Why are my shock measurements so far off?

I just got done adding the extra leaf to my Dakar leaf pack to make it the HD leaf pack. Now it is time for new shocks and I want to make sure I get the correct length. I am looking at Fox 2.5s in the 1.5-3” Lift. I don’t know how much lift my truck actually has because the stock leaf pack was broken when I bought the truck and I immediately put the medium duty Dakar leaf pack on and some cheap 5100s to buy me some time until I had some real money to spend.

I first measures static height from bump stop to contact point and that was 4” on both sides. I then measured static shock length and that was 21.5 on both sides (eyelet to shock mount bucket).

When I measure my extended length I disconnected shocks on both sides, e brake, regular brake line mount, and abs mount. I jacked it up from the tow hitch until both wheels were slightly off the ground. I measured from the bottom eyelet up to the bottom of the shock mounting bucket. My measurement was 28” on passenger side and 29” on drivers side.

When I look at the fox 2.5s those measurements aren’t even close, so I looked at king, icon, etc. none of them are really close to any of those numbers.

I called Accutune because that is where I am planning to purchase from. The gentleman I spoke with was also confused and said that the extended length sounds pretty long. He suggested I take it to a shop and have them make sure I didn’t install something wrong. Before I do that tho I want to put it out there and see if any of you can identify either how I am not measuring correctly or if I installed something wrong.

I can take more pictures just let me know what to focus on.

 

Youre over thinking this and probably about to snap a hydraulic line

also wrong sub forum

 

Something very wrong with the leaf spring install from the height of that lift - it shouldn't look anything like that high. Not sure if you have the wrong ones or have them on backwards or what but something not right. My guess would be they are backwards but that's only a guess.

Also, yes - wrong sub forum.

 

he has the shocks disconnected and the framed jacked up with the weight of the axle held by the leaf springs, the 1 inch differential is probably the brake lines holding up one side

 

@Silverspool I disconnected the brake lines, and that would be on the driver side which is the longer measurement.

 

Ahhh, now I see it. My bad. Carry on.

 

I was under the impression that when you took your measurement you wanted the weight to be on the springs and not the shock, is that not ture?

 

Why are you trying to measure the full drop of the leaf springs? are you trying to get an extended travel shock? If so, you are going to end up limiting your up travel with the stock mounts.

 

I think I must have completely misunderstood this measurement. Let me try and explain how I got there,

I thought when your suspension flexed you did not want the flex to stop because the shock bottoms out, you want the spring to fully extend and then have a little bit of shaft length left in the shock so its not bottoming out. So in my mind that meant you remove the shocks, fully extend the springs, and that was the extended length measurement for the shock you needed plus the compressed length you would need to measure.

Where did I go wrong on this path? I appreciate your help man.

 

No not on a standard/extended travel travel truck, the shock limits the flex, if u are jumping the truck then yes you dont want to bottom the shock out, thats when you run limit straps

 

Oh, so I am way over thinking it. Thanks!

 

That extended length you are measuring with that leaf pack and the weight of the axle/tires is about where it should be. Those Dakars have a solid amount of travel for a budget pack.

I see nothing wrong here, other than you are expecting long travel numbers from an off the shelf mid travel shock. The only off the shelf option to get you closer are the B110 5100's. Those are 27.25" length vs nearly every other shock coming in at 25-26". The B110's were made for the RCD 4.5" lift, hence their slightly longer extended length.

In an ideal world, you have an inch of extra travel fully compressed and fully extended. But that's not possible with the stock shock location. In the real world, your shock is the limiter and 25" length is normal for a bolt-on option.