It always seemed that my front shocks had too much rod showing. I measured it and it had about 7 inches of rod showing. But the body of the shock measured around 14" so I though oh maybe I had a good 4-6 more inches of travel not being used. Today I took off a shock to replace the bushing and fully extended it only has 9" of travel. So I basically only had 2 inches of down travel this whole time?! I always wondered why it felt like I didnt have much down travel. Im running the 4.5 inch metal cloak coils but they ended up giving me a 6 inch lift up front and a 5 in the back. I should probably get some longer shocks right? I mean 2 inches of down travel on a jeep on flat surface doesnt sound very good. Maybe it's because they're the pro series? My rear are the factory series and they are about 1.5" shorter but I think have 2" more of travel if I remember correctly.
Are my shocks too small?
- Thread starter TJ-chino
- Start date
That's true. I was looking at the savvy 4" coils, tired of the shitty ride quality I get with these"dual rate" coils. And I guess I'd be spending the same if I got new coils..lol. I just dont get how a 14" body only get me 9" of down travel though. Is that pretty normal?
The bodies on my rear measure about 16.25" but with a more efficient reservoir cap. They only provide 12" of travel.
What shocks are you running? I was looking at the bilsteins 5160s but i dont get the lengths. It says collapsed lenght is 14.59, and travel is 11.02 but it says extended lenght is 24.7. The collapsed and travel dont add up to the extended lenght, am I missing something? It's for a 3-4.5 inch lift since ima be getting the savvy 4" coils soon.
Correct shock length has a lot more to do with bumpstops and packaging than lift height. If you plan on not relocating your uppper or lower shock mounts by welding and cutting - then your shock should be 1/4 inch from fully compressing at full bump (spring removed and properly set up bumpstopping from cycling suspension to see minimum bumpstop length from interference). Once you have that measurement (full bump from upper shock mount to lower) then that’s the largest shock eye to eye you can run and the maximum amount of travel you can achieve with keeping stock mounts and off the shelf shocks. Since you’re not adjusting mounts for a specific shock (like a fox 12” resi) then let’s say you get a measurement of 15” from eye to eye at full bump, you’ll want to go with the slightly smaller size that way your shocks aren’t limiting your uptravel, it will just limit your downtravel (if your shocks are the limiting factor and not limiting straps for driveshaft and other stuff) by the difference between the measurement you made and the specs online. Let me know if you need more help bumpstopping or getting correct length. We can work though your numbers on here, plus @jjvw knows his stuff.
I wouldn’t blame the coil for a bad ride when you only have 2” of down travel at the shock. I would however be looking for a new spring if a 4.5” gave me 6”. Is your Jeep on the light side? Engine, bumper, winch and cargo have a large roll in ride height.
As said above you must properly set bump stops and then measure for shocks to have an optimal set up.
Oh okay I see. I have 3" of bumpstop but I have been wanting to remove my coils and cycle thru my suspension to make adjustments and all that but I didnt wanna remove my coils and put them back in. It's a pita to remove them and install even with coil compressors because they're like 25" long. But once I get my new coils I'll be doing that. That's why I'm looking thru different shock options and relocation brackets to do it all at the same time and have everything dialed in. Thanks for helping and for offering more help if needed!
Yeah when I got the jeep the PO said it had a 6 inch lift! It didnt look like it but I believed the Po. Then I figured out that 6" on SA is too much so I got the "4.5" coils from metal cloak. Ended up giving me 2 inches more of lift that's when I figured out my old lift was actually 4"! But yeah my jeep is pretty light upfront. No winch and it's a 2.5l for now. Any of u have these coils? The metal cloak? Or savvy? Everyone always talk good about the savvy ones.
I am looking to replace my front coils. I have a3.5” lift and a 4 cyl. I haven’t pulled the trigger yet because I know that most coil will run a bit tall on a lighter Jeep. Have you measured the coil heightwhile in the Jeep? That will tell you how much lift they are giving for sure.
Stock coil is 12” shorter installed. Anything over that is lifted amount.
Stock coil is 12” shorter installed. Anything over that is lifted amount.
Yeah I measured them it's at around 18.2. Hmm well see maybe if I pull the trigger on the 4" savvy hopefully it doesnt give me anything over 5" haha
Wow that seems really excessive. There aren’t any spacers in there are there? This pic counts the factory isolator, I don’t believe that should be excluded in spring height.
Sorry to bug again but I just installed a 1.25 body lift and got the curry 4" coils in. Dropped my lift to about almost 5". Was hoping it would get me closer to 4" flat but oh well. Cycled my suspension everything seemed fine. I need 3" of bumpstops and that's due to my shock. I still got about 1.15" before my tire touches the fender. My current shocks are 16.5 when fully collapsed 25.5 fully extended. I just cant decide which shock to get. The longer one which is still .3" shorter and 1.3" longer. Or get the ones that are 1.05" shorter, get rid of 1" of bumpstop but loose .3" of travel. I need new shocks btw the eyelet is all jacked up on and the metal hose needs to be replaced the guy quoted me like 180 for the rebuild and parts. And a new shock is 250 so might as well get new ones.
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