Why is my ride so damn rough?

Awesome thanks! I was wondering what 5125s I would need if I were to run dakars with the shocks relocated just like yours. Is your crossmember for the top shock location in the same spot as the stock just higher up?

 

The crossmember is actually a little further back than the stock upper mount location, but with the top mounts sticking forward off the crossmember it's probably pretty close to where the rear shock was originally mounted, just higher up like you're thinking. The mounts probably could have been mounted an inch higher than they are, but we located them with the bed off and underestimated how high the floor of the bed was above the frame rails at that location. If I had it to do over again, I probably would have turned the mounts 180* (so that the angle was down instead of up like they are in the picture) and rotated them toward the top of the crossmember so they sat about an inch higher than they are. I probably could have comfortably gotten a set of 11" travel 5125s in there with that and had a little more cushion at full droop to ensure I wasn't bottoming out the shock while still having plenty of cushion at the top like I do now.

Best thing to do though, rather than just going by where mine came out is to get your springs installed with the bump stops, have your cross member and mounts welded in, the measure the travel between the mounts compressed and at full droop. I described how to do this in the post you quoted. Your mounts may not fall out where mine did with my axle being relocated 1" aft and some of the measurements were close. Once you know the measurements though you can look up the 5125 spec sheet and find the shock that fits the compressed dimension with the same valving as the part number specified for the stock mount locations and that should give you the part number for the ones you need. As I said above, if you do it right, you can get 11"s in there, which is slightly more than you strictly need, but would be more than enough travel to prevent bottoming or topping.

 

For sure, bed cutters are usually pre-runners with a 4-link or something, or just people who want to put overly huge shocks on. Most people don't need to cut their beds.

Back in the day, I was running a custom (like red neck "custom") set of nissan/toyota leafs on my 86 4Runner, essentially a chevy 63" type setup with my shocks in the / \ pattern. IIRC, I was getting something like 20" of wheel travel back there, no cutting whatsoever.

For my 04' Taco, I plan something like long travel Kings with uniball UCAs, and possibly chevy 63's or custom deavers in the back. Considering the BAMF shock relocation brace and shackle flip. I plan to mostly set the thing up mostly as an overlander/weekend warrior type rig.

 

90%+ of people who go sua cut the bed for 16" shocks. Those kings would be extended travel with 1" or so more travel. Long travel uses 8" coilovers with custom uca / lca setup. Small difference in terminology but a huge difference in cost lol

 

okay, I guess I should have said "extended travel" Kings... I'm fully aware that in some circles "long travel" means $5-10k in custom fabrication and all that.

BTW, what's "sua"?

 

Spring under axle

 

A lot of good info here
Going to be overhauling the rear of my truck this summer as well. So I already know who to ask for advice

 

this...

 

We've already established this is the reason. Now we're waiting for the OP to get the parts @bullaculla so generously sent to him so he can have his buddy fab up the new mounts.

 

In which circles does long travel not mean that? I gotta get into one of those lol j/k

 

The people who have stock front suspension where anything more than 6" of travel is considered "long"... Or so my wife says...

 

Hey it's all about how well the suspension performs, not necessarily just travel numbers. Some may argue that things are best setup the way they come from the factory, not after expensive modifications.

 

That's why I'm a fan of minor modifications, not total overhauls that necessitate scavenging parts, limiting straps, etc... No need to go under the knife and replace the entire undercarriage when all you really need is to keep it mostly factory, but with perhaps some performance gains where it matters most. Like preventing fade and overheating.

We're still talking about trucks, right?

 

That's fine for some people. But I'm gonna have to disagree

 

So much for my subtle innuendo. Some prefer a bone stock setup and others like to go under the knife, but in the end it's all about how you feel about your, ahem, truck.

 

I caught it after I posted. I'm under the truck now, so that's all I'm thinking about

 

Jelly. I can't wait - five more weeks and I'll have some free time to get nice and dirty. It feels like a long time, but it'll be so worth it.

 

@bullaculla come to think of it, my 17th birthday was last Friday, you pretty much got me a birthday present haha!

 

Perfect!