Does anyone know what part number and brand so I can track down 2" longer struts for a 01 Tracker 4X4?  It's Saturday and the auto parts store don't have catalogs anymore to look up the mounts and cross reference longer struts with the same mounts.
Thanks

BDS used to make strut extenders for the TracKick struts.  I have a set that I might install someday...

Check out your local custom truck shop (the guys that sell lifts for full-sized trucks),  Most of them are BDS dealers.

Thanks - On Monday I will be ordering either extenders or new struts.

so you're ordering extenders.... nobody other than OME has a longer strut, and the price of them is more than double parts store struts...  i've ran extenders for a couple years with no issues, just ordered a new set of stock replacement struts and ordered more extenders for them from boondox.

Old Man Emu struts are worth every penny. A friend of mine just stumbled across a new strut for the sidekick. It comes in I think 6.5" and I think it can be rebuilt to 8.5" stroke. I saw them and they are beefy, rebuildable and have rods twice the diameter of stock struts or OME for that matter and bolt right in.  I don't want to steal his thunder as I think he will be opening a business to sell them.  And they are pricey so it wouldn't be a good replacement for a stock application. But for all of us looking for more performance out of a strut and are willing to spend the coin... they are coming!

Hutch

I have found Tokico and KYB for $60-$80 online - affordable - the OME were about $150 but out of stock, add the spacers to replacements and the OME are in line.  As for a rebuildable I would guess $250??

Here is what I found out from Monores web site (only site I could find a comparison) http://www.monroe.com/catalog/documents/08_MountingLengthSheet.pdf

Factory 2001 Chevy Tracker (Suzuki GV 99-05, Tracker 98-03, GEO 90-97, Kick 96-98 - www.rockauto.com, part 71591)

PART#   BODY STYLE    LENGTH    COMPRESSED LENGTH   EXTENDED LENGTH  TRAVEL
71590           B7             12.25                    8.75                     15.25                  6.5
71591           B7             12.25                    8.75                     15.25                  6.5
171831         B7             13.25                    10.5                     18.5                      8

The other alternative is a MONROE 171831 for a 88-96 Buick Regal, 90-94 Lumina, 88-97 Cutlass Supreme (does not have the brake line tab and picture shows a dust boot and two stud mounting cap)

Also - Tokico said they are discontinuing the HB 3155 & HB3156 strut for this vehicle - but do have a few in stock

Concidering that about 25% of the difference in length of the 171831 shock needs to be added to the compressed length then the Monroe so it looks like it is 2" longer overall but 1.5" longer travel.

It looks like this is a rear strut though, so I wonder how well it works.

*That should be that the strut is 2" longer collapsed length, but has 1.5" more travel so it will actually droop 3.5" more then the stock strut.*

Thanks for noticing that, I did find it on another site and it is listed as the rear - i am going to call my local junk yard and get some to try out.

One thought - being that they are for the rear, and the Lumina was basically a mid sized car, will these hold up on the front of a vehicle?  They are not supporting the weight, but I think the front may take more of a beating that the rear.


1aauto.com image

I got the struts and they were about an 80% fit compared to the stock units.


I had to remove the spring mount on the new longer Chevy Lumina strut, it required me to drill out the larger washer on the factory strut mount as the chrome shaft on new longer strut does not have the D style threads.


I used the new large bolt and allen key to start the reassembly process, I also removed the longer struts rubber boot and foam cushion and replaced the original black plastic dust boot and larger support washer, everything fits perfectly into the strut mount.


There are no brake hose mounts, rather than cut mine off and weld them back on possibly damaging the tube I am going to use double zip ties and hope for the best.



The spindle mount is where this modification has a few holes in it. The bolt diameter on the new struts are approx 1/2" diameter holes where the original strut mounting holes are approx 3/8" in diameter and the new longer struts hole spacing is about 1/16" too short to match the Trackers spindle. I bolted the top of spindle and used a drill to ream out the lower bolt hole to allow me to insert the second bolt.


The new low pressurized struts clear the CV joint, clear the top of my 18 diameter rims by an inch or two and do seem to need the camber kit.


Once I fix the passenger side brake line that I stripped relocating in my body lift I will be able to road test vehicle and hopefully take if offroading for the first time.

I was hopping to get some honest opinions, even if you guys think this will fail, I need someone to say its okay to order OME struts after spending $200 on this test.

Let us know how it works. 

If I remember correctly Mike Hagen was using rear struts off the X body Chevys for awhile. He quit and went back to OME's because they kept freezing up on him. The problem is that rear struts are not designed to turn.

Old Man Emu struts are worth every penny. A friend of mine just stumbled across a new strut for the sidekick. It comes in I think 6.5" and I think it can be rebuilt to 8.5" stroke. I saw them and they are beefy, rebuildable and have rods twice the diameter of stock struts or OME for that matter and bolt right in.  I don't want to steal his thunder as I think he will be opening a business to sell them.  And they are pricey so it wouldn't be a good replacement for a stock application. But for all of us looking for more performance out of a strut and are willing to spend the coin... they are coming!

Hutch

Keep us posted on this Hutch

I just saw some OME struts for the first time last weekend on Bentpart's red Turbotracker.  They're BEEFY.  I say get them.

Also...don't forget you can only go about 2" higher than stock before you start running into issues with your cv's.  It really doesn't matter what struts you buy or how many spacers you install....you will NEED to modify your front suspension geometry to straighten out the cv's, or you'll break 'em.    =)

I have not been able to finish job, waiting on a brake line I stripped while relocating after doing a body lift.  I did order the axle brackets and actually a set of OME struts, they are shipping from the UK for about $50 more which covers the shipping of axle relocate brackets and other parts, no one had them in stock here.

The longer struts from the Chevy Lumina have a beefier shaft, I had to drillout the large washer, and I don't know if I will be able to align them since the spindle has smaller holes and the longer struts mounting holes did not quite match up.  I would need to machine some washers with moon shaped shims or bolts so I opted to order the OME struts as a backup.  I also wonder if the longer struts can handle being on the front, I need to measure the strut body diameter, the longer ones seem to be much larger.

Anyone interested in buying them and trying to finish this project?

If I remember correctly Mike Hagen was using rear struts off the X body Chevys for awhile. He quit and went back to OME's because they kept freezing up on him. The problem is that rear struts are not designed to turn.

I'd like to hear from Mike about this, I'm strongly considering running them on our 2 door kick. I wouldn't be surprised if they were seizing up on him cuz of how much he likes to jump lol.