Outboard rear shock work: NOTES and things to pay attention to

mrblaine

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I'm not going to tell you how to do it. These are some notes to make you aware of some of the important things that will help you get it dialed in, easier. I get asked about this all the time, this is a reference I can point folks to in order to answer the main questions.
  1. Outboarding is the last of your mods. After the raised belly, after the SYE, after the lift is done and after you have picked a tire size you plan on sticking with for awhile and have your rig outfitted for how you will use it most of the time.

    The reason is the angle of the rear axle needs to stay where it is for the mounts on the axle for most of the Fox style eyes to stay neutral in the mounts at ride height. If they are not welded in neutral or square to the shock shaft so they have room to move when the axle is cycled from full bump to full droop the eye can bind on the mount. If you aren't doing the outboarding last with the eye neutral, you may wind up with the problem and bend the shock shaft or ruin the seals from them being side loaded when you change the pinion angle to dial in a CV or similar.

  2. Set the rig up with the weight you plan on carrying most of the time. If you change the ride height a bunch by adding gear and cargo, you need to dial in the amount of up-travel needed for the rig's height it stays at most of the time. It does little good to dial in 6" of up empty and load it down for offroad where you need the up-travel the most and wind up with 4" because you sagged it out with all the extra weight.

  3. Set the rig on reasonably level ground, chock the tires and then get out the tape measure and something to write down measurements. These will be used to save you the hassle of putting springs back in to see what ride height is or was or should be.

  4. Make a rough drawing of your rig, side view, front view, rear view. Measure from the top of the axle tube to some feature on the frame that is easily referenced. I measure to the top of the arch where the hole is on top of the frame. Do that for both sides. Write down those numbers and make sure you know what they represent.

  5. Measure from the center of the axle tube to the ground. This will let you put it right back at the correct height on jack stands without the tires in place. You will need this reference many times checking the amount of exposed shock shaft to figure out shock mounted height, the measurement saves putting the tires back on and loading them to get them to squish to loaded height.

  6. Measure from under the rear bumper to the ground. This frame height will tell you that the frame jack stands are at the right height so your other numbers work. You have to get this exact. If you measure the axle to ground dimension and then move the frame up or down, you won't be able to dial in the shock.

    When you have all that measured and recorded, then you can stage the rear of the rig on jack stands and start taking it apart. We set the rear frame stands at the exact height needed then we pull the tires and droop the axle to set the frame on the stands with the front locked down on the tires and springs so it won't roll. I prefer to keep one end on the springs and tires for safety when I'm working on the other end.
NOTE: Pay attention to the measurements of frame to ground before you start. You may have to put a stand under the front and raise it if you have stands under the rear bumper due to weight shift from the longer leverage point at the rear being further back than weight on the springs.

When the rear is on stands with the tires off, continue the droop until you can pull the springs. Then you can jack the axle back up and set it on a pair of stands at your ride height number to get started.

That is not the only way to do it, it is just a way we have found that works pretty well so you can put back all the bits with the least amount of effort to make a somewhat tedious job a bit less tiresome.

Not required, but, we pull the gas tank and cycle the axle to full bump hard and lift the body throughout the process. I have anchors set in the concrete to hold the rear of the rig down to the jack stands with ratchet straps so I don't risk pushing it up and over off the stands. Mine consist of the 5000 lb rated D rings for trailers and a pair of 1/2" Redhead concrete anchors for each. You will have to run a 1/2" bit through most of the pivot straps since they have square holes.

We use white china markers to write on the frame and we put a lot of our dimensions right on the frame with little arrows showing the measured to points. If you don't want white china marker on your frame, get some masking tape and a Sharpie.

82773



When you start laying out the heights you want the shock to be relative to the axle and frame, you will need to know 3 dimensions.
  1. Full compressed length eye to eye. You can look it up, compress the shock, or measure the shock.

  2. Full extended length eye to eye.

  3. Length at ride height. In the graphic there are two dimensions that have to be added together, A and B. If you want 6" of shaft showing at RH, make a mark on the shaft where the line on the right side of A points. Measure from the center of the eye to that line to get dimension A. Measure from the end of the body to the center of the eye for B. Add those together to get your ride height length.
 
  1. Set the rig on reasonably level ground, chock the tires and then get out the tape measure and something to write down measurements. These will be used to save you the hassle of putting springs back in to see what ride height is or was or should be.

  2. Measure from the center of the axle tube to the ground. This will let you put it right back at the correct height on jack stands without the tires in place. You will need this reference many times checking the amount of exposed shock shaft to figure out shock mounted height, the measurement saves putting the tires back on and loading them to get them to squish to loaded height.
NOTE: Pay attention to the measurements of frame to ground before you start. You may have to put a stand under the front and raise it if you have stands under the rear bumper due to weight shift from the longer leverage point at the rear being further back than weight on the springs.


Not required, but, we pull the gas tank and cycle the axle to full bump hard and lift the body throughout the process. I have anchors set in the concrete to hold the rear of the rig down to the jack stands with ratchet straps so I don't risk pushing it up and over off the stands. Mine consist of the 5000 lb rated D rings for trailers and a pair of 1/2" Redhead concrete anchors for each. You will have to run a 1/2" bit through most of the pivot straps since they have square holes.

Having been involved on an outboard project these items stuck out most to me. You will be taking a ton of measurements. Organization is important. You will be cycling the axle constantly and checking for clearances and binding. Two of us were brand new to it and the third person had done this process once before. I think we spent 12 hours in the garage before we had finally tacked the passenger side in place with confidence and were on the downhill side of the outboard. IIRC the owner of the jeep said it took him two very long days to complete.
 
I think I spent about six months researching and getting info talking with a few builders and manufacturers. Taking measurements etc before finally diving in and doing it. It turned out great and made a huge difference in the ride. I did the outboarded shocks along with the double triangulation 4 link rear stretch kit from GenRight. It’s been at least five or six years now and I’m still super happy with the results.
 
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We need info on the front too, something like putting 12" fox's on. Just raising the front tower maybe not enough, how do you lower the axle mount. Pics would be wonderful... Tim
 
@mrblaine this is a great source of information and coming from the wizard himself makes it that much more worthy of a permanent place in my bookmark folder.

Would you be willing to do a similar type write up for extending the front towers to accept 11 or 12" shocks using poly mounts? I've been digging through old posts from all different sources and while I can find some useful information most is based off using ford brackets.
 
@mrblaine this is a great source of information and coming from the wizard himself makes it that much more worthy of a permanent place in my bookmark folder.

Would you be willing to do a similar type write up for extending the front towers to accept 11 or 12" shocks using poly mounts? I've been digging through old posts from all different sources and while I can find some useful information most is based off using ford brackets.
I'll have to think about that one.
 
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