I Stepped it up a notch or two on the shocks today

[FASTERDAMITT]

I was thinking adding reservoirs to my Fox 2.0 and revalving or Maybe Bilstein 7100's but went to the swap meet today and look what I found! A pair of Sway Away 2.5 Piggyback Race Runners! Bolted them on and went for a run through some whoops, the valving seems to be darn near spot on. I am stoked to say the least!;D

 

[NicksTrix]

wow sweet find. was it leducs swap meet?

 

[FASTERDAMITT]

Yes, in Morongo Ca

 

[ken75ranger]

Nice find!

 

[Miker]

Kudos!!!!!!

 

[68ford]

12in travel? nice being able to rotate the cap huh? probably be better on hard hits as well being the reservoir is at the bottom. it helps make it sorta progressive as it compresses by hydrolocking to an extent instead of just compressing the gas in the reservoir like normal resi shock with the hose out the top cap.

 

[FASTERDAMITT]

Ya know I can't believe how much difference they are offroad. They suck up the biggest crap without any harshness and still ride great on the road. I've had on this Bronco Duff 70/30, Bilstein 5150"s, 5125"s Rancho RS9000xl's and Fox 2.0's. None come close to these all around. Well worth the money.

 

[FASTERDAMITT]

Yes 12"ers

 

[68ford]

i had same shocks up front with normal resi for quit some time. then made them coilovers. and your right it they are not even comparable to the smaller shocks. alot of it is the surface area of the piston being 1/2in bigger is a big difference.
i guess i am over board on mine saying only buy bypasses. thing is i co drive a class one car in snore series. and when we go to glamis or the desert i want to keep up ;D

climbing in

starting at laughlin behind roger normans TT

 

[68ford]

plus i where i realy noticed a difference with bypass shocks is the rear. with leaf springs, i will go so far as to say they are a must especially due to broncos short leaf springs.

 

[FASTERDAMITT]

I still have the Fox 2.0's on the back and REALLY can tell the difference now in design, the back end is all over the place trying to keep up with the front shocks.

 

[FASTERDAMITT]

Looks your are running Kings or Fox's on the rear, what valving do you run or percent comp/rebound? I can't figure mine out yet. I tried 30/90 and 50/70 and still not near where it feels right. Should I try a 70/50?

 

[68ford]

my set up will be totally different than yours. king uses the valve thickness for their way of measuring. typical of the shelf is .015 compression and .012 rebound. that is very likely what is in your fronts. sway away uses the same measuring method. im running .012 compression and .010 rebound. keep in mind that is a king 3.0 race series 3 tube bypasss so its really different. im also running about 30%ish soft spring pack in the rear (g50 deaver race pack for a ford ranger) thats about a foot longer than normal, shock has to keep the truck from bottoming, spring does very little.. also my rig weighs 5400 pounds full of fuel. 40 gallons up against where the tail gate would be and 3 35in spares 75% past the tailgate area. i think it was 2800 pounds on the rear tires and 2600 on the front, but not sure. rear was heavier and it weighed 5400 for sure. im totally out of the loop on fox and bilstein valving methods.

 

[68ford]

can you find some instructions stating what those numbers mean? i would say yes to more compression valving compared to rebound though. every truck or car i know of ends up valved like that.

 

[ken75ranger]

I can't figure mine out yet. I tried 30/90 and 50/70 and still not near where it feels right. Should I try a 70/50?

Tell us more on the "doesn't feel right". Is it good for a minute or 2 of high speed whoops and then feel like there's no valving?

 

[68ford]

honestly with leaf springs, it will never feel that good without a bypass shock. light valving for street and most small to medium stuff will be too soft for big bumps and probably long set of whoops once the shocks get hot. nowifyouvalve them to hand big bumps and to be stiff enough once really hot, they will suck on the street in small stuff. bypass can achieve both of these.

also do take everything i say as a grain of salt, my opinions are coming from somehow ending up with an eb that literally is alot smoother on the street than my o4 avalanche and in the desert i can not bottom it out or make the rearbuck. its either the big shock/weight/spring combo or like i said, i just got really lucky.