moving the upper mount higher you can set your travel mix however you want, based on application. Using fox's without the rear upper relocated leaves little to no downtravel. That's the whole point of this thread.

Save up, pony up, and do everything at once.

I also recommend getting them tuned by Wayne at alltech motorsports out here in menifee CA. His tune makes savvy's out of the box non resi's and resi's look like junk (the tune not the shock itself). Buy yourself some resi fox's through savvy and get them tuned. With a truss the max travel up will net 4-4.5" at 2" lift 10" travel, and 4" lift will accomodate 12" travel with about the same. Without a truss you will get between 4.5-6" up depending on mounting location.

Measure, find your limit point and measure again, then use deductive reasoning to find the correct length shock and mounting location.
 
#195 ·
Half of what's in here are just the lowers moved. Using Muds mounts, he got close to 5" of uptravel out of a 2.5" spring with a 10" shock. Pretty nicely balanced for what it is.

These are great for those of us that don't want to cut the frame yet.

If you can only run the Foxs "effectively" by fully outboard, then Savvy would never sell them for their lifts...
 
#196 ·
The mounts hide behind the lower ca's much like jk's. And and can be used as high clearance or to adjust the uptravel to the point of coil bind instead of making a sacrifice.

I dont know the collapsed length of the fox shocks. I have installed 14" collapsed ome rears on stock 104 springs with a 3/4" spacer on them using lower mounts i build off the same pattern. Stock arms bind up droop roughly about 23" of shock extension length measuring from factory upper shock mounts

I personally wont run on less than 5" uptravel which can be had from a 1" spacer on a stock spring. The rear of my tj has 7.5 " uptravel and 6" downtravel with my truss which is a three link that resides in the tub tunnel next to the driveshaft @ full stuff. My truss and trackbar mount require 1.5" bumpstop extension to keep from punching a hole in the tub. Springs are 2.5" advertised rancho rock crawlers
with a 1.25" spacer on it to fill the gap at full droop. They are tight enough to require a big bar to pry them out while the axle is hanging from the shocks.
 
#197 ·
Hey Mud,

Thanks for sharing all the info with us. I have a OME 2.5 inch HD lift, with a 1.25 inch BL. I am running the OME normal travel shocks that came with the lift. I would like to outboard the shocks, but while I am working on figuring out what I need and all, I was wondering what if anything would just moving the lower shock mounts out like on the Jeep pictured above would do for me? Is it even possiable to do this on my setup, or should I just wait until I do the true outboard?

Thanks,

Mel
 
#198 ·
Hey Mud,

Thanks for sharing all the info with us. I have a OME 2.5 inch HD lift, with a 1.25 inch BL. I am running the OME normal travel shocks that came with the lift. I would like to outboard the shocks, but while I am working on figuring out what I need and all, I was wondering what if anything would just moving the lower shock mounts out like on the Jeep pictured above would do for me? Is it even possiable to do this on my setup, or should I just wait until I do the true outboard?

Thanks,

Mel
Just moving them over cleans up the axle and gets rid of a major "hang up" spot. I believe the tjs always feel mpre stable as well on the hwy with the lower mount relocated.
The standard length ome n66 is very near centered at ride height with the ome hd spring. I would simply swing it over and reattach it at the ca mount.
We all must remember not to center it up in the ca mount. The shock body will rub the frame in full suspension compression situations, not mention the upper bushing could need replacement more often.

Just did this one using the factory mount i cut off, welded to a 1/4" plate. Much like the mount you can buy from clayton off road but the clayton locates the shock a bit to far out imo. They need to be right on the inner ca bracket.



Im not sure how it wouldnt be worth the effort for this alone...

 
#199 ·
For those who are intersted... kNOw where 2 jeep has recently acquired the rights to all the TJ Nth mobility stuff from AEV. http://www.knowwhere2jeep.com/catalogsearch/advanced/result/?manufacturer[]=472 They have the Nth shock shifters listed on their website for $129. Along with other Nth degree suspension stuff. Its still a weld on system and it doesn't provide extra travel if you use the top bracket. But if you want to outboard the lowers for handling reasons, its an option that just came back again. I am using this on my Jeep.

 
#200 ·
For those who are intersted... kNOw where 2 jeep has recently acquired the rights to all the TJ Nth mobility stuff from AEV. http://www.knowwhere2jeep.com/catalogsearch/advanced/result/?manufacturer[]=472 They have the Nth shock shifters listed on their website for $129. Along with other Nth degree suspension stuff. Its still a weld on system and it doesn't provide extra travel if you use the top bracket. But if you want to outboard the lowers for handling reasons, its an option that just came back again. I am using this on my Jeep.

When using only the nth lowers, they cAnt be installed as instructed due to shock body clearances at the frame.
Nths design is to change the anlge to match the control arm angle... 90 deg. Used as intended as a kit @ 4.5 to 6" lift, they do allow users to adjust the shock travel during initial set up.
 
