Long Travel Shocks?
Thread Starter
JK Enthusiast
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 140
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From: Durham , NC
Long Travel Shocks?
Have a question about long travel Shocks. If you have a 4.5 inch lift or a 4 inch lift, do you order shocks for a 5inch lift.
Pros and cons... Would not the longer shock give you better travel verses a shorter shock
Basically what i am trying to say is what is a long travel shock?
what would be a could shock to put on a 4inch or 4.5 inch lift...
Pros and cons... Would not the longer shock give you better travel verses a shorter shock
Basically what i am trying to say is what is a long travel shock?
what would be a could shock to put on a 4inch or 4.5 inch lift...
JK Freak
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 598
Likes: 0
From: Roswell, GA
Long travel shocks allow you to get more travel out of your suspension system. In most applications, shocks are the limiting factor in travel. In order to recieve the benefits of long travel shocks you also need things such as longer brake lines, limiting straps, bump stops set accordingly, spring retainers, and longer sway-bar links in the rear (since they arnt disconnected offroad). I believe that the currie kit is around 4-5" and can use up to 11" travel shocks.
JK Super Freak
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 1,623
Likes: 5
From: Lawrenceville, NJ
The quick answer, no...the well thought out caveated answer...maybe.
You see, the shock not only has the goodness of full extension to a longer length...but will also need to compress to what ever the minimum distance you'll get between the shock mounts when you're fully stuffed/full compression.
Example: I have a Set of Bilstein 7100's with 12" travel...17" - 29" compressed/extended.
They get short enough to fit when compressed, and get long enough to allow me to get as much droop as my drive train will allow (This is all on another rig....so don't use my numbers for the JK unless by coincidence they work...).
I could have used a 14" travel version, and gone from around 19" - 33"...but, under full stuffage, the shock would be compressed to 18"...possibly damaging it, etc.
SO - The WAY to figure out what will work, that I use all the time for shock selection...is to first, disco the lower shock mount, so the shock I have hangs, extended, and then jack the truck up, and see how far it goes....if it goes up enough so that the hanging shock eye is dangling above the lower shock eye' s mount....well, that distance above the eye mount is about how much longer a shock to get, plus a fudge factor to cover hard extensions, etc. (Measure center of eye to center of eye to get a shock's length)
Next, lower it back down, and compress the suspension ...driving the corner in question onto a rock, lifting a tire with a fork lift/strong 5 yr old kid, or what have you, whatever makes sense to see it as stuffed as may ever get...on the bumpstops is a good sign you're there.
Measure the distance between the shock mounts again...that's the compressed length the shock has to fit BETWEEN, minus another inch or so fudge factor for hard landings, etc.
So, after doing all that...you KNOW how long, and how short, your shock has to be to fit/do the job.
Hold that thought.
OK - Now consider if your SL will prevent you from landing on your bump stops.
OK, will it?
Probably not...it WILL make it a longer trip for the axle to GET to a bumpstop, but, on full stuffage, it can typically get there.
So - the compressed length of your new shock will be limited by how close to full stuffage you MIGHT get.
If you have larger tires...they might eat your fenders before full stuffage can occur, and you might have installed bumpstop extensions to prevent the axle from coming up to the stop, etc...
If so - you need the new full stuffage (shmooshed on the bumpstop extensions...) length for your compressed shock length.
OK - Make sense?
You see, the shock not only has the goodness of full extension to a longer length...but will also need to compress to what ever the minimum distance you'll get between the shock mounts when you're fully stuffed/full compression.
Example: I have a Set of Bilstein 7100's with 12" travel...17" - 29" compressed/extended.
They get short enough to fit when compressed, and get long enough to allow me to get as much droop as my drive train will allow (This is all on another rig....so don't use my numbers for the JK unless by coincidence they work...).
I could have used a 14" travel version, and gone from around 19" - 33"...but, under full stuffage, the shock would be compressed to 18"...possibly damaging it, etc.
