[IN2DEP]

hey guys

ive got my self some shock hoops for my sierra and not to sure where abouts to mount them ?? is there a perfect way, do they have to be welded so far from the front or it doesnt realy matter aslong as there both lined up on either side ??

what problems have yous come across while fitting them ?? any info will be good

cheers
keith

[alien]

for the front???

normally you fisch plate and weld them to the chassis rail at the height that suits your shocks compression and extension, as the hoop is the last bit of adjustability you're going to have in tuning which shockie you run.

Position wise you'll need to take into account the arc the diff travels on with extension and compression to make sure the bushes don't bind up, but generally its just straight up from the diff mounting point when at normal ride height.

[Gwagensteve]

How do you know the shock hoops you have are the right length? I don't really understand buying shock hoops. They have to be welded in place by someone of reasonable ability (see alien's comment about fish plates etc) so at the end of the day, choosing the right shock and attaching the mount to the car is the hard bit. If you have the skills and ability to do that, you don't need to buy an off the shelf hoop - you can make one easily enough.

I don't agree with mounting shock mounts on only one plane (welded to the sides of the chassis rail only) It might work on hiluxes etc, which is, odds are, what your shock hoops were really designed for, but it doesn't work on a 2.5mm thick sierra chassis. The leverage will crack the chassis given time.

Shock mounts really need to be mounted to the top and side of the rail, and doubling plated in both cases.

Note that suzuki weld the stock front shock mount to the side and the top of the rail - and it's a bees dick tall.

The process of choosing the shock mount length can be done either of two ways:

Flex the car up once complete, measure travel at the intended shock location, and choose a shock with adequate travel (and valving) and then make a hoop to suit.

Or: Choose a shock with known good valving that is easily long enough for the application, flex the car up, and then weld the new mount in at the required height.

Mounting the hoops first doesn't come into it - what happens if you can't find the right shock for the room you have? what happens if the hoop badly fouls your tyres? (likely)

There's not much room to play with in there. The mounts need to be super compact, as close to the inner guard as possible, or mount the shock body as close to the chassis as possible when fully flexed, and obviously, a mount that's taller than required just makes tyre clearance that much harder.

You can bring the top mount inboard further to clear the tyres if you bring the bottom mount outwards. but to do that, you really need to move the shock on top the axletube and out near the knuckle, and room gets pretty tight. Also, the further you move the shock out, the more shaft travel gets used per inch of articulation - so it can turn a really long shock like an N76 into once that's only just long enough for the job.

Good luck. It's pretty hard to get this stuff right.

Steve.

[alien]

Here's how mine are done:



bare chassis:

[Gwagensteve]

Very nice Alien.

Here's the way I've made a few sets.




They allow plenty of travel with 2" bumpstop spacers and N76 shocks:



This is the setup in the rear - running the same shock.



In the scheme of shock mounts, they're not all that tall:



Here's some relative shock lengths, form top to bottom:

Stock Sierra Front
Stock Sierra Rear
Rancho 99110 (from memory)
OME N76
OME 80 series landcruiser rear.

You'll notice that even with the length of the N76 shocks, far more than even RUF with opened up spring packs can use, once you run 2" bumpstop spacers, the towers aren't really that tall.

Steve

[zammit]

hey steve. is that an ebay lift kit?

[Gwagensteve]

Hehehe if only

No, it's OME RUF with a chassis extension, bumpstop spacers and OME N76 shocks. Lots of fabrication in there.

Steve.

[atari4x4]

zammit wrote:

hey steve. is that an ebay lift kit?

[zammit]

i know this is going to sound really dumb. but... what is the actual purpose of shock hoops? how does it create better articulation. sorry for the n00b question. im young and trying to get as much knowledge as i can.

[alexvitara]

shock hoops let you fit longer shocks which gives you more wheel travel

[Gwagensteve]

A shock absorber is attached to the axle at one end and the chassis at the other. It acts as a damper to stop the car bouncing uncontrollably once a bump has been hit.

The factory suspension on any car is designed for a certain amount of wheel travel. In the case of a sierra, that's 5" - 125mm. If a shock absorber is going to fit in the original mounts, it can't be much longer overall, maybe only an inch or so.

If large changes to the springs have been carried out - such as "RUF" ( or Rear Springs up Front" the standard mounting locations can't possibly fit a shock absorber that's long enough for the travel possible in the new springs.

As a result, a new chassis end mount has to be made that moves the top mount up higher, to allow a longer shock (that therefore has more travel)

"Hoop" only refers to the method of construction. An easy way of making these taller mounts is with a hoop of steel tube. This is common with many makes of car, but in the front of a sierra they are hard to fit because there isn't much room.

Hope this helps.

Steve.

[zammit]

i figured that it would let you fit longer shocks. but isnt you wheel travel limited by the bump stops not the shocks? or will having extened shocks erase the need for bump stop spacers as the shock wont botom out befor hitting the the stops? sorry for the stupid question.

[alexvitara]

bump stops limit travel upwards but shocks are usually the limiting factor of droop or down travel

[Gwagensteve]

Have a careful look at the photos that Alien and I posted - it will start to make sense.

In both our cases, the bumpstops are lower than standard. That means the axle can't move up as far towards the chassis/body as it could standard. That might be done for a few reasons. In the case of the cars I have built, it's so that the tyres we are using can clear body without excessive bodywork modification. One the bumpstop has been spaced down though, the distance between the bottom and top shock mount is longer even when the suspension is fully compressed - when the axle is on the bumpstop.

That increased distance allows a shock which is longer when compressed to be fitted. A shock that's longer compressed is also longer extended, so more wheeltravel is the result.

