Rear shock relocation question

question to those of you running a shock relocation in the rear. Do you fellas with the 12's wish you got 14's? thinking about the king smoothies with arg kit but dont know which to run. I know with a SOA you wont get full travel out of the 14's but is it worth it to have, incase down the road you decide to go that route? From my understanding the lower shock mount for the 14's wouldnt sit that much lower then the stock shock mounts anyways.. What are the cons if I go that route (14's rather then 12's)?

 

Cons? Probably time and money

 

I just did my fox 2.5s 12 inch during spring break. I havent wheeled it yet, just some flex testing to set my bump stop height and check any tire rubbing. So when i was determining my shock height and axle tab height, i lowered the axle as far as it would go. I fabbed my shock hoops with 1.75 tubing. I have them crammed all the way up about 1/4 inch clearance from the bed all around. So my axle tabs do point down a bit but i couldnt imagine fitting 14s without pitching them way lower. When i was ready to puchase the shocks , I did go back and forth about 12s or 14s 2.0s 2.5s etc. So i just got the fox 2.5 12s with resi..i can say im glad i did or i would have mounted my axle tabs behind the axle i mounyed mine infront of the axle. My shocks are pitched a bit 20° i believe and about 10° inward..i have about 5" usable up travel, i added 1.5" wheel spacers my 295 70 17s would rubb before i was stuffing the tire. I will eventually get 35s and i will have to recheck tire clearance. So i gues it depends on which relocation kit is used or how you fab your own parts. My setup worked the way i planned it out and the 12s worked out for me.

 

Heres some pics, i welded guards on the lower shock tabs to hopefully protect my rod ends. Im not a pro at fab work, i just do as i go. lol.

 

I have 12” fox 2.0s and the Archive Trail series relocation kit. I went 12” because I didn’t want the axle tabs hanging down low with 14s and will never go SUA. I did 2.0 over 2.5 because all the wheeling around here is slow speed crawling not open desert stuff so I don’t need the extra cooling capacity of the 2.5s enough to justify the substantially higher cost.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...ion-trail-series-2-0-x-12-2nd-3rd-gen.709229/

 

nice fab work man. I like the resi mount underneath the bed. As much as me and my wallet would love to build my own mounts I dont have the skills nor equipment to do so. Im probably gonna roll with the arg kit, it tucks the shock up the highest I’ve seen from any other. Thanks for your input G.

 

Thanks, yeah the resi hose and resi was longer than i expected, thought it was gona be short like the dsc's were..oh well, so i tucked em under the bed, no adjusters anyway..lol.
Yeah ARG kit is nice i just like building stuff when i can, i saved maybe 200.00 total, but i had to actually work for it..

 

What's happening with the leaf springs? Two leafs and one overload?

 

I did the chevy 63 leaf spring swap..i wanted the 63s that was just 3 leafs no overload. I got stuck with the 2 leafs and overload..oh well i had no time to return and get the right ones. I will just run these and pick up another set as a spare i guess..so far they are doing the job super smooth ride and good flex..

 

on stock travel fronts I haven't maxed out the 12s i have out back yet on trails.
(63" leafs)
happy I mounted the axle tabs high so i never hit on those, but if i were to do it again I'd make a taller upper mount and run 14+s because it wont be much more work.
while using the BAMF relocation mounts was easy and quick, now that I'm not running the stock bed there's no limit to how much shock can fit

 

What leaf springs are you planning on running? Having installed 12" & 14" shocks on a SOA setup, the 14" isn't really worth it. We ended up shortening the stroke up about an inch to a 13" as the leafs wouldn't fully cycle the 14" and the extended length made the lower mounts way too low for our liking. a 14" shock is roughly 3" TLG longer than a 12".

 

Any recommendations? Im pretty set on getting 2.5x12’s now. 14’s just seem like a pain in the ass to utilize. Is it best to throw in some better hammer hangers and shackle bushings to achieve full travel with the 12’s? Or not necessary with the right leaf springs?

 

There are many good options out there. Icon RXTs, Deavers, Alcans all have good reviews. Dakars are the ones that seem to have the most issues with the shackle lockout but they are probably the cheapest option.

Hangers and bushings are a great upgrade in regards to ride quality. You just have to be really careful about the shackle going inverted and locking out which is another reason the 14" shocks aren't ideal.

 

Yep I think I’m gonna roll with the rxts. Cheaper then deavers and more adjustability. What r u runnin?

 

Dakars. lol