Front Shocks-how much travel needed?

While working on changing out my headlights a week ago, I noticed when removing the shock mount for the old headlight setup that my front shocks only have about 2" of travel before they would "bottom out"... in other words, only about 2" of the shaft is exposed at the top of the shock when the car is at rest. I don't know how much travel a solid axle/4 bar setup has to begin with, as this is my first but i would think it wouldn't take much to bottom these out. From what i can see, they are not "shorty" shocks, and look like they'd measure about 9 1/2" if they were fully compressed. I see So Cal sells a shorty shock from Pete 'N Jakes that seems like it would give me more travel before bottoming out, but I'm wondering if I need these or not.

http://www.est1946.com/index.asp?Pag...ROD&ProdID=160

I have not driven the car except for a few illegal trips around the block, so it has no "real world" miles on it. Shorty chrome shocks are spendy (about 90.00 each) and I don't wanna buck up for em if i don't need em... so the question is, is 2" of shock travel too little?

I think I would try to bottom them out by having someone seated in the car and bounce the car while watching the travel 2" dose seem a little light, but I have know real knowledge of your car.

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Originally Posted by joeybsyc

While working on changing out my headlights a week ago, I noticed when removing the shock mount for the old headlight setup that my front shocks only have about 2" of travel before they would "bottom out"... in other words, only about 2" of the shaft is exposed at the top of the shock when the car is at rest. I don't know how much travel a solid axle/4 bar setup has to begin with, as this is my first but i would think it wouldn't take much to bottom these out. From what i can see, they are not "shorty" shocks, and look like they'd measure about 9 1/2" if they were fully compressed. I see So Cal sells a shorty shock from Pete 'N Jakes that seems like it would give me more travel before bottoming out, but I'm wondering if I need these or not.

http://www.est1946.com/index.asp?Pag...ROD&ProdID=160

I have not driven the car except for a few illegal trips around the block, so it has no "real world" miles on it. Shorty chrome shocks are spendy (about 90.00 each) and I don't wanna buck up for em if i don't need em... so the question is, is 2" of shock travel too little?

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the travel of the shock depends a lot on your springs. tie a string or something around the shock shaft and drive it and that will tell how much the shock is moving.

Its a mono leaf buggy spring... the more i look at it, the more i can't imagine that one decent bump wouldn't easily bottom the shock out. Although I've been looking at pics of other hiboys and see alot of cars with as little of travel as my own... not to say any of those guys drive them much though...

Generally you want half up and half down travel. But that is just a guideline, and in the real world we do with less or more to get a stance we like, which dictates how the shock sits.


Don

You will be fine-mine are the same way.If your shocks are at an angle you got more travel than what you think.;)

Seems plenty tight on clearance to me, even a coilover has about 3" of travel... I'm certainly no buggy spring expert, but I think I'd be wanting a shorter shock or wider spacing on the mounts. The "sweet spot" for ride on the shock is generally at about 60% of it's travel.....or at least that's what the old rule of thumb thing has always been....

Here's an idea of the shock angle I have...

I made the move to a shorter shock from PRO SHOCKS ... No prob with the travel more to Go ! .. But what the hell do I know ..

$ave some bucks and get these shocks ( Pro 401 )... $99.95 a pair

close- 8.75 / open -12.5 / ride 10.5

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g1...O/CIMG4465.jpg


http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g1...O/CIMG4466.jpg

If your shocks have the rubber grommet on the shaft as shown in one of the attached pictures and it is a tight fit you can push these down on the barrel of the shock while it is at ride height and then drive it and check for shock travel this way. If the shocks don't have a grommet, use a small plastic wire tie wrapped around the shaft. This will tell you if you have any shock travel left.

Your shock placement and travel looks just like mine, 10K miles and no issues. Drive it it should be fine. The old cross buggy spring dosen't afford much travel and actually handles well as far as turns and most normal road situations. Where it dosen't do well is situations where both front wheels need compression such as speed bumps, hit 'em hard and you'd better be holdin' on tight!

Nitro has IMO the perfect shock setup on his car. Notice that the shock is in the sweet spot of it's travel and has plenty of compression left. Lots of guys I've seen are driving around in their buggy spring cars and don't even know they are bottoming out the shock and just assume it is a normal charachteristic of the ride. If the shock is bottoming out, you need a different shock, simple as that.....

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Originally Posted by nitrofc

I made the move to a shorter shock from PRO SHOCKS ... No prob with the travel more to Go ! .. But what the hell do I know ..

$ave some bucks and get these shocks ( Pro 401 )... $99.95 a pair

close- 8.75 / open -12.5 / ride 10.5

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g1...O/CIMG4465.jpg


http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g1...O/CIMG4466.jpg

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put something around the shaft like the rubber washer he has and then you'll know that its doing.

