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Pre-runner type suspension stuff

I think I'll add another update to this thread, since I've made a few more changes. I have completely dumped the experimental Sway-A-Ways, the fronts were already removed and now the rears are toast. I've gone to Bilstein 7100 short bodies in front with 278/75 valving, and Bilstein 5150's in the rear with 255/70 valving. This combination feels pretty damn good so far, and is a decent improvement over the SAW's, which I didn't think were too bad. I had previously had some problem with the rear end bucking and that has gone away.

At first, with the new Bilstein's, the handling was pretty good but I still hit the bumpstops pretty hard now and then. I discovered that the frame had bent above the rear bumpstop on one side, so the stop was moved to the side enough to let the shock bottom out. I fixed the frame so the stop is back where it should be and the tie straps around the rear shocks are just barely touching the bottom of the shock shaft on the hardest hit.......perfect, and it feels good. I was also hitting the front stops pretty good on hard hits. I recently made a trip to Baja, and came back with both front bumpstops broken. I switched the front bumpstops to Prothane poly coil inserts, which are a soft poly and just sit inside of the coil. I made a small plate that bolted to the top for the insert to hit against, and the insert isn't attached to anything, it just sits inside of the coil. These things work extremely well, and are very progressive. I have 5.5" of up travel in the front, with 2" before the bumpstop first hits, then the stop compresses 3.5" on a hard hit.

I now have the best shock valving I've had so far, and the best bumpstops I've had so far, and it works pretty well. For strictly desert racing, I'd want a little more compression valving both front and rear, but for a combination of trail work and prerunning type stuff I think the valving is pretty good.
 
Oh, and since those last older posts I cracked my front D44 housing again, this time jumping it (hit a smal bomb crater in JV). The front end now has a sturdy truss. So, I've cracked the center section and broken off an inner C running it hard and jumping.

Truss....truss.....truss.
 
Goatman said:
Oh, and since those last older posts I cracked my front D44 housing again, this time jumping it (hit a smal bomb crater in JV). The front end now has a sturdy truss. So, I've cracked the center section and broken off an inner C running it hard and jumping.

Truss....truss.....truss.

Just curious, but what does the XJ weigh? and do you have the front and rear weights indepentantly?

Dingo
 
FarmerMatt said:
We weighed a bunch of different rigs a week or 2 ago. All had lifts & bigger tires. The average was pretty much 4800# for a setup XJ ready for the trail with spares & tools with driver. The split is about 60% front & 40% rear.

How about the Cat ? I'm thinking I might be down to 3800 after this last round of cutting. Not finished so I havn't run it by the scale yet.
 
i just weighed mine last night. 5300# 2 people 1/4 tank fuel. but that's a complete interior, full bodied Rig with lots of tools, parts and fluids, plus lots of HD parts, D44/D60, i'm not sure how to drop any weight though, it's still my daily driver so i can't cut the body and don't want to gut the interior.

Sorry this wasn't meant to be a hijack. It's just that i don't think (don't know) if the same valving/spring rates would be a good place to start for me as im so much heavier.
Dingo
 
Goatman said:
I think I'll add another update to this thread, since I've made a few more changes. I have completely dumped the experimental Sway-A-Ways, the fronts were already removed and now the rears are toast. I've gone to Bilstein 7100 short bodies in front with 278/75 valving, and Bilstein 5150's in the rear with 255/70 valving. This combination feels pretty damn good so far, and is a decent improvement over the SAW's, which I didn't think were too bad. I had previously had some problem with the rear end bucking and that has gone away.

At first, with the new Bilstein's, the handling was pretty good but I still hit the bumpstops pretty hard now and then. I discovered that the frame had bent above the rear bumpstop on one side, so the stop was moved to the side enough to let the shock bottom out. I fixed the frame so the stop is back where it should be and the tie straps around the rear shocks are just barely touching the bottom of the shock shaft on the hardest hit.......perfect, and it feels good. I was also hitting the front stops pretty good on hard hits. I recently made a trip to Baja, and came back with both front bumpstops broken. I switched the front bumpstops to Prothane poly coil inserts, which are a soft poly and just sit inside of the coil. I made a small plate that bolted to the top for the insert to hit against, and the insert isn't attached to anything, it just sits inside of the coil. These things work extremely well, and are very progressive. I have 5.5" of up travel in the front, with 2" before the bumpstop first hits, then the stop compresses 3.5" on a hard hit.

