Shock Question

roughneck222001

My 83' CJ-7 is SOA with D44s and 36" Irocs.What would be the cheapest,but best shocks on the front?(I could really use all info you please)Also my front springs are starting to SAG,can I just add a piece of hard steel underneath them?Would that help?THANKS

Mudrat

roughneck222001 wrote
My 83' CJ-7 is SOA with D44s and 36" Irocs.What would be the cheapest,but best shocks on the front?(I could really use all info you please)Also my front springs are starting to SAG,can I just add a piece of hard steel underneath them?Would that help?THANKS

Been trying to answer your first question myself. I have 3 sets of shocks and still don't have a set that fits right. I'm still looking.

For the front springs - stock? If so just add a leaf, try Rubicon Express, an overload leaf from another 2.5W springpack or something similar. It'll stiffen your ride though. :wink:

roughneck222001

Thanks for the info man.I think Ill jusr hold off on the trac bar, I dont really do any climbing or such.The terrain is pretty much flat here.But I think a set of gas shocks will help my wandering on the road it helped my cousins.

tufcj

Shocks are another product where you get what you pay for. Buy cheap, get cheap. I put Rancho RS9000 shocks on my SOA CJ, I like them, but they aren't cheap. As far as sagging springs, not much you can do except re-arch or replace. I first used YJ springs with my SOA. I got 2 sets and built my own 7 leaf packs by cutting a couple of the longer leaves to fit. They still sagged badly in under a year. I had Alcan Spring build me a set specifically for SOA. I've had them on for 4 years now, and the fronts are still good, the rears are starting to sag (less than 1"). They weren't cheap either, at about $700 for just the 4 springs. If your Jeep is wandering, that's usually a caster problem. I'm assuming you've checked all the other parts like ball joints, tie rod ends, steering box, and even the intermediate steering shaft. Caster needs to be 4 to 6 degrees positive (top ball joint behind the lower). If you rotated the pinion up to get a better driveshaft angle, then you killed your caster. On mine, we had to grind the knuckles loose from the axle tube, rotate them and re-weld to get driveshaft and caster angles right. Bob tufcj

Mudrat

tufcj wrote
Shocks are another product where you get what you pay for. Buy cheap, get cheap. I put Rancho RS9000 shocks on my SOA CJ, I like them, but they aren't cheap.
Bob
tufcj

Bob, what's your total travel, compressed and extended distances & length shock did you use?

On my SOA I stuffed in a 2" spring lift which gives me (theoreticaly) 5" up and 7" down, but a 12" shock won't make the travel distance and a 14" tube won't fit between mounts and give me more than 3" up???

I'm about ready to just make some frigg'n mounts, but I'll be pretty much on the road the next 170 days or so :oops: And I'm looking at dragg'[n it to FL where I can work on it while I'm not work'n?? 111!!!

tufcj

I believe my Ranchos are #9112. Travel sounds similar, but since all of my shocks mounts are custom fabbed, I don't know if they'd work for you. I took off my shocks and went to a local 4x4 shop that had a ramp. Ran it to the max (scored an 1100 on a 23* ramp), then crawled under and measured eye/eye distances at droop and compressed. Any good shop will have a spec book on the shocks that includes extended and compressed length of each model shock. We found that anything long enough for the droop wouldn't compress enough, so I added 1" extended bump stops. I had already built the mounts and didn't want to make them taller. I did my SOA using 1.5" lift YJ springs. My front axle is a Dana 44HD (1/2" wall tubes) from a 3/4 ton GM truck. It was built from the factory for SOA and 2.5" wide springs, but we did have to cut the cast axle pad by 8* to get the pinion angle right. It's also cut about 4" on the short side, and 6" on the long side to get widetrack Jeep width. It is a very clean installation. Bob tufcj

Mudrat

tufcj wrote
I believe my Ranchos are #9112. Travel sounds similar, but since all of my shocks mounts are custom fabbed, I don't know if they'd work for you.

I took off my shocks and went to a local 4x4 shop that had a ramp. Ran it to the max (scored an 1100 on a 23* ramp), then crawled under and measured eye/eye distances at droop and compressed. Any good shop will have a spec book on the shocks that includes extended and compressed length of each model shock. We found that anything long enough for the droop wouldn't compress enough, so I added 1" extended bump stops. I had already built the mounts and didn't want to make them taller.

I did my SOA using 1.5" lift YJ springs. My front axle is a Dana 44HD (1/2" wall tubes) fromt a 3/4 ton GM truck. It was built from the factory for SOA and 2.5" wide springs, but we did have to cut the cast axle pad by 8* to get the pinion angle right. It's also cut about 4" on the short side, and 6" on the long side to get widetrack Jeep width. It is a very clean installation.

Bob
tufcj

Thanks,
I don't mind fabbing something up - been there (ALOT) and the front axle sounds familiar too (3/4 ton GM D44, with a Histeer) :wink: I think my pads are a bit different though and right now, I don't have bumpstops!!! I may need to rotate something as well - Im a bit 'strange' up front. Haven't measured anything yet, but just doesn't "look" right.

BUT, the 9112's, I'll look into as well. thanks Bro!! :t:

roughneck222001

I did replace all joints and bearins,seals ans such in the front end. When I work my steering wheel back and forth my steering box does move fromm side ti side a little and it seems to me that the leaf spring hangers are moving also.My spring hangers are 71/2" long(6" center of holes). Is that too long?If not,can I fab some shorter ones to help in this movement prob.?Im also gonna go with Skyjacker Nitro shocks.