Some upper shock mounts. Anybody think these will work?

[iant333]

Kinda want to rework some of my front suspension stuff currently. For one I'm not a fan of my current shock mount setup, i'm running those JKS stud eliminators that compress the shock up like 2 inches. The shocks come less than a 1/4 inch from bottoming out when the bumpstops engage which is ok, but I could raise the mount on top and run 10" or 12" travel shocks up front and throw my current ones in the back.

Currently looks like this:

Want to take that off and cut the hole that the stud used to go through even bigger and make some sort of a mount that bolts inside the engine compartment. Basically have it so the eye sits just inside the engine compartment between two pieces of like 1/8th" steel welded to the sheetmetal there and I can just drill a hole to run a bolt through. Would probably even brace it and I wouldn't have to worry about strength.

It wouldn't work currently with the Bilstein 5150's I have with the way the little reservoir is placed, but if I bought 7100 remote resi's I could tuck the reservoir out of the way. If I make a stud that sits a bit lower for the lower mount, I could according to my calculations run a 12" travel and still be an inch or so short of dropping a coil and not bottom out either.

Anyone else think this work work pretty good? Once I get around to buying some new front shocks I think I'm gonna try it out. Also can you run a 12" travel on shortarms without binding everything the hell up or should I stick with 10? I'm gonna get some RE 3.5 coils so the angle should still be fine.

 

[ert01]

We installed some 12" FOA's in my brothers XJ. He's running 4.5" RE lift on RCX drop brackets with shortarms. The top mount of the shock is a JKS eliminator just like you have pictured. How we gained the room to fit the 12's in there is by lowering the bottom mount... We cut off the factory mount and reinforced the LCA bracket by welding on some skid plates and some 1/4" plate to the side of the brackets. Then it's a simple matter of two small tabs that "straddle" the LCA bolt. You can gain a lot of length that way. I'll try to dig up some pics...

 

[ert01]

Found a very similar setup except on my brothers the shock mounting bolt pretty much covers up the LCA mounting bolt (ie: a few inches lower):

 

[xcm]

for the upper, use a t&j style upper mount, or like you said, two longitudinal peices of 1/4" plate up near where the jks' are now. the jks is ok for a crawler, but has a bad reputation in gofast crowds. any lost compression is made up for with a lowered lower mount.

 

[iant333]

Ok drawn up for ease of understanding. Please critique me, I don't do much with metalworking so this will be new.

First use a hole saw to bore out a hole a bit larger then the body of a B7100, enough wiggle room to account for the fact that the shock pivots slightly and stuff.

I'm planning on using all 1/8th for this too, I don't trust my 100amp welder to make a safe weld on much more than that. They should be mounted plenty securely, the unibody is thicker than normal there.

I would take 2 pieces with a hole through the middle for the eye to go between and the eye to bolt to. Then brace them with a little triangular piece, maybe even cap them together if there is enough clearance not to hit the eye.

Basically looking like this.

An estimated measurement for how much extra this would move the shock up is about 3-4 inches, I might not even have to screw with the lower mount. If I run 12's I would try and shoot for another 1 inch up and another 3 down so I'll figure out where the lower mount needs to be after I take some better measurements.




And I worked out most of the issues with the longer travel shocks. I did a binding test the other day with the shocks disconnected, the first thing to bind are my stock UCA's about an additional 3 inches past where the shock currently stops extending, I ordered some RK ones and should have those soon though which will solve the problem, brakelines next but i'll take care of those. Nothing else bind's a reasonable amount really. Drooped out it should be about the same as a 10" travel mounted like stock.

Only other thought I had is I'm not sure if the line to the resi is gonna be in the way of anything, I would like to mount them under the hood if possible. That's why I'm gonna wait until I get the shocks before I actually start making anything, I need some dimensions from them.

 

[ktm racer 419]

i wouldnt trust that mount just welded to sheet metal on top there.

if it goes, then there goes your master cylinder with it.

and try to keep the resis out from under the hood.

the remote resi is to keep the fluid cool. putting it in a hot engine bay is kinda a step backwards

 

[iant333]

Actually I just did some more research and I think I'm gonna scrap modding the upper mount and just do the lower after I learned they make short body shocks, which will fit with minimal mods.

 

[DieselSJ]

for the upper, use a t&j style upper mount, or like you said, two longitudinal peices of 1/4" plate up near where the jks' are now. the jks is ok for a crawler, but has a bad reputation in gofast crowds. any lost compression is made up for with a lowered lower mount.

This is the best piece of advice offered in this thread.

 

[fyrfytr1717]

Anyone have a close up picture of a mounted (or even unmounted) T&J Upper Shock Mount? I haven't seen them in person and can't figure out from the picture on their website what supports the inboard side of the bolt that runs through the shock eye. From what I can tell it looks like it works just the same as the JKS, puts your shock eye in the same position as the JKS, just with more metal surrounding the bolt that attaches it to the stock mounting hole.

 

[DieselSJ]

Anyone have a close up picture of a mounted (or even unmounted) T&J Upper Shock Mount? I haven't seen them in person and can't figure out from the picture on their website what supports the inboard side of the bolt that runs through the shock eye. From what I can tell it looks like it works just the same as the JKS, puts your shock eye in the same position as the JKS, just with more metal surrounding the bolt that attaches it to the stock mounting hole.

Look through the Jeepspeed/Prerunner forum. Lots of pics there.

 

[GrimmJeeper]

...just with more metal surrounding the bolt that attaches it to the stock mounting hole.

That's the key, welding all around the T&J mount makes it much stronger and less prone to deflection when the suspension is cycled at high speed. It also helps distribute the force put on the area by the shock itself. More surface area = less likely to tear a hole in the inner fenderwell.

That area takes a lot of abuse, at least it did when I was running stud top shocks. As the area deflects first it eats up the bushings because they arent being held tightly in place anymore, once those are gone you a) wallow out the hole, b) bend the crap out of the metal the hole is drilled in, c) pull the nut down so hard that it pulls the washer through the newly created gaping hole in your fenderwell, and d) snap the stud off the top of the shock as it falls out desperately trying to escape the beating you're putting on it. That's what happened to mine anyway Once I ate up a bushing on the passenger side and bent the hole, I could never get that side to stay together again - I was putting new bushings in it before every trip and still destroying them.

 

[crazyjim]

Anyone have a close up picture of a mounted (or even unmounted) T&J Upper Shock Mount? I haven't seen them in person and can't figure out from the picture on their website what supports the inboard side of the bolt that runs through the shock eye. From what I can tell it looks like it works just the same as the JKS, puts your shock eye in the same position as the JKS, just with more metal surrounding the bolt that attaches it to the stock mounting hole.

 

[xcm]

 

[fyrfytr1717]

Sweet, thanks for the pics guys. Looks like they also move your shocks outboard just a bit compared to the JKS's. What's with the piece of tube sticking out next to the stud? Is it internally threaded for the shock bolt, or does the bolt pass through it and the fender well and get nutted inside the engine compartment?

Do most people weld them up like that crazyjim? Did you weld just the outer plate or can you reach both?

 

[DieselSJ]

Sweet, thanks for the pics guys. Looks like they also move your shocks outboard just a bit compared to the JKS's. What's with the piece of tube sticking out next to the stud? Is it internally threaded for the shock bolt, or does the bolt pass through it and the fender well and get nutted inside the engine compartment?

Do most people weld them up like that crazyjim? Did you weld just the outer plate or can you reach both?

Bolt extends through to the engine compartment.

Yes on the welding, every part of it that you can get the mig into.

 

[jonjon99xj]

i want to do this