Are these shocks long enough for the slee 4inch springs?
BP-51 for the 80 Series (3 Viewers)
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Box Rocket
SILVER Star
Probably still too short at full droop. I know Woody runs the 50mm Slinky’s on his 80 and he uses every bit of the 12” Travel Slinky shocks.
IMO I think the BP51s are probably best suited to use with OME springs. Slinky springs should be used with Slinky shocks. After all they are both designed to work as a complete suspension system. Personally, if there is a complete suspension system available that what I think should be used rather than trying to piece something together from different brands.
I'm going to agree with @Box Rocket on this one. The whole mix and match springs and shocks is a real throw of the dice. My current all Dobinson's setup run's very nice. The OME stock height with BP-51's and some 33's looks like a highly competent setup as well. Whatever brand you went with, Dob, OME, Slinky, just be aware that someone who knows a lot more then you about suspension made those pairings for a reason.
I just feel like there have been some advancements in spring technology since OME rolled out their offerings a couple of decades ago.
I'm just going to add the BP-51's to me existing setup, then see what I have at that point.
I'm just going to add the BP-51's to me existing setup, then see what I have at that point.
I'm a bit confused Adam. I have always been under the impression that the shocks on an 80 Series are what limits droop. Is that not correct?
Box Rocket
SILVER Star
In a lot of cases you’re right Dan, but that isn’t ideal since it can damage the shocks. A lot of the suspension kits out there are set up in a way that makes the shock the limiter. Again, not the best limiter.
For an 80 that still uses radius arms, it’s far better to have the front travel limited by the radius arm rather than the shock. So getting the right springs and shocks that are not the limiter in either compression or extension will let the suspension work properly and not risk shock damage.
The rear should be the same approach where the movement of the suspension links and swaybar should be the limiter of droop if possible.
I got mine today for my 92 HDJ81. Looking forward to the improvement in ride and handling. The 200k km old OME shocks were a bit past it.
Make sure you give us an update. What springs are you running?
OME 2” lift over standard. Will post number when i get home and have out the original invoice.
Replacing the steering damper as well. Might even replace the front springs if i can determine how much they have sagged. Front springs are OME850’s and the Rears are OME863’s.
Replacing the steering damper as well. Might even replace the front springs if i can determine how much they have sagged. Front springs are OME850’s and the Rears are OME863’s.
So I have now fitted the shocks to my truck. Fitting was a real easy job, but there were a few challenging things.
Even after disconnecting the front sway bar i had to use a small jack to push the front axle down to get the bottom shock mount into place. All of the parts supplied for the front mounting were perfect and fitted as expected. Relocating the connecting between the brake hard line and soft line was easy once I worked out which bracket was the left and which was the left. This moves the connection inboard an inch or so to get it out of the way of the shock body on full compression.
Installing the rears was also fairly straight forward but there were a couple of parts not / short supplied. No major drama as I already had OME shocks on the truck and could reuse one of the big washers. I have reported the issue to my supplier.
The instructions and pictures for the rear installation are a bit unclear but once you work put that the external reservoirs are mounted inside the frame rails forward of the shocks it all becomes a lot clearer.
The rear stone shields clipped in and feel reasonably firm. Time will tell if they are better than the bolted on ones.
I haven’t had a chance to try them out off road but have increased the compression and rebound front and rear.
Front is now 6 Comp, 6 Rebound
Rear is now 3 Comp, 4 Rebound
Even after disconnecting the front sway bar i had to use a small jack to push the front axle down to get the bottom shock mount into place. All of the parts supplied for the front mounting were perfect and fitted as expected. Relocating the connecting between the brake hard line and soft line was easy once I worked out which bracket was the left and which was the left. This moves the connection inboard an inch or so to get it out of the way of the shock body on full compression.
Installing the rears was also fairly straight forward but there were a couple of parts not / short supplied. No major drama as I already had OME shocks on the truck and could reuse one of the big washers. I have reported the issue to my supplier.
The instructions and pictures for the rear installation are a bit unclear but once you work put that the external reservoirs are mounted inside the frame rails forward of the shocks it all becomes a lot clearer.
The rear stone shields clipped in and feel reasonably firm. Time will tell if they are better than the bolted on ones.
I haven’t had a chance to try them out off road but have increased the compression and rebound front and rear.
Front is now 6 Comp, 6 Rebound
Rear is now 3 Comp, 4 Rebound
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Dilspec
SILVER Star
So help me understand here, as far as I know the 80 only has the shocks as the limiter unless someone instal limiting strap. In most cases the suspension unloads fairly slow and gentle unless someone jumps it hard with 40 inch tires. Is there anything else on the 80 can act as limiter in stock onfiguration?
Tapage
Club 4X4 Panamá
sway bars .. ?
Ok sway bars and control arms won’t limit travel till we’ll pass even 6 inch shocks have reach their limits.
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Box Rocket
SILVER Star
True. The shocks are often the limiter. Can still cause damage to the shocks unless the shocks have internal bump type features designed to address that issue. Even with suspension that isn't violently unloading, the repeated unloading and bottoming out can cause damage over time. Typically in the form of damaged seals in the case of 80 shocks that are pin/pin ends. On shocks with eye/eye ends the shafts can break away from the eyes, or bend the shafts because of overcompression.
I took my truck to an off-roading event in central New Zealand. Lots of challenging terrain. Adjusted the shocks to be fairly soft for the off road stuff and things seemed to be OK.
Still running around with it set soft and the ride is very soft. Doing a 5 hour road trip on Friday so I will firm things up a bit and see how it is on the road. ATM it feels a bit loose in the rear so probably too soft. Better than the OME units that had over 100k kms on them and were a bit thrashed.
Still running around with it set soft and the ride is very soft. Doing a 5 hour road trip on Friday so I will firm things up a bit and see how it is on the road. ATM it feels a bit loose in the rear so probably too soft. Better than the OME units that had over 100k kms on them and were a bit thrashed.
Overland Tailor
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I've had mine since August and I can't believe the difference (Prior Radflo) . I have them set soft for daily driving, but just did some camping last weekend and adjusted them slightly for the increase in load and weight distribution.
September we did Colorado and had them set stiffer for RRT / Load and terrain.
Having the ability to vary the settings is a game changer for me as this is my daily + camping rig + overland rig and every situation has varying degrees of weight and requirements. There are some great non-adjustable shocks out there, but none of them can say they will be near perfect for every situation. The BP-51's give me that ability and that to me was worth the cost.
Best of luck,
J~
September we did Colorado and had them set stiffer for RRT / Load and terrain.
Having the ability to vary the settings is a game changer for me as this is my daily + camping rig + overland rig and every situation has varying degrees of weight and requirements. There are some great non-adjustable shocks out there, but none of them can say they will be near perfect for every situation. The BP-51's give me that ability and that to me was worth the cost.
Best of luck,
J~
