Matching Springs With Shocks

[LowRange]

I am working toward putting 12" travel Fox shocks on the rear of my LJ. I had Currie CE-9131RH1 springs back there and they provided between 3.5" and 3.75" lift with my normal wheeling load and a half tank of gas. They worked great for me, but I calculate they had only 12.375" of travel (free length-fully compressed length, 16.76-4.375") which to me doesn't seem like much room to play with. So I installed the CE-9131RH2s. Using the same calculation method these taller springs have a free travel of 13.375"; a little more room to work with there, but ride height has bumped up a full inch which is a bit more than I was looking for.

So now for my questions. Am I on the right track trying to match these 2 components up? Is there another spring that might offer slightly less ride height, but be a good 13" long? And finally, am I just overthinking this?

 

[jjvw]

The shocks you want have 12" of travel. You want that travel divided in half. Which of those springs will do that and also provide the ride height you want?

Have you moved the upper spring seats yet? You can adjust the ride height a bit when you do that.

 

[LowRange]

The shocks you want have 12" of travel. You want that travel divided in half. Which of those springs will do that and also provide the ride height you want?

Have you moved the upper spring seats yet? You can adjust the ride height a bit when you do that.

I currently have Ranch 9000s that have 10.7 inches of total travel and are outboarded. At ride height they have 5.5 inches of up travel available. When used on the trails the bump stops catch the shocks before they bottom out, but all of the available up travel is used. The upper spring seats have been moved back. If I do go to this longer shock I will have to move the upper shock mounts so I should be able to optimize that position to match the travel to the spring.


To put the question in context the shock change is a part of a move to a mid-arm suspension.

The attached picture is taken at ride height with the shorter of the two springs mentioned.

 

[jjvw]

If you change shocks, the mounts will almost certainly need to move. On the three outboards with Fox 12s I have done, the upper is higher than where yours are currently.