SO - The WAY to figure out what will work, that I use all the time for shock selection...is to first, disco the lower shock mount, so the shock I have hangs, extended, and then jack the truck up, and see how far it goes....if it goes up enough so that the hanging shock eye is dangling above the lower shock eye' s mount....well, that distance above the eye mount is about how much longer a shock to get, plus a fudge factor to cover hard extensions, etc. (Measure center of eye to center of eye to get a shock's length)
Next, lower it back down, and compress the suspension ...driving the corner in question onto a rock, lifting a tire with a fork lift/strong 5 yr old kid, or what have you, whatever makes sense to see it as stuffed as may ever get...on the bumpstops is a good sign you're there.
Measure the distance between the shock mounts again...that's the compressed length the shock has to fit BETWEEN, minus another inch or so fudge factor for hard landings, etc.
So, after doing all that...you KNOW how long, and how short, your shock has to be to fit/do the job.
Hold that thought.
OK - Now consider if your SL will prevent you from landing on your bump stops.
OK, will it?
Probably not...it WILL make it a longer trip for the axle to GET to a bumpstop, but, on full stuffage, it can typically get there.
So - the compressed length of your new shock will be limited by how close to full stuffage you MIGHT get.
If you have larger tires...they might eat your fenders before full stuffage can occur, and you might have installed bumpstop extensions to prevent the axle from coming up to the stop, etc...
If so - you need the new full stuffage (shmooshed on the bumpstop extensions...) length for your compressed shock length.
OK - Make sense?
JK Super Freak
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 1,623
Likes: 5
From: Lawrenceville, NJ
let me break it down quick and dirty for ya.
the ideal way to get the pefect length shock is to do the following:
Install lift, no shocks.
flex lift untill front spring begins to unseat (if it will go that far), no more than 1-3" any more than that can cause an unstable situation.
measure the side that has droop. that's your "extended" length that you want.
measure the side that's stuffed. that's your "compressed" length.
you want to find a shock that has the compressed length, and then as close as you can to the extended length as possible. you want to make sure that you will not bottom the shock out into itself. it's not great for the shock to act as the limiting strap, but most do (even your stock ones). it's better to have them act as the limiting strap than the bump stop.
good luck man!
the ideal way to get the pefect length shock is to do the following:
Install lift, no shocks.
flex lift untill front spring begins to unseat (if it will go that far), no more than 1-3" any more than that can cause an unstable situation.
measure the side that has droop. that's your "extended" length that you want.
measure the side that's stuffed. that's your "compressed" length.
you want to find a shock that has the compressed length, and then as close as you can to the extended length as possible. you want to make sure that you will not bottom the shock out into itself. it's not great for the shock to act as the limiting strap, but most do (even your stock ones). it's better to have them act as the limiting strap than the bump stop.
good luck man!
Echo?
BTW - What's more unstable 3" after a spring unseats that is stable as it unseats...the couple of pounds of resistance an about to unseat spring is providing is about the same as when its lost contact, etc...?
IE: If its unstable 3" later, isn't it just as unstable at 0"?
Also - Why unstable...I've had axles really far below the coils and there's not even that much difference between a coil untensioned and a coil barely tensioned anyway...are you taking about something else when you say "stable"?
I think "not going to roll over" when I think "stable", if it helps to know what I mean....
JK Super Freak
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 1,623
Likes: 5
From: Lawrenceville, NJ
If I understand your example, if the tire droops all the way to the ground, its worse than if it hangs, because if the jeep rolls to the drooped side, its less likely to roll if the drooped tire was airborne first?
So, it the axle droops on the left....and then the jeep rolls to the left, its more likely to roll if the tire was already on the ground on the drooped side?
You say its better if the drooped tire starts airborne, not on the ground, and the jeep then rolls onto the airborne tire, and then both roll to the ground, its less likely to flip?
And the reason its less likely to flip is because the coil on the drooped side is already in contact providing some support, as the jeep rolls onto that side?
Do I have your example and reason right?
So, it the axle droops on the left....and then the jeep rolls to the left, its more likely to roll if the tire was already on the ground on the drooped side?
You say its better if the drooped tire starts airborne, not on the ground, and the jeep then rolls onto the airborne tire, and then both roll to the ground, its less likely to flip?
And the reason its less likely to flip is because the coil on the drooped side is already in contact providing some support, as the jeep rolls onto that side?
Do I have your example and reason right?
