shocks for light leaf packs

[rockcrawler31]

Hey all.

i have found that with the drastically lightened leaf packs (4 leaves now and 2 leaves with coil overriders later on) that they no longer have the self dampening ability of a full leaf pack. I imagine that i will have to go for a shock more suited to a full size coil sprung truck. Having never owned a coil truck, what is the lowdown on choosing shocks for this application and advantages disadvantages of various types.

the truck is/will be an extra cab troopy chop, with two leaf pack and coil overriders, aimed at doing mild competions, hardcore weekend work and touring (swapping to firmer coils when doing a long tour)

MILO

[Tiny]

shock valving depends of the spring rate of the vehicle, the heavier the spring, the lighter the dampening stroke needs to be valved, but the heavier the rebound stroke needs to be valved.

Effectivly, a shock made for your vehicle is made to deal with the spring rate of a factory set up and the spring rate depends very much on the sprung weight which I is probably lighter now due to the chop, as such with the mods, the shocks made for the vehicle wont give you the kind of control and ride you need.

The best way to get the most correct shock would be to get the rate of the spring and coil rider and all the weights and distribution of the weight, but this can be a pretty expensive and time consuming exersize.

The options a really get something like a tough dog or rancho (the 45mm TD would be my choice) and startlow and work up though the adjustments to get some kind of happy medium

or

get a bilstien or similar mono shock, and get it valved to suit although you will probably need to play with it a bit to get it right, and unless you have the gear to re shim etc yourself, it would get a bit costly

[rockcrawler31]

Thanks for that. what are the differences between gas, foam, and oil filled shocks?

[Tiny]

Thanks for that. what are the differences between gas, foam, and oil filled shocks?

all shocks have oil, but as the piston and shaft run down the shock it creates displaced oil that has to go somewhere.

There are two basic shock types, monotube and twin tube

A mono tube shock is as exactly as is sounds, it is one solid heavy wall tupe, the oil is in the top section and is seperated from high pressure gass by a floating piston, as the oil is displaced it forces the floating piston down allowing more room in the main chamber for the oil

in a twin tube shockthe main chamber is the same, but there is a secondary chamber on the putside of the main shock tube, this is filled with either a low pressure gas or a special foam matting, as the piston moves down, the oil is displaced into this other chamber. Foam cell shocks are generally better in a twin tube shock as there is less chance of air / gas getting into the main chamber and cousing cavitation

there are also variations such as emulsion shocks such as swayaway coilovers for eg, but for the standard vehicle the most choise willl be gas or foam cell twin tube