Reaching out to those doing their own shock tuning?

[PackMule]

Yes, I increased the rear PSI to 35 for towing. Might not have had to go that high on the BFG 37's.

I first tried one extra click on the high speed, and two clicks on the low speed in the rear when towing. Was still getting a little bounce/wobble, so I added one more high speed and three low speed clicks on the rear (total of 2 high speed and 5 low speed clicks). That settled it down so well that many times I forgot I was towing. Took the 44 between Redding and Reno, the 95 down through Vegas, then the 93 on to Wickenburg, then on to Florence AZ. 1000 mi very easy pull.

The great thing now is I have a dynamic range of adjustability that I didn't have with the stock tune. Before I had to run both high speed and low speed nearly cranked, all the time. Now I haven't even tried it either all the way up, (pretty close to cranked on the low speed though when towing), or all the way down yet, so I'm confident I have some room to play with for exceptional conditions, (e.g. really cold, or fully loaded, etc.)

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[CrazyCooter]

Yes, I increased the rear PSI to 35 for towing. Might not have had to go that high on the BFG 37's.

I first tried one extra click on the high speed, and two clicks on the low speed in the rear when towing. Was still getting a little bounce/wobble, so I added one more high speed and three low speed clicks on the rear (total of 2 high speed and 5 low speed clicks). That settled it down so well that many times I forgot I was towing. Took the 44 between Redding and Reno, the 95 down through Vegas, then the 93 on to Wickenburg, then on to Florence AZ. 1000 mi very easy pull.

The great thing now is I have a dynamic range of adjustability that I didn't have with the stock tune. Before I had to run both high speed and low speed nearly cranked, all the time. Now I haven't even tried it either all the way up, (pretty close to cranked on the low speed though when towing), or all the way down yet, so I'm confident I have some room to play with for exceptional conditions, (e.g. really cold, or fully loaded, etc.)

WAY COOL Dean!

I had 99.9% confidence in setup since I built it for me and I use my truck like you do, but I just wasn't sure anyone else would like it until I got some outside feedback. I'm just so happy others will be able to love their trucks under most conditions after spending this much money on quality equipment.

I'm also especially curious about your trip down the section of 95 north of Vegas. That area is where I noted the excessive high speed damping in the rear while towing my lighter 17' Clipper RV last year. The cracks/expansion joints in the road were just horrible!

Glad you bumped the tire pressure a bit for the towing duties even though 25psi still allows more axle weight capability than our JT's are even rated for. Per the load inflation table, a 37x12.50R17 @ 25psi is good for 2150lb each. The 35psi you are running now allows 2755lb each. At 50psi that same tire could support 3525lb each.......

With all of that said, run the at least minimum recommended pressure to support the weight, but add a few psi to tailor the ride to your liking. I tend to run the steer axle 1-3lb higher than minimum if the roads are going to be twisty. I do the same on the drive axle for towing/hauling duties to minimize chassis wiggle or prolonged high speed operation. I would think you should be 30psi or under in all conditions unless you are severely overloaded.

I also use the 10% rule.........10% rise in tire pressure from cold to hot confirms you are in the ideal range......ambient temps depending. If it's 20° in the morning and 90° at the days end, one should expect more spread. If psi rises more than 10%, try increasing pressure 1psi. If you don't see at least 10%, drop one psi.

More pressure should require backing off both low/high speed (but especially high)for comfort and at the same time lowering pressure should require increasing both low/high speed (but mostly low) to reduce wallowing. This is why I recommended bumping up a couple of clicks after airing down for off road.

Kind of strange to me that many running the "premium overlander's brand(Insert name here)" shocks.......people run stiff on road and go soft for off road? Seems backward to me? Maybe it's because the valving is so horrible that they cant stand the wobbly ride on road in the soft setting and the tooth rattling ride off road in the firm setting? The whole thing seems counterproductive starting from you wallet getting much lighter! I intend to acquire a set of those and build a tune (assuming I can get parts) for the poor victims that are already too invested to jump ship and swim the sea of Kool-aid to a different brand that has better support.

