Long Travel Shocks

H2OLOVA · Post by **H2OLOVA** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 10:19 am

Where do you find long travel shocks? Have had a look at the shocks available from 4wd bits etc. but sounds like their shocks are OK for a 50 lift, but what if i want to go higher than this. I am looking at fitting extended shackles (80mm lift) and, as i can afford it, get new springs with a 50mm lift. What would be the best type,length of shock to use? And while i'm on the subject...some feedback on springs would be good. There are so many out there to chose from. Don't mind spending the money as long as i get the results, and have a spring that will last. Have heard good things about the EFS range, but pricey, which is OK as long as they do their job.

Any "useful" replies appreciated :lol:

doddzee · Post by **doddzee** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 10:34 am

I bought some konis from Wayne Emmerson 021 221 9322, which were to suit a 5"lift on a Safari, He should have other long travel shocks to suit your application.

rokhound · Post by **rokhound** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 11:08 am

H20lova
I mucked around with different models of springs on my old crusier, (TJM, OME etc). None of them were what I would call way better than the originals. Some brands will give you lots of lift, but they are so hard that the articulation gets thrown out the window.
Don't know what length the spring packs are on a 70, but if they are anything like the 60, they are way to short to give you good artic' and height.
When doing the surf with it's original leafs, I broke the spring packs open and just sort of mixed and matched different leafs from different packs.
(surfs have a spring pack approx 1200mm long from memory). If you want to see an awesome leaf sprung truck in action, you gotta see GC's surf working. (have some pics, but i,m just a dumb old builder and don,t yet know how to get them here, but there is 1 shot in my album on page 14). Gareth has the falcon springs in the back and I think he moved the original rears to the front. Cost is bugger all in actual $ terms, but you will invest a fair bit of time setting up the right pack. When you are ready for shocks, sing out to me or Supralux, as we both have connections for Rancho shocks ( you quite simply won't do better for a road legal 4wd).

Hope this helps and doesn't just confuse the issue further :roll:

Another trick that worked really well in the cruiser was putting helper coils between the chasiss rails and the spring pack. Lifted the bacxk of the 60 about 50mm and made it ride slightly better

H2OLOVA · Post by **H2OLOVA** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 12:15 pm

Those replies were quick.... Don't you guys work??? :lol:

Excellent help from both of you. A couple of questions:

1. Rancho shocks. What sort of lengths (travel) are available? and at what price?

2. just to make sure i'm reading this right. I'm better off "adjusting" my current springs to suit, than buy an off the shelf set.

Thanks in anticipation.

rokhound · Post by **rokhound** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 12:35 pm

H2OLOVA wrote:Those replies were quick.... Don't you guys work??? It's bloody cold outside, my guys are grizzling about it (no sense in us all being cold eh?)
Excellent help from both of you. A couple of questions:

1. Rancho shocks. What sort of lengths (travel) are available? and at what price? Have a look in my album on pg 14. The shot with my truck up on suprasurfs didn't even have the shock 3/4s of the way thru it's travel.

2. just to make sure i'm reading this right. I'm better off "adjusting" my current springs to suit, than buy an off the shelf set. Don't know if better off is the right terminology, but it i definatly and option that you should probably look into.
Thanks in anticipation.

hosehustler · Post by **hosehustler** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 1:03 pm

rokhound wrote: If you want to see an awesome leaf sprung truck in action, you gotta see GC's surf working. (have some pics, but i,m just a dumb old builder and don,t yet know how to get them here, but there is 1 shot in my album on page 14

hosehustler · Post by **hosehustler** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 1:08 pm

Grant,
here's how to do it :wink:

http://www.offroadexpress.co.nz/modules ... opic&t=237

krawlr · Post by **krawlr** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 4:01 pm

hey doddz how high is youre gq(not winch ute)? close to 2meters?

just curious :wink:

rokhound · Post by **rokhound** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 4:13 pm

hosehustler wrote:Grant,
here's how to do it

Cheers Tim. Even a thick bastard like me can get it now :lol:

doddzee · Post by **doddzee** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 4:38 pm

hey doddz how high is youre gq(not winch ute)? close to 2meters

The one in my avater is between 1900-2000mm, 4" lift, 30mm body lift and 35" claws, my ute is about 2200mm at the moment but it has no weight on it.

1lurch · Post by **1lurch** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 7:22 pm

you cant beat soggy old standard springs , just look at wopass pictures .
you'll get great flex but no lift , in fact you may get the oppisite effect .
We have a fella up here who has a mwb cruiser that works really really well but he's determined to lift it but is a bit timid about doing this if it's going to mess up the articulation . Rancho shocks are really good , I had the non adjustable ones and a few of our club have the 9000's (adjustables) and they work well , only the 9000's cost double the price of the 5000's (non adj.)

cheers AL

Rangielux · Post by **Rangielux** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 7:49 pm

Rancho entry level shocks are a good option. Get some longer shocks, you may have change mounts tho and as lurch says don't worry to much about spring lift. All my ramp comes from the longer front shocks, 50mmlift springs. It'll go further when I'm finished with the back.

niblik · Post by **niblik** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 9:29 pm

rangielux... so you do use the lifted springs of 50mm? are they tapered or do they have some liner between the leaves too? want to lift my thing but anxious about liftin it and then sacrificing artic.

with the long travel ranchos, what is the compressed length and extended length? just to do some maths and measurin..... :wink:

1lurch · Post by **1lurch** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 10:37 pm

tinkered with the rears ??? Falcons are easy and effictive on the hilux . also what have you donewith the dreded 'c' arm on the steering ?? fliped the ball to the top ??

