12" travel shock options?

[silverhorse]

I have read mucho shock info here, especially on the Bilstein 7100's. I however, would like to go with a non reservoir shock, maybe a 5125 series? I'm not opposed to other brands either, but 7100's are NOT in my budget....

FYI, I'm running 3-4" King Coils. I understand a 10" shock would work but I'd rather run a 12" front and possible a 12-14" in the rear...

Thanks for any input...

 

[MJ80]

You cannot run a 14 with that smaller lift, you would need at least 5" of lift to make the 14"s work. The shock would quite literately be sitting on its self compressed, ie; no up travel at all at normal ride height.

Unsure as to why you dont want to go RR and stay single tube ? none the less if your set on doing this id recommend whatever you choose to go with make sure its a 2.5 and not a 2.0 i think the 2.0 in single tube is just pushing it a bit especially for a big heavy car like the 80. You will probably have to modify your front towers to accommodate the 2.5. Usual brands like SAW King and Fox are best bets for mono tubes.

Failing that theres a stupid amount of mono tube bolt in shocks to suit whatever size lift available for the 80 here in AU, from low end shocks like OME, Ironman, to mid range like Tough dog, EFS, rancho ect ect and then all your usual nicer brands.

 

[kidglove13]

There are plenty of mono tube hydros that are not that expensive
I run 6 inches of lift now
But I can tell you that with only 3-4 inches of lift and using a 12 inch travel shock in the rear you need to retain the coils because they will want to pop out, at least this is what I experienced
Not so much in the front because the front will not flex enough for that to happen
Search Doetsch Shocks on here i think that is how you spell it people have liked them especially at $50 per shock
You could also use a 10 inch travel shcok and do and eye to eye conversion which would lower the upper shock mounts and thus giving you more down travel and also possibly giving you more shock options as well
I think this is the way you would want to go
The shock eye adaptors are not that expensive

 

[silverhorse]

"Unsure as to why you dont want to go RR and stay single tube ?"

Well, I dont intend to do any high speed stuff and $$$

 

[Walking Eagle]

You cannot run a 14 with that smaller lift, you would need at least 5" of lift to make the 14"s work. The shock would quite literately be sitting on its self compressed, ie; no up travel at all at normal ride height.

You can - you just need to redo shock mounts to give yourself more room. I run 14's w/ 3" bumpstops and really need to go down to 2's cause I'm not using all the compression I have - but as mentioned below you'll start having issues with retaining springs - at least if you take the rear swaybar off. My rear springs unseat alot if I have the rear bar off, and very little if I have it on. (J-springs for reference).

Flip side is just cause you can, doesn't mean you should or need to - 12's would be much easier to fit and if you're retaining the sway bar, give you almost all the same performance.

 

[dallen341]

I have 5125's on my spring over 60 series (different truck, I know). Hate them. Valving is too soft on compression and rebound.

They are about $75-80 a piece. I will be going to Fox 2" RR shocks so I can adjust valving to my liking. I believe they run $180 or so each.

 

[kidglove13]

The OP is looking for a budget friendly shock, not a $180 shock
Search for Doestch shock on here people have had some good success with them as of late

 

[Ebag333]

You cannot run a 14 with that smaller lift, you would need at least 5" of lift to make the 14"s work. The shock would quite literately be sitting on its self compressed, ie; no up travel at all at normal ride height.

You can - you just need to redo shock mounts to give yourself more room.

What he said. And redoing the shock mounts isn't very hard at all, a bit of time with a grinder, some box tubing, and a welder, and you got new upper shock mounts that are eye (not pin).

Roughly a 4" lift (3" of that suspension) and 14" travel shocks in the rear. With sway bar.

37" tire lifted off the ground:

Other tire stuffed and just barely rubbing:

Flip side is just cause you can, doesn't mean you should or need to - 12's would be much easier to fit and if you're retaining the sway bar, give you almost all the same performance.

I disagree slightly. First, 12" is harder to fit in the front than the rear, especially if you're doing an eye/eye or post/eye shock and using adapters. If you can find one that bolts in, then there's a fair chance that you'll be fine, but it'll be close. That assumes that you use all of your possible up travel, which of course the front end doesn't want to do. (I fit mine under this assumption.)

12" will lift a tire in the rear slightly more than a 14" will, with or without a sway bar. Is this a big deal? Not really. And a 12" will give you a lot more travel than a 10" shock and probably eliminate 90% of the instances when you'd lift a tire.

So for the rear, while a 14" will give you slightly better performance, the difference between a 12" and a 14" is small compared to the difference between a 10" and a 12".


For the front, anything over 12" gains you very little, less than the rear. The reason is that the frame/body wants to follow the front axle because of the front suspension design, and the front doesn't flex near as much as the rear, even if you remove the sway bar (which does help).

In the pics above, I was almost lifting the front DS tire, but what happens is right after it lifts the vehicle shifts and drops back down on it (lifting the rear further off the ground). It's pretty hard to lift a front tire while keeping both rears on the ground. I fit a 12.5" shock in the front mostly because it would have been a lot more difficult to fit a 14", and now that I've run that for a while I think a 14" in the front would have pretty much been a waste.

YMMV.

 

[Walking Eagle]

I disagree slightly.

That's funny - since I can't tell the difference between this:

12" will lift a tire in the rear slightly more than a 14" will, with or without a sway bar. Is this a big deal? Not really. And a 12" will give you a lot more travel than a 10" shock and probably eliminate 90% of the instances when you'd lift a tire.

