ZUKIWORLD Online | Suzuki 4x4 Editorial and Forum
ZUKIWORLD Model Specific Suzuki Forum => Suzuki Grand Vitara, Vitara, Chevy Tracker (Gen. 2 Platform) 1999-2005 => Topic started by: ngrover on October 03, 2006, 02:05:07 PM
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can anyone help me decide what shocks to go with on the rear if i'm going to run 2 inch coil spacers. I've read about people using 91 Crown Vic rears (of which there are two body styles 89-91, and 91-05) and some people running front shocks from a 89 toyota FJ-60.
1) will one of these choices cause the rear to ride higher than the other?
2) which one has the best dampening / performance on our vechicles?
3) any modification needed for either of these? i've read the 91 crown vics need a custom sleeve in the bottom
4) i'm asking this for two people, myself having a GV and rc3 having a 4 banger Tracker
thanks for any insight / experience any one can provide.
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Try the direct fit ones they sell at boondox.
ProComp is a good name in the industry, I run them on my rig. :)
http://www.boondoxmotorsports.com/zuk_suspension.html
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Neil, I downloaded a PDF from monroe their OEM shock dimentions and referenced the model from their shockfinder tool
Stock - Our Vehicles
99 - 05 GV - Tracker model 37070
12.125 - 18.250 6" Travel
Crown Victoria 1982-98
model 550051
12.375 - 20" 7.625 travel
FJ60 - 1989
monroe 34959
13.250 - 21.5 8.250 travel travel
but it's compressed might be just too long... probably bottem the shock before the bumpstop
89 Mustang EX 5.0
monroe 58428
12.625 - 20.375 7.750 travel
problem is... too light of vehicle?
94 Cav - 13 - 22" huge travel
but weight of car
Other good alternatives are the Procomp ES1000 from Boondox, probably best price I've looked |removethispart|@
The Rancho 5000 series, as JDMCRX had recommended does have the adiquate travel-- but might be a little too strong for a light duty
Model 5158
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good specs, i don't think many people have used the mustang shocks, i have the crown vics and they work well.
who on this site is using the fj shocks? i'd like to switch to these for the extra 1 of downtravel. with the bumpstops lowered and coil spacers on top of the springs i'm thinking the shocks shouldn't bottom themselves on compression, i have yet to extend my bumpstops though..
procomps would be ok too if we can simply find them locally in our different areas. i have not looked yet. lowerezolution; what have you done to address your brake lines in the back of your tracker? i'm pretty sure i cannot extend any further without some changes there..
none of the shocks listed will affect the ride height, springs control that.
as for pricing, i paid $22cdn each shock direct from ford. that's pretty cheap
the custom sleeve thing is pretty easy to work with, i actually got a threaded sleave from home depots plumbing section and have had no problems. some people take the sleeve out of the stock shock and fit it in the new shock.
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good specs, i don't think many people have used the mustang shocks, i have the crown vics and they work well.
who on this site is using the fj shocks? i'd like to switch to these for the extra 1 of downtravel. with the bumpstops lowered and coil spacers on top of the springs i'm thinking the shocks shouldn't bottom themselves on compression, i have yet to extend my bumpstops though..ÂÂ
procomps would be ok too if we can simply find them locally in our different areas. i have not looked yet.  lowerezolution; what have you done to address your brake lines in the back of your tracker? i'm pretty sure i cannot extend any further without some changes there..
none of the shocks listed will affect the ride height, springs control that.
as for pricing, i paid $22cdn each shock direct from ford. that's pretty cheap
the custom sleeve thing is pretty easy to work with, i actually got a threaded sleave from home depots plumbing section and have had no problems. some people take the sleeve out of the stock shock and fit it in the new shock.
AJMBlazer is running with the FJ60 front shocks in the back of his Vitara
Thing is... it might be just too heavy duty for my 2.0L Tracker
Not only do I want the extended flex ability, but I do want a better ride, which is why I was looking at the Fjord Crown Vic's or the econoline E150
I'm confused about the bottem sleeve... why does it need to be custom or swapped?
I thought the shock compressed shoudl be roughly the same sized and also does use a double eyelet...
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none of the shocks listed will affect the ride height, springs control that.
I just thougth if the shocks had progressive dampening that might affect the ride height a bit. But I guess dampening is a completely seprate animal from the coils.
bzzr2, why did you make a sleeve when you could have just taken the one out of your stock shock? Just wondering if I'm missing something there.