Anyway, thanks for the update and it just warms my heart that all of this hard work can be enjoyed by others. Every time you bash the front axle into a hole that sneaked up on you and the bump stops don't slam, you will think of this thread and laugh like a mad man at the desert sky like I do!

You have no idea how thankful I am that you were willing to be among the first to take a chance on this new guy in the industry.

 

[CrazyCooter]

After seeing a few too many new shocks with air in them as delivered, took a look around the shop for stuff I could repurpose and make a list of supplies to aquire for the project.

This setup should make shock bleeding possibly quicker, but also to evacuate those pocket areas where air could hide.

Since I was opening my SDis up for a small change over the weekend, thought would take that opportunity to measure and manufacture a plug for those shocks first!

This is my first start to finish lathe project since highskool over 30 years ago? It wasn't a terribly difficult project, but required a little bit of skill that came back to me. Gotta maybe look into a better knurling tool........

You may have spotted the next victim in the background........2019 Husqvarna FE501. It came to me terribly oversprung for even my 240lb self. WIth the preload adjusters back full out, the sag wasn't even close to low enough. I found it pretty much unridable and unsafe as I started to make some clicker adjustments. The rebound and compression on the forks maxed out yet still bottoming and bouncing up after the bottoming. I took it out for a 35 mile single track ride on Sunday, but it was pretty rough.....

Luckily the bike came with the stock springs, so I swapped out one of the fork springs to give me a combined rate of .480. Dumped out all of the fork oil and started with a fresh 5W Amsoil fluid with the oil levels maxed out so that I would have a good starting point before I tear into these further. At least I have some adjustment left over either way so that I can ride it for a bit.

 

[Fungshui]

Some more progress this weekend.......A bunch more comfort on the rough paved roads, small off road chop, and heavy tongue weight towing areas without giving up being able to take a harder hit!

Overall the tune is now softer in all areas (Low, mid, and especially high shaft speeds), but I was able to turn up the "roll, brake, and turn" sensitivity settings in the "pro menu" to reduce body roll and brake dive while driving aggressively yet still maintaining the current comfort settings (Front: 40% Rear: 10%) for that nice strait line highway drive. This leaves head room for the driver to turn down a couple of clicks for more comfort if unloaded or turn up as needed for a load added and also turn up the "load" setting in the pro menu. IF SDi will just give us Jeep guys "BAJA MODE"! Not all of us are rock crawlers........

Videos at the "test spot" don't show a huge improvement over the last time, but I can tell you trail speeds have increased by at least 30% with more comfort and less bump use over Thursday and Saturday's tests.......Today I let a couple in a YXZ go ahead so that I wouldn't be hold them up, but within a mile they were pulling over to let me pass! Obviously the driver wasn't all that skilled or a huge clunky Jeep pickup wouldn't be running them down, but some dirt cred right here!

I'm still playing with that rear rebound........Maybe we're stuck with the rear tires hopping a little bit in order to control that extra 10% spring rate the Clayton HD rear spring added? I have few more ideas to try before accepting what is......That darn dyno couldn't be more useful in saving time about now...... I've logged over 400 miles in the truck in the past 4 days testing.......

I also located a set of front shock spacers I had kicking around upstairs for the front axle. I now have gained 2" more down travel and have brought the shock's front bump zone into play. After this tune is done, I intend to order the +1" or +2" clevis and install the outboard shock mounts which I envision will give me two diferent "bump stop heights". I will use the shock's bump for when I'm full twisted up keeping the 38's out of the fenders, but will use the bumps in the OE position set a bit higher so that I get more travel when the wheels are strait ahead. I figure the tires can travel into the fender farther when strait than turned? Following me here? 9.5" travel twisted, but 10.5" for those hits in the desert?






