Outboarding rear shocks.

    Since I've been asked about doing this by a few people after having done it to a few TJ's and since I'd never actually gotten around to doing my own (hey, I wanted to be well practiced :suspicious: ) I decided to tackle the project today. Fairly easy given the tools (welder, grinder, plasma if avail, etc)...a couple hour project IMHO.


    To start pull the tires and get the Jeep on jackstands making sure that the Jeep is sitting at ride height as you want the towers oriented so that the shock is centered in the opening. Then pull the old shocks and I like to clamp the tower in place to get a rough idea on placement as depending on the axle position, amount of lift, lower mount location, etc the tower can be shifted slightly. As you can see I took the opportunity to finally get rid of the rear trackbar mount as well.



    After scribing a line for each side to get a rough position I trimmed the mount to length using the handy-dandy plasma. On my TJ w/ RE 4.5's in the rear on non-factory mounts I was able to use all the way to the bend on the Ford towers.



    Once trimmed I clamped it on the frame backwards, aligning the tower with the previous scribe lines, and after doublechecking that everything is square I'll make final cut lines for the sides.



    The frame is 2.5" deep and the mount is 2"...to leave enough area to weld the piece in I'll usually make the notch 1 1/2-5/8" deep at the top and just shy of 2" on the bottom. This angles the tower outward slightly at the top allowing room for the shock to move when articulating. Once marked it's time for a little fun with the plasma....don't fret if you want to do the same and don't have a plasma or torch, the same can be done w/ a cutoff wheel it just takes a bit longer and makes a bit more noise.



    Tack the mount in place, doublecheck all measurements, and then burn the sucker home. After a little cleanup here's what you end up with:



    Keep in mind these are mockup shocks (the ones I took off) and way too short. I'll be ordering replacements on Mon. From the side you can see the angle that the tower sits:




    --Ian

    Quote from surfrider


    For the newbie's , what are the pros and cons of doing this ?


    A sort of con is that you have to run a longer shock in order to get the same axle travel because you are moving the shock out on the radius of movement. I had to ditch my perfectly good rear shocks and buy Bilstein 5150's. (Good shock though.)
    Otherwise, you are giving the shock so much more control over the axle and it was a great improvement for me. Well worth it IMO.


    What shocks did you go with Ian?

    I have loved mine since I did it. I spent about $50 on the whole thing. I already had new shocks in the mail since destroying my old ones. Nice write-up. I agree that it might have taken me 3-4 hours total.


    I did take the bottom portion of the tower and bend it outward on both sides just to allow more clearance for that just in case time being.

    Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.<br />-Frederic Bastiat

    Quote from TheMistaken


    I did take the bottom portion of the tower and bend it outward on both sides just to allow more clearance for that just in case time being.


    Yeah...I bent it on a couple and mine are spread a touch just to tighten them in the opening but nothing drastic. Mine's setup for mostly droop and my shocks are slightly rear of center in the notch, should be perfect IMHO. Worst case I do a little more cutting. :shrug:


    --Ian

    Quote from clendaniel


    Eventually I will do coilovers and I don't really do highspeed stuff so I can't justify $$$ on some bling external reservoirs.


    I was under the impression that the Ford mounts didn't give enough room for coil-overs.
    From the pics, it looks like you'll be close unless you burn them out and put a wider based mount in. :shrug:

    Most Ford dealers have them for around $12 a piece. Don't buy them online, they are considerably more expensive that way.


    If you plan on stretching like 5", then yes you should wait to do this. If you aere only going back an inch or two, then this would nopt be bad to do now. The only thing is if you are going to a long-arm or not. I think it is wasted if you are not long armed. Running it with short arms all you are doing is getting the stability out of it and not really gaining from the ability to run longer shocks and such.
    I would also be hesitant about putting it on before a long arm due to the radius of the axle swing up and down. I put mine right at 90* with the axle swing radius at ride height. The radius on a short arm is so small that it may cause the can to hit the tower...

    Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.<br />-Frederic Bastiat

    Quote from TheMistaken


    Most Ford dealers have them for around $12 a piece. Don't buy them online, they are considerably more expensive that way.


    Mine came from Bayshore...like $11.50-ish apiece. When Ed picked his up they were in stock, mine they had to order.


    Quote


    If you plan on stretching like 5", then yes you should wait to do this. If you aere only going back an inch or two, then this would nopt be bad to do now. The only thing is if you are going to a long-arm or not. I think it is wasted if you are not long armed. Running it with short arms all you are doing is getting the stability out of it and not really gaining from the ability to run longer shocks and such.
    I would also be hesitant about putting it on before a long arm due to the radius of the axle swing up and down. I put mine right at 90* with the axle swing radius at ride height. The radius on a short arm is so small that it may cause the can to hit the tower...


    x2


    --Ian

    Quote from KnoxRents


    I was under the impression that the Ford mounts didn't give enough room for coil-overs.
    From the pics, it looks like you'll be close unless you burn them out and put a wider based mount in. :shrug:


    Never said that I was gonna use these mounts... ;)


    FWIW when I get to that point I'll likely run them up and they'll mount from the cage. Also prob won't be the factory rails that far back at that point. :suspicious:


    --Ian

    just thought i'd share, been runnin like this for a few years and love it...


    I used the Poly Performance Kit. i made enough room for a 35" Long 14" travel shock on only a 3.5" lift ;)



    yeah but the good (monotube) shocks are intended to be mounted can-up for better performance (and to protect the can from debris and impact). Most of the better Bilstein shocks (pretty much anything 5100 series or higher) are monotubes. The twin-tube (most commonly found with Jeep lift kits) must be used can-down.

    Jerry / Whatevah

    2020 Gladiator Mojave - 33" Falken mud tires, LoD side steps, Zroadz bed rack, Quadratec QRC winch bumper, Superwinch EPi 9.0, Kleinn on-board air, Kleinn air horns, lots of lights, Yaesu ham radio with GPS tracker.

    Gone- 2012 JK Rubicon with stuff. Long gone- Long-arm 2001 Cherokee with stuff.

    That is just a DT shock from Stu's website. That is exactly how I did mine, just with the can up with my 5150's. I run a 14" shock with 4.5" lift and 37s... I kind of wish i would have used more of the tower though. Oh well... It works really well the way i have it. I keep thinking of ways to do the front differently and keeping the spring mount where it is... One day I will start to "F" with it and figure it out how I want it.

    Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.<br />-Frederic Bastiat

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