Ford Raptor rear shocks on JL!!!

[Moto_21]

I don’t have insta, but I can check it out on my wife’s. I’ve scoured YouTube and I haven’t found any Jeep Wranglers that look good through the whoops. The rear always seems to have a rocking motion.

Icon suspensions has a video of a jk pretty good through whoops. It is hard to find stuff on the tube with fast jeeps though lol. I get more of a rocking motion when i have both sway bars hooked up. With just the rear antirock hooked up and the front unhooked it rocks a lot less, but i get what you mean

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[Glamisfan]

I looked at that insta account. Thanks! He does a lot of shock work. First time I’ve ever seen a vacuum pump hooked up to a shock. And the first time I’ve seen a picture of Shock Therapy valving. I’d heard they do things different…..
He uses a lot of ADS 3 tube bypass shocks, and I saw one post say 11.5” stroke, same as mine.

that’s the Shock Therapy valving.

 

[Moto_21]

I looked at that insta account. Thanks! He does a lot of shock work. First time I’ve ever seen a vacuum pump hooked up to a shock. And the first time I’ve seen a picture of Shock Therapy valving. I’d heard they do things different…..
He uses a lot of ADS 3 tube bypass shocks, and I saw one post say 11.5” stroke, same as mine.

that’s the Shock Therapy valving.

Yeah hes not a fan on thier valving haha. Ive bever felt thier valving on a sxs so i dunno. But theres a million ways to skin a cat if it works it works lol

 

[Glamisfan]

Scored an 800 on Metalcloaks CTI trailer today at TDS.

 

[Moto_21]

Scored an 800 on Metalcloaks CTI trailer today at TDS.

Right on looks good! we were out there today too!

 

[oceanblue2019]

Right on looks good! we were out there today too!

You with RJ now?

 

[Roky]

Uh-Oh …… cats out the bag……

 

[oceanblue2019]

Uh-Oh …… cats out the bag……

I need someone on the inside......

 

[Moto_21]

I need someone on the inside......

Uh-Oh …… cats out the bag……

Shhhhhh

 

[Glamisfan]

I’m almost there! Just a little more tuning on the rear. This is Plaster City in SoCal.

 

[roaniecowpony]

Wow! You put a lot of work into this over the past 3 years and it looks like it's paying off.

 

[Glamisfan]

Time for an update, and to reveal the lessons I’ve learned so far.

I started out changing just valving. That helps, but it doesn’t get it where it needs to be. On the front I do have a flutter in the compression, but drilling out the free bleed a little to .185 is what I think did the trick. The front was pretty easy to get dialed in for some reason. I’ve axle weighed it and I am 2700 pounds on the front and 3000 pounds on the back. I ran it for a while with no spare tire and I found that I like that extra weight back there to make the rear end Work. But, that’s when the shocks weren’t as dialed, so maybe that would change now? In one of the pictures the one that says 5th, that was my fifth tune. And then in parentheses it says my front that’s what I’ve had on there for almost 3 years.

I’m on my 11th shock tune now. This past weekend I decided it was time to get back into the rear shocks, I have a set of king shocks for a JL in my garage that a friend bought and hasn’t put on yet, so I threw the back ones on my jeep to see how they felt and then give me time to work on my shocks. The kings were a little bit on the soft side for me which was surprising. They kind of sucked because they’re made for more lift, I’m still only at 2 inch springs on the back so the kings only had 3 inches of shaft showing and they are 10 1/2 inch travel. My shocks normally have 5 inches of shaft showing and they’re 11 1/2 inches travel. So 6 1/2 inches down available and 5 inches up. Shocks have 3 inches of bump zone, a compression hole at the 3 inch mark, a free bleed hole at the 4 inch mark, And a compression hole at the 5 inch mark. So when I’m driving around with only 5 inches of up travel left, one compression hole is already covered and all I have left is the free bleed and one compression hole. So I decided it was time to go ahead and treat these like a real bypass shock, I made the compression a straight .015 stack with triple Shims on the largest two (1.6 and 1.425). That takes it to about a #115 on the Fox chart. The rebound is a straight .012 stack which is a 70 pound. The smallest shim on the rebound is a .015, but that should not make any difference.

So with the piston valved like a regular bypass, I drilled two additional free bleeds, .125 diameter. I did one between the free bleed and the top compression, so that was a half inch from each of those and I did one more a half inch above the top compression. That takes my bump zone from 3 inches down to 2 1/2 inches. I also just recently realized that the rebound had a 4” zone before it got softer.

That took these shocks to the next level! It is a little too soft on the rebound now though, probably 15% or so. But not so soft that it kicks. I can still hit the dips in the road by my house at 25 to 45 mph and it soaks it up, doesn’t bottom, and puts a huge smile on my face! It also goes over speed bumps very well now. Still need to get it out to the desert.

I’m thinking that welding up one of the .125 free bleed holes will be the winning ticket. If that makes the rebound perfect, and I need softer compression, I would then drill out the top compression to .200.

I use a small cylinder hone, and then 600 grit sandpaper taped to a drill bit like a flapper, after drilling or enlarging any holes. I also use a dremmel and round file first, but the smaller the hole is the less you’re able to use them.

I am just a hobbyist that would rather learn something and save money by doing it myself. Trying to learn how to tune regular shocks is difficult. Trying to figure out how to tune internal bypass shocks, with virtually no information online, is very difficult! Below are some pictures. The one that says 9th is what I’ve been running for the last couple years I guess and the one that says 11th is this latest tune. Feel free to ask me any questions.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. I think I’m going to buy a pair of inner bypass tubes ($44 each) and some compression side shims (reed valves?) so I can mill another flat spot and add a second set of compression bypass valves for an even better ride. Having an additional set of tubes would make it so I could have them milled and drilled and ready to go so in two hours time I could have it re valved and then tubes I pulled out I could always take those and rework them if I think I still need to do something else. Or I can rework them for the front and make it even better?

 

[Glamisfan]

Pictures wouldn’t upload from my iPad. How about from the phone?

 

[jeepingib]

Glad you updated this. I thought about this project the other day.

 

[Glamisfan]

I did the 12th revolve on the rear shocks today. I welded up one of the two holes that I drilled on my last go around, and I doubled up the two largest rebound shims. Took it for a drive around the block, and literally got tears of joy. I think I might be done. Taking it to the desert tomorrow to test it out. The dips by my house are now as good as I think it can get, railroad track crossing by my house are still super soft, and for the first time when I drive over a curb at 15 miles an hour the front and the rear seam balanced. The front is always been great , but the rears always felt different than the front. Now it feels the same.
I also measured the bypass shims, and at the bottom of one of the pictures below, you can see that they’re .012 thick, 2 1/2 inches, 2 inches, and one and a half inches long by 7/8 wide. Kar-Tek sells them.

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