fox shocks on a yj

[NAILER341]

well, you may have read in another post that i went and bought these fancy fox shocks. well, i did the installation over the past couple of days.

i did not just remove the old rancho shocks, and bolt these on, however.
i cut off the stock shock tower, and customized a ford shock tower to suit my needs. i really wanted tio get the shocks out of the way of the rocks, and eliminate as many things as possible to get hung up on down there.

you will see in a couple of these pics, the custom u bolt set up i made as well. the u bolt plates hang down below the spring only 1/4". this is a hell of a lot better than the 1-1/8" it used to hand down.

well, back to the shock installation.

in the picture below you will see on the right, the stock ford shock mount. it is made of 3/16" thick steel. beefy stuff!
the one on the left is what i had to shape it in to.
i flared out the sides, and notched it to fit over the frame to attain maximum clearance from the tire in all positions.



in this picture, you will see how high up on the axle tube the bottom of the shock it. it is completely out of harms way.



here are a couple more pics of the finished mount, and flexing it out

[blkTJ]

oh, man... looks great!!! I know it took some serious work but I bet it'll be worth it. I can't wait to get mine and fab up some stuff!!! nice job! :yay:

[aston]

Erik,

Could you check the pics, I get the red x's :mad:

I am in the process of doing the exact same thing and I'd like to see how you squeezed everything in down there.

Chris L.

[NAILER341]

http://nailer341.com/photogallery/je...HOCK%20MOD.htm
here you go, aston. i had to move them i was having some server extention problems. hopefully the originals will be back up soon.

[aston]

F**D shock towers

http://nailer341.com/photogallery/je...HOCK%20MOD.htm
here you go, aston. i had to move them i was having some server extention problems. hopefully the originals will be back up soon.

Thanks Erik

Any issues with the caliper hitting the lower mount at full lock?

I see you cut the towers a fair bit, what did it buy you?

Just slapping the towers on the frame sets the shock at positive camber i.e. top angled outward when viewed from the front. I was thinking of cutting the towers so that the shock was close to vertical on level ground. This will require some bashing of the inner fender. Any thoughts?

Anything you would do differently?

Your flex rocks :yay: btw.

Chris L.

[NAILER341]

Any issues with the caliper hitting the lower mount at full lock?

No, i have adjusted my steering stops to prevent this. i have had this problem in the past with the ranchos, and corrected it with those. a major contributer o the dented shock bodies with my ranchos was the lack of bump stops i had.
i have since added bump stops to limit up travel, which still touches the inside of the fender, but keeps it managable. also dialing in the steering stops seems to have eliminated the tented shock bodies

I see you cut the towers a fair bit, what did it buy you?

as far as cutting the towers... they are ford towers, which i raised from the stock position about 4 or so inches. i cut them to open the width. this would ensure that i didnt smash the shock bodies on the upper mounts while the shock cycles from full stuff to full droop in any twisted up position.
it seems to have enough clearance all the way around with the extra attention i gave them.

Just slapping the towers on the frame sets the shock at positive camber i.e. top angled outward when viewed from the front. I was thinking of cutting the towers so that the shock was close to vertical on level ground. This will require some bashing of the inner fender. Any thoughts?

in the above pic you can see the modification i did to the towers to get them set up so the shocks would have enough clearance from the frame, set in a vertical position at rest, as well as have a full range of motion.
it was not too easy to flare the sides of those mounts. they are 3/16" steel, and dont have much give.

the way i have those cut will get them as high as possible, and still have to bash the fenders in about 3/4" or so, and the body still lightly touches the towers. i'll fix this with a few more beatings with a bfh.




in this picture you can see how high on the tube the shock bottoms are. they are completely out of the way of the rocks. this was the purpose of the whole mod.

