Deaver leaf pack travel and shock placement

Goatman

Goatman

NAXJA Forum User
NAXJA Member
Location
Bakersfield, CA
How much actual travel do you guys get out of an XJ Deaver leaf pack?

From ride height, any info on how much compression and how much droop? Do you let the spring bend negative arch much at full stuff or do you bump stop it to keep it from bending backwards?

Thanks for any help, we're trying to figure out rear shock length and placement. We can run a 14" shock, and overall travel is not limited, but we must mount the shock to the axle housing and we can't go through the floor, frame, or inner fender well. No mods or massaging of the frame or body is allowed.
 
Without going into negative arch I'm sitting at right around 11.5" of travel Richard. I know the Jeepspeed guys go negative a tiny bit to get the full 12" they're allowed.

I was talking to Dan Turner about this, I think a longer shackle with the shackle mount moved forward would give you another inch or two. Right now, at full bump, instead of being flat my springs are in a bit of an "S". The JKS shackles that are on it aren't designed for the extra length of the Deavers. I also had to clearance the back of the body for them to clear, not sure on the rules for you on that.
 
My friend gets 12 in out of his deavers with boomerang shackles. Not sure about the droop and bump measurements. Seeing as how limited you are I'd think you need more like a 10 in travel shock kicked at some crazy angle under the rear to still get the 12 in out of them.
 
When i had first installed my deavers i was told they would work with a stock style shackle. Well that didn't work. After the springs were on i went to drive around the block and the ass end of the jeep was bouncing off the rear of the frame. So i contacted DEAVER and was told the leafs needed a boomerang style shackle. Once those were on there was no probs at all. At bump the boomerang style shackles that i got from CURRIE still had plenty of room before the shackles would contact the rear frame. Most of the builds ive looked into had boomerang style shackles. I have 12in of rear travel using a 14in stroke shock
 
i have 12" of travel going almost an inch into negative arch with a 10 leaf national pack and boomerangs all in stock locations. I called national before mounting and they said 1" into negative would be fine and shouldn't reduce the life of the pack much. My shocks are 18" travel through the floor... If you can't go through the floor your going to have to mount at a shitty angle ultimately loosing valving as it compreses. So you'll prol want some by-passes and extra valving to adjust accordingly.
 
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We've got boomerang shackles already. Since we're not limited on travel, just shock length, it would be nice to have more than 12" of travel in the rear. This is KOH/Ultra4 stock class. We cannot go through the floor, frame, or wheel wells, we're limited to a 14" shock, and total wheel travel is not stipulated. Of course, we can put the shock at a stupid angle and get travel, but at a stupid angle the shock doesn't need to be very long. We can figure what shock length and mounting position we think is best given the situation IF we know what to expect out of the leaf pack.

Interesting situation. :)



We can also use a longer spring, we're not limited, but we already have the Deaver XJ springs.
 
The problem with a gnarly angle with the shocks is going to be in the go fast sections. You're going to lose valving as the travel goes up. And without a bypass there's no way to tune this out (to my knowledge). You want to ideally be 90* at bump, so you have a progressive compression instead of digressive.
 
Exactly.
 
I noticed the Deavers we got have no friction pads on the ends, do they all come that way? I've always liked having good friction reduction between the leaves, but the Deavers don't. With all the thin leaves does it make a difference? I'm sure they know what they're doing, I'm just surprised.

I hope we get 12" of travel out of these springs. On the lift with the 35" tires/beadlocks bolted up there's 9" of droop below the spring eyes. I figure there is another inch or so from the shackle angle moving up, plus an inch or so from negative arch at full bump, but that's still slightly short of 12".

I'm thinking about using a longer shackle and moving the shackle mount location forward. Of course, we still haven't decided on a shock length and exact mounting location.
 
Mine never had those either, but the paint seems like it may have graphite? We also chamfered the ends of each leaf so they wouldn't dig as they are thinner, as well as dog eared the corners, this was per advice from my old jeepspeed master:). And his were set up with almost 2" of neg arch at the pins.
 
I have a 3" leaf on my Xj with 8.5" fox 2.0's jammed as high up to the floor as they can be and I am running out of up travel due to the shock body being too long. I don't see how you are going to get what you want with a 14" shock and no holes in the floor. unless your lower shock mounts are like 10" under the axle....

or as people have said run them at a crazy angle which is also a bad idea. I would think you would be better off with a shorter shock mounted more vertical. A 10" shock with a little bit of angle should be able to get 11-12"
 
Just got our rears mounted and with a 5" spring and 1" boom shackle and 1/2" u bolt eliminate kit, our 10" fits great I feel, initially. Not much angle and only about 1" below tube.

Oh and I think we can expect about 12" of leaf travel.
 
We're not going to run shocks at a big angle, but we also want more travel in the back than we'll have in the front. It's a bitch that travel isn't limited except by a 14" shock, but since we can't go through the floor we're limited. I keep thinking I'm going to find a way to run a longer shock.......but I've already considered every possibility.

I guess we'll just have to run a 8-10" lift. :D
 
What are the offset of your wheels? Would it be possible to fab up a shock mount that was below the axle, but protected by the tires/wheels? In this type of race, does the longer shock travel outweigh the need to have the lower shock mounts tucked up out of the way?
 
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