Suspension Tech General discussion of suspension for the Ford Ranger.

do i need longer shocks?

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Old 10-28-2005
j18willis's Avatar
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do i need longer shocks?

For my rear im gonna replace my 2 inch stock blocks with a 3 incher and also add an AAl...Am i gonna need to replace my shocks because they will be too short?
 
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Old 10-28-2005
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It can be a good idea to some extent BUT you have to watch out.

Longer shocks have both a longer tube and shaft. Using longer shocks may increase your travel a bit, but you may find that the shock is the "up limit" instead of the bump stop. This can result in damage to the shock on hard uptravel. So just be careful in how you resize.

What I did was cut off and reweld the shock mounts on the axle ("reclocked" them) in order to use my same shocks. I moved them parallel to the ground and got two things out of that.

1.) Kept my old shocks with no problems and kept my travel range without any problems on the way "up". I get about as much droop as I can get with my current spring and shackle.

2.) Got a smoother profile under the axle tubes -- the shock mounts no longer stick down to catch on things.
 
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Old 10-28-2005
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Originally Posted by n3elz
Using longer shocks may increase your travel a bit, but you may find that the shock is the "up limit" instead of the bump stop. This can result in damage to the shock on hard uptravel. So just be careful in how you resize.
Or rip the shock mount off the frame when it bottoms out on it... ask me how I know.. DOH!
 
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Old 10-28-2005
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i got longer shocks when i just put on my AAL... it helped alot..

now im running a 1 inch block and a AAL prolly dont need the longer shocks anymore.
 
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Old 10-28-2005
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Here's what I did with the shock mounts when I put the 31 spline axle on:

 
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Old 10-28-2005
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which length should i buy? im leaning towards bilsteins, which ones are the best for ME...?
 
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bilsteins are the best all around IMO
 
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Old 10-28-2005
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ID buy em from you Bob but i dunno what size i need or what ones so...
 
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no problem!! thats what im here for! the price for the ranger bilsteins on my site are for ALL ranger bilsteins, when you check out, just give me your ranger specs and ill make sure you get the right shocks for your truck. for your edge, bilstein only offers the stock length, which should work just fine.
 
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