Jd fab or dirt king rear spring under question

Looking in to both kits and just wondering if anyone here ran the jd fab kit? Benefit of rear shackle difference besides it doesnt hang as low as the dirt king?

 

I know this guy is running the Dirt King and have not seen anyone with a video running the JD yet

https://www.instagram.com/p/CGxFWngAEoc/

 

If there's one thing I've learned with my stupid truck is that I should have just started with JDs stuff from the beginning. And that's not to say that Dirt King doesn't make good stuff. Nick and the boys at DK make great products, I think JD just thinks of things that other people don't.

 

Just waiting on my rear shocks from JD fab and than it's install time for me. Honestly their shock tower design and rear shackle set-up is what sold me you still have a usable bed and less to get hung up on just an all around win win for me.

 

@snowsk8air2 has a Frankenstein rear setup that runs shackles similar to the JD kit. His truck blew up on Insta for being such a G in the Timbers.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CTqG6O1D9lv/

 

I'm running the JD SUA kit but just the spring hangers. Three main points that sold me was the shackle orientation, uniball shackle, and adjustability of the rear hangers. No complaints so far; exactly what I expected.

 

Are you using the spring hangers with a soa setup then? I was thinking about doing something like that if it's possible.

 

No, I'm using the deaver H70 as a spring under setup. You could use Chevy 63s if you wanted to do SOA.

 

I have a set of Deaver U402 stage 2s now but I wouldn't mind changing the shackle.

 

We have Deaver spring over springs if that’s your thing

 

Thanks Harry, I'll get my crawl box in and then give you a call about the rear kit and the steering pump. They're both on my list.

 

Thread revive—

Just to clarify, can the JD shock relocation towers be used on a SOA? @81Trekker

 

No reason why not. You would just have to adjust the lower shock mount on the axle.

 

The shock mounts are designed to allow the axle to bump on the frame with a 14” shock. If you are SOA then you will have 5-6” less uptravel. This means you could run a 16” shock or mount the 14” shock off the top of the axle with long tabs

 

A 16” shock for SOA—that’s a lot of shock, albeit with less overall uptravel. I understand overall my HD SOA spring pack only has about 12” of travel at it’s limit, so maybe the 14” shock should be what I need to aim towards. Am I thinking things through correctly in that I wouldn’t need limit straps then since my leaf pack would essential be the limit and would be protecting my shocks from bottoming out?

 

Correct your springs will be the limiting factor. Our shock mounts are designed to allow the axle to bottom out on the frame with a 14” shock. When you limit the uptravel with a SOA you can use a longer body shock (16”) and the shock won’t bottom out. Obviously the 16” shock has more stroke than you will use but you have the option

 

And I love having options! Are the 1/4” formed shock towers made from cromoly?

 

The towers are mild steel, 1/4” cromoly can’t really be formed with the dimensions the towers have… the material will crack at the corners.

 

Good to know! So does install of the towers require the bed to be removed or can the bed stay on?

 

You can do it with the bed on