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.

 

[gjk5dave]

I'll chime in with 5160 opinion: They run fairly rough for daily driving, seem to handle washboard and rocky fast stuff pretty well. I have yet to run a long, fast trail to judge the fade qualities with the reservoir so not fully decided on these but I am regretting not spending a bit more for Fox or Falcon. Hope I am proven wrong but not holding my breath. Still leaps and bounds better than the factory Fox soft bouncy/floatey shocks that came on it. Unfortunately the next step up seemed to be $1000+ more

 

[Idlethunder]

Yes, they will loosen up a little bit and then over time will get softer as the oil gets worked.

I had a winch in the OE steel bumper at the time of install, so front axle was heavier than stock. Adding a heavier passenger changed the dynamic quite a bit too.

My main complaint was to get the settings dialed as good as possible especially while towing, the high speed moments small bumps over small chop was WAY rough! Say expansion cracks and broken pavement.

It will be a week or two before I tow anything but I did carry 500 pounds of flooring in the bed on Wednesday. Like you said the difference was noticeable but I was only taking it a few miles so I didn’t adjust the shocks. They were fine just a little softer. If the timing works out I will take a little travel trailer 600 miles out to New Mexico in a couple of weeks. That will be a good first towing test for the diesel and the shocks.

After more driving rough roads, I’ve backed off the high speed dials two clicks in the front and one in the rear. They are now set 3 clicks from soft in the front and 1 in the rear. If I deliver the trailer, I’ll move the rear high speed 2 clicks firmer to start and adjust as needed.

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