I now have the best shock valving I've had so far, and the best bumpstops I've had so far, and it works pretty well. For strictly desert racing, I'd want a little more compression valving both front and rear, but for a combination of trail work and prerunning type stuff I think the valving is pretty good.


Rich, I am doing some research right now for shock on my "other" jeep. I am looking at the Fox Remote Res 12"f/10"r travel with adjustable compression valving front and rear. I am hoping that the adjustable compression will help tune the differences between street/rocks/sand. Do you think having this extra adjustablity is worth the extra money? I may very well be taking a shot in the dark with initial valving, but I have some good advice from a good shock shop. What you think?

Oh these adjustable fox shocks are not a ton of money, retail is around 220 a piece. Without the adjustablity, its like 180 a shock.
 
Scrappy said:
......Oh these adjustable fox shocks are not a ton of money, retail is around 220 a piece. Without the adjustablity, its like 180 a shock.
$220 or even $180 a shock is alot of money for most people, i want your job and financial responsibilities if $220 is cheap:shocked:
 
steagall9301 said:
$220 or even $180 a shock is alot of money for most people, i want your job and financial responsibilities if $220 is cheap:shocked:



Ha.. yeah but you have to factor this, they are rebuildable shocks. So the initial buy is more, but they last essentially forever. I think that price is good for a great shock. Yes, they arnt coilover or airshocks, but I think we would all beable to justify saving pennies for the best ride you can get. Thats what I do, save pennies (and quaters sometimes).
 
Scrappy said:
Ha.. yeah but you have to factor this, they are rebuildable shocks. So the initial buy is more, but they last essentially forever. I think that price is good for a great shock. Yes, they arnt coilover or airshocks, but I think we would all beable to justify saving pennies for the best ride you can get. Thats what I do, save pennies (and quaters sometimes).
my wife and 5 kids take the pennies i earn and spend them and the ones i find on the ground are the ones i get for my jeep:shocked:
 
David Taylor said:
How about the Cat ? I'm thinking I might be down to 3800 after this last round of cutting. Not finished so I havn't run it by the scale yet.
I was down to 4K on the nose untill I added another 50# to each lower rear link... (OK , maybe a little exageration)

Matt
 
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Scrappy said:
Rich, I am doing some research right now for shock on my "other" jeep. I am looking at the Fox Remote Res 12"f/10"r travel with adjustable compression valving front and rear. I am hoping that the adjustable compression will help tune the differences between street/rocks/sand. Do you think having this extra adjustablity is worth the extra money? I may very well be taking a shot in the dark with initial valving, but I have some good advice from a good shock shop. What you think?

Oh these adjustable fox shocks are not a ton of money, retail is around 220 a piece. Without the adjustablity, its like 180 a shock.

If your going to take the time to tune them and have the patience then yes they would be worth the money.
 
Scrappy said:
Rich, I am doing some research right now for shock on my "other" jeep. I am looking at the Fox Remote Res 12"f/10"r travel with adjustable compression valving front and rear. I am hoping that the adjustable compression will help tune the differences between street/rocks/sand. Do you think having this extra adjustablity is worth the extra money? I may very well be taking a shot in the dark with initial valving, but I have some good advice from a good shock shop. What you think?

Oh these adjustable fox shocks are not a ton of money, retail is around 220 a piece. Without the adjustablity, its like 180 a shock.

I have a pair of 12" travel sitting in my garage, and I'm trying to decide if I'm going to send them back or if I'm going to go ahead and spend the $570 shipped (cough...cough) and try them. When I ordered them back in late Jan I didn't know they were going to come with an adjustment for compression damping. That could be a real nice feature since the compression rate could be softened for trail running and then stiffened up for the fast stuff. I'm very tempted, even though I really like my 7100's. The Fox shocks didn't come in in time for my trip to Baja, so I went ahead and got the 7100's, and now three months later I get these shocks in the mail and a nice $570 charge to my debit card.

BTW, these are 2" body remote resevoir Fox Racing Shox with an adjustment for fluid flow into the resevoir that will change compression damping, and they have been extensively tested to dial in the valving for a typical built up TJ. We figure the TJ and XJ weights should be close enough that the valving should work equally well with both. This could be a great shock with the compression adjustment, and they come with the stock bushing mounts with a stud top mount.

Anyone want a a nearly new set of 12" 7100's valved 275/78? :)


Hey Matt, do you have any connections to work me out a trial deal? Leaving for BOTW in a couple of days. I hate to spend that amount of dough just to see how they work. I also wonder how the top post mount will hold up to pre-running, like bushing life and stress on the flimsy mount.
 
