Coilover Conversion Mount Binding

[DeadEye200321]

I have a 4 inch rough country super lift on my 2004 FX4 Ranger and when I bought the truck it had the lift and coilover conversion brackets from NorthPeak4x4 installed already. I’ve been having some trouble with my suspension lately and have snapped now 2 fox shocks and realize that this is not a coincidence anymore and I want to get to the bottom of it. Here are some photos that I believe is where the shock might be binding.

I think the angle of the shock is causing it to bind but if that was the case, I feel like everyone who has this coilover conversion bracketry would be complaining about this. Does anyone have any insight into making suspension and or dealing with suspension components and could help me diagnose this problem? The circled red portions in the photos are where the shock caps are hitting the upper mounts which I think on a hard bump or something could be putting too much vertical stress on the shock causing it to snap at the base which would be the weakest point. Any help with this would be great or if anyone has any modified drawings/dxf files of these parts that I could laser cut myself, that would be amazing. Thanks in advance for any help!!

 

[franklin2]

Take the spring completely off the shock. The fully re-assemble the suspension without the spring on the shock, and run it up and down full stroke by hand while watching it and see what is going on.

 

[DeadEye200321]

Got it, I'll give that a try this upcoming weekend and see if I can see what is going on.

 

[DeadEye200321]

Were files ever made for the coilover brackets? I saw the coilover sadness/madness thread but any photos that were there are now replaced by a stock photobucket image saying the image is no longer available. Sadly I was still in middle school when that thread was going on and didn't even have a ranger let alone have a drivers license LOL.

 

[Jim Oaks]

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The area I circled looks questionable to me. The coil looks close to the bracing on the right, and the coil looks like it's rubbing on something. If I recall, those are gussets that are welded on and may not be in the right place.

1998-2011 Ford Ranger Coilover Conversion - The Ranger Station

First OF All, What’s A Coilover? “Coilover” is short for “coil spring over shock”. It consists of a shock absorber with a coil spring encircling it. Many of today’s vehicles are built with struts instead of springs. The strut … Continued

www.therangerstation.com

Cycle the suspension and see if anything is rubbing. I'd also look around at photos of other installs and compare it to yours to see if your stuff is spaced properly.

 

[pjtoledo]

was the orientation of both breaks the same?
do the break lines align with front/back or sideways/in/out?

 

[4x4junkie]

I don't see a (proper) bump stop on there. I think what is happening is the suspension is slamming all of the truck's weight down onto the shocks when you hit a dip or bump (the shocks might have their own bumpers around the shafts, but their mounts were never designed to take that kind of a load all on their own).

Looks like relocation brackets were part of that North Peak kit, but it doesn't appear they were installed on yours (maybe you can get replacement ones? Looks to be a weld-together kit though, so you'd have to find someone to weld them up if you don't have a welder).
Additionally, you'll have to figure a way to add an appropriate-length extension to the bump stop snubber since you have the lift (drop-down) brackets on there so that the snubber contacts the A-arm with about half-inch to 1-inch of shock travel remaining (not sure if Superlift still makes that kit, but maybe they have something that would work... most likely the extensions will match the amount that the drop brackets drop down).
A good offroad fabrication shop should also be able to help you with this.