shock mounts on wcb extened arms.

[behemoth]

I have West coast broncos extended radius arms installed on my truck with protofabs extreme front shock hoop. The issue I have is that the shock mounts on the arms are on top and are quite high. I have 14" shortbody bilstiens on the front and I am concerned that at full compression the shock would be the bump stop.

So the plan was to order smaller shocks, but I was looking at it and I was wondering if the shock mount for the duff/cage arms would work on these. Now I know that these arms are straight and the others are not, my tire rubs on these at full lock but I think there would be clearance where the shock mounts. This would be a cheaper option than say new shocks, the only thing I do not want to do is move them and tear up the sidewalls on the shock mounts. Anyone have any thoughts?

Bill

Picks to come later.

 

[kntr]

You should be fine to run the extended arms and the hoops you already have. I would install a set of the 4" bumpstops that WH sells.

 

[behemoth]

I thought It would be fine also but in looking at the suspension and the shocks it does not appear as thought things are ok.

Here are the photos, any thoughts ?

 

[behemoth]

If you look at the photos you will see that the gap between the bottom of the shock and the arm are less than the distance between the frame and bumpstop.

There also does not appear to be any issue with the tire clearance to the side of the arm. So it does look as though there would be room to mount the shock on the side of the arm. This would be cheaper than new shocks and I would not loose any droop.

So now I have to look at some form of mount for the shocks.

 

[TJK74]

The best thing to do is to pull the springs and fully cycle it with the shock still mounted. By the looks of it I would say that you shock is going to bottom. I just went through this whole procedure over and over after installing my cage arm. Of all the shock hoops out there the duffs stage II do sit the highest. you will need a 2" BL and with that they are about 1/2" from the top of the inner fender well. With my extended arms I actually lost up travel and the arm stop up against the frame before the bump stop hits. So will be fixing that soon with the adition of some taller bumpstops and airbumps.
The problem though with the duffs hoops is the 45 degree angle that the fitting for the reservoir comes out of the shock. The way the shock mounts on the duffs hoops the fitting hit the tube. Wanted to go with bilsteins but most likely with go with fox, kings or procomps that have the fitting coming out of the shock body at a 90 degree angle.

 

[SurfCityEB66]

If you looking for an easy way out I would just buy a shorter body shock, get some limiting straps and have a little less drop-out. It's better to top-out a shock than to bottom-out one. I have the same set-up (5.5 springs) but fabed my own hoops and used a 2.5"D x12" sway-away no res and it works pretty good. Before I got the sway-aways i used the WH long travel cheapies and they actually worked OK. I think your only other option would be to mount the shock infront of the spring or build new hoops. Good Luck

 

[ZookBronc]

I think the best way to do it would be to get the 12 inch short bodies. Sell your 14 inch ones and put that towards the price of the other ones. By the pictures it looks like you have alot of travel left before you hit the bump stops compared to when the shock bottoms out. I would use this guide and see what will best fit your application as far as extended and collapsed length http://www.bilstein.com/offroad_7100.php

 

[behemoth]

I was looking at the 12 short bodies and they would give the compression room that I need. The west coast arms are shorter than the cage and duffs so the frame does not hit under full compression. This is also due to the slight drop from the stock mounting location of the radius arms. It improves that angle ever so much.

Pulling the springs is not really a problem for me to do, the issue I run into is garage clearance. I cant get it high enough to cycle it or at least the last time I tried that was one of the issues.

I figure now with the 12 short bodies that they are probably the best way to go. With the mounting point on these arms so high I may not actually loose that much if any.

Sounds like I need to call Lee and order some shocks.

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions.

 

[TJK74]

Pulling the springs is not really a problem for me to do, the issue I run into is garage clearance. I cant get it high enough to cycle it or at least the last time I tried that was one of the issues.