#203 ·
Last pics posted by Mudb8 appear that he used the factory mounts.
They are factory mounts welded to plate steel to span the ca mounts, i dont sell them, just something i do. It takes me about a half hour to get the mounts ready to reinstall once they are cut off the axle tube with a sawzall. I maxe up a pattern that takes the guess work out of the angle.
Just about all the tjs sold by the company i work with have some of my dumb ideas welded on bolted up or fliped over.. Rear shock mounts/damaged shock tubes and uptravel are a major peeve of mine.
 
#205 ·
I have an extra set of jks lower control arm mount plates that needed some love to fit on the rear. Flat plate for the record would have been much easier! But the plate does allow a full box in of the lower arm mount plus a nice clean 1/4 piece of metal to burn in to.
 
#206 ·
The fox shocks I'm looking at are the ones that use factory mounts, but are for a 4" lift. I'll be running 3" lift, so if I can figure out how to get an inch longer between mounting points I'll be good. I can't use the teraflex, as the fox has the barpin already installed, and it doesn't look like it just presses out
 
#207 ·
It is likely that mrblaine would use a length that is very close to being balanced on the 4". That said, they could be a length recommended for shorter lift by the manufacturer...
When we start messing with high clearance skids, downtravel will often be compromised by a binding cv joint. For example a rokmen with a factory tranny mount, 1" mml and 3" lift springs can bind with 8.5" travel rear shocks. Close to 4" max downtravel from ride height.
 
#208 ·
So here's a question to you concerning moving the lower shock mounts outward. Last time I had the lower bolts pulled out of my rear shocks, I was positioning the bottom around in different places to see what worked. It felt as though the shocks upper bushings resisted having the lower ends moved outward. One side, can't remember which, seemed to really be stretching the upper bushing to get the lower end back behind the control arm mount. This was with the upper connections in the OEM mounts. Curious if you or anyone has noticed if one side seems to be easier to deflect the lower mount outward? Kind of wondering if my jeep is special and maybe something is up with my upper mounts.
 
#210 ·
LittleBluE said:
This is why I reccomend going fully out board. As far as I'm concerned, moving only the lower mount is a band aid, the shock works awkwardly, and at a pretty bad angle IMO.
Yeah, I'm not particularly interested in just moving the lowers out and leaving the uppers where they are. More curious if anyone noticed that one side seems to restrict movement more than the other side. I would think the factory upper mounts should be symmetric and behave the same, but on my jeep it appears that they aren't??
 
#214 ·
You know, I still plan to outboard, but have people tried moving the upper and lower mounts around? Check out my setup: Super 88, 4" back spacing, 12" shocks. I don't have any interference or binding at bump or droop. I can't have a unique enough setup to be the only one that doesn't NEED to outboard. Yes the upper is only single shear, but that was only supposed to be temporary. Hmmm.
 

Attachments

#215 ·
How have your shocks not gotten ripped off your axle?

Sent from AutoGuide.com App
 
#218 ·
My rear upper mounts are only 1/4" tabs. They were only supposed to be temporary, but it's been at least a year since I moved the shocks outside of the frame. I am waiting on my final placement of my rear axle, rear upper spring buckets, rear link length, and rear link mounts. When I get all that figured out, I will outboard... Maybe.
 
#220 ·
MisfitSeven said:
You know, I still plan to outboard, but have people tried moving the upper and lower mounts around? Check out my setup: Super 88, 4" back spacing, 12" shocks. I don't have any interference or binding at bump or droop. I can't have a unique enough setup to be the only one that doesn't NEED to outboard. Yes the upper is only single shear, but that was only supposed to be temporary. Hmmm.
What size tires and rims?

I have 315-75-16 on rubi rims and 1.25 spacers and have wondered about running them to the outside with out cutting frame...
 
#223 ·
I used to run 34x12.5 16's on rubi moabs without spacers. The tires rubed both sides under articulation with the shocks in the frame.

 
#222 ·
Man, looking at mine I am still around 4 inches back spacing and essentially have the same tire width as you.

It would be tight but the body of a shock might fit. I run a 10 inch shock now with the teraflex uppers no prob but I could really use a 11-12 shock with my lift.
 
#224 ·
mudb8 said:
Used shocks with polly bushings will do that. New bushings will hang the shocks outboard of the mounts...

Stock with molded rubber....
Left

Right

You can see they are straight..
Hmm, yep I see that those are symmetric. Thanks. Mine are the white Rancho 9000x, almost 10 years old. So you think the upper bushings took a set, and that's why they deflect differently between the sides?
 
#226 ·
My 9000's are about that age as well, they have formed to the mounts they are in. Still running original bushings also.
 
#225 ·
Misfit has his shock bodies low on the sidewall, the brackets only have to be strong enough to overcome the forces of the valving. They arent likely gonna tear off unless a bumpstop fails to do its job.
Look at the diameter of re sway bar links, youd want to think they'd bend or buckle
 
#228 ·
thanks for the pic mudb8- i need to snap a few of my set up and also measure to see how much room i have between the frame rail and tire. Last time I looked, mounting to the exterior of the frame was not an option for out boarding. I have already bought a set of f250 towers but have not gotten around to installing them!
 
#230 ·
I would stick with the ford towers!

Its pretty cool tho misfit had the balls to post that pic at the risk of being picked on...... One idea always sparks off another.
 
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