shock mounts

[lil86]

hey im in the process of mounting my rear shocks in the / \ position with snake's kit but before welding i was doing the math and it doesnt work in my head. according to a 4wd monthly article i read a while ago: lyeing the shock over on a say 45 degree angle to the diff reduces the amount of work the shock does so for every inch the wheel travels up or down the shock only travels half an inch. it sounds all cool but do the math... the shock actually moves 1 and 1/2 inches for every inch the wheel moves. (unless there is something im missing)
also i've noticed there is a trend against mounting shocks in the / \ these days on this forum. any reason for this?

[slosh]

The more angle the shocks are from the direction of wheel travel (ie. in a vertical arc), the less control they will exercise over the bumps, which makes them less efficient over corrugated roads.
That said, the / \ mounting is superior to the poxy standard one shock pointing toward front, one shock pointing back setup on std Hilux.

[scotto]

i heard you should only do it if you want to mount long strokers - like 9000Xs. apparently they decrease in performance the closer to /\ as you get but can see how they might be better in big tilts

but if it means fitting BIG ones in there

[Aza]

in theroey if ur shocks are mounted / \ it will give u more compression, however will give u less down travel as the shock will max out. my shocks are mounted in a / \ , however my parabolics don't flex very well so i havnt had any problems with the shocks maxing out