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the sleeve was not willing to just come out and i was changing the shocks in my buddies womans garage, we tried to pound it out & twist it but it wouldn't budge. home depot was easy..
this needs to be done cause our bolt on the lower shock mount in maybe 2/3's the diameter of the bolt that comes with the crown vic, so the bushing is loose around the bolt, can't use the ford bolt cause it doesn't fit the mount unless you grind that, don't think that's the best idea thoug. maybe the fj shocks are different, i really coudln't comment on those since i've never seen them.
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spoke to a buddy who has modded a bunch of rigs...
A shock's main purpose is for dampening and also limits the full suspension extention. The shock should limit the extention to the point where the coil is almost fully extend yet still remains loaded.
As Neil and I are using roughly 1.5 - 2"coil spacers, we should stick with shocks which extend 2" longer than the stock ones which means we should look for something that extends at max 20.25"
If Neil and I went with a shock which extends further than that, e.g. 22", we risk completely unloading the rear coil. This is a serious safety issue as the coil could potentially fall out, especially if the vehicle becomes high centered.
Also... the Shock should never be the point of which the suspenion compresses, the suspension "should" bottem on the bumpstop and not the shock.
So... we should still stick with something that remains close to stock for it's full compression as we are really not putting in much of a bumpstop extention or larger bumpstop
I'm still all for the Crown Vic shocks, of which Canadian tire sells for 24.99 a piece CAD
Apparently they have a model for high load which is used for their Police vehicles and my buddy said that seeing how the curb weight of the VIC is significantly heavier than our light duty trucks, he thinks it's a good match.
Neil, my buddy said he has a metal lathe and can custom us some sleeves if we cannot yank the stock ones out
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We use RS5158's in the rear best shock. Not to soft and not to stiff. On the road there not jumpy there steady. When i go off roading u can feel them working.
Ive tried monroes and few others KYBs and there way to soft. After a bit of bumps the back would get some hoop to it
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Well I went to our local Canadian tire and picked up a set of the Crown Vic shocks for the police interceptor
Sensitrack - model 5961
compressed 12.375 - extended 20" 7.625travel
I compared it to the OEM version of our Tracker shock from Monroe model - 37070
12.125 - 18.250 6" Travel
Well... it' does extend slightly "slightly" longer by 1 3/4" (which is really very little) and compresses down to roughly the same length (which is good with only the 1/4" bumpstop spacers I have)
Anyways... thse shock I would have to say is about 30% softer than the stock tracker
This I AM worried about...
however I do know that the stock shock does ride too stiff for my 2.0L and quite honestly my tires have to be defalted down to 24psi to acctualty have a decent ride
with these shocks? Maybe I can run higher PSI in my tires
only scary problem is... will I get the washboard affect going through corners and will they extend fast enough to be able to cope with high speed bumpage (rough highways etc...)
also yes... the eyelit sleeve is slightly larger... I am going to hem up a sleeve with some thicker sheet metal and that should be fine
I'll post updates later
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good specs, i don't think many people have used the mustang shocks, i have the crown vics and they work well.
who on this site is using the fj shocks? i'd like to switch to these for the extra 1 of downtravel. with the bumpstops lowered and coil spacers on top of the springs i'm thinking the shocks shouldn't bottom themselves on compression, i have yet to extend my bumpstops though..ÂÂ
procomps would be ok too if we can simply find them locally in our different areas. i have not looked yet.  lowerezolution; what have you done to address your brake lines in the back of your tracker? i'm pretty sure i cannot extend any further without some changes there..
none of the shocks listed will affect the ride height, springs control that.
as for pricing, i paid $22cdn each shock direct from ford. that's pretty cheap
the custom sleeve thing is pretty easy to work with, i actually got a threaded sleave from home depots plumbing section and have had no problems. some people take the sleeve out of the stock shock and fit it in the new shock.
for that sleeve you picked up |removethispart|@ the home depot, do you know exactly what the diameter you required?
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Yeah the wash board efeect is fuckin scary on those shocks. My dads XL7 stock with stock shocks does this. We put monroes and it helped a bit but i almost crashed it last week.
The ranchos are alot better i never get the washboard effect and if u ask members on here that drive with me i drive this truck hard.
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I'm willing to try these Vics out for now
Any ideas on what to use as a shim?