Whats the deal with the little rubber ring on the shock? Mine doesn't have that, and the more i look at yours, it looks like the shaft is bigger above that ring, like the only true travel you have is the area between the top of the shock body and the rubber ring itself... is that true? If so, you don't really have much more travel than I do... if the part above the rubber ring can go inside the body of the shock, then those look like they'd be better than what i got now. What's the purpose of the ring? Can you remove it? Looks sorta awkward there inthe middle of the shaft.

Here's what mine look like... the drivers side has a little less travel at rest than the pass. for some reason.

While your car is sitting there take 2 wire ties and put them on the shock shafts one on each side. Slide them down to top of shock. Go for a ride. Come back and see how high up the wireties are now. That will tell you your travel and if your bottoming out.

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Originally Posted by joeybsyc

Whats the deal with the little rubber ring on the shock? Mine doesn't have that, and the more i look at yours, it looks like the shaft is bigger above that ring, like the only true travel you have is the area between the top of the shock body and the rubber ring itself... is that true? If so, you don't really have much more travel than I do... if the part above the rubber ring can go inside the body of the shock, then those look like they'd be better than what i got now. What's the purpose of the ring? Can you remove it? Looks sorta awkward there inthe middle of the shaft.

Here's what mine look like... the drivers side has a little less travel at rest than the pass. for some reason.

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they are there to help keep the shaft clean and so you can check the travel of the shock. if yours don't have them, do what some have said and tie something around the shaft, push it down as far as it will go, and then go for a ride. the shock will push the tie up, and if it bottoms out you need dif. shocks.

Mine are about the same.
You should be fine
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...d/IMG_0008.jpg

At 2" exposed shaft, you're a little less than the ideal, but it's no big deal. You should be fine. These shocks measure 9 1/2" compressed, and 14 1/2" extended, so there's 5" of total shock travel. Because of the mounting angle of the shock, and the distance from the tire, you will have more than 2" of suspension travel. It1s10 has some good advice. You need to have some"up" travel as well as some "down" travel for a good ride, so I'd say you're okay.

If you change to the "short" shocks, the total shock travel is only 3 1/2", so they are harder to set up correctly. They are much less forgiving if you don't have them at the 50-60% position.

:)

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Originally Posted by joeybsyc

Whats the deal with the little rubber ring on the shock? Mine doesn't have that, and the more i look at yours, it looks like the shaft is bigger above that ring, like the only true travel you have is the area between the top of the shock body and the rubber ring itself... is that true? If so, you don't really have much more travel than I do... if the part above the rubber ring can go inside the body of the shock, then those look like they'd be better than what i got now. What's the purpose of the ring? Can you remove it? Looks sorta awkward there inthe middle of the shaft.

Here's what mine look like... the drivers side has a little less travel at rest than the pass. for some reason.

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Sorry but that justs doesnt look right.Not enough travel ,and uneven shock height.IMO not good:D

Like Dave said ,check your travel ,then buy the correct shocks.Either that or move the mounts.You always want to use the correct legnth shock,not something close.:D

It might also be a good idea and get your tape out to see if your chassis is leaning to one side,or worse ,uneven mount heights.:D

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Originally Posted by BigTruckDriver

Sorry but that justs doesnt look right.Not enough travel ,and uneven shock height.IMO not good:D

Like Dave said ,check your travel ,then buy the correct shocks.Either that or move the mounts.You always want to use the correct legnth shock,not something close.:D

It might also be a good idea and get your tape out to see if your chassis is leaning to one side,or worse ,uneven mount heights.:D

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Thanks for your advice, but it should be noted that when you jounce the car once with your hand the shock height evens out side to side, so there's no big deal there... I've been looking at deuces from that link someone posted in another thread, and there are literally hundreds posted that have roughly the same shock travel as me, some with even less. I'm leaving it alone til I drive it, I'll check the travel as described by several, but based one what I've seen and heard, I can't see the need to go to shorty shocks, which could likely cause a whole different set of issues with lack of travel. Who was it that said if it aint broke don't fix it? :3dSMILE:

i agree, we have 20 post on whether there is enough travel in the shock or not. if it was my car and i could drive it i wouldn't ask nobody, i'd check it myself. cant no one look at that pic. and give you a for sure answer. check it, drive the car with normal weight in it and hit some bumps and go around some corners and then look at how much the shock travels. thats the only way you'll ever know.:HMMM:

Well, I decided i didn't have enough travel... it was ok 90% of the time, but every once in awhile it would hit hard in a PA pothole, so i bought a new pair of Pro shocks from Speedway... Gained a bit of clearance up front, so that's a good thing. I like the shape of the shock better than my old ones too... Anyone need a pair of nearly new Chassis Engineering chrome front shocks? ;)

Here's the old vs. the new:

Just for the record, since installing the new shocks with the little rubber ring on them, I've found that my shocks have never compressed more than about an inch and a half, which basically indicates the old shocks I had were probably fine too... I would have thought there would be alot more travel than that, and mind you, PA roads are NOT smooth...
I figured I'd post this info just FYI if anyone else is worried about shock travel... seems you don't need too much.