H2OLOVA · Post by **H2OLOVA** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 10:45 pm

The Rancho adjustables are still a gas filled shock as opposed to an air shock?

Rangielux · Post by **Rangielux** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 11:03 pm

1lurch wrote:tinkered with the rears ??? Falcons are easy and effictive on the hilux . also what have you donewith the dreded 'c' arm on the steering ?? fliped the ball to the top ??

Extended shackles on the back that are a bit uugly and a spring pack made/cut/mixed in the interum. (not flexible enough yet -will look at Falcons in the future)
Yeah the arm "copes" at the moment, fit or make a dropped arm if thats a concern but so far no majors.

H2o - Just gas filled I think

Niblik - no tapers(just maxi-trac 50mm). I'd go for some sort of lift (not massive) but try and avoid the heavy, overload multiple leaf type. The best way to look for extra articulation is to try immitate the droop that coils

give you.

rokhound · Post by **rokhound** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 8:13 am

H2OLOVA wrote:The Rancho adjustables are still a gas filled shock as opposed to an air shock?

Yep. Not exactly sure if they are just gas and oil, but they are definatly not air. They work by adjusting the valving with a turn knob at the bottom of the shock (make valve for oil smaller and it makes the shock a lot firmer (on road) valve bigger and the oil flows thru easier, making shock softer (off road). You can also get an incab controller, way cool but a little pricey.
I thought the new range of 5000 series shocks were adjustable, but i'm not positive. I have 9012 Rancho's in my wreck, I think they are longest travel ones they have.
Hard to sat how good they are on there own, as my wreak had a complete, bare chasiss up rebuild, and all the coils and links were put in at once. The whole thing handles quite a bit different to the way it handled on leaf's.

4WDbits · Post by **4WDbits** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 8:40 am

I have 9012 Rancho's in my wreck, I think they are longest travel ones

RS99012 has 12.875 inches travel (from 19.375 to 32.25 inches), longer with same mounts are RS99034 with 13.875 inches of travel (from 20.125 to 34 inches) and RS99036 with 15 inches of travel (from 21.125 to 36.126). I looked through the catalogue, but couldn't see a definitive description of the gas/oil construction other than ('Cellular gas design with variable force control for precise flow metering'. I'm also pretty sure that the adjustment only affects travel in one direction, but can't find the exact reference right away.

H2OLOVA · Post by **H2OLOVA** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 9:39 am

Inches!!! Who uses inches........Will have to get my conversion tables out :wink:

Thanks for all the info guys

rokhound · Post by **rokhound** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 11:13 am

4WDbits wrote: RS99036 with 15 inches of travel (from 21.125 to 36.126).

I stand corrected. The missus is always saying I come up 3 inches short :roll:

, guess she was right :twisted:

H2OLOVA · Post by **H2OLOVA** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 4:01 pm

After trying to remove my front shock to get some measurements i managed to wind off the top pin :evil:

. So now i need shocks (front anyway) a bit sooner than i had hoped. Been doing some measuring and need a shock with a minimum length of 400ish and as long as poss. EFS have one with a min of 365mm and max of 630mm (thanks to 4WD Bits for their extensive product information!!) What have the ranchos got available around these lengths?

nz4x4 · Post by **nz4x4** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 4:35 pm

If your interested.... Tough Dog do a foam cell that is 400mm min and 660mm max. Has eyes on top and bottom mounts though.....

H2OLOVA · Post by **H2OLOVA** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 8:04 pm

thanks but i need pin and eye mounts

H2OLOVA · Post by **H2OLOVA** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 2:05 pm

Been doing some surfing and decided i need the Rancho RS9009. Can anyone help with this?

rokhound · Post by **rokhound** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 5:23 pm

Rs9009 is a shock for an early F150 Ford truck . From my source only available ex USA and about $155 ech + GST (Couldn't get an exact price because of availability)

H2OLOVA · Post by **H2OLOVA** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 7:46 pm

That price sounds great. Not sure how i feel about fitting Ford parts tho!!! :cry:

I need four (obviously) where do we go from here?

callum007 · Post by **callum007** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 9:33 pm

the 9036's are hard to get hold of.. I was going to go for some big tough dogs as they come even bigger than the ranchos..

But instead i now run Konis and modded the mounts to suit. just dont forget to put the bump stops back on, or you might just break your shocks off if you do jumps.

You dont need the length if you engineer the mount locations to work for you..

I get about 700mm flex out my konis for a standard landcruiser..

H2OLOVA · Post by **H2OLOVA** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 10:09 pm

what sort of mods did you do to get the shocks working? Got any pics?

niblik · Post by **niblik** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 10:14 pm

h2olova..

i'm thinkin raised upper shock mount and the lower mount on the bottom of plate,similar to std plate... make sense,sorta?

SupraLux · Post by **SupraLux** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 11:07 pm

H2OLOVA wrote:what sort of mods did you do to get the shocks working? Got any pics?

If you've got a chance, come down to the shed tomorrow and I'll give you a few ideas to throw about... did some mods to Matts 60-series in the front a while back (Alloy head 350-chev powered monster) that might be worth thinking about. No pics I'm afraid... Although I need to get on to him to take some... modified the front and rear upper mounts for longer fits and used Rancho 9000s to good effect in it.

Also can arrange the Ranchos if you're still looking.

Steve

Long Travel Shocks

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