measuring for shocks

[jlaird]

How do you measure for shocks on a bagged truck? Is it as simple as measuring your total suspension travel and getting the appropriate shock that will work within those specs?

Then when you install the shock, do you want the shock to go to its limit before the bag can fully inflate (acting like a limiter for the bag).

And I'm guessing you want the bag to fully deflate before the shock bottoms out?

I need some schoolin here!

josh

[PBFAB.COM]

Sounds to me like you know it already!

[BigShoe24]

Thnaks for the how to josh. That sound help me in mounting my shocks.

[jlaird]

Thanks, I must of learned that by osmosis from being on these boards...

[bagged69c10]

Does anybody have any suggestions on some shocks that have the most amount of travel?

[thekid54]

I don't have the part# with me, but I'm going to use some Monroes that have about 8" of travel. They were easy to find and were only $40 for the pair. Not sure how much travel you're looking for, but those worked for me. Monroe has really useful tech sheets in pdf form on their website that have the min/max heights and mounting type of all their shocks. Once you know what type of mounts you have top and bottom you can go through the tech sheets and look for some that have the min/max you're looking for.

[jlaird]

Ok, I just took some measurements on my truck. I can't seem to find anything in the Monroe tech sheets. Maybe I'm doing something wrong. My ideal shock lenght from eyelet to eyelet would be 13". Then I need compressed height to be 9.5" or slightly less and I need the extended height to be 18.5" at most.

Does this sound right? I could go with a longer shock, like 14", then compressed height would need to be about 10.5 and extended 19.5"

any suggestions?

[talonted1990]

Originally Posted by jlaird

Ok, I just took some measurements on my truck. I can't seem to find anything in the Monroe tech sheets. Maybe I'm doing something wrong. My ideal shock lenght from eyelet to eyelet would be 13". Then I need compressed height to be 9.5" or slightly less and I need the extended height to be 18.5" at most.

Does this sound right? I could go with a longer shock, like 14", then compressed height would need to be about 10.5 and extended 19.5"

any suggestions?

We used to run shocks from a 60 something VW bettle on the trucks we bagged. They compress and extend pretty far not sure exactly how much and they dont cost that much.

[thekid54]

Originally Posted by jlaird

Ok, I just took some measurements on my truck. I can't seem to find anything in the Monroe tech sheets. Maybe I'm doing something wrong. My ideal shock lenght from eyelet to eyelet would be 13". Then I need compressed height to be 9.5" or slightly less and I need the extended height to be 18.5" at most.

Does this sound right? I could go with a longer shock, like 14", then compressed height would need to be about 10.5 and extended 19.5"

any suggestions?

What type of mounts were you looking for, L1 I presume? Have you made your shock mouts yet, or can you fab them to fit a shock that gives you ample drop and lift?

If you do happen to find something that might work, double check the compressed and extended heights before you buy. The shock I had picked out for my rear was perfect. Plenty of drop and plenty of lift. Turns out the specs listed were way off! It was supposed to be 12" compressed and 19" extended, but it was really 14" compressed and 23" extended. Needless to say I was a bit stunned when the fram wouldn't go all the way down to the ground when I dumped my rear bags!

[jlaird]

I am building my own shock mounts. I ended up getting Doetsch tech shocks. I've always heard nothing but good things about them and they aren't super expensive. I got part #M4095G. 18.25" extended, 11.35" compressed.

[jlaird]

Ok, something just occured to me, but I'm not sure it is a big deal. I'm running a panhard bar so there is a bit of movement side to side of the axle from full dump to full extension. I havent measured how much yet, but it's probably like half an inch, maybe a little more. Anyway, I'm wondering about the lower shock mounts. I was going to fab just some regular mounts (I'm not sure what they are called) but now i'm wondering if I should use the stud style lower mount because of the side to side movement. A picture is probably in order here, but maybe some of you guys will understand what I'm talking about.

[Rollie396]

I'm not too sure of your setup,but mine is a c notch with bags in spring location,and panhard mounted in stock location on frame and rh trailing arm.My side to side travel is no more than 5/16".I'm using stock shock mounts and there doesn't seem to be any issues as it travels through it's range.