sierra shocks

[jimbo jones]

my mate wants to know if the shocks out of a leaf sprung hilux will fit in his sierra he put extended shackles in and the zook shocks are 2 short.

jimbo

[NIK]

Ive got spoa toys with o.m.e. 50mm lift springs. I got some o.m.e shockies off a mate as my old shokies wouldnt fit. I just bolted them to the standard mounts (lower mount on diff roughly the same as stock) and the shocks bottom out before the load leave and droop so much I invert shackles. For my lwb spoa they are too soft as well.
Nik

[lay80n]

Get your mate to flex his rig up with the shocks off, take some measurements and see if they will fit. If you are sticking with the standard mounts, you will not gain much overall travel no matter what shocks you run.

Layto....

[jimbo jones]

thanks guys

jimbo

[jamespbeasley]

When i put my 50mm ext shackles on my standard shocks would fit anymore. (i also found that the they were stuffed and needed replacing anyway).

I got some gabriel shocks - commodore vs wagon for the front; hilux/hiace for the rear.

You can find part numbers here:

http://carl.outerlimits4x4.com/viewtopi ... iel+shocks

Good option if you dont wanna spend much $$, but now that i have OME springs on there i could go with longer still - so if he wants to go longer raised springs too then wait and do the measurements and do it properly.

Also, you will have to space your bumpstops by about 40mm if you go for these shocks.

[jimbo jones]

I heard that you can put Mazda 808 leaf spring in do thay easy?

jimbo

[Gwagensteve]

When i put my 50mm ext shackles on my standard shocks would fit anymore. (i also found that the they were stuffed and needed replacing anyway).

I got some gabriel shocks - commodore vs wagon for the front;
Also, you will have to space your bumpstops by about 40mm if you go for these shocks.

A couple of points about this post. I'm not having a go at you James, just some common misconceptions.

Measuring a shocks open length as a guide to fitment is not appropriate. The only relevant measurement for shock sizing is compressed length, because that is the measurement that will result in broken shocks/mounts if you get it wrong.

Commodore rear shocks on the front require more than 40mm of spacer In my esxperience. I am running 50mm of spacer on my car, and I am bottoming my commodore shocks on articulation and they are suffering.

I have ranted plenty in the past about how car shocks are not suitable for 4WD use and my experience backs this up. In a race to get my current 1.0 ready for its first trip, I did all the quick fixes - RHS bumpstop spacers, commodore shocks, redrilled spring pads to move the axle forward, longer shackles in the front.

In the rear, both of my RHS spacers are bent and I am bottoming my commodore shocks in the front resulting in one blowing the seals out. Mine are Gabriel too, and were actually only 1/2 the price of OME N76's.

My guess is that commodore shocks need about 60mm of spacer, making them a bit too long to be useful with decent compression travel.

Just some comments.

Steve.

[Itsuki Style]

thread hijack alert! if u have 2 inch raised springs, do long OME shockers need bumpstop spacers?

thanks, srry for the hijack, but i guess its relevant anyway

[Gwagensteve]

What do you mean by "long" OME shocks?

The correct OME shocks for a sierra do not require spacers of any kind.

The reason I ask is that I fit N76 OME shocks into sierras front and rear and they need both spacers (2") and much longer shock mounts.

Steve.

[Itsuki Style]

I mean long as in the appropriate length once more lifted, more flexy suspension, ones with more travel than stock shockers, that dont limit the available flex.

What are the N76 ones you refer to?

[Gwagensteve]

I mean long as in the appropriate length once more lifted, more flexy suspension, ones with more travel than stock shockers, that dont limit the available flex.

What are the N76 ones you refer to?

About a mile long



top to bottom:

Sierra front - 5"travel

Sierra rear - 6" Travel

Rancho 9112 - about 10.75" travel (ok on a sierra at setting 1 or 2)

OME N76 - about 11.5" travel

80 series rear - about 10" travel

N76's are a "buggy" fitment - they were meant for the rear of VW based race cars. OME have made them for years. they are VERY soft (they're designed for multiple mounting) and the same price as any other OME shock. I do not believe there is any warranty on them as there is no "approved fitment" Eyes are generic toyota style bushes.

As you can see compared to stock sierra.... lets say they won't be going on stock mounts.

here is one mounted on a sierra front, RUF and bumpstop spaced.



I think yu are asking about OME sierra fitment- they are fine with no obvious problems. Obviously, there are limits to how much shock you can get in there, and they are only about 40mm longer than stock. that's as far as you can go without new mounts/spacers.

Steve.

[Itsuki Style]

So, say after i do my spring lift, which i think will be ome 2 inch lifted ones, how do i decide which shocks i need and where/how to mount them, and how much bump stop spacing etc?

[Gwagensteve]

Just put OME sierra shocks in it.

once you start chasing the bumpstop spacer/shock mount/shackle length thing it never ends and the next thing you know you have the car down to a bare chassis wondering what the **** happened

The stuff I worked out was a very specific solution based on what us stoopid mexicans are chasing, which is minimum compression/maximum droop/maximum tyre size. (PS also only really applies to "full" RUF too.)

OME have far smarter engineers working for them than us backyarders. I might not agree with them all the time, but for a 2" lifted car with sensible intentions, they get it pretty right.

Steve.

[Itsuki Style]

OME sierra shocks, being ones that use the old mounts, require no bump stop spacing, and have a bit more travel than stock shocks?

[Gwagensteve]

OME sierra shocks, being ones that use the old mounts, require no bump stop spacing, and have a bit more travel than stock shocks?

Yep.

You don't have to think and wonder then. some dude who has 4 years at uni studying this sh!t and no life has worked it all out for you.

Everyone thinks they can choose shocks based on length. You just can't. Valving is far more important than length and you just can't guess at it. when I asked a suspension engineer to make me springs for my G Wagen years ago, he tried to sell me koni truck shocks, specially valved to HIS specifications to suit. I didn't want to spend the $$$, so I said "I'll just put Rancho 9000's in it, they're adjustable."

He looked at me like I came down with the last shower, and said "I won't fit them until I dyno them first to see if they will do the job"

Anyway, cut along story short, the arrogant Rancho distributor in Aus recommended a fitment that would have been about 100% too soft for the front, (an recommended I install the fronts upside down, which completely screwed its effectiveness!) Eventually, I found a Rancho part which dyno'ed up OK and do the job, but the lesson is that you can't buy shocks based on what fits even if some guy that sells them thinks you can.

I have a few different part numbers I like based on what I have fitted to cars and how they behave. If you step outside of specifically valved fitments accept that it is a 100% experiment and it might be rubbish.

I have seen enough cars with "adjustable" shocks on them with crap valving for the application or cars with shocks that were chosen based on fit rather than valving to know that valving is important and not something you can guess with.

Steve.

[MightyMouse]

What Steve said - the technology in good shocks is significant, and not
the sort of thing for the backyarder to decide on the way to the wreckers.

Taking this a little further - its surprising the benifit from getting the
shocks tuned to your vehicle - if its modified from stock especially ...

I had a bit of a rear axle bounce - that wouldn't go away, first with the
stock shocks, then Pedders "specials" then Tough Dog. Some tuned
Bilsteins made all the difference.

Its a shame that shocks all look almost all the same, in reality they are
all very different and can make significant differences.