A little bit of info that went a long way RE: shocks

[ROVERNIT]

Due to not knowing exactly what I'm doing and picking up info as I went along and now a little bit wiser only a little bit

I spoke to Graham at http://www.quadrantsuspensions.com.au/ and not really knowing much about suspension at all, he was a great help he gave me the ins and outs after speaking to certain some one on another forum who placed doubt in my mind any way all proven to be a great set up the only thing left is my shocks which this post will lead to

with my pervious four wheel drive I had (Nissan Patrol) I simply drove it to opposite lock and said please give me a lift kit and left it at that and a poor set up it was

with this one I tried to go over and beyond my self, and wanted springs that would sit between 3-4 inches over standard height which I used Dobinson 100mm over standard 220ibs front and 280Ibs rear

the issues that this was going to bring up where binding of the Watts Linkage rear ACE sway bar links the cross member extended ABS and brake line (info thanks to Slunnie who I believe visits here)

Again thanks to the info given by Slunnie I bought of Rovertym in the states cranked watts linkages and spacers for the cross member I also bought from britparts some front ACE sway bar links to replace the rears and from Expidition exchange I bought the Brake stuff

having half the products bought it left me with a few important aspects Shocks and spring retainers and bump stops

the bump stops I cant do much about just yet and I might not need them at all

Spring retainers I plan on buying of Extreme I'm putting a pair on the front and rear and although as advised by slunnie that there is no benefit in them dislocating springs in the D2 I though I would have them there to stop any movement at all and clunking etc

The other problem I have in counted was the front lower shock mount again I've bought one from Rovertym which converts the eye-shaft combination to a 12mm eye mount

Finally the shocks, not knowing where to go in this department yet still wanting the best I can get, I chose bilstein for there ability to be customized and being the best that I know off. I was given specs from Slunnie however found it hard to get those exact ones and to have them made to those spec it was going to cost me well over $1600 plus revalving. any way after a decent conversation with Graham at Quadrant he advised that the best possible way of matching shocks to the set up is to remove the shocks and springs and with the diff still attached let the diff droop as far as it can or till something binds up and get a measurement if you don't want your spring to dislocate then place the spring in and jack the diff up from the droop position till the springs just touch then measure mount to mount. again remove the spring and then jack the diff up till it hits bump stops then measure mount to mount this will give you rough open and closed measurement

then with this info you can match a shock that will fit now as for of the shelf shocks the greatest open and closed is a Bilstein from a Ford F250 which has a travel distance of 11.7 this I would assume would be to big but the point is if your stuck in choice of lengths of shocks this little test is apparently the best method and I though I would air it to every one else

Ive yet to try it out as my spring are not here yet 3 more sleeps to go

Cheers
Hak