IF one was to use 4 door springs on a 2 door or some OME springs for the front suspension lift, what would you do for struts?
I'm currently setup to run LowRangeOffroad coil and strut spacer kit but am wondering what people do for front struts to not only keep the swept length (which strut spacers do), but to add to it so the suspension still compresses to stock height.
I went over Monroe's spec sheets after I found them online and found about 8 struts that would bolt up with differences in the brake tab, and a few minor things.
Stock front struts it lists:
Strut type - B7, Strut Length - 8.625, Compression - 8.750, Extended - 15.250, Travel 6.500
Then there are a few with the same strut type, compression, extension, and travel and then one with 8" travel instead. HOWEVER, the issue with all of these is they are 3.5-4.5" longer in general. You would only need 1.5-2.5" longer housing to keep similar ratio as stock then something with a longer travel to take advantage of additional compression.
I'm currently setup to run LowRangeOffroad coil and strut spacer kit but am wondering what people do for front struts to not only keep the swept length (which strut spacers do), but to add to it so the suspension still compresses to stock height.
You need to get underneath, pull the spring off and have a look at the suspension set up, its easier to understand when you play with it.
In stock form the wishbone hits the bumpstop with around 2" of travel left on the strut. Fitting spacers brings the top of the strut down so a 2" spacer will give you 2" of extra down travel whilst retaining the original upward travel.
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You need to get underneath, pull the spring off and have a look at the suspension set up, its easier to understand when you play with it.
In stock form the wishbone hits the bumpstop with around 2" of travel left on the strut. Fitting spacers brings the top of the strut down so a 2" spacer will give you 2" of extra down travel whilst retaining the original upward travel.
I put the spacers on the strut plate-frame mount and the spring spacer.
The whole reason for this topic is to see if there are other alternatives for shocks then $140+ OME (idk if those are even longer).
Going on your logic, if one was to put the spacers on the strut plate and run longer springs rather then spacers it would seem you would have the potential of bottoming out the strut.
Just to keep going on this I did some more reading. According to Monroes site our front struts have a "B7" style, there are only 4 struts with this style all being way to long.
Then I started looking at "B6" style which is very similar as far as mounting goes but the measurements are made from the top of the rod to the bottom mount hole instead. Taking the ~3" difference into account between the top and bottom mounts its easily found that you need 3" longer struts if you go to B6.
On top of this, you need to add another 1.5-2" longer so you can remove the strut spacers, this narrowed it down to two struts that are "close". They both interchange with one another (seems the one is getting phased out), below is the info I found:
Needed B6 to be closest to whats needed:
13.625 13.75 20.25 6.5+
As you can see, they are ½” longer for body length and compression length then needed but extended (droop) length is 1.5” more which is where the 7.5” travel comes in being 1” more then stock.
I’m going to check out both of the above shocks if I can find them in-stock locally then I’ll be updating. I’m only doing this because I A: need struts, B: It’s another option which can be installed on rigs with dropped diffs to keep CVs happy in addition with added stroke and C: not having to run a 1.5”-2” strut spacer and/or flipped mounts.
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Last edited by yellow2000S/R : 10-28-2009 at 09:05 PM.
Hope you have positive findings on the struts. I just posted a thread that might benefit from your research. Not sure how to link threads yet, take a look at my one other post and tell me what you think.
Is your goal for the sole purpose of additional travel, beyond the 6.5" or are you heading towards additional lift as well?
Hope you have positive findings on the struts. I just posted a thread that might benefit from your research. Not sure how to link threads yet, take a look at my one other post and tell me what you think.
Is your goal for the sole purpose of additional travel, beyond the 6.5" or are you heading towards additional lift as well?
Disregard last, saw your reasons....
Just more travel up/down for IFS people in general if the diff and all was dropped.
I just got some Gabriel Ultras made for the Tracker. I'll continue checking on options but I doubt I'll be getting something different unless I don't get the Tracker back on the road by mid next week and return the struts I got.
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Longer Front struts?
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