Just to add to the confusion though, alexvitara's comment that the shocks are usually the limiting factor in droop travel isn't always the case. Sometimes it's the design of the spring. In the case of the front of a sierra, there's very little more wheeltravel to be gained by fitting longer shocks because there is only so much flex you can get out of a short spring. That's why the the photos alien and I posted, longer springs have been fitted to allow more flex.

Often people get hung up on long shocks and big tall shock mounts, but the shock mounts and shocks come last - they are only as tall/long as the need to be to work with the spring travel available in you setup.

Steve.

[zammit]

thanks steve you have been a great help. i understand what you are saying.
i just bough my second sierra on monday and have started stripping it. ill be eventually doing a ruf conversion. and maybe shock mounts. but this project will go over a long period so im getting as much info as i can now.

[Hybrid]

Steve, Do you ever run those buggy shocks with custom towers and no BL or does it only become feasible once the body lift is in?

[zooky08]

Since we are talking about shock mounts and shock
I did my RUF the other day but havnt got the diffs on yet

Will the commo/hiace shock be alright for a RUF (using aftermarket springs)
The diff would of move no more then a inch forward I reckon.
So I will need to buy new shock hoops and reweld them in the right spot on the chassis right?

[alexvitara]

Gwagensteve wrote:

Just to add to the confusion though, alexvitara's comment that the shocks are usually the limiting factor in droop travel isn't always the case. Sometimes it's the design of the spring. In the case of the front of a sierra, there's very little more wheeltravel to be gained by fitting longer shocks because there is only so much flex you can get out of a short spring. That's why the the photos alien and I posted, longer springs have been fitted to allow more flex.

sorry i was thinking coils.

[crewsy]

zooky08 wrote:

Since we are talking about shock mounts and shock
I did my RUF the other day but havnt got the diffs on yet

Will the commo/hiace shock be alright for a RUF (using aftermarket springs)
The diff would of move no more then a inch forward I reckon.
So I will need to buy new shock hoops and reweld them in the right spot on the chassis right?

Nope. It will work fine with the standard shock mounts.

[IN2DEP]

Hmmm, I think ill just let my 4x4 mechanic work that one out lol,

bloody good info tho, good stuff guys

[Gwagensteve]

Hybrid wrote:

Steve, Do you ever run those buggy shocks with custom towers and no BL or does it only become feasible once the body lift is in?

They want to come though the floor in the rear even with a 2" BL. It's not an issue in the front - it's easy enough to cut the inner guard.

I suppose it's possible to lay them over more in the rear help them clear, but I don't think it would be possible for them to not come through the rear floor without a BL.

[ajsr]

gwagen
have you got a open and closed lenght on these n76ome shocks eye to eye?
I'm just ordering shocks from lowrange and an interested to see how your n76's compare to what Im thinking I need lenght wise.
cheers andrew

[Gwagensteve]

G'day mate- good to see you're back in the shed

N76's are 685mm/26.9" Extended, 408mm/16.3" Compressed

Steve.

[ajsr]

Gwagensteve wrote:

G'day mate- good to see you're back in the shed

N76's are 685mm/26.9" Extended, 408mm/16.3" Compressed

Steve.

thats good I was about to order doesch 8000's at 17" closed and approx
28 "ext

[IN2DEP]

Gwagensteve wrote:

G'day mate- good to see you're back in the shed

N76's are 685mm/26.9" Extended, 408mm/16.3" Compressed

Steve.

hey steve just wanted to know what are the rear shocks ?? what are the measurments ??

cheers
keith

[atari4x4]

IN2DEP wrote:

Gwagensteve wrote:

G'day mate- good to see you're back in the shed

N76's are 685mm/26.9" Extended, 408mm/16.3" Compressed

Steve.

hey steve just wanted to know what are the rear shocks ?? what are the measurments ??

cheers
keith

OME N76's are 685mm/26.9" Extended, 408mm/16.3" Compressed

[Gwagensteve]

Bingo - same shocks front and rear.

Steve.

[Shansh]

steve thanks for posting that info, it was extremely helpful as I have often wondered about shock hoops, your design looks really good and compact, when and if the time comes for my zook to get the treatment i might have to pick your brains a bit

[IN2DEP]

atari4x4 wrote:

IN2DEP wrote:

Gwagensteve wrote:

G'day mate- good to see you're back in the shed

N76's are 685mm/26.9" Extended, 408mm/16.3" Compressed

Steve.

hey steve just wanted to know what are the rear shocks ?? what are the measurments ??

cheers
keith

OME N76's are 685mm/26.9" Extended, 408mm/16.3" Compressed

I emailed sean from lowrange asking what will be the shock and he replyed giving me 2 types one for front and one for back

The front ones were 26.50" long and the rears were 16.50 long

So the rear are shorter, does this mean anything or is it better to have 4 shock all the same ?

[IN2DEP]

IN2DEP wrote:

atari4x4 wrote:

IN2DEP wrote:

Gwagensteve wrote:

G'day mate- good to see you're back in the shed

N76's are 685mm/26.9" Extended, 408mm/16.3" Compressed

Steve.

hey steve just wanted to know what are the rear shocks ?? what are the measurments ??

cheers
keith

OME N76's are 685mm/26.9" Extended, 408mm/16.3" Compressed

I emailed sean from lowrange asking what will be the shock and he replyed giving me 2 types one for front and one for back

The front ones were 26.50" long and the rears were 16.50 long

So the rear are shorter, does this mean anything or is it better to have 4 shock all the same ?

Its ok, I get it now, I didnt tell him about my aftermarket rear shock mounts, so that rear one would be standard hight then,

To easy