Thread: Front shock towers

Originally Posted by c.h.i.e.f

thanks guys why i ask is because i am about to order some racerunner eye to eye shocks havnt decided if i am going to go 14",16" or 18" travel yet but need to come up with a better idea for mounting shocks hence outside the springs i was thinking

Originally Posted by Benny_IIA

what front setup are you using to be able to travel that far?

Yep, using standard radius arms you wont get much be able to use much more than 11" of damper stroke

what setup are you running rick?

ATM just 80 Series dampers (Koni's) with raised towers and different shock bushes to maximise droop.

Used to run holey bushes in the diff end of the radius arms and they work well but mines a work truck so have gone back to Super Pro.
Drives tighter on road and only lose a little off road.
With the holey bushes I could just max out the front end in droop while still using full bump travel. (not using bump stop extensions)

Using SAW, Fox, Billies 71/9100.s etc, it'd be a toss up between 10 and 12" stroke unless you were going to a 3 link IMO.

Remember that for every 2" you go longer in stroke your overall or opened length goes up 4".
You have to accommodate that somewhere.

The standard towers work with a damper 550mm long (opened, base of pin to base of pin)
I was able to get away with only lifting the towers 7mm or so to jam in a damper 617-620mm long, most fella's lift 19mm.

A SAW 2.0 remote res. shock, 12" stroke is 31.57"/802mm long, so your shock mount has to be 180-200mm taller, one for the 14" shock 280-300mm taller.

Billie 7100's in a short bodied version, 10" stroke are only 24.3"/617mm long and 12" stroke are 28.06"/713mm long.

The 7100 Bilstein has a smaller shaft (14mm vs 7/8"-22mm for the SAW.RR) as it's based on their old style of 46mm bore mono-tube dampers.
There are advantages and disadvantages to both shaft sizes which I won't go into here, they can both be made to work well.

On a road going/dual purpose vehicle you won't find out the disadvantages of the 14mm shaft unless you plan on the running the Finke in two hours

Billie 9100's with a 10" stroke only has a 9.6" actual stroke with an overall length of 26.3"/668mm (weld top/cap on body, screw top is longer)
The 12" stroke weld top is 31.4" long.
Fox and King are similar sizes, with variations depending on body end fittings, etc.

You will also have the problem of flogging out spherical bearings and the only way around this is a car set of 'Seals It' rod end seals.
Not sure how much extra life you will get, but it will help a lot.
Ask Slunnie about clicking spherical bearings in his 7100 Bilsteins

BTW, Fox and King do rubber/urethane bush conversions for their shocks.
Sway-A-Way might too, and Fox make a specific 2.0-5/8" shaft shock for a Defender with adjustable bump on the can.
Might be worth looking into.

Thanks heaps rick I would like to get hold of some 7100 billies but USA does not reply to numerous emails from what I hav been told kings are the best there is followed by SAW then fox then radflow in that order....i am not to worried about spending that extra money on shocks such as SAW etc because its mainly an offroad vehicle..... 3 link setups are they road legal ?any photos of setups 3 link or not would be great just to get a better understading would be appreciated

Originally Posted by c.h.i.e.f

Thanks heaps rick I would like to get hold of some 7100 billies but USA does not reply to numerous emails from what I hav been told kings are the best there is followed by SAW then fox then radflow in that order....i am not to worried about spending that extra money on shocks such as SAW etc because its mainly an offroad vehicle..... 3 link setups are they road legal ?any photos of setups 3 link or not would be great just to get a better understading would be appreciated

Says who ?

Depends on who tunes them, that's more important than the brand

There are some very good blokes in Oz tuning off road shocks, Deon Beattie is one I've heard great things of but in the past I've used Gary Baker and his brother in Melbourne who specialise in Bilstein.

Bakers are very, very good.

Bilsteins from the US should be easy, E-Shock sell to here and one member just got a pair of custom valved 12" stroke 9100's for the front of his Defender from somewhere else. He sent me the photo's during the week.

FWIW I'd use any of the brands you listed, it all comes down to who can give me the best deal.

I agree with what you said about setting it up all I means more than brand .... I sent eshocks numerous emails from different accounts and numerous phone calls to america and no response at all from them I did come up with the figure of $400 postage also which defeated the purpose of the cheap shocks

Even with the postage, buying 7100's from the states and having them valved there is much cheaper than here. Valving one shock here was more than freight.

chief,
give Polyperformance a shot.
POLY PERFORMANCE - YOUR OFF-ROAD SOURCE - JEEP/TRUCK & BUGGY 4X4 | ATV/UTV | MOTO | SNOW | RALLY | RC - www.polyperformance.com
I was very impressed with their service. Most importantly with respect to answering emails and keeping me informed of order progress.
They were happy to ship to oz and from what I ordered compared with a pair of RR Bilsteins I be guessing freight should come in under $400USD.
I had a shipping weight of 10lbs cost $150USD... a pair of 7100s would weigh 16lb.

Just another option for you. BTW I just checked Polys price on 10" 7100 is $188USDea.
Let us know how you go valving setup wise. Could be my next order

And Rick thanks for your great input. Really appreciated.

Steve