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I Need Wheel Travel Numbers

Bubba Ray Boudreaux

Bubba Ray Boudreaux

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The time is almost upon me to order some bling dampers for the K-5. Since I'm still without a shop, so as I wait on the springs to get here, I have no way to cycle the suspension, so I'm just ordering parts so they will be here when the time comes.

I'm going with 4" springs up front, and 6" BDS springs in the back (don't fret, it's gonna level out, I'm taking a different approach to all of this.)

Should 14" all around be sufficient?

And if you know what shocks I'm gonna get, that's a secret /forums/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif
 
yea 14" of travel should be plenty as long as they are stock length springs. /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif
 
Agreed, 14" should be about right until you start to get into the uber-long spring catgegory.

I'll do the forklift test when I get the chance, but as it sits right now with 56" springs up front and 63" rears, it'll be interesting to see what the travel maxes out at.
 
If 16" shocks are the same price, I would get them for the front. I had 18's on my old ride and didnt use all of them, but I used more than 14". They were even bumpstopped to limit up travel. The springs were 1" longer than stock and made by Alcan for 6" of lift.
 
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If 16" shocks are the same price, I would get them for the front. I had 18's on my old ride and didnt use all of them, but I used more than 14". They were even bumpstopped to limit up travel. The springs were 1" longer than stock and made by Alcan for 6" of lift.

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i was looking at the Bilstein 7100's but didn't see them listed any longer than 14". Apparently I'm gonna need longer, but I'm not sure if there is a comparable shock that is long enough.

Rene
 
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If 16" shocks are the same price, I would get them for the front. I had 18's on my old ride and didnt use all of them, but I used more than 14". They were even bumpstopped to limit up travel. The springs were 1" longer than stock and made by Alcan for 6" of lift.

[/ QUOTE ]

i was looking at the Bilstein 7100's but didn't see them listed any longer than 14". Apparently I'm gonna need longer, but I'm not sure if there is a comparable shock that is long enough.

Rene

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The shocks that I'm getting for the front are offered in 16" flavors, but they are kind of pricey. The company also offers some cheaper shocks that might fit you, but even those you are looking at double the price of a 7100.
 
pro comp ES9000 16" travels /forums/images/graemlins/whistling.gif
37$ fromm summit with free shipping /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif
 
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pro comp ES9000 16" travels /forums/images/graemlins/whistling.gif
37$ fromm summit with free shipping /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif

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Garbage.
 
I would do the 16" travel and bumpstop and limit strap to 15.5" or so. I think with little effort the rear will handle 16" of vertical travel. I would keep the front limited to around 14" to keep the steering happy. Even with crossover you might need a track bar to keep the bump steer down.
 
BBCS... 15" of travel. /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif

j
 
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I would do the 16" travel and bumpstop and limit strap to 15.5" or so. I think with little effort the rear will handle 16" of vertical travel. I would keep the front limited to around 14" to keep the steering happy. Even with crossover you might need a track bar to keep the bump steer down.

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Thanks for the info /forums/images/graemlins/peace.gif
 
Man, you guys are giving me shaft envy here. I ran 12" bilsteins front and rear with my custom leaves and had no problems. They did have some angle on them on both ends but not a huge amount and this was with some nice, soft flexy custom packs. With any out of the box front spring, you're probably not going to use more than 12" of travel. If you get even close to that, you're going to be replacing packs fairly often. I ran the 16" kings with the 63" custom rear springs but didn't use all of it. They were angled a little too.

Normally I recommend putting in a longer shock since you probably won't use up all of it and it gives you some room to adjust the ride height and not have to build new shock mounts. I was able to run my mounts with 2-3 different leaf packs and slightly different heights with no problems. Given that the shocks get really expensive as you go past 14" of travel, I'd make sure of what you need before you buy, unless you're stepping into the $300-up shock range anyway.

We can hook you up with some 17" bilsteins like we're running on the K5 we're prepping now, they work really nice for serious flogging.
 
14'' is probably enough, i went ahead and used 16'' fox 2.5'' triple bypasses running 5-5.5'' lift and ended up with some really tight clearance with the hood due to the additional shock body length (over 26'' fully collapsed) i set it up to not use the entire hydraulic bumpstop on full compression either (only use about 2'' then it hits a poly bumpstop on the frame) simply because it would dead stop movement when articulating. if you were to make it use all of the uptravel including the hydro bump (if you are getting them internal) you could probably squeeze a 16'' with 4'' lift but as stated above, off the shelf springs won't cycle that anyways... even most of the national and deaver packs i've seen on the front of these trucks could only cycle 12-13''. in the rear 16''s are great and if you don't mind seeing your shocks in the rearview mirror /forums/images/graemlins/rotfl.gif go with 18''s being that there is less to worry about when cycleing a lot of travel back there and it is easier to stuff longer packs in too... my cheap @$$ only has 14'' fox 2.0 reservoirs through the floor in the rear and they are just about maxed out on valving (55/90) and they still need a lot more on rebound. i should have gone 16'' bypass in the rear before the front got them /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif. if you are honestly considering bypasses my advice would be to go straight for a 3 tube at least. the 2 tubes are nice because you can externally adjust them and you can get them equipped with the inverted reservoir to form a hydro bump but... you basically only have the same shock as a smooth body 2.5'' you just don't have to open it up to change valving. for a small amount of $$ more (relative to the cost of a bypass in general) you can step it up to a triple tube (or more) and play in a whole new ball game, it gives you the ability to change the valving at different stages of your travel which can make a huge difference on those sections where you are using every inch of travel you've got or coming down from a big jump. companies like bilstein recommend a 4 tube but i personally couldn't see the use on my vehicle to have a multi-stage rebound setup. just my $.02
 
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