I think my front shocks are topping out

.5” of downtravel?! It sure feels like it at times.

So if I understand this correctly, an extended travel shocks and aftermarket UCAs would correct the lack of down travel?

 

Don't jump to any conclusions until you measure your down travel, but anyway longer shocks can help as well as lowering the amount of lift (e.g. reducing preload).

I'm still skeptical your "thud" sound is caused by the shocks topping out. It could be causing a harsh ride though. I associate thuds with compression of the suspension, not extension.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huMztKaHsUE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InQnp42pfts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_68Hc8GtLko

 

I’m 99% sure that the “thud” is my shocks topping out. For example, when going over a speed bump a bit too fast, I can feel the “thud” before my suspension begins to compress. The “thud” happens as soon as suspension extends. So yeah, pretty sure it’s not bottoming out.

 

I'm not following you, when driving over a speed bump, your suspension will first compress (shock gets shorter) and then extend afterwards (shock gets longer). Vice versa when driving over a pot hole.

 

Yes sorry, it compresses a bit at first and then on the “upward” stroke it “thuds”, then it compresses again.

When going over deep potholes, it’s an instant “thud”.

 

For what it's worth, I have king extended travel shocks and my hub to fender measurements are:

Ride Height:
FL 22.25
FR: 22.5

Full Droop:
FL: 25.5
FR: 25.5

So I have about 3" of down travel. I think that is about the minimum that Accutune recommends. I've not measured up travel, but I suspect it is 5-7" based on shock compressed length and IFS motion ratio.

https://accutuneoffroad.com/oem-front-coilover-shock-setup/

I hear thuds when I hit stuff big enough, but I've never suspected it was the shocks topping out. I think I would need to catch some air to be convinced one way or the other.

 

Extended shocks would give you about 5/8” more of down travel. Not a great solution but an option, adjustables would let you dial it in but I’d measure your current downtravel at ride height and go from there.

 

5/8" is decent guess, but I've never seen the stock shock's extended and collapsed lengths and "extended" is not an industry standard. I think you need to look at the specs of each specific shock. Tinkerer's Adventure talks about this in one of his videos. In particular, he discovered that some shocks not advertised as "extended" were actually longer than shocks with the "extended" label.

For example, if you look at the data on the Accutune page I linked you can compare the fox and king regular and extended length shocks.

Fox 2.5 Coilover 0-2″ FOX-880-02-376 17.59 22.13
Fox 2.5 Coilover 0-3″ FOX-880-02-418 17.59 22.55 21

King 2.5 Coilovers 0-2″ KRS-25001-119 17.308 22.375
King 2.5 Coilovers 0-3″ KRS-25001-119-EXT 17.3 22.6

The fox shocks differ by 22.55 - 22.13 = 0.42 x 2 = 0.84" in travel.
The king shocks differ by 22.6 - 22.375 = 0.225 x 2 = 0.45" in travel.

I would like to see the specs for the various stock shocks. One of these days perhaps I will disassemble my take-off coilovers and measure the shocks.

 

here.. it was 650 per the OP

 

Mine also has some weird clunk I can’t figure out. I can assure you it’s not down travel on mine.

Does the clunk happen on both sides? On mine it’s only one side.

You said you live in a condo. Do you have a floor jack? If not do you have 50 bucks to waste on one? As a few others said jacking up the truck will 100% tell you how much uptravel you have and will take five minutes.

Your springs are fine as well. I don’t know why people are saying they aren’t. A lot of bad info so far in this thread too.

 

@Bertw192

Go back and read a few pages. Not only was the suggested more than once, it will immediately tell him if this is the issue or not.

 

Jacking the truck up will give you down travel, not uptravel.

 

If your shock is full topped out and you jack up the truck you aren’t going to see any difference if you measure tire to wheel well. If you do the same and measure tire to wheel well and get say an inch you have an inch of uptravel.

 

no that means you have 1" of down travel from normal ride height


he can always use the jack that came with the truck to change out a flat tire..

 

@Junkhead Till the wheels fall off Brother!!! I have clunks and squeaks LOL!!!! Enjoy your rig don’t sweat the small stuff

 

It’s not a “clunk”, it’s not metal on metal sound. It’s definitely like a “thud” and you can feel it a bit.

I think I know exactly what’s happening here. Like some previously stated and from you tube videos on Toyota IFS, there is not much travel with stock geometry, not even 4” up/down. More like 3.5” up/down on a good day.

So I lifted my truck 2” without changing stock IFS geometry. I’ve gained 2” of uptravel but lost 2” of downtravel, leaving me with maybe 1.5” of downtravel MAX.

So seems like this OME lift kit was designed that way, if my shocks did not limit downtravel, then I would start binding my UCAs and CV axles. Yes, the “thud” is a bit harsh at times. This makes perfect sense to me. @JoeCOVA what do you think? Am I understanding this correctly?

But yes, I should invest in a floor Jack. Bottle jack also can be used of course, just takes longer.

Im going to jack up the front of my truck on weekend and report back with measurements.

 

Yeah pretty much same way of thinking over here haha. Been like this for about
A year and all good so far.

 

I agree.

 

My bad, it is 717 stock and 590 OME 2887 springs.

 

@Stocklocker, what are your thoughts on this?

I think now I know why you did only about 1.5” in the front.