fox coil overs (1 Viewer)

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Oct 15, 2002
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has anyone used fox coil overs on their cruiser? i have a 71 fj40 and was looking at the fox 2.0 coil over emulsion shocks with 10" travel for $315/set. an article on 4wheel and offroad's website said quote "If you are in a lightweight rockcrawler, basic trail rig, or street truck, then a 2-inch is fine or at the most a 2 1/2. A fullsize desert prerunner or race buggy heading for 800 miles of hard desert roads could step up to a 21/2-inch. A 3-inch is mostly needed for trophy trucks. " so i thought two inch would be fine for me, it's mostly a daily driver with trail riding on the weekends, no big rock walls around here. anyway, anyone use fox shocks or have an opinion to share? oh, and here's a link to that article: http://www.4wheeloffroad.com/techarticles/suspension/131_0505_coil/
 
Why switch to coilovers and a linked suspension if you are mostly on road/trail truck???


Other than that, the 315 a set sounds like an excellent price. But you probably have to add in the cost of coils as well.
 
why switch? the ride that my leaf springs provide is awful on my neck and my passengers won't ride with me anymore. comparing price/value/ride quality comparison in the long run i have come to the conclusion that coil over springs are overall better than coils and shocks, especially given the limited amount of room available in the wheel wells.
 
And have a tendency to lean, Wallow in corners if the suspension is not set up right and lots of other bad habits..


If I were you I would invest in a nice set of leaves or start out by replacing the poly bushings you currently have with rubber bushings. Take the leavs apart, wire wheel them and then line the leaves with a poly or teflon strip. Then purchase a NICE set of shocks to balance it out.


What springs are you currently running? there is no reason a leaf spring rig can not ride nice..
 
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I am with Jason here....


I am running six year old OME springs with 42" swampers, and even when I had the poly baja style seats in there, it was a decent ride. There have been many people that rode in the truck and told me that they wished that their truck rode as well...


I installed OME in a 1983-40 series for a customer last fall, and with the new springs and Bilstein shocks, he is VERY HAPPY with the ride, and he drives this truck from Minnesota to the Black Hills every year, and also drives to Colorado and back for a week...


Good luck!


-Steve
 
A seat upgrade goes a LONG WAY for making one of these trucks more tolerable for operation at speed...
 
my cruiser spring over with rs900s and acura seats was smoother offroad then my "friends" coiled jeep
 
As much as I hate to do it - I have to agree with Mace. You will be amazed at how well leaf springs will work/ride if you clean them up and allow them to move (ie: the teflon strips). I rebuilt a set for the rear of mine a while back and the difference was quite noticeable.

Another aspect to this is - if you go to coil overs - what is your plan for your suspension? Linking the rear of a 40 is not cheap when it's done correctly. The front is even worse.
 
i have (as far as i know) original leaf springs. i've done the spring over, luke from 4x4labs hi-steer conversion, nismo racing seats, new rubber bushings from SOR, and it's still a neck breaking ride. where do i get these teflon strips? and how do i get that clamp thing off the springs and back on? that's the only thing suggested i haven't already done.
 
my other problem, is that i don't want to 'invest' in leafs when i could invest in coils. aren't coils the ultimate to have? almost everything i've done to this 40 has been a waste because it's turned out that it hasn't been what i expected and i could have spent the money on the ultimate. take for instance the brakes. when i bought it the brakes were crap. i took it to a local shop i trusted and it was $800, plus i had to order the parts and pay for them myself. for that price, i found out i could have had discs. it's been like that for three years. i want to do it right the first time, so it's that last time. know what i mean?
 
Coils are not the "ultimate" to have. They are a bit easier to tune or get maximum travel out of but most things are going to be a waste on a street rig.

Figure 2K for coilovers and springs.
Then figure another 1K in materials for the links.

Now, are you going to instal and design the link suspension? Or is someone else going to????

If it is someone else, figure 5K for that.

I have three cruisers. Only one (the rockcrawler) is linked. There just is not any real reason to do it to a truck that sees mostly street miles.

If your truck has a neck jarring ride AND it is sprun over on stock springs there is something wrong. Spring over's with proper shocks ride VERY nicely.
Additionally, if you are comparing the ride of a 40 to the 100 series you might be a bit dissapointed no matter what you do..
 
so where do i get these teflon strips? how much do i need? and how do i get that clamp thing off the springs and back on?
 
WalMart.. Slip and slide
Clamp, unbolt or pry apart
Wire wheel springs, graphite paint on leaves from tractor store
Cut up slip and slide lay strips between each leaf
Re-assemble painted springs with new center pin and slip and slide material between leaves.
Re-instal on truck
Try out.. Much cheaper.. Most costly thing will be the slip and slide as it's now winter and you'll have a hard time finding one.
 
Mace said:
Coils are not the "ultimate" to have. They are a bit easier to tune or get maximum travel out of but most things are going to be a waste on a street rig.

Figure 2K for coilovers and springs.
Then figure another 1K in materials for the links.

Now, are you going to instal and design the link suspension? Or is someone else going to????

If it is someone else, figure 5K for that.

Not so fast there. . .

My 40 is 4-linked front and rear, Currie joints, .318 -4130 DOM links, Fox 2.5 Airshocks, blah blah blah. . . Total build cost was less that $3000 CANADIAN BUX for everything including my hysteer, 1 ton Chev TREs, etc.

Search POR for the 4-link for dummies thread. there's lots of details there.

Asside from the need for sway bars (next purchase) my 40 rides like a passenger car., and flexes like a rock crawler should.

4047.jpg
IMG_2875.jpg
 
BiffS said:
Not so fast there. . .

My 40 is 4-linked front and rear, Currie joints, .318 -4130 DOM links, Fox 2.5 Airshocks, blah blah blah. . . Total build cost was less that $3000 CANADIAN BUX for everything including my hysteer, 1 ton Chev TREs, etc.

Search POR for the 4-link for dummies thread. there's lots of details there.

Asside from the need for sway bars (next purchase) my 40 rides like a passenger car., and flexes like a rock crawler should.

4047.jpg
IMG_2875.jpg
that may be you paid that price but air shocks arent street friendly which he wants and you did all the work im guessing and it doesnt seem that this guy will be doing the work
 
Street friendly depends on how you gauge it i guess. He want's a softer ride, and good trail manners. With sway bars and adjustments to the shocks (or by running coil overs) he has both.

Mine is fine on the highway with airshocks, and factory settings (that i'll change soon now that i have my porta-potty top on) but i wouldn't go hammering corners like a Ferarri or anything.

i'm going with the swayloks soon, i'll report more how that helps things.
 
3K is what, 2500US??

With airshocks I can see that. Althoguh material pricing has increased considerably lately.

And if you add coilovers you will double the cost of shocks. Figure 2K US just for 4 corners of shocks. Air shocks, are closer to 1K for 4 (ish).

And if you cannot do it yourself it gets expensive, quick.

Sway bars run conservativly about $250-350 per end. Almost another K just in sway bars and mounting.

Costs add up quick for something that is not broken..
 
I think he said that he had some for $315 / set so for $630 for shocks alone is a heluva deal.

Swyalocks are $350 / each and they are basically ment to hook up with a J**p setup, so modifications can be made from the factory for a cruiser version. (and extra $50 thay say)

so you're right if he has the skillz, then the lesser the billz. With coilovers, however, he may not need sway bars as badly.

as for the materials prices, i just finished my build in May, and i can't imagine that prices have gone up THAT much, although with the price of gas lately. . .
 
ill bet that price is just for the body no springs and thats for 2.0s i dont think thats enough shock it does give you more options for spring rates though
 

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