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Had a look at the monroe spec sheet and found a set of shocks for the rear of a "1992 - 2005 E-150 Series - Inc.Club Wagon". The interesting thing aside from the ideal travel specs is that it also uses the same mounts on either end.
specs for the ford van shocks:
model: 32260, upper mount type: S4, lower mount type: LS26, compressed: 12.250, extended: 20.625, total travel: 8.375
specs for monroe grand vitara shocks:
model: 37070, upper mount type: S4, lower mount type: LS26, compressed: 12.125, extended: 18.250, total travel: 6.125
I'm thinking I might give a set of these a go unless someone can tell me a compelling reason not to.
btw I got my coil spacers from Digger today!
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U can shim the upper shaft for more travel well extended lenght
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Installed the crown vic shocks and used 3/8" plumbing threaded sleeves from home depot (made by Watt)
threw it into the back of my now 2" rear lifted trucklet and gave it a ride...
surprisingly for my 2.0L superbase tracker (no power nothing, not even abs/power locks nothing)
It is fantastic, it dampens just fine and in fact feels great
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cool man that was fun. I left when you guys were thinking of doing the front... i guess another time?
I managed to pick up a set of shocks for a rear 1/2 ton ford van and installed my rear lift today as well with diggers spacers (took all of 45 mins). The shocks bolted in like stock, both the ends were identical and no shim was required. In terms of height they are perfect (have an extra 2 and a bit inches of travel and have the same compressed length). If they were any longer they would put tension on the hand-brake cable when the wheel is fully dropped. I took it for a spin and I'm quite happy. It does ride harder than stock but so far I like it and don't consider them too hard. I'll give a better review once I have used them off-road. I took pics and I'll post them here in the morning.
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before and after (2 inch coil spacers and ford van shocks)
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rear shocks from 95 ford full size van vs stock suzuki
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aight, who am I kidding. I drove around for a while today and concluded the ride was to harsh with the ford shocks.. I took em off and they still look new so i'll return them and try something else. it's a shame because the specs were otherwise spot on.
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can't help with the size.. i don't know what the diameter was, i just brought the bolt and the shock with me and looked for whatever was a good fit.ÂÂ
....... oh, just read the 2nd page... glad you found what you needed!
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so glad i returned the ford van shocks. I got some rear shocks for a 1990-1995 Toyota 4-Runner.... man am I happy about how they ride. I would say they ride better than stock. They feel a little more supple over the small stuff but ramp up over the big stuff. I drove around in the dirt at slow speeds and they seemed a lot more responsive but when driving at speed on the road they felt a lot like stock.... absolutely love em. All told I had the rear end a-part three times this weekend but it was worth it to dial in the ride. I'll make a post later regarding part numbers / how-to etc.
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couple shots of the bottom mount. I had to make a Rona trip to get some shims and a bolt. The bolt is imperial and ever so slightly larger in diameter than the stock metric one (about a finger nail width). The two shims fit the bolt and the shims fit inside the rubber perfectly. drilled the shock bolt holes on the vehicle itself but it was such a slight amount a 2 minute file job would do the trick.
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the drill job.. You'll only need to do this if you use the same 1/2 inch bolt and shims like I did. I could have quickly filed enough metal to fit the bolt. The size difference is so slight that if I ever needed to I could go back to using the stock metric bolt.
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all buttoned up
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Monroe part number #32248 (1990-1995 Toyota 4-Runner)
ends: S4/L3
compressed length: 12.875
extended length: 20.875
you won't want a longer shock or it will strain the brake hose when extended on the passenger side. I had to undo the two inner-most clips holding the rear hand-brake cable to allow enough slack when the wheels were fully dropped. Otherwise perfect. These shocks allow the most wheel travel possible.
I recommend em!
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One tip put bigger washers on the outside of the bushing. It will pop out trust me and jam up. Ill take a pic tomorrow
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how the 4-runner shock doing for you now? does it still work good? planning of getting a set to put on with my jeff 2" lift
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hey i suggest looking for the thread where i talked about running ford thunderbird shocks, they were longer and rode great and direct bolt up.. i'm too lazy to look and don't even have a zuk anymore!
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what year thnderbird was it?
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Just don't get the mustang shocks unless you're gonna just go to the mall with 'em. They get wrecked fast.
Still loving my Doestech's.
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Just remember that longer shocks usually have less compression room. Topping or bottoming out shocks are the hardest thing on shocks and will quickly ruin them. If you can feel/hear an abrupt Thunk when going over ruts or bumps then your shocks are not going to last long.