Did I buy the right shocks? Look too long to my newbie eyes. (1 Viewer)

[tdskip]

Hi guys - bought the Bilsteins after your coaching but I think I may have bought the wrong ones.

These are 33-185606 and should be good for between 2-3 inch lift, but they look too long to my uneducated eyes.

Could I get some eyes on these please?

 

[rkymtnflyfisher]

Is your front axle at full drop right now?

 

[rkymtnflyfisher]

Or is your front tire on the ground?

 

[pb4ugo]

Have you cycled your suspension to see how much your springs compress and measure pin to pin? Or you could just measure the the distance between the bump stop and the axle when it's sitting on level ground. You don't want your compressed shock to be longer than that measurement.

 

[tdskip]

Good morning and thank you for the responses, I am not at full drop, let me try that and see how it comes together.

 

[rkymtnflyfisher]

Looks like you let that shock fully extend, they are brutal to push back into the right place.

you could raise the frame up a bit to get the mounting close and then try.

Good luck.

 

[tdskip]

Here is the rear at full drop.

 

[tdskip]

I think these are too long - shock doesn’t have much room to further compress once that axle is loaded up.

Just to get this to fit without loading requires the shock to nearly fully compressed.

 

[pb4ugo]

I editedmy past post to clarify.

Measure you shock pin to pin distance. Now measure the distance between the bump stop to top of the axle. Subtract that measurement from your pin to pin measurement. Your compressed shock should not be longer than that measurement. You do not want your shocks to bottom out b4 the bump stop hits the axle. You could try to get different shocks or move your bump stops to correct.

 

[KimoTheBJ40]

I’m new and hoping to learn from this thread. Suspension is in my near future. What year rig do you have?

 

[tdskip]

Thanks - understand the clarification, helpful.

I may not have a problem with the shocks, just my brain. These compress way further than I thought.

I have 19” pin to pin rear. 18.5 pin to pin front.

The boot on the shock gets super wrinkled but I can compress the shocks to be one inch shorter than those measurements. That seems a bit too little however - yes/no?

@KimoTheBJ40 - my rig is a 1968 but it’s been modified.

 

[pb4ugo]

The shocks are probably to long on the front. I'm sure the suspension will compress more than 1 ". The rear shocks mounting points are different than the front. The frt shocks are mounted more vertical. The shocks on the rear are mounted at more of an angle, so it takes more suspension compression to bottom out a shock.

 

[tdskip]

@pb4ugo - thanks, and agree. I need to get shorter ones, how much buffer/extra spacing should I allow? For example, with a 19 inch pin to pin what shark range travel should I be looking at to be on the safe side?

 

[pb4ugo]

Most shock manufacturers list compression and extension values for all their shocks. If they don't have exactly what you need then you need to find a happy medium. I personally, am more concerned with compression more than extension. I prefer stuffing a tire into the fender well. When I lift a wheel its usually happens slowly cause I know it's a sketchy spot/obstacle on the trail. As mentioned, b4 you can lower bump stops or install limiting straps if your really concerned.

 

[pb4ugo]

To get real technical/anal about it. Flex the suspension with out shocks on it. Find a RTI ramp or a ramped wall/ledge/rock and drive one tire up on it forward and backward to a point where the non ramped rear tire starts to come off the ground and stop. Be really, really careful. Don't roll it over. Then measure pin to pin on the stuffed corner and the extended corner. Now reverse directions.

EDITED:

 

[tdskip]

Good stuff @pb4ugo , thank you.

 

[bikersmurf]

I’d raise the front shock mount and keep the longer shocks.

I trashed a set or two of front shocks because, even with stock shackles they weren’t long enough and limited travel. Longer shocks solved that problem but would then bottle out.

Solution raise the mount.

 

[pb4ugo]

Yep. Longer shackles would be a way to adjust for a little more length, too.

 

[franklin40]

is your shock mount stock on the lower side? all my 40s have the mount on the plate below my spring. yours is above the spring which effectively shortens your shock length. yours looks like a home brew mount.

 

[tdskip]

Hi guys-thanks for the responses. It never occurred to me that my mounts were not in factory places, that could certainly account for the shocks being the wrong size (they may well be the right size for a standard truck with the last day I have but not as mine set up).

Are the shock mounts easy to re-position, that is the say do they both on and off or am I looking at having to get the welder out?

Edit - are you looking at the top or bottom mounts as the ones that were repositioned by a prior owner?