Hi,

I'm in the process of lowering my car and I am suspecting the rear spring will be loose at full suspension droop. This is not acceptable. Does anybody make a shock relocation bracket to lower the lower shock mount 1"-2"?

Thanks,

John

 

never seen one available off the shelf, but you can make something with just a short piece of flat steel, drilled out with the hole in a lower spot, weld it on, or make something a little more complex that can also be bolted to the LCA bolt for extra strength

 

Find the shock details or call a shock company. find ones with less travel in your weight class.

 

Yeah, I've done a lot of DIY but I do not have the tools to do metal forming. I also don't want it to look mickey mouse. So I'd like to find an off the shelf solution if possible. Maybe I'll contact Spohn and see if they'd be willing to do some custom work for me. It sure seems like this would be a marketable part. I can't be the only one who would be interested.

As far as new shocks. I have Koni Sports and love them. I don't really want to go to another brand. And quality "custom" shocks are mega bucks.

Thanks for the ideas.

 

UMI makes a bolt-on lower control arm relocation bracket, that uses the shock mount as an attachment point.

You could put that on (just weld it into place) & use the shock mount bracket as an "arm" to extend upwards to move the shock mounting point up.

 

he needs to lower the mount, not raise, it. either way, i dont see how the relo-bracket would change anything related to the shock

 

Another option I may consider is a helper spring. Normally they only make them up to 2.5" diameter though.

Actually, I just remembered the rear springs do neck down. I'll have to check the diameter when I get home.

 

I guess you haven't looked at the LCARB I referred to, because it has a bracket that uses the shock stud as a mount. I was referring to using that as extra support for a shock relocation bracket (SRB? ).

 

yeah, it uses the stock shock mounting location. how would you move it? and, like 86TA said, it needs to be lower, not higher.

 

Is nobody listening to the SUPPORTING ARM part????

It doesn't matter up or down where he moves it to, to a supporting arm. It would just be there for however he puts it on......

I never said "This is how you do it, period." It was just a SUGGESTION!

 

since the OP has already stated that he does not have the ability to form/fabricate metal, i dont think the LCARB will be of any help, since the new shock mount would still have to be fabbed to the bracket, and at that point, there is really no reason to use the bracket if you need to fab more.

let me grab a pic of my 92, i made somthing silimar to relocate the coilovers. Its a temporary fix for Spohn crappy rear coilover design, biut it will work great for just a shock.

but again, it required some fab.

Does the OP have access to a drill? all you need to do is drill 2 holes, 1/2", maybe a little bigger in a piece of 1/4" flat stock, then bolt it on.

Or you can always grab some limiting straps to limit the axle droop. bolt it to the bump stop area and wrap it around the axle or something.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2-SUS...Q5fCarQ5fParts

 

here.

i got a little over zelous with the lowering points, and it sits a little low, but it works just fine and allows ride height adjustment for my rear setup. It will be replaced when i build the new axle for the car, but thats probably years off.

anyway, it sandwiches onto the shock mount with the LCARB, and triangulates back to one of the extra LCA bolt holes for added support. This will work for the OP, but requires wending and some light fab.

 

Phil, can you make me a Sam'mich too? I'm hungry you readneck.

 

no problem

funny spell check didnt catch that?

 

Yeah guys I'm not a total idiot or a newbie to customizing cars. I build furniture as well and have plenty of wood working tools. I just don't have access to a welder or a metal bender. Although I could make something work with the vice. I am also not totally adverse to paying someone, but its hard to find anyone who can do a decent job.

The relocation bracket I visioned in my head would have to be welded in. So I would have to find someone to do that.

If I can make a helper spring work, I maybe just do that. Its fairly elegant, simple, cheap, and requires no fabrication.

86TA,

That is basically the idea I had in my head. Except I want something a bit more finished looking. Which with my metal working tools, isn't possible. Hence why I want something off the shelf.

 

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We're talking about two different kind of helper springs here. I'm talking about that kind that keeps the normal spring from unseating while the suspension is a full droop. You are talking about the truck style that is used for "helping" with heavy loads.

This is what I'm talking about.



See the small gauge red spring on the left. With weight on the wheels, that spring fully compresses and the car rides on the black spring. They are common on coilover setups.

 

Ok, I ordered the helper springs. They are Eibach p/n helper250.



They will go between the bottom of the rear spring and the Ground Control adjuster. Will let you know how it turns out.

 

hmmm, is that going to work? whats keeping the helper spring from pushing the coil spring off the adjuster seat when the suspension droops? could be wrong, just thinking out loud...

 

Yeah that is my one concern with this solution. Hopefully the gap the helper spring needs to take up is small. That way the helper won't hold the real spring above the red part of the adjuster. As long as the blue spring is kept within the red part of the adjuster I think it will re-seat just fine. We shall see.