The first client to try this system out with my tuning dropped his JT off yesterday for the install of a Clayton 2.5" Overland Plus system w/ HD rear springs, SDi E-Clik Pro Shocks, 37" M/T AT's, Method 17x8.5" 4.75BS wheels, and a few other supporting goodies......He opted for the 1"+ front clevis and extended rear brake hoses so that I could set the shock's seal head clips to max out both front and rear articulation. We started out having him drive my truck around the general area over sections of road that annoy me, a rough potholed dirt road, an empty lanscape planter with square curbs, a sunken electrical vault hole, and a nice drainage dip in at the edge of our parking lot that makes a stock diesel JT slam the bumps perfectly every time! We then switched to his truck trying to duplicate the same speeds/conditions if possible (The drainage bump for sure and most other off road obstacles were done MUCH slower in his truck for obvious reasons). We played with different settings along the way and I think overall he was impressed.......but who wouldn't be after driving a stock Rubi with an Alu-Cab for almost a year? He plans to do a complete review of the job, so look for that in the near future.

Hi all, I have been working with Tony about installing the SDi E-clik system with his custom tune since October.

In short, I highly recommend this package for all vehicles especially if it exceeds the GVWR or camp setup with a high center of gravity like the Alu-Cab Canopy Camper. The SDi E-clik adaptive dampers is a fantastic product, but not designed for the Gladiator let alone with the diesel engine. Thanks to Tony’s tune, it has transformed the Gladiator into a canyon carver and a compliant overloaded overlander in one package.

I see this as in investment, pay once, cry once, knowing that the suspension will grow with me as an overlander. The cost of this project was not cheap, but this project has added tremendous value and well worth every penny.

My full review can be found on my build page. I'll have a my Mojave trip report ready by the weekend.

https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/forum/threads/fungshuis-overland-build.65867/#post-1082033

Thanks Tony for all your hard work and research over the last several months.

 

[CrazyCooter]

Hi all, I have been working with Tony about installing the SDi E-clik system with his custom tune since October.

In short, I highly recommend this package for all vehicles especially if it exceeds the GVWR or camp setup with a high center of gravity like the Alu-Cab Canopy Camper. The SDi E-clik adaptive dampers is a fantastic product, but not designed for the Gladiator let alone with the diesel engine. Thanks to Tony’s tune, it has transformed the Gladiator into a canyon carver and a compliant overloaded overlander in one package.

I see this as in investment, pay once, cry once, knowing that the suspension will grow with me as an overlander. The cost of this project was not cheap, but this project has added tremendous value and well worth every penny.

My full review can be found on my build page. I'll have a my Mojave trip report ready by the weekend.

https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/forum/threads/fungshuis-overland-build.65867/#post-1082033

Thanks Tony for all your hard work and research over the last several months.

Thanks for your update and feedback! Looking forward to thoughts on your re-match with the Mojave Road since that section will test your patience if the vehicle isn't set up well!

Vids at the test spot for reference.....6800lb GVW at this time. Perfect setup to benefit from the custom shock tuning and heavy rear springs!

 

[ParatusExpeditions]

That is really nice. Congrats!
What's the rationale for the front 3.5" gas spring vs the 2.5 diesel that Clayton has for this kit?

 

[CrazyCooter]

That is really nice. Congrats!
What's the rationale for the front 3.5" gas spring vs the 2.5 diesel that Clayton has for this kit?

15% less front spring rate and about .5-.75" difference in height. A person with a heavy bumper/winch combo and a heavy truck built would want to go diesel springs, but a light build (maybe no winch) wanting a softer ride would opt for gas springs.

We just swapped Packmule to gas from diesel, and I may be going back to gas to try it again now that I have the damping figured out.

Something else we just encountered is the higher gas pressures required to control the cavitation with the added valving firms things up further leaning toward gas springs?

 

[ParatusExpeditions]

I see, thank you

 

[CrazyCooter]

I see, thank you

FYI....I edited that last post. I did the math and its actually 15% difference in spring rate.

 

[CrazyCooter]

While on a desert trip doing some exploring/testing, we diverted over to Lake Elsinore to meet the crew and a shop tour at SDi last week. Got to see some cool new inovative products and discuss more future offerings!

 

[CrazyCooter]

We met up with GlamisFan to run the El Camino Del Diablo trail and some camping/play time in Octillo Wells/Anza Borrego. Glamis took this video as he was chasing us out back out to San Felipe Wash from and narrow canyon below Fonts Point.

