Im thinking about running dual shocks up front on my truck.....I was wondering if anyone had any pictures of this set up? I want a stiffer ride and better support. Is it hard to install......? Idk just thnk i might do it. Lemme know guys!?

 

No need to unless its for bling bling.

 

More shock is always better.

If you don't plan on installing a kit that has duals already, you'll need to fabricate a shock hoop for the top mounts, and modify the lower arm to accept both lower mounts.

 

Ha! Spoken like a true pre-runner.

I disagree on the dual shock issue unless your wheeling is more extreme. I also think it's a waste.

My first question would be why you want them? Sometimes the answer is, "I just do" and that's fine. But usually we engineer a change to solve a problem -- what's the problem you're solving?

 

well its hard to explain. i gota get a picture of it to show you. its to comfort me alil better. for looks, a stiffer ride, and comfort.

 

Well, dual shocks really have two purposes, to my mind, and some may chime in with more:

1) To distribute the movement among more shocks, to increase resistance to heat induced fade -- each shock is now sharing the work and conceivably producing less heat.

2) To stiffen the shocks rate beyond what a single shock can easily provide.

Dual shocks are almost never for "comfort" (unless it's the comfort of knowing your shocks are less likely to fade, lol) and may not be for stiffness.

When you do a dual shock system, you should have a general "target" in mind just like when you modify single shocks. For instance, if you want comfort, but get that reduced failure rate, you would us two "soft" shocks that together make a stiffer, but comfortable shock.

Putting dual shocks the same rate as your existing ones would actually stiffen your ride perhaps to your dismay.

James Duff has hoops and shocks you may be able to use, by the way. Not sure what they fit, but they can probably be adapted.

So, if you go dual shock, and want comfort, you definitely need to be mindful of damping rates, for sure.

See, prerunner guys NEED dual shocks if they drive it hard. That whole jumping thing, even if it's not major air, comes over and over and over and that requires a lot of performance from the shock. I don't know what you intend, Shane, but for most of the wheeling around here, with the HP and vehicle you have, a better single shock may be all you'd ever need.

But, it's a nice mod and if you want to do it I say go ahead. But make sure you dig up some info on what shocks to go to when you go dual so you don't end up with an unacceptable ride.

 

alright! your awsome john! Thax.... I do want a stiffer rid tho. Not looking for comfort, want a true truck ride! Thax again tho

 

If you stay with single shocks, consider some Rancho RSX shocks. I'm using them and they are a pretty good compromise. The rears specified for our trucks seem a little stiff, but bigger tires and carrying a bigger spare and so on seem to suit them.

I find them particularly nice in Wharton when I'm bombing down those washboard roads. Even better with the sway bar disconnected. The ride is so nice, I often go too fast now and everyone has to ask me to slow down, lol -- well, it probably the dust too, but I've been told I go a bit faster than most find comfortable on those roads.

 

lol It was a bumpy ride for me! even with the pro comp es3000 shocks on. I go to speed up and i would bounce soo much my rear would start to slide everywhere. lol it was funny and fun tho

 

just get this and fab it to your truck.

this is just an exaple its not for the ford ranger.

check this stuff out.
www.rizeind.com

 

Hope it's not possible for that rod to bottom out in the wheel well.

 

cool set up. but i gotta try and find a ford ranger with one to give me a better idea?

 

looks like camburg and fabtech are two companies that make a dual shock kit for ya.

http://www.therangerstation.com/tech...sion_Kits.html

 

hey zach check this out. i can get the mounting kit here for 50 bucks. Or i can do a triple shock mount........ hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

http://www.rockymountainsusp.com/W_multipleshk_Ford.htm

 

That cantilever set up is a waste on most trucks, I've only seen a handful of cantileverd front-ends perform well.

 

might do the dual but like the tripple. not looking for huge performance

 

what is the advantage of it trent? anything?

 

The only advantage I can see is perhaps that you could fit it where something else might not fit, height wise?

But, it's got to be a problem with those pivot points. Man, they are going to be SERIOUSLY stressed and be a great point of friction and breakage for such a system.

The two shocks will have different effective rates because of their position on the arm, and different strokes. I imagine it's a bit of thought to figure out the matching between them to divide the load and have the right rate at the control arm. You'd definitely want take-aparts where the valving can be customized on those in order to tune them.

I don't know as I'd want to run such a setup in a critical application. Looks great for show though...

 

For the trucks in the pics above? Looks.

For trucks that use their suspension, mostly to free up space, but even then it's just more things that can break. More common are cantilever set ups for the rear, which free up a lot, for example being able to pull as much travel by having a cantilever set up under the bed of a truck as a truck with a caged rear and no bed. It's more versatile, but a lot trickier to set up and have cycle correctly. Even more complex are mezzanine suspensions, and quarter eliptic even more so.

 

Same rate, same stroke.

 

ya i jsut saw the picture and thought it looked cool. guess they got what they wanted.

 

Also, motion ratio. They can be designed to change the motion ratio so that you can use a shorter shock for more travel. Example, using an 8" stroke shock for 16" of wheel travel, thus being able to fit all the components in a smaller space.

 

so ? is it wouldnt hurt to get em?

 

Rubbish. One is close to the "fulcrum" of that lever, and one is further away. They will experience different forces as the arm pivots, and experience different total strokes as it pivots between it's limits. I'm not sure HOW you could say that.

They may have chosen to use identical shocks, but both shocks make a DIFFERENT contribution to total damping that is NOT equal, and they do move over different ranges. Simple fact.

 

Your are correct sir, same thing I said with the range of motion..