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- #41
I guess it really doesn't since the shocks are mounted to the frame, not the body....
No, I don't have any specs. Mike and the Glenn at Radflo are designing the new shock.
Radflo's & OME 866's
- Thread starter SanDiegoCruiser
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I guess it really doesn't since the shocks are mounted to the frame, not the body....
No, I don't have any specs. Mike and the Glenn at Radflo are designing the new shock.
I have had Slee's Medium springs and the Radflo's (I can check on pn's) on for about 6 months with ZERO problems. Granted, I haven't taken it to Moab, but around here and in the mountains, it's been a great combo. Slee put everything on for me. Just my .02...
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- #43
Coguy said:
Cycle your rear suspension and you may see what the issue is. I drove around for a couple of months before I noticed the issue.
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^ I'd bet Slee's guys cycled the suspension so they knew where absolute bottom out was to be certain the shock nor the spring was taking the compression hit...critical.
Outside of a few quality shops like Christo's you can't assume they're going to cycle the suspension apart of spring and/or shock installations. FWIW I paid a local high end custom 4x4 fab shop to set my rear suspension up. Only to realize, when I ripped a custom upper shock mount off during a Death Valley explore with my buddies no less, he missed the compression mark by over 1"; the shock and the shock mounts were taking the hits not the compression bump stops! Long story short: I cycled the suspension and fabbed new upper rear shock mounts myself...so don't feel bad SDC! The worst part: The local shop kept all my $$$. But the Radflo shocks proved tough enough to survive all that!
Outside of a few quality shops like Christo's you can't assume they're going to cycle the suspension apart of spring and/or shock installations. FWIW I paid a local high end custom 4x4 fab shop to set my rear suspension up. Only to realize, when I ripped a custom upper shock mount off during a Death Valley explore with my buddies no less, he missed the compression mark by over 1"; the shock and the shock mounts were taking the hits not the compression bump stops! Long story short: I cycled the suspension and fabbed new upper rear shock mounts myself...so don't feel bad SDC! The worst part: The local shop kept all my $$$. But the Radflo shocks proved tough enough to survive all that!
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What would the shop cycling it figure out? That the shocks were not the right length? Or how to setup bumpstops to match with new spring and shock setup? I saw SD Cruisers issues in DV, it seemed like the springs were outmatched by the weight he was hauling around....but the shaft that was exposed on shock looked really short, like 3inches showing at ride height. Like the shock body was too long. I'm no expert, but more shaft would have been showing had the truck been sitting up on taller springs, right?
You need to know, absolutely, if the suspension bottoms out before or after full shock compression. Ditto for the coil spring as you do not want coil bind at max compression lest you risk breaking a coil or worse transferring that stress to the other suspension components including shock mounts. BTW: With the lower OEM shock mounts being singe sheer style mounts it wouldn't take much of a compression bottom out to snap them off. The upper mounts can be damaged too if the shock is longer than the bump stopped compression distance.
How to cycle the suspension (rear in this example):
Jack the and support the rear of the rig so the tires are suspended off the ground.
Remove the shocks.
Remove the coil springs.
Remove compression bump stops.
With a jack placed under the shock mount or other outboard location raise either the driver's side or passenger side until, with the other in a drooped state, so the distance between the upper and lower shock mounts is equal to the compressed length of the shock.
Measure the distance between the axle and the frame at the bump stop location. This is the measure the bump stop must not compress beyond. Its a good idea to have 1/2" comfort space. In other words you will have 1/2" of shock travel, on the compression stroke, that doesn't get used.
Apart of configuring the bump stop you need to know what the maximum compressed thickness is for the given bump stop. This takes a little more work with rubber/urethane but you might be able to get this from the mfg (Timbren, etc.) or compress the bump stop in a hydraulic press to get same. This assumes you have an OEM/Timbren type rubber bump stop.
Then repeat for the other side.
I also like to compress both DS and PS together and take a look at bump stop distance too.
This is also a good time to check for tire rub, or other possible suspension binding, with: DS drooped/PS compressed; PS drooped/DS compressed; DS & PS compressed; DS & PS drooped.
How to cycle the suspension (rear in this example):
Jack the and support the rear of the rig so the tires are suspended off the ground.
Remove the shocks.
Remove the coil springs.
Remove compression bump stops.
With a jack placed under the shock mount or other outboard location raise either the driver's side or passenger side until, with the other in a drooped state, so the distance between the upper and lower shock mounts is equal to the compressed length of the shock.
Measure the distance between the axle and the frame at the bump stop location. This is the measure the bump stop must not compress beyond. Its a good idea to have 1/2" comfort space. In other words you will have 1/2" of shock travel, on the compression stroke, that doesn't get used.