First time I have seen a video of the truck from behind, but pleased with how settled/planted it appears.

 

[dayusmc]

Read through this whole tread. Reminds me of the days when I had a motocross suspension business www.ExxtremeMX.com I got bored of it, trained a friend, gave him the business and went to law school for a new challenge.
I definitely applaud everyone for tacking this. A lot of theories on here were right, some were wrong. A few comments...
Cody at SDi is great, Dan is a full on fanatic with suspension. Great place, I use to deal with them a lot.
Compression and rebound adjusters, they all have to be checked while out, sometimes they are completely closed and you still have 2 clicks to go, likewise sometimes they are fully open even when you have a few clicks left to go.
All shocks need to be vacuum bleed, point blank.
Changing oil weight and nitrogen psi is a bad idea, pick 1 oil and weight and stick with it, otherwise you will chase your tail.
Also a lot of overthinking here
Racetech class, not really a good idea to basic and advanced at the same time. Paul is a suspension genius, but it is best to just buy the book.
Shock dyno, is not really helpful here, people think it helps get the tuning down, it doesn't, that is personal experience. A shock dyno is best to get two shocks identical. And no building then the same doesn't always mean they preform the same.
The restacker program, won't help, way to many variables...
Every brand shock will require different approachs to valving because they are too different.
It is not like a KYB shock from a 08 CRF450 and a showa shock that are very close to the same.
But best advice, stick to one brand oil and weight. KYB shock 3w is not the same as Amsoil 3w...

 

[CrazyCooter]

Read through this whole tread. Reminds me of the days when I had a motocross suspension business www.ExxtremeMX.com I got bored of it, trained a friend, gave him the business and went to law school for a new challenge.
I definitely applaud everyone for tacking this. A lot of theories on here were right, some were wrong. A few comments...
Cody at SDi is great, Dan is a full on fanatic with suspension. Great place, I use to deal with them a lot.
Compression and rebound adjusters, they all have to be checked while out, sometimes they are completely closed and you still have 2 clicks to go, likewise sometimes they are fully open even when you have a few clicks left to go.
All shocks need to be vacuum bleed, point blank.
Changing oil weight and nitrogen psi is a bad idea, pick 1 oil and weight and stick with it, otherwise you will chase your tail.
Also a lot of overthinking here
Racetech class, not really a good idea to basic and advanced at the same time. Paul is a suspension genius, but it is best to just buy the book.
Shock dyno, is not really helpful here, people think it helps get the tuning down, it doesn't, that is personal experience. A shock dyno is best to get two shocks identical. And no building then the same doesn't always mean they preform the same.
The restacker program, won't help, way to many variables...
Every brand shock will require different approachs to valving because they are too different.
It is not like a KYB shock from a 08 CRF450 and a showa shock that are very close to the same.
But best advice, stick to one brand oil and weight. KYB shock 3w is not the same as Amsoil 3w...

I could agree with on most of your post.

The guys ar SDi were super cool, however Dan wasn't there at the time........Kinda bummed we didn't get to meet him.

I think the dyno is definitely not a must, but it's a great tool that could shorten the development on future tunes and back up your claims. Is it $40K+ worth in terms of payback? Just depends on what percentage of your business is custom tuning? While it's only currently about 10% of my current business, the equipment that I do the other 90% with has long been paid for and a dyno could be the next large investment that could allow us to step up our game?

Racetech's book? The Motorcycle Suspension Bible? Couldn't hurt to have it on the shelf, but I honestly don't know how much time I could have for motos and there are 100's or 1000's of people around the country doing that already.

I figured the Restakor wouldn't be a replacement for a dyno, but more or less just be able to play with theoretical stacks and plot them to visually see before implementing and testing. This could lead to less time spend on development without the $40K dyno?

 

[dayusmc]

The racetech book applies to all suspension theory, not just motocross...
I never debate any of this, I always just say, the proof is in the results.

 

[dayusmc]

Additionally, SDi started off as only motocross suspension. Anyone who has been around suspension for a long time will remember where Dan got his start, SDi is not where he got his start...

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