Advice on shocks for Ecodiesel

[Rusty PW]

Nice, 11” of front travel is more than many popular jeep options. But 11” rears isn’t great, it’s easy to find almost 13” in other rear shocks. Of course that only matters if the rest of your build can supply that much travel in the first place.

And there are many other factors. I liked the Icons I had on my previous rig (a Toyota)

My King front shocks extended is 28.87", collapsed is 18.11". Rear 30.25", and 19.24". These are for 3" to 5" lift. Shocks are remote reservoir with adjusters.

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[CrazyCooter]

I'm sorry for the delayed response; I've been sick for several days. I took some ***very rough*** measurements for you with a tape measure, but should be within 1/4".

Icon CDCV for Jeep Gladiator:
Front 27.75" extended, 16.75" compressed
Rear 28.00" extended, 17.75" compressed

So IMO, that front shock is too short.....I like 28.5"/17.5" for a 1.5"-3" lift to max out travel for 37s, Rubi/Mojave fenders, and .5-1" bump extension.

With Icon's front lengths you give up some droop and can't use all of the compressed length before the bumpstop hits. Usable travel might only be 8.5-9.5". Maybe combine them with some Metal Cloak outboard shock mounts to strike the balance? Their rear length works for heavier spring rates that have shorter extended measurements. Anything more than maybe 29" and the spring falls out.

A few other factors to keep in mind on the rear shock strokes.......1)An 11" stroke is more than 11" of vertical axle travel since the shock is mounted at an angle so the motion ratio is more than 1:1. 2)With the stock arm geometry, the axle moves the shock mounts closer together as the axle droops. 3)The arm geometry also rotates the axle throughout the range of vertical travel.......11" stroke might actually be closer to 12.5" axle travel in real life.

 

[rubicon4wheeler]

Your assessment is spot-on. I like to put a zip tie around my shock shafts to mark maximum compression, and with my front bumpstop setup I can verify that I'm not using the last bit of compression.

Now that you've got me thinking about it, I believe I have some AEV shock spacers lying around that I can use to see how that fine tunes my shock travel.

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