Apart of configuring the bump stop you need to know what the maximum compressed thickness is for the given bump stop. This takes a little more work with rubber/urethane but you might be able to get this from the mfg (Timbren, etc.) or compress the bump stop in a hydraulic press to get same. This assumes you have an OEM/Timbren type rubber bump stop.
Then repeat for the other side.
I also like to compress both DS and PS together and take a look at bump stop distance too.
This is also a good time to check for tire rub, or other possible suspension binding, with: DS drooped/PS compressed; PS drooped/DS compressed; DS & PS compressed; DS & PS drooped.
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- Thread starter
- #47
bluecruiser said:
Taller springs will help (I am now running Slee's springs), but it still will not prevent the shock bottoming out before the bump stops on a big hit unless the bump stops are extended. If you look at how Slee designed his shocks, he does not require bump stop extension when coupled with his springs.
Just for the record, we do this when we design our own shocks, however we are not a Radflo dealer, so all the Radflo systems we installed were customer supplied. So we can guarantee our installation as far as the work goes, but the fitment is up to the customer when they supply the parts.
Doing all the work for cycling suspension is obviously not done on every suspension install, unless we do a custom setup or the customer request it on customer supplied parts, or we are doing the designing. Just wanted to to clarify on Dan's comments.
Normally a too short shock in terms of extension will be pretty evident on installation, but a too long shock on compression will not be that evident. Unfortunately the 100 does not have a lot of space for a rear shock. Couple that with these type of shocks with tall end caps and longer components than a regular welded together tube shocks you end up with a relatively short stroke shock for the given compression dimensions. That results in not a lot of droop. So if the emphasis on the shock design was on droop, it will likely end up too long on the compressed side.
The spring that you run will change the starting point on the shock cycle and also determine how easy it is to reach the bump stop compression, but the shock still has to fit in the physical space at full compression, unless the shock is designed to function as a bump stop.
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Thanks for the clarification Christo. That makes sense given the sheer amount of time it takes to cycle a suspension and the relative few that would want to pay for same.
To others...as I've learned: When we deviate from stock the slope can get very slippery and assumptions better be thrown to the wind. In this case, based upon what I've seen on just a few 100's, the rear suspension compression bump stops go from nothing to ~ 2" rubber. Not defending Metal Tech, Raflo, et al but its impossible to design a, in this example, retrofit longer than stock travel shock without knowing the height of the bump stop(s). I suggest, if they don't already state this on the packaging, what height (and type) bump stop their shocks are designed around given stock shock locations. This still doesn't, IMHO, eliminate the need to cycle the suspension to guarantee proper fitment but at least it is a good place to start...
My 2 cents and maybe all its worth.
To others...as I've learned: When we deviate from stock the slope can get very slippery and assumptions better be thrown to the wind. In this case, based upon what I've seen on just a few 100's, the rear suspension compression bump stops go from nothing to ~ 2" rubber. Not defending Metal Tech, Raflo, et al but its impossible to design a, in this example, retrofit longer than stock travel shock without knowing the height of the bump stop(s). I suggest, if they don't already state this on the packaging, what height (and type) bump stop their shocks are designed around given stock shock locations. This still doesn't, IMHO, eliminate the need to cycle the suspension to guarantee proper fitment but at least it is a good place to start...
My 2 cents and maybe all its worth.
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The Radflo shocks were designed to OME shock specs in terms of travel but as Christo pointed out these type of shocks take more material to assemble them thus the overall size of the shock is larger than a standard welded wall one.
Not to 
but if they're sized similar to "L" shocks then increased compression bump height would be required. This is probably the one thread that'll get ol' Shotts fired up 
but if they're sized similar to "L" shocks then increased compression bump height would be required. This is probably the one thread that'll get ol' Shotts fired up
I don't think so... I think they matched the OME specs for the regular 2in lift shocks. Same lengths, etc. just a different shock...I had to ask for different lengths for front and back.
No, they are designed for a standard 2" lift. If you wanted the L specs then that is something custom made.
LT, there was a different spec for the after market upper arms, right? IIrC, to match the TotalChaos or JT uppers extended droop....(front shocks)
Yes, there is a longer shock made for after market upper control arms. Both the total chaos and j.t. ones will work with radflo
Hey, just wondering if any one had tried the radflo hydraulic bump stops?
http://www.radflo.com/hydraulic.htm
http://www.radflo.com/hydraulic.htm
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- #58
The new shocks have been installed. They have over an inch more shaft exposed and appear to fit well. I would like thank Mike at Radflo for taking care of my issue!
What was the design change? Did MT make the body shorter?
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- #60
Radflo made the body slightly shorter and also used a lower profile bottom mounting point to allow more shaft to be exposed.