Why is my ride so damn rough?

Hey! I just remembered! I got an extra set of shock mounts too.
These should help get the top of the shocks closer to the bed.
Should I toss them in the box too?

Looks better than what's on there now.

 

I would say yes!!

 

Done.

 

He's still gonna have to re use the lower mounts tho. Cut them off and weld them back on straight to get the shocks vertical, looking at it from the rear.

 

Yeah I have a buddy that works in a fab shop, but I'm doing but with my friend who's has a whole shop at his house, that way I don't have to drive an hour to the fab shop

 

Thanks man! Very appreciated!! And will do!

 

Yeah both of them are experienced, the one that live by me just graduated fab school, working on trophy trucks rzr's, and the other one is the head welder at a race shop, so either way I'm good, it's just the one who works at the fab shop is super busy

 

If you don't mind I'd be glad to take them!

 

I grew up in Sonora... Born and raised. I live in Sacto now.

 

I don't think he'll be able to get them completely vertical. 10 inch shocks straight up and down under the bed might be a challenge. Then again, I don't have the measurements and what not. We'll just have to see I guess

 

Not completely vertical, but more vertical looking at it from the rear. Looking at it from the side should still be angled. Either way, he's still gonna have to cut off the lowers. But at least he won't have to spend as much money on parts, or time fabricating brackets.

 

Oh I see what you mean, perpendicular to the axle, not straight up and down, gotcha.

 

I don't know much about 1st gens or his shocks, but that's what I would do if it were my truck

 

This is what makes this forum so great! Strangers (or not..) helping each other and not looking for anything in return. Class act guys!!! Glad I'm a member of this....

 

You can orient the shocks in a / \ (seen from back) pattern too, it's a way to get more wheel travel out of the same travel shock. However, there are disadvantages:

>the geometry and valving is more finicky to get right
>your road handling can suffer
>the shocks can end up moving in 3 dimensions, rather than just up and down, so the typical rubber bushings on shocks might end up binding a bit
>you also end up having issues with axle wrap unless you do a track bar or something.

Just depends on what you want to do with it, and if you're willing to cut up your bed. For a stock "look" (not bed cutting) and maximum travel for crawling, you might go the / \ route. If you want to go Ivan Stewart fast, cut that bed up and run them vertical with a track bar.

 

Haha, I was gonna say, I have 10" travel Billies mounted straight up and down laterally and angled toward the rear of the truck. I could probably squeeze a set of 11"s in there if I really wanted to, but I like having a little cushion to prevent the shocks topping out when the rubber bumps deflect on a hard hit. And really, 11"s probably wouldn't do much for me. Going by the measurements, I should still have about an 1/8" of travel left in the 10"s at full droop, although, I suspect the shocks would bottom out if the suspension unloaded hard. Don't do jumping and crap though so I don't think that will be much of a concern.

Honestly, you would really only need to worry about cutting the bed or angling the shocks inboard if you had a linked setup or maybe a 63" Chevy spring swap. I'm running OME Dakars and 10" travel Billies (mounted like I have them) have slightly more travel in them than the springs do. Putting a 14" shock on a setup like that would just be a waste.

 

Happy to help! Plus I'm getting rid of extra parts left over from my SAS

 

Curious to the specs on the pic you sent. Dakars w/ AAL? What brand shocks and length?

 

I'm running standard Dakars, no extra leaf or anything, with 10" travel Bilstein 5125 shocks (same valving as the direct factory replacement 5125s) in a custom mounting location. I'm also running Ruff Stuff anti-wrap perches with Ruff Stuff top plates with the factory bumps tacked to them. The axle is relocated ~1" aft to center the wheels in the wheel wells (the Dakars offset the axle toward the front of the wheel well, probably to keep the slip yoke in the stock range of travel, but that's just a guess on my part). Oh, and I dropped my strike plates for the bumps about an inch, although I think I have enough space that I could remove the 3/8" aluminum strike pads from the configuration, but it works okay as is.

The setup works really well. It can handle 30 mph down sandy two-track trails and 45-50 down washboard limerock roads without dancing around a lot in the rear. IMHO, this setup is superior to the stock setup as far as soaking up rough terrain.