Squeaky Penguin's (Trip Reports) Build Thread

Just makes any shock 1" shorter. The standard rod ends that screw on make the lower mounting point that much longer.


Then adding a screw over top hat makes it even shorter.

 

But shorter shock components can net being able to get more usable travel in, no?

 

Not really, it'll only change where your lower mounts are located. I think if you did both the welded rod end and OTC your lower mounts would be similar in location to mine. Brett doesn't seem to have much of a problem hitting his lowers but I know wheeling out east everything seems to grab your axle if you're not paying attention.

 

But that is if you set your lower mounts based on your shocks, vs setting your mounts and then ordering shocks that fit the space you set, correct? Because you are setting your mounts based on what travel the leafs are capable of, either way. So let's say you have 20" max length mount to mount, if you lose 2" to the screwed rod end/upper mount you now only have 18" of usable shock left, right? (these numbers are just for example")

 

The problem with that is you can't always get shocks to fit the space you want.

 

Truth. I saw you used the TG kit and the crossmembers they provided when you boxed your frame. I assume they send them slightly longer than the width of the frame since you were able to get it partially over the frame? I priced out 10.6' of 1.75" DOM and a 4x4 piece of 3/16 and it's the same price as their kit, so trying to decide if it's worth just going with their kit and not needing to plasma out the plates, or going the raw material route and end up with some extra metal for gussets and what not.

 

Your shock travel still remains the same regardless of which ends you choose. That 2" you took off is really only moving your lower mount up two inches on your axle. A normal 10" shock is really too long to mount under the bed because the lower mounts would be very low.

When I did mine I knew from others that I wasn't going to cylce more than 10" with stock spring mounts and shackle. So I didn't bother breaking down the spring pack. It would have voided my new springs warranty also. I think based on that, most of this process can be simplified.

Upper mounts as high as possible.

Let axle hang at full droop, subtract 3/4"-1" of your extended shock travel. Take that number and hang your tape measure from the center of the upper mount. Now grab your lower mount and tack it on to where the center of the hole lines up with your extended measurement. You're now setup to allow the most droop possible and then some for when you decide to make poor choices and huck that shit without needing straps.

To set my bumps I measured what was exposed of the shaft. Then measured from the strike plate to the shoulder of the superbumps (wherever your bump bottoms at). Then subtracted the two and you now know how much to lengthen your bump stop bracket. Now I'm using all of the uptravel I can and my shocks should be protected from bottoming and topping out.

The only thing that hasn't been accounted for is how far your spring will go negative. That can be easily adjust by your bump if you find it's too far.

There could be errors in my reasoning but it's worked well for me.

The tg tube is about 2" short to reach the outside of the frame. I think there kit is meant to be welded inside the frame on the plates that were just boxed in. You can see here the one that the shocks mount to wasn't cut.


20180413_172056 by Ryan Heintzelman - Flickr2BBcode

 

FWIW, with my 1” BL, I’m planning on sourcing raw stock DOM so that I can use it to run on top of and about 1/2” past the outside of the frame. I want to draw up some triangular shaped plates for either side of the frame that will let the tubing slide thru it. Then I’ll lay everything out over the frame with the plates outside of the frame boxing and stiffener plates and tack them in place so that I can final weld them on the bench. At that point, it’s just burning the overlapping parts of the plates onto either side of the frame at the appropriate distance back from the axle. That’s about as far up as you can get the upper mounts short of cutting the bed, which would be silly for a leaf pack at the stock mounting points with stock length shackles.

I know it’s overkill, but I’m all about that and I only want to deal with it once.

 

Pretty sure the tubing that came with the TG kit was .120 wall HREW. Doesn't hurt to overbuild it, but I've been beating on mine pretty good with zero issues.

 

No. You can always move the mounts to use the travel of the shock. But you can't always fit a bigger shock into a small space.

A 10'' shock is still 10'' of travel not mater how big the shock is in terms of size. If its collapsed length is 15.5 like ADS vs 17.5 like King. The extended is 25.5 and 27.5 respectively. But you'll be able to fit the ADS under the bed a hell of a lot easier as its 2'' shorter over all.

But they both still pull 10''.

 

Okay good to know. I was hoping to get some billy 5125's in when I relocate to hold me over till I can save up for some ADS shocks, but it seems I really should have the shocks in hand to test.

 

I didn't have mine in hand. I just used the specs I found online and measured. I did run one trip using the BOSS shocks I had so you might be able to reuse what you currently have depending on how long you want to wait. Your down travel will be limited though.

 

That shop has me

Looks good, Brett!

 

I think it looks like a lot of work.

 

We fixed the power issue. He has now gone green. California compliant



One Brett power!

 

That's gonna suck bad.
LS swap instead

 

I am trying to talk him into a turbo kit since he has the motor out.

 

Great opportunity to wash it...............

 

Brett or the truck?