You hit my concern right on the dot. The stud mount. I am not entirely sure I can get these shocks with a standard mount on both ends. Talking back and forth with Poly, we are kinda thinking that this shock should revolutionize dual duty rigs. I am looking at fabbing or buying a coil over kit for the front of mine, then just using nice shocks.

As far as the mount for the XJ goes, I have always thought that welding some plate on the fender to spread the load out more would help with the usual problem of pulling shocks out. I think with the stud mount, limit straps have to be perfect. I dont see why the bushings would prematurely fail. Even if they wear fast, they are not hard to change by any means.

I dont know if I can get some shocks for trial, let me do some digging around. How long do I have?
Goatman said:
I have a pair of 12" travel sitting in my garage, and I'm trying to decide if I'm going to send them back or if I'm going to go ahead and spend the $570 shipped (cough...cough) and try them. When I ordered them back in late Jan I didn't know they were going to come with an adjustment for compression damping. That could be a real nice feature since the compression rate could be softened for trail running and then stiffened up for the fast stuff. I'm very tempted, even though I really like my 7100's. The Fox shocks didn't come in in time for my trip to Baja, so I went ahead and got the 7100's, and now three months later I get these shocks in the mail and a nice $570 charge to my debit card.

BTW, these are 2" body remote resevoir Fox Racing Shox with an adjustment for fluid flow into the resevoir that will change compression damping, and they have been extensively tested to dial in the valving for a typical built up TJ. We figure the TJ and XJ weights should be close enough that the valving should work equally well with both. This could be a great shock with the compression adjustment, and they come with the stock bushing mounts with a stud top mount.

Anyone want a a nearly new set of 12" 7100's valved 275/78? :)


Hey Matt, do you have any connections to work me out a trial deal? Leaving for BOTW in a couple of days. I hate to spend that amount of dough just to see how they work. I also wonder how the top post mount will hold up to pre-running, like bushing life and stress on the flimsy mount.
 
Scrappy said:
I dont know if I can get some shocks for trial, let me do some digging around. How long do I have?

Goatman said:
Hey Matt, do you have any connections to work me out a trial deal? Leaving for BOTW in a couple of days. I hate to spend that amount of dough just to see how they work. I also wonder how the top post mount will hold up to pre-running, like bushing life and stress on the flimsy mount.

:kissyou:
 
Scrappy said:
You hit my concern right on the dot. The stud mount. I am not entirely sure I can get these shocks with a standard mount on both ends. Talking back and forth with Poly, we are kinda thinking that this shock should revolutionize dual duty rigs.

So these are clicker shocks? If thats the case then yeah I would definatly get them. I've been looking hard at the Walker/Dynatrac clicker shocks for a TJ. And if they come with the stud mount then thats even better. Really if your using the stock XJ shock bracket eye or not should matter as the JKS conversion bolt into the same spot as well. A additonal plate in the area would definalty help pull out.
 
Thanks, Mike. :D

I haven't talked to Dave, but was thinking about it. If they had come in when they were expected to I'd be running them right now. I think someone needs to try them on an XJ so we can see what they do, especially with the ability to adjust compression valving for dual purpose.......which happens to be a big deal to many of us with XJ's.

I don't need them for free, just would like some kind of break to ease the pain of $570 just to see how they work. We could even swap them around some at BOTW so different folks could try them out and give some feedback. The only problem with me trying them is that my lower mount is only for a heim joint, to mount these up with bushings I'll have to figure something out. I wonder if the bushing uses a 1/2" bolt, or comes with a sleeve, then I guess it wouldn't be hard to mount up.

A good quality shock, with valving that is close, with the ability to adjust compression for slow work and fast work, and they can still be re-valved to dial them in. Could be sweet.
 
Weasel said:
So these are clicker shocks? If thats the case then yeah I would definatly get them. I've been looking hard at the Walker/Dynatrac clicker shocks for a TJ. And if they come with the stud mount then thats even better. Really if your using the stock XJ shock bracket eye or not should matter as the JKS conversion bolt into the same spot as well. A additonal plate in the area would definalty help pull out.

Yeah, they have a clicker adjustment on the reservoir that changes fluid flow into the reservoir which changes compression damping.

Fox Shock at Poly Performance

After looking on this site, it says conflicting things.....one place says only rebound dampening, another says compression dampening, but on the phone they said compression dampening.
 
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