That is somewhat correct, you want the valving set up for what you are using your jeep for. High speed off road will be valved different then rock crawling and that will be different from a pavement princess. Coils should be neutral and hold the vehicle up to a certain height. Knowing the un sprung weight of the rigs corners as well as the coil spring rates and the amount of up and down travel in the system will allow you to fine tune the valving to the suspension.

 

Different coils, which hold a Jeep at the same height, would still be somewhat different, and may require different shock valving. Fixed rate coil vs progressive coil, for instance.
Very few people check the un-sprung weight or know how to valve the shocks accordingly, but manage to end up with suitable shocks.

Until we see active or semi-active suspensions with magnetic shocks on our Jeeps, the shocks we use have constant resistance along the up or down travel, so the amount of travel doesn't matter.

Sure, people have personal preferences, and soft valving for roads wouldn't be suitable for fast trail driving.
A 4-dr which is usually loaded for offroading, would require different valving than a lightly loaded 2-dr.

 

Rigs that have limited up travel may want to valve different then a shock that is set up at 1/2 at ride height. Stiffer compression to help minimize bottoming out, so yes the amount of up and down travel can apply to valving.

A progressive coil with the same main coil rate as a linear coil would be valved the same for what you are doing with it, as that is what you would be running on at ride height. The secondary rate of the progressive is a non factor until the suspension is drooped.

 

This video will help you understand.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8dE_tFFvjfU

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Damn glad those are on my rig!

 

I got hiem and Johnny joints no stock bushing

 

....understand what?..

 

There's a lot more to say about shocks. I didn't mention, for instance, separate valving for the up or down travel.
Very few of us have esoteric suspensions or limited up-travel, so I talked about shocks for regular lifts, like the vast majority here have.

The Metal Cloak coils are not progressive, but 'Two Step Linear' or 'Knee-Progressive'.
That's why MC call them 'Dual-Rate coils (in this specific case, the softer part of the coil is normally fully compressed).
Both the harder part, on which most of the driving is done, and the softer part, are linear springs.

As the shock is valved to suit the harder part, it is valved relatively hard for the soft part of the coil. That's a good thing: When a wheel travels far down, that corner of the Jeep rests on a soft spring. The shock, which is relatively hard for the soft spring, prevents up~down swinging of that corner of the Jeep.

In true progressive coils, the spring rate changes from loop to loop.
The spring rate that the shock 'sees' when it moves up above the rest level, is increasingly higher.
When it moves down below the rest level, the spring rate it 'sees' becomes increasingly lower.
The optimal shock valving in this case may be different for the up or down movements.
Re-valveable shocks typically allow separate valving for the up or down movement.

 

Flexing the 2.5 on the trail last weekend.

 

So much flex from 2.5 ?! ...I don't believe the picture...