Mopar Muscle Association UK

Arguably, the important thing given their length, is that they have an internal bumpstop on full extension. Without that they will be knackered eventually.

My triumph 2000 (IRS) uses such dampers to limit movement. Without the damper the spring falls out!

They do, as Alex says look a bit short though. Not much suspension drop available.

Mate. measure the total droop of the spring,max compression if you can (jack the opposite front carner of the car to fully load the sring) find a data point (the shock mounts are best as they componsate for rotational movement in the shock) so we can see the total travel involved, the total length of the shock on the car now(eyelet to eyelet centres) and min length (fully compressed same data points) once we have that data we can start to work out what you need.

Sounds like a weekend job. I will see what I can do. Thanks lads.

HELLO! Surely the shocks must account for all the springs' travel plus some. If it doesn't, the shock will bear some stupid forces that it is not designed for......They are only there to damp the force of the springs and nothing more. Your shocks are WAY too short Dave. When our cars launch they unwind the rear part of the spring and you will be severely traction limited if your car is hung up by the shocks. (hence extended A-body dampers for use with SS springs) Or am I talking outta my butt??

cars dont have much to limit to axle travel (especially coil sprung !) so the shock is what stops it, so yes shocks are designed to reach the end of their travel. a shock that is to long is ABSOLUTELY A NONO as it could fully compress and cause damage to itself or the mountings as it gets crushed between the speedbump and the bodyweight. Too short, really not a problem and could even be a benefit preventing excessive body roll during extreme swerving!

if really too short you may notice them clonking as they lock when braking very hard, especially if trunk empty

only other prob i can really see with shox that are too short is trouble removing the rear wheels during a puncture as the axle may not drop low enough to get a large wheel out. if jacking on the axle anyway, then of course the shocks make no difference to that.

Got a reply from KYB UK, who seem very unhelpful Have asked for UK distributors - still waiting for reply.

Dave, I guess that since you`ve had those shocks on for some time now and not noticed a problem, then they must be ok.

You're assuming I would notice a problem.

The suspension is rather stiff and that may be the answer. It also means that the firm ride quality might mask any odd occasion where spirited driving has allowed the shocks to max out.

place i sometimes get KYB mail order from but may only supply trade....

Transhock
Unit 23 Gravelay Park Ind Est
Tyburn Road
Birmingham B24 8HZ

0121 359 3113

I got my KYBs for A body from Chris at Wisbech American. No problem.

Sorry but I am REALLY hi-jacking your thread now Neil.

OK I have twisted the car as much as I dare to put as much weight as possible onto one rear wheel with no weight at all on the other. So we can see the total amount of travel I need.
This is with the rear anti-roll bar in place mind which will limit this movement of course but as I want a real world test this if fine.

Two photos of the wheels first.

Now two photos of each lower shock mount.

So as you can see from the photos.

On the compressed side the wheel does not go up very much at all from its normal resting position.

On the rebound side the max unloaded position of the lower shock mount is JUST lower than the shock will extend to.

So if the shock was just a few inches longer it would be fine. As it is it is very possible that the shock has NEVER extended to its full length except when flying Dukes style over crests in the road.

So in answer to Alex's question. They need to be about 24" or more long to allow both wheels to drop all the way when flying and they need to compress to a length of, say, 18" or less.

Dave wrote:So in answer to Alex's question. They need to be about 24" or more long to allow both wheels to drop all the way when flying and they need to compress to a length of, say, 18" or less.

I just double checked those lengths and they are correct.

That's what we needed to see mate, I will dig the books out and see what they list and get some lengths from them.