Rear shock mounting

[JFA_Spyderman]

Yo,
When I searched for rear shock locations, all I came up with had to do with hoops and holes in the bed. My rear end is going to have an explorer 8.8 with the chevy spring swap, 2" shackles, and no body lift.

What would be the best way to mount them without cutting into the bed to maximize travel. I was thinking perhaps some crossmember between the bed rails. Something similar to this.

Is this the best method without cutting into the bed?
Thanks!

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

Having them angled in like that actually takes the stability out of the shock, as the leverage on it is too great. The stock mounting locations with the right length of shocks (flex the truck without any shocks installed after doing all your mods and get the suspension to max out and take some measurements) will work well.

 

[brendank]

It wasn't very long ago that I was looking for the same thing.

I ended up making a setup, but I don't like the way it turned out. In the next couple days, I'm planning on making something similar to this:

The picture is on a jeep, but the ranger's rear mount is close to the same. With some gusseting, it could work well.

 

[JFA_Spyderman]

Yo,
Yeah, I am was pretty sure I was going to leave them in the origional position. I just want to make sure I can get a long enough shock to handle the chevy spring swap and belltech shackles.

I like that extension setup, I will have to see how much room I have. Thanks!

 

[mjonesjr]

Do you have a body lift on your truck? If you do, you can extend the mounts 3" up and have longer rear shocks.

 

[JFA_Spyderman]

Yo,
I am trying to avoid a body lift if i can. I may go an inch with some hockey pucks. Another thing I was thinking is that if i make the mount to move the shocks a little further forward and backward (left shock and right shock), like the jeep picture, that may also help solve my problem.

 

[wahlstrom1]

Remember to measure full droop as well as full flex, I can droop about 4-5" more then full flex and my shocks are to short to let the axle hang. On another note, being chevy's are as flexy as they are I'm gonna be adding a limiting strap for lifting it on a hoist etc.

I can have my rear bumper a little more then 6' off the ground with the forklift before my tires come off the ground.

-andrew

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

I had my shocks in the original mounting positions before I swapped to the outboard set up I have now. I'm running the Chevy leafs with an extended shackle. The shocks I used were a ProComp ES3000, they had 14" of travel and they were plenty long enough in the stock mounting location.

 

[JFA_Spyderman]

Yo,
Ok nice, Sasquatch_ryda, did you have to lengthen the bumpstops at all with that setup?

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

Nope, never touched the bump stops, at full stuff (tire just rubbing the fender) its still about 3 or 4 " away from the bump stops. Probably wouldn't be a bad idea to get longer ones to keep the leaves from negative arching.

 

[wahlstrom1]

^^^ Same here, I haven't bothered with bumpstops in the rear, as my box stops the tires long before the shocks will bottom out. I'll be adding a flatbed in the future though, so they may become necessary.

-andrew

 

[JFA_Spyderman]

Yo,
At that point (where the tire hits the bed), about how much travel is left in your shock?

 

[wahlstrom1]

I haven't looked at it while flexed like that for a few months, but if I were to guess I'd say 3-4"s? I'm running ProComp ES3000's as well, but I can't remember the length. I have a new set that will allow me to use full droop, and not waste the shock length on useless up travel, I just have to install them.

-andrew

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

Last time I looked (this is with the outboard shock set up) about 1.5-2" left