how exactly does it do it?

 

Looks good man! You shouldn't have posted this, now I'm gonna have to get one for myself.

 

Heat and a sharp blade. The groover plugs in and heats up the end, which has a brass peice holding a blade.

 

I'de like an answer to that as well.
Our design is almost identicle to a King pre-runner shock, so it can't be that. The standard seals are Buna-N, same as King and Fox use. We offer a Viton seal upgrade for only $10. The bodies are 1080 DOM....same as 90% of the shocks on the market. I can go on and on......
So, exactly when were you at the shop?

 

For those who dont know who Chris is, he is one of the guys who runs FOA.

 

really?

 

member discounts right!

 

sure is

http://pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=576059

 

We had a "naysayer" from the Desert Rangers board come to see the shocks for himself a couple days ago. The guy's job is desert racecar prep. He does 2 Class 1's and a Protruck. He looked at them inside and out. This was his comment to the DR guys when he got back......
"I went to check out the smooth bodys today. Its a quality product. Chris was very knowledgable and helpful. They save labor by simplifying the machining on the shocks which allows for them to manufacter the shock for a low price. The only downfall IMO was that the ends did not have a tradition uni-ball with a snap ring. They were casted as one peice. Which was no big deal because the complete casted end isn't expensive. I will am going to be purchasing products from FOA in the near future for my build. If your on a budget and need a good quality shock try em' out."
Yea...it sounds like an ad, but those were his words, not mine. His upcoming build is a class 1400 Ranger.
I'll check back in tomorrow and see if we've come up with what the "low grade" stuff in our shocks is yet.

 

Nice site Chris, I've got it bookmarked now as well

 

very nice stuff.. i like the prices as well.. i bookmarked it for future reference as well

 

eh, he has been active on the site since my post, and never answered me. and he has been on since you posted as well. i doubt he is comin back.

welcome to RF, BTW.

 

Thanks for the welcome guys.
I'm open to any and all questions about our shocks, and I'm more than willing to help with other suspension questions as well. I'm not the "full on shock guru" but I can definitely give you my opinions and ideas. Let me know if I can help with anything.

 

I have a question about valving. The truck is going to be a slow trail/crawler with little road time, on your site the compression and rebound are done by light, medium ect. how do I figure out what I need.

 

We set up our options to reflect how the shock will work. Alot of companies use numbers like 270/70 valving....which is even more confusing for most people.
On a truck like yours, if the goal is mainly rock crawling, I'de recommend a Light compression and Light rebound. That will give you the most articulation without getting too soft. For an all around Ranger setting...Light/Med comp. and Light rebound. For the desert/harder charging guys...Medium comp. Light rebound.
I plan to put together a "recomendation" chart for the website soon, hopefully it will assist with valving selection.

 

so I had an interesting idea today. While I was disassebling my passenger side airbag, I came up with an idea.



this is the back side of the assembly. There is alot of room in there, and that bump would be perfect size for a radio or CB or some gauges. Now my idea is to mount something flush with the front.



Im not exactly sure what I will mount. but since i no longer have the airbag there it just seemed like a good place to put something.

 

my 97 had a d.side only airbag. the dummy cover on the passenger side was moer sturdy plastic than the actually cover on the airbag unit. you might look for one of those

 

Just fab up some sort of bracket and mount a CB and/or a GPS system, you could even make a sliding laptop mount that you can slide and lock in...

 

This was posted today on another site by a guy that lives in Vegas that ACTUALLY came by our shop to see the stuff for himself......

"I just went through the FOA facility. Everything looked pretty good. It sounded like there were some more upgrade options coming for the coil-overs. Mike seems to be a very knowledgable guy. The product seems to be good quality, and they are continualy trying to keep costs down. "

 

I really like the sliding laptop mount. Don't know if I want to give up an airbag though. I still drive on the highways with my wife although not too often. I am sure a CB flush mount wouldn't be too difficult and it would look sweet.

 

You have any pictures of the seats you got? Curious to know what they look like.

 

I dont have any actual pictures of my seats but these are the same exact seat just in a different color. My seats are solid light gray not two toned.

 

This thing better be done by the time I get out of the fab school, it's already the longest build i've ever seen.

 

you could always come help lol

 

Got another question for you Andrew. Figured since you were building a 3-link you'd know. What is the difference between a 3-link and running Radius Arms? Maybe nothing... but figured I'd ask.