Rear shock length... I know, I know... please read

I know how to measure for shocks because I did it for the front but im a little nervous (safety) to measure the back because it will rquire me to get under the jeep while it is on an incline, any comment? Second, could you guys who have a 5.5'' give me a ball park range of the length of shock you run? Please indicate if you mount to the stock location and or if you moved the lower shock mounts up.

Thanks

Make sure that its as stable as possible. Make sure if anything were to go wrong, and the Jeep to fall back down, that no part of you is in between moving parts, etc.

i can tell you right now it should around 26-29" (extended) your preference lol

I posted the exact same question a few minutes ago on Jeepforum...my question is specific to the mount being moved up onto the axle. With the stock mounts I'm sure the OME LT shocks will work perfectly - they are 622mm open and 366 closed.

mavrick said:

I know how to measure for shocks because I did it for the front but im a little nervous (safety) to measure the back because it will rquire me to get under the jeep while it is on an incline, any comment? Second, could you guys who have a 5.5'' give me a ball park range of the length of shock you run? Please indicate if you mount to the stock location and or if you moved the lower shock mounts up.

Thanks

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Can't you find a place to flex it out, so you can crawl under it and measure? I can understand not wanting to be under it if the whole back end is lifted with a high lift jack, but you can flex it out with the shocks unbolted at one end, since you need both a collapsed and a compressed length. I've done that so many times there's no way to count. Find a loading dock somewhere that you can drive up on and do it at night after they close. You also can lift it with a high lift or floor jack, place stands under the frame rails, then remove the tires and let the axle drop all the way out.

There's no room for error on rear shock length. A well tuned rear suspension will use every bit of shock length, so it's critical for the shocks to be exactly the right length for that setup. Otherwise, you'll either bottom out the shock on hard hits (the worse situation) or limit your droop with the shock longth.

the easy solution is to find the use of a forklift for a few minutes.

cox_xj said:

i can tell you right now it should around 26-29" (extended) your preference lol

Click to expand...

How could a stock shock be 26-29" extended when my RC shocks for a 4.5" lift are 25.8" extended?

He's talking about the front.......but the question is about the rear.

Hey I Have a RE Extreme Duty 5.5 kit on mine. I run 10 's in the front and 16's in the rear but I run my rear shock through the floor and into cage.
Craig

like Goat mentioned, flexing is the best way. I was too lazy and guessed by measuring only static height.

I moved my 8.25 anchors for lower rear shock mounts and they are now centered at the axle tube. 7100 10" SB's are a hair too long in the rear for 6" lift. but would have been perfectly fine for stock lower shock mounts.

I reused the stock shocks on my trail Jeep, just relocated the mounts up even with the tube.

jfiscus said:

I reused the stock shocks on my trail Jeep, just relocated the mounts up even with the tube.

Click to expand...

What lift are you running? I intend doing something similar with normal OME rear shocks (not the LT ones) on a 6" lift.

Back up the ramp so if it lets go it will roll away from you.

gorman said:

What lift are you running? I intend doing something similar with normal OME rear shocks (not the LT ones) on a 6" lift.

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It is around a 5" lift I am assuming (S10 AALs), here are the best pics I have of the Jeep & the mount:

You could have gained more usable travel if you had moved them out also.