bad_idea

I have a 90 XJ on 5" of lift with 33s, CADs with stock length arms. The jeep is slowly turning into a trail rig. I am in the south east, so muddy trails and rock crawling. No jeepspeed stuff out here. I am going long arms this winter. Plan to use the ironman4x4fab front four link setup. I am keeping coils and shocks, no plan to go to coil overs. I am looking for ideas to extend the shock mounts to get max travel. Has anyone pushed the top of the shocks into the engine compartment a few inches to get a bit more travel, looks like I could sneak them up about 2-3" before the master cylinder got in the way. As far as lower mounts, thinking about mounting them lower on the axle with a bracket like this: Shock Bracket.

What have you all done? Thanks.

bad_idea

Has anyone welded to the unibody rails, poked up into the engine bay a couple inches? Thinking about picking up a pair and seeing if I can make that work. It's a good excuse to plate the front rails finally.

EvanM

Sounds like a pretty slick idea to get some universal fit customn valved shocks on your rig.

I thought about running shocks located off tge lower control arm. I never did get around to do that thought.

The engine hay is pretty tight. Center of coil spring bucket might be the best location. There are dodge pickup upper shock towers that might work for this.

pin top
https://www.ebay.com/itm/29661956654...mis&media=COPY

Universal top
https://www.ebay.com/itm/15605182204...mis&media=COPY


https://www.ebay.com/itm/30493529560...mis&media=COPY

bad_idea

I plan to run the shocks on the lower control arms. I am going to buy just the crossmember from ironman4x4fab and make my own control arms. I plan to use the Bilstein 5125s and will measure total suspension travel, then make them fit. I am hoping to get away with mounting to the lower control arms (easy to weld a bracket on there while I'm building them), and then just get some of those universal adapters to go from a stem to a bushing type upper mount. If the adapters won't give me enough room for the shocks, then I will look at welding some mounts that extend into the engine bay.

Thank you for the links to the dodge upper shock towers. Those may fit under the brake master cylinder. My only concern then is a solid attachment to the body that will not tear out. Not sure if through bolting will be sufficient to hold them in. Not terribly interested in pulling out the master cylinder to get access for hot work.

EvanM

With what your explaining id for the most part well i think for the most part i forgot stock shocks are mounted outside the coil spring. Lol

Your on track but you dont need a pin adapter in my mind. Barns 4wd, ruffstuffspecialties.com have shock brackets. Youl then gave eye shocks.

The upper bracket you can then cut it to suit thelength you endyop with. Id probly choose a 12 " stroke shock. And aim for minumum of 5" of up travel from ride heith. So 5" of shaft exposed at ride height.

A universal shock with no nitrogen in it will be a huge aid in figuring out bracket locatiolocations have some 2.5 FOA resivor shocks im running. They are working extremely well.

Foa can help you with valving. With custom valveing you can run alittle stiffer and lean shocks towards the rear to help with clearance. This also aid in droop as the shock straightens out as suspension droops.

Lots to think about ounce outside the cookie cutter world

bad_idea

Appreciate your input. You have my gears turning now. I am thinking I can build a 'mock up' shock with a bit of pipe/tubing. Find two pieces of pipe that slide inside of each other with minimal clearance, cut the outer piece to the length of the shock body and the inner piece to the length of the shock shaft, then weld eyes on each end to bolt it up. I'm sure I can scare up some scrap pipe easy enough. I know jeep and budget dont fit in the same sentence well, but I'm going to stick with a cheap set of 5125s for now. I'll look at going coilovers in a few years, likely.

I saw this bracket from ruffstuff. I did not see a solution for the upper eye on Barne's site, do you have a link for one?

EvanM

I was picturing something more like this
https://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/R1015.html

https://barnes4wd.com/products/frenc...ock-tower-pair

Foa 2.5 12" shock. 140 dollar shock.
https://f-o-a.com/shop/f-o-a-2-5-inc...2-inch-travel/

I have bought onebset if 5100 bilstien and wont ever do that again. In my opionion the kyb monomax is a better shock. Will go foa fox etc from here on out on all my stuff.

bad_idea

I have read on a few forums that FOA has poor manufacturing quality. How many of them have you ran, and what has your experience been?

EvanM

I have read the same. But i also read **** right here everyday that blows me away. I for the most part wouldnt trust a word on this entire forumn. Not even sure half the users here have jeeps.

That said i have exactly 2 2.5 foa shocks. The valveing foa did in them works very well. The shocks are not visually king quality nor did i exspect them to be.
Have a set of king coil overs on my jeep

They are on the rear of my f150 with probly 5000 miles of drive time on mostly street with some high speed washboard and slow technicalish trails mixed in.

Another 5 or 10 k and ill tear the shocks down for a refresh and new oil to see whats going on inside.

im willing to test tune and try just about anything. So far foa has been a win for me.

bad_idea

Fair point. Not sure I trust what you say now.

That's why I asked what your first hand experience was. There are plenty of people on forums all over the internet that regurgitate something they have read with no first hand experience. I appreciate your honest input on a product you have ran. I have seen FOA before and am tempted by their cheaper prices. I'll look into them further.

Buying a set of their shocks and running them for now is not a bad idea, will give an idea of the quality to be expected of coil overs down the road. If I can get the same performance at a lower cost, I am interested.

EvanM

Im probly going to orderd a set of 2.5 resivor 14" shocks soon. To be able to start testing another set.

But these competing in the 5100 price range almost makes it a no brainer for me.


https://f-o-a.com/shop/f-o-a-2-5-inc...4-inch-travel/

You definitely shouldn't to believe me. Ive not followed the jeep recipe very closely.

bad_idea

I'm more likely to believe you, I too do not follow the typical jeep recipe. You have me seriously considering the FOA shocks. Like you say, the price is comparable to the bilsteins. I'll probably try out a pair of the 2" emulsion 12" shocks. I don't do any high speed stuff, so no need for the fluid reservoir. The 2" shocks are shorter than the 2.5" shocks by 2", for the same travel (according to their charts). Not sure I need the strength of the larger diameter shocks. I'll call FOA when it comes time to buy a pair, get their input.

EvanM

I to think the 2" emulsion would be plenty of shock. Probly much more shock then 5100s.

XJlimitedx99

I made some custom lower mounts on my axle to move the shock down about 1" and move away from the bar-pin style. Not a huge increase, but every inch helps. Plus it was easy and didn't require any major work or even new shocks. I just put new bushings in the lower eyes of my Bilsteins.

I've been eyeballing the uppers for quite awhile. I would like to put them up through the fender, but there really is not a lot to be gained before running into the master cylinder. There are some good examples of what others have done floating around on Pirate and Irate. Honestly, coil overs seem like the best solution as they are so much easier to package. I'm hoping someday I'll have a lapse in financial judgement and order some. Haven't gotten there yet.

bad_idea

Do you have pics of your lower shock mounts?