You should be able to just cycle the axle under the front end with the spring out to see af at full compression the shocks bottom out. The easy way to do this is to pull the front tires and set the front of the frame on jacks at ride height then lower the axle to pull the springs. After that you can cycle full compression under the front end with out your bronco being any higher than it was when you drove it in the garage
Another thing to measure if you pull the springs and cycle it and the shock bottoms, is the distance between the radius arm cap and the coil bucket where the spring sits vs your spring bind height. you may find that your spring will actually bind before the bump come into play.

 

[behemoth]

That should work, I was trying to figure out what the heck I was trying to do in the garage with the front end that gave me the height issue. Not a clear thought day on that one. I was also told that I could measure the individual coils and that would give me the bind measurement. I will play with the coils this weekend and take some additional photos of the mess. It still looks as thought the better fit for shocks will be the 12" shortbody but I will wait till I cycle it to see what happens. I really do not look forward to fighting with those shocks again with the stock valving.

 

[TJK74]

I was also told that I could measure the individual coils and that would give me the bind measurement. I will play with the coils this weekend and take some additional photos of the mess.

Yes that is true you just need to measure the diameter/thickness of the coil and multiply it times the number of coil wraps to get the spring bind height.
You'll still need to measure full compression with the coils out to determin if your shocks bottom first or if your coil binds from the measurment taken between the bucket and radius arm. Good luck and let us know what you find

Check this thread. this is what I recently went though and while cycling I came across other issues that needed to be addressed as well

http://classicbroncos.com/forums/showthread.php?t=94147

 

[ZookBronc]

That should work, I was trying to figure out what the heck I was trying to do in the garage with the front end that gave me the height issue. Not a clear thought day on that one. I was also told that I could measure the individual coils and that would give me the bind measurement. I will play with the coils this weekend and take some additional photos of the mess. It still looks as thought the better fit for shocks will be the 12" shortbody but I will wait till I cycle it to see what happens. I really do not look forward to fighting with those shocks again with the stock valving.

Just curious as to what valving are you running? 360/80? If so how do you feel it handles off and on road? I have that valving and it seems soft to me. With single 7100's and deavers up front.

 

[lars]

That should work, I was trying to figure out what the heck I was trying to do in the garage with the front end that gave me the height issue. Not a clear thought day on that one. I was also told that I could measure the individual coils and that would give me the bind measurement. I will play with the coils this weekend and take some additional photos of the mess. It still looks as thought the better fit for shocks will be the 12" shortbody but I will wait till I cycle it to see what happens. I really do not look forward to fighting with those shocks again with the stock valving.

One trick for dealing with those shocks is to use some bailing wire or similar. With the front end in a position where you know it's easy to r&r the shock, wrap the wire around the top eye securely, then stretch it tight and wrap it around the bottom. Then let the suspension droop just a bit. You should be able to pull the bottom bolt right out- the bailing wire keeps the shock from trying to extend. I do that whenever I have to disconnect my front shocks (12" Fox reservoirs). Makes it oh-so-much easier.

 

[behemoth]

Well I pulled the coils and cycled the suspension.

The 5.5 coils I have are 22" long and the coils are 1/2 with 15 windings so 7 1/2 bind measurement?.

At full compression the shock is the bumpstop. Long before the coil bind measurement and or the bumpstop would hit.

The suspension at full droop maxes out on its own at 28 1/2" the driveshaft seems to be the limiter here. I have the aod and It pushes the transfercase back 1 1/2". I could push it a little more on each side, but I could see that the driveshaft was the hangup.

At full compression currently the track bar does not hit the diff, but I know it will. It has before these shocks so that will be an issue later.

Here are my photos.

 

[lars]

Well I pulled the coils and cycled the suspension.

The 5.5 coils I have are 22" long and the coils are 1/2 with 15 windings so 7 1/2 bind measurement?.

At full compression the shock is the bumpstop. Long before the coil bind measurement and or the bumpstop would hit.