Anything you would do differently?

funny you would ask
as far as the heights, and customizing the towers... no.
the one thing i would do differently, [which i still have to correct] is to be sure the shock mounts on the tube absolutely have the shock in a vertical position at rest. on the first one [drivers side] i guess i did it with one eye open. it is about 1/2" inset, and has the shock a bit out of plumb.
the shock still has a full range of motion, and wont hit the frame in any position, but small things like that will drive me crazy. it is kind of like the "o-ring" problem that brian has :yay:
otherwise, i wouldnt change anything.

i have nothing but good to say about the fox shocks. these things perform much better than the dollars spent. you are hearing that from one cheap sonofabitch too.

if you are planning to use the fox shocks on your install, there are a few other tidbits you should be aware of. let me know if this is your plan

[aston]

i have nothing but good to say about the fox shocks. these things perform much better than the dollars spent. you are hearing that from one cheap sonofabitch too.

The Fox shocks are about a hundred and a half aren't they?

I was thinking of Rancho :yawn: or maybe the new Rubicon Express units.

What makes Fox so 'kin great


Aston Out

[NAILER341]

there are a few things that make them great.
first, they are completely tunable for the weight of your rig, and your driving style on the type of terrain you enjoy.
when i say tunable, i mean you can change compression and rebound seperately. it isnt as easy to do as the rancho 9000 shocks, but the versatility of the tuning is 10 fold.

in the whoops, i would have to slow down to 10 mph with the ranchos, which i have blown 3 sets of. with tese i couldnt believe the difference in the whoops. they just sucked up the slamming of the jeep. even from getting air, they just absorbed it all and liked it. i was hitting the whoops at speed just to test these babies out, an dthey laughed at the torture, and didnt allow the jeep to bottom out.
hitting the whoops is how i inverted the shackle though. that should give you an idea what i was doing

now you go from the whoops to the rocks, and get the same level of performance. with the tunability of the shocks, they can be set up to really push your tire onto the rocks, rather than just sitting on them

another key point is that they are completely rebuildable. if you do damage any part of the shock, you can get that part, and rebuild it
in theory, these could be the last pair of shocks you ever have to buy.

thanks for your interest in this mod. i am happy to answer any questions i can about it for you.

how much are the rancho 9000 shocks? about 100 each?
at that price, you are well on your way. and you will have a far superior shock on your rig.

in all honesty, i was truly amazed at the performance difference in these shocks.
i never realized the importance the shocks played in this game.

[NAILER341]

just to clarify on the tuning, it in not the same as the ranchos with the knob. you have to take the shock apart, and replace the discs inside. i dont want to mislead you on that part.
after a lot of research, i found the numbers recommended for my jeep, and think i will keep them that way.
if there was some aspect of the performance i didnt like, i could easily change either the compression or rebound or both by replacing the "shim packs" to get the desired result.

[blkTJ]

in all honesty, i was truly amazed at the performance difference in these shocks.
i never realized the importance the shocks played in this game.

not only that, they look cool. :thumbs_up :yay:

[goodtimes]

.... these things perform much better than the dollars spent. you are hearing that from one cheap sonofabitch too.

You actually spent money on a modification to your jeep? And your happy with it?!?!?!?!

They must work good.......

[NAILER341]

You actually spent money on a modification to your jeep? And your happy with it?!?!?!?!

They must work good.......

it is truuuue! lol

[aston]

bonk, bang, ching

OK...so I mocked up a lower mount, c clamped the tower in position and installed the shock.

Yikes - ugly...leaning out like Brian after 2 pints of shandy :yay:

So I started bashing the inner fender well. I found that if I heated the sheet metal an MFH worked very nicely. I thought I was going to need oxy but a butane torch was sufficient.

After a few laps, the shock is a knats-cock off plumb.

Better than good-enough but not quite perfect.

Next I'm gonna trim the tower so it sits on the frame nice and square.

Erik, flaring out the tower is no easy task - was it worth it?

If so, I'm gonna need 27 butane torches

Chris L.

[NAILER341]

in this picture you can see how i did mine. i cut a slit up the edge, and bent it out with an adjustable wrench, and a vice. then i welded it shut. this way was pretty easy. i tried heating, and cussing. cutting, and welding was easier, and quicker.

i would do it again.

[aston]

One side is done and ready for welding. I measured six times and cut once, the result is pretty damn good - for a Limey.


The other side will have to wait 'till tomorrow

Aston Out