So for the rear, while a 14" will give you slightly better performance, the difference between a 12" and a 14" is small compared to the difference between a 10" and a 12".

and this :

Flip side is just cause you can, doesn't mean you should or need to - 12's would be much easier to fit and if you're retaining the sway bar, give you almost all the same performance.

Since the OP was only talking about a 12 or 14 on the rear, I guess that's all I was talking about, but you're right the front is harder to fit a 12, course, if you cut the towers off like I did it's just as easy to fit a 14 as it is a 12 - so why not eh?

 

[Ebag333]

That's funny - since I can't tell the difference between this:

Yeah, we're saying very similar things, a difference of degree not type.

Since the OP was only talking about a 12 or 14 on the rear, I guess that's all I was talking about, but you're right the front is harder to fit a 12, course, if you cut the towers off like I did it's just as easy to fit a 14 as it is a 12 - so why not eh?

I considered cutting the towers off and welding on donor towers off another vehicle (wider/taller/etc). Ended up just going the box route which gave me plenty of room to fit the 12.5" shock, so only a bit shorter than a 14" and as mentioned previously, I haven't found a situation yet where a 14" would do something that the 12.5" wouldn't.

New towers is a must in the front if you go with a wide body shock like you did. If you don't have that restriction, then just adding a piece of box to the top is a very quick and painless solution.

 

[kidglove13]

I use a 12 inch travel shock in the rear with an eye adaptor up top with almost 6 inches of lift and no rear sway and 37 inch tires
My travel is set up at about 40% up travel and 60% down travel
In this picture my rear tire is still on the ground
In the front I run a I think around 10.5 inch travel shock which has worked fine
but when they weear out I will go to a 12 in the front as well
The OP does not need a 14 inch shock and depending on what type off roading he does might not need a 12 inch shock either

 

[Walking Eagle]

Doestch has some nice options for stem-stem and stem-eye in 10, 11, 12.5 & 13.5" travel - so if you don't want to do any mounting mods, they should have something that fits pretty much any lift height.

Shock and Suspension Hardware Accessories

 

[MJ80]

You can - you just need to redo shock mounts to give yourself more room. I run 14's w/ 3" bumpstops and really need to go down to 2's cause I'm not using all the compression I have - but as mentioned below you'll start having issues with retaining springs - at least if you take the rear swaybar off. My rear springs unseat alot if I have the rear bar off, and very little if I have it on. (J-springs for reference).

Flip side is just cause you can, doesn't mean you should or need to - 12's would be much easier to fit and if you're retaining the sway bar, give you almost all the same performance.

Obviously, but seeing as though OP doesn't even want bother with a RR shock i assumed he wouldn't even consider custom shock mounts. Unless wanting to go 2.5s to offset not having the RR then custom towers are required.

Been through all of this myself and without a body lift theres not a huge amount more you can do in the rear anyway, theres perhaps 1" 1.5" of usable room up top before you start cutting into the floor.

 

[Walking Eagle]

Obviously, but seeing as though OP doesn't even want bother with a RR shock i assumed he wouldn't even consider custom shock mounts. Unless wanting to go 2.5s to offset not having the RR then custom towers are required.

Rear upper shock mounts are a couple bucks worth of steel to modify (if you have the ability). If you read his posts - it's not a matter of 'bothering' with RR shock, it's not wanting to spend the money for them.

 

[Ebag333]

Doestch has some nice options for stem-stem and stem-eye in 10, 11, 12.5 & 13.5" travel - so if you don't want to do any mounting mods, they should have something that fits pretty much any lift height.

Shock and Suspension Hardware Accessories

Doetsch looks to have a good range of stuff. However, all their 12" or longer shocks have too long of a body (16+ inches compressed). They have a stud/stud shock that's right at 16" compressed that might work for the front (depending on your tire size), but their stud/eye shock is just too long (17"), assuming you don't want to drop your bump stops and lose up travel.

That's the issue I ran into shopping around for shocks in the 12+ inch flavor, they all had too long of bodies.

 

[kidglove13]

One way to solve the long shock body and up travel issue is to get more lift

 

[Tapage]

lift available for the 80 here in AU, from low end shocks like OME, Ironman, to mid range like Tough dog, EFS, rancho ect ect and then all your usual nicer brands.

Honestly I don't considere Rancho any better than OME or Ironman .. don't have any experience on others to express any comment.

Does anyone makes an 80 series coil retainer . ?

 

[Ebag333]

One way to solve the long shock body and up travel issue is to get more lift

Nope. More lift just changes your up/down travel range. It doesn't magically give you more room for compression.

Two ways to increase room for compression, adjust shock mounts or lower bump stops. That's it.

Does anyone makes an 80 series coil retainer . ?

One of these works just fine.

 

[kidglove13]

I am not saying it gives you more room for compression but it alllows you to achieve more of the up travel of the longer bodied shock

Good luck using zip ties for retainers never once have they worked for me

 

[Walking Eagle]

Honestly I don't considere Rancho any better than OME or Ironman .. don't have any experience on others to express any comment.

Does anyone makes an 80 series coil retainer . ?

I've liked my Rancho's, had some RS9000's on my Trooper, and RS9000XL's on the Lexus. Didn't care for the OME's I had but they may have just been tired. Liked the Pro Comp 9000's on my 40, but really wanted a bigger shock for the weight of the 80 - thus the XL's

First time I had issues with the coils popping out all I had with me was some straps. Just cut a length of them off, tied them around the coil/mount. Always figured I'd come back and do something more perminate but they never failed.

For extending mounts and switching to eye / eye....

https://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/163065-faq-shock-mounts.html