The suspension at full droop maxes out on its own at 28 1/2" the driveshaft seems to be the limiter here. I have the aod and It pushes the transfercase back 1 1/2". I could push it a little more on each side, but I could see that the driveshaft was the hangup.

At full compression currently the track bar does not hit the diff, but I know it will. It has before these shocks so that will be an issue later.

Here are my photos.

The Bilsteins are too long for your mounts. Are they topping out when the axle is at full droop? The axle will droop further with the springs out than it will with them in place when you have rod ends on your radius arms. At least mine will (6 inch extended arms with Johnny Joints). In that case, those 14" shocks aren't doing you much good.

With the lift you have (body & suspension) you should be able to improve things without going to new shocks. I'm running a 4.5" suspension lift and 1" body lift. I measure about 4" of actual spring lift sitting in the garage. I have 12" stroke Fox shocks with a collapsed length about 1/2" less than your Bilsteins. My shocks hoops were custom made and put the top end of the shock within 1/2" of the bottom of the inner fenderwell. Bumpstops are the 4.5" urethane ones that Wild Horses sells, in the stock location. The bumpstops hit the frame before my shocks bottom. It's close, but it works. The extra 1/2" of your shocks might be too much, but you could always put a small hole in the inner fenderwells and let your shock mounts come into them.

Or switch out the 14" shocks for a set of 12" short bodies, in which case it might be a bolt-on solution. You might be able to recover enough in selling your current shocks that it could actually be cheaper to get new shocks than to buy different hoops, etc. My 12" shocks have enough stroke that my springs top out about the same time as the shocks. And at that point my front driveshaft is about to become the limiting factor anyway.

 

[behemoth]

In looking at the specs on the 12" shortbodies vs the 14" that I have now and with what measurements I came up with this weekend. It looks like I should have the 12" shortbodies on it as they would max out at or just before the driveshaft binds. For compression They would just clear the coil bind first. The larger bumpstops would also help just for insurance. I will probably see what deal I can get on some 12" shortbodies and have the hose extended so that I can run the res over to the front side of the hoop.

I have the superlift adjustable track bar on the front of my truck and the tubing is much larger than the last one I bought from them. I will have to find another one made from the smaller tubing to keep it from hitting the diff on compression.

This was a good exercise this weekend, I think I only hit my head on the bumper 3 times.

 

[mattt]

OLD Thread Revive........

I'm going to be installing a set of WCB arms soon, and I'm trying to determine what length Fox shock to use with an F250 shock mount. I have BC 4.5" front coils. From reading, it seems like most people are running the 12" short body Bilstein. Unfortunately, Fox doesn't offer a short body shock from the factory.

I've talked to a guy that does Fox shock rebuilding and he says he could make me a 12" short body Fox but that I'd need to be extra careful to not have it bottom out.

Anyone out there who is running a Fox shock......what length are you running? 10" or 12" or 14"?

 

[toddz69]

OLD Thread Revive........

I'm going to be installing a set of WCB arms soon, and I'm trying to determine what length Fox shock to use with an F250 shock mount. I have BC 4.5" front coils. From reading, it seems like most people are running the 12" short body Bilstein. Unfortunately, Fox doesn't offer a short body shock from the factory.

I've talked to a guy that does Fox shock rebuilding and he says he could make me a 12" short body Fox but that I'd need to be extra careful to not have it bottom out.

Anyone out there who is running a Fox shock......what length are you running? 10" or 12" or 14"?

I'm running 12" travel Foxes with about 4" of lift. To get the F250 mounts up high enough for the shocks to work correctly, I'd have to push the mount up such that I'd only have it welded to about half the frame width. Not real crazy about that. I'm currently running a set of Protofab hoops with a set of bolt-on "hoop extenders" that Mike made for me.

Todd Z.

 

[Madgyver]

Toddz,
You got pics to post of it?

 

[toddz69]

Toddz,
You got pics to post of it?

I do. I'll try and remember to post some tonight when I'm at the home computer.

Todd Z.