david heater said:
OK, but why would you use mounting tabs and then spring bushings to mount. that is why he has to have the cross over in the engine compartment. not a bad idea. but to me it seems like more stuff to deal with un-bolt the cross over to re-move the parts off the top of the motor. hope the cross over bolts stay tight or you have a lot more issues to deal with. Still leaning towards Duffs hoops....
A few of my thoughts on hoops:
1. Ask yourself the question: Do I really NEED (not just want for the bling bling factor) dual front shocks for the type of driving I really do?
In most cases I see, I'd say no, duals are not needed for most owners. Duals were originally used for high speed desert racing when shock technology was not as advanced as it is now, and multiple shocks were used to get the proper dampning and to reduce the foaming and fade caused by overworking one shock. Many Baja racers used to used 3 or 4 per wheel, now many only use one.
If your looking at running duals cause you NEED them, consider a higher quality single shock (some of the Bilsteins come to mind).
For low speed rock crawling, I definatly don't see the need for duals from a functional standpoint. Yes, I have had them in the past as well :-[ , but then I realized I was spending and extra $300 for four more shocks, more for different rear mounts and front hoops, etc. That money would be better spent on a either better shocks or other performance enhancing mods IMO.
If you want the bling bling racer look of duals, there's no arguing that if that's what you're after.
2. The cross brace between hoops is not a bad idea with any type of hoop or single tower, many desert racers use these and many modern cars use similar braces between the strut towers for added stiffness. If made with removable bushing mounts, it would be a good idea IMO.
3. Removable hoops are not a bad ideas either. At the recent East Coast Bronco Roundup, we had a participant who had his aftermarket PS box (Duff's, WH or ?) crack at a couple of the mounting tabs. I had a spare stock box I was going to give him, but then we realized that swapping his box on the trail would require removal of lots of accesories, coolers, etc that were in the way to remove the box by pulling it up through the engine compartment.
On my trail rig I run a modifed version of the single shock F-250 mount behind the coil tower. (a guy on one of the EB lists made mounts similar to the F-250, but a bit wider and longer, and I added 2" to that as well to run the 14" shock I wanted). I've also trimmed my inner fenders a bit as many of us have. I can now very easily R&R a steering box by pulling it out through the wheel well. Most hoops will make it difficult to do this as well. It's not a big deal to many of you I'm sure, but for those who wheel hard and have cracked boxes or broken sector (and sometimes it does not take all that much) , or simply blown a lower seal that left you dead in the water, easy R&R on the trail (or in the shop) is worth a lot more than bling bling or added dampening you *may* not even need.
Last I heard, these towers are now available through AWS in St. Louis. 314-966-6692, ask for Steve. They were about $75 when I got mine from the other guy before he had Steve make them. Yes, they are more than the $23 for a pair of Ford F-250 mounts, but they are longer and offer a bit more clearance on the shock tube (and they have "racer holes" for a bit of a bling bling look ;D ) and they are less expensive than hoops
.
My point is that hoops are OK and serve a purpose, but are not necesarily the only option for long travel, good performing suspensions. If duals are not needed, there are options other than hoops to consider that can work as well and cost less while allowing less clutter in the wheel well that can benefit you when it comes to working on the rig .