What do you think?

 

have you installed the weigh jacks? how much room does the helper have to make up? if its only an inch or so, should be fine, but if its a lot more, i would be a little leary. If its too much, the springs will just pop off as if there was nothing there in the first place.

 

Nope, classic case of trying to fix a problem that I don't know exists yet.

I know what you mean about being leary. I have no idea what most people do in this situation. My guess is they do nothing. Which is fine as long as you never get "air" or never jack up the rear of the car.

I would actually prefer an elegant way to lower the shock mount, as that would limit suspension travel. Which is nice when jacking up the car. And you really don't have to worry about anything coming loose.

But I'll give this a shot.

Fortunately, the front spring is just barely under pressure at full droop with the weight jacks at full "low". That would have been a harder problem to fix.

 

Limiting straps used by 4x4s would be the easiest solution. Would just hafta to find the length you need/wrap it around the axle to "shorten it, etc.

4wheelparts.com

 

Yeah I thought about running straps but ultimately thought it would look kinda hokey poky. I think the helper springs or a shock relocation would be a little cleaner.

Keep the ideas coming.

 

what did you end up figuring out with this? I installed my weight jacks yesterday and at full droop the rears look as if they could fall clean out of the car. What do I do??? I've seen this in the past with plenty of lowering springs on rear axles. Are people just running it like this? I fear that under HEAVY braking where the nose dives...or possibly some bump in the road where the body travels upwards..these things could fall out. What's the fix here?

 

Use Limiting Straps, like the 4x4 and drag racing crowd does. But since 4x4s need long ones, it could be hard find an off-the-shelf one from a 4x4 store short enough. The drag racing crowd uses them on their front suspension, to help limit upwards travel of the front end.

 

So far I've run without anything holding them in. You just have to be careful when jacking up and lowering the rear end of the car.

Last weekend I did a high performance driving day at a local road course. This consisted of lap after lap of extreme driving and braking. I did not have any problems with springs unseating. For me its more of a convenience thing so I don't have extra work to do when I jack up the rear.

 

ok cool. Thank you John. By the way..i got the 9'' springs in the rear and seems to be good for setting a desireable ride height (in comparison to the 10'' like you have) Also..the front 9.5'' spring they supplied me with didn't lift it enough (because of my drop spindles being too low), the next step up is 11''. I think I will be able to make those work, we will find out next week probably. This whole modding deal is a pain in the ***. Thankfully you are just ahead of me and finding the issues first and giving me solutions!! haha thanks again.

Ryan

 

isnt modding fun? nothing aftermarket works with any other aftermarket piece.

as for the springs falling out, the rear will never reach full droop unless the car is airborn for an extended period of time. at that point, i would worry more about chassis damage and my kidneys than the springs coming out.

 

Lol, don't say I didn't tell you. Once you get everything worked out you'll love it. I know exactly what you mean though, its just problem after problem. Most of mine have been worked out by now. You will get there.

 

How high off the ground was your front fender with the 9.5" front springs?

 

I've been wanting to do something like this but using the ideal of the bolt in LCARB. My question is how much of a difference in ride quilty would there be by gaining back that 1" or so of shock travel on a lowered car?

 

actually it looks as if the 9.5'' will work. When I finished the install last night on a crooked driveway it didn't look as if they were going to work, didn't drive it last night. Today i got it on a level surface and adjusted all the way up i'm 26 3/8''. So i've got about an inch or so that I think i can play with before having rubbing issues. Sucks you pay for 3'' of adjustment and get 1'' out of it...but whatever, i'm fine with it, i wouldn't really want to lift it up any higher anyways. Drove the car for the first time tonight since big brakes all around, drop spindles, koni yellows, weight jacks, adj panhard, r compund tires, lcarb's....SO F'N STOKED. and i still have a small pile of parts to put in.. all the headaches just became worth it!

 

Anyone?

 

not while your thread hijacking, no.

 

pm sent

 

So wait, you want to use the shock itself as your droopstop? (I guess reverse bumpstop?) I was under the impression that's a bad idea to max out the shocks travel? As said before, I'd be surprised if your springs came out. Maybe unseating yes, but full on removing themselves from the buckets would take a serious jump. I don't see David Hasselhoff driving your car so you should be okay. Oh and if you need to borrow a welder I'm just a few miles from Everett.

*I know this thread is a bit old but it came up when searching for something else and piqued my interest.

 

I want the shock to finish extending before the spring unloads for the purpose of keeping the springs seated when I jack up the car. It is a pain to have to reseat the spring and carefully lower the car. I would not expect the shock to to fully unload anytime while driving.

Most vehicles use the shock to limit suspension droop.

Thanks for the offer on the welder.