After 4 days of what was suposed to be a day and a half project, I have my 1" body lift and new Rancho RS9000XL's mounted. I thought the fronts would actually be the tough part, but the rears ended up being no cake walk either.
Basic set-up is J-springs front and rear. MAF drop brackets in front. 2" bumpstop drops in the front. 2.5" bumpstop drops in the rear. I could easily go down to 1" bumpstop drops in the front as there is still plenty of shock left.
The drivers side tower I did second, and I put a second hole in it so I can mount the shock 1.5" lower if I feel the need at some future date. I'll have to drill the passenger side as I only put the one shock mount hole in it. The pins came with the new shocks, and it made building the front towers much easier. I bent the sides of the stock towers out a bit. The bodies on these shocks are just HUGE, and I wanted to make sure I had clearance. Lifted the front up enough that I was able to pull out the spring to add a coil spacer, then I realized that the aluminum spacers I bought used are for REAR springs! DOH! Maybe I'll just take the bumpstop spacer off and space the coil mount thing down 1.5" ala metal tech spacers. - Also of note, though I have a 1" body lift (as of Friday), I certainly would have had enough room to mount the tower extensions high enough to fit these shocks without the body lift. Getting into cut off the top of the tower was a challange though. I could have saved myself hours of work (literally) if I had a plasma cuttter!
The rear mounts were much more of a challange than I thought they'd be as I had to clearance the frame part of the mount - again cause these shocks are just so huge. Would have been easier if I was doing 'normal' RS9000's or just about any other shock.
I took her out to a place not far from the house to flex it, and was reminded that I haven't lowered my rear swaybar yet. In these pictures it's about ready to rip out the swaybar bushings, and the swaybar has contacted the shock body. Definately will have to fix that before taking it off-road for real. It's keeping me from using the whole travel of the shock.
Rides a bit firm since I set the shocks at 9 and still need to put the remote adjuster in yet. No real miles on it yet. I definately have more shock than I can use now - but that's not all bad. It would have been the same amount of work to fit 12" shocks, and these didn't cost any more.
One thing I'm sure of - Working outside in Tulsa's heat sucks.
Photo 1 - Finished Passenger side front tower.
Photo 2 - Extended measure - you can see the spring unseating slightly, tire is just slightly off ground, still 4" of extension left!
Photo 3 - Still have 2" of compression left with the spring out, sitting on bumpstop.
Basic set-up is J-springs front and rear. MAF drop brackets in front. 2" bumpstop drops in the front. 2.5" bumpstop drops in the rear. I could easily go down to 1" bumpstop drops in the front as there is still plenty of shock left.
The drivers side tower I did second, and I put a second hole in it so I can mount the shock 1.5" lower if I feel the need at some future date. I'll have to drill the passenger side as I only put the one shock mount hole in it. The pins came with the new shocks, and it made building the front towers much easier. I bent the sides of the stock towers out a bit. The bodies on these shocks are just HUGE, and I wanted to make sure I had clearance. Lifted the front up enough that I was able to pull out the spring to add a coil spacer, then I realized that the aluminum spacers I bought used are for REAR springs! DOH! Maybe I'll just take the bumpstop spacer off and space the coil mount thing down 1.5" ala metal tech spacers. - Also of note, though I have a 1" body lift (as of Friday), I certainly would have had enough room to mount the tower extensions high enough to fit these shocks without the body lift. Getting into cut off the top of the tower was a challange though. I could have saved myself hours of work (literally) if I had a plasma cuttter!
The rear mounts were much more of a challange than I thought they'd be as I had to clearance the frame part of the mount - again cause these shocks are just so huge. Would have been easier if I was doing 'normal' RS9000's or just about any other shock.
I took her out to a place not far from the house to flex it, and was reminded that I haven't lowered my rear swaybar yet. In these pictures it's about ready to rip out the swaybar bushings, and the swaybar has contacted the shock body. Definately will have to fix that before taking it off-road for real. It's keeping me from using the whole travel of the shock.
Rides a bit firm since I set the shocks at 9 and still need to put the remote adjuster in yet. No real miles on it yet. I definately have more shock than I can use now - but that's not all bad. It would have been the same amount of work to fit 12" shocks, and these didn't cost any more.
One thing I'm sure of - Working outside in Tulsa's heat sucks.
Photo 1 - Finished Passenger side front tower.
Photo 2 - Extended measure - you can see the spring unseating slightly, tire is just slightly off ground, still 4" of extension left!
Photo 3 - Still have 2" of compression left with the spring out, sitting on bumpstop.
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I'm guessing this is about the same as anyone else would see on J's? Unless mine have sagged (they were used when I bought them). Would be interested in measurements from other trucks. Just lifting one side of the frame though isn't exactly pushing it to the limit either though. Wonder how far other springs go from ride height until they unseat - 4", 5 and 6" comp coils, FOR coils, ect.
mistake. I quickly glanced at your sig and didn't read it entirely. You can call me Theodore and we'll speak in code 
Sorry man, will you ever forgive me? 
if we make it to Disney.
