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shortening shocks


WildPlumDx

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ok so fianlly i worked out my car aint bottoming out on the chassis rather the shocks are bottoming out themselves! so coz i just spent 150 for new ones kinda unkeen on buying new ones again right length in all! so IF i got them shortened WILL it give me that extra travel ? coz all i can work out is they would shorten the top sleave/shaft inside of the shock which would give it more travel on the down stroke ? i'm just guessing but yeah please correct me if i'm wrong! :o

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Yeap it will deffinately work. But whether you will be able to get them shortened for less than $150 is the other question. It might be better to just on sell them and cut your losses, then measure up what you require and go from there.

Rodeo in the rear if your going lowish. Suzuki SJ if you're going real low :wink: Although I think something in between would be good because mine has a tendency to lift rear wheels off the ground all the time :cry:

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i dont see how you will get more travel...the shocks arnt gonna go any further "into" the strut no matter how short.All it effects is the free length of the shock.When ya suspension is bottoming out its normally coz its hitting the bump stops or the springs are fully compressed and cant go any further.

You will need to either get harder shocks, or harder springs or raise the hight.

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When I lowered my car the shocks were bottoming out before it hit the bumps. I got shorter ones and that fixed it. I'm not sure if gemini shocks are the best to get shortened anyway, to be honest I wouldn't bother with it. But if you were to do it, it will solve the problem. Getting shorter ones to begin with is deffinately the way to go.

Making your car higher to solve the problem only creates a new one.

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i definately have to agree with mikuni.

as the car is sitting on lowered springs, the shock shaft sits closer to the top. so of cors it'll bottom out the shock if it's compacted hard, as the shocks don't have enough travel to kill the impact.

shortened shocks will fix it. i went thru all this in my gsr-x. had that boned on its nana...

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yeah well i thought it would work totally coz ur making the shaft inside the shock shorter right which would change the place of where the shaft sits in the shock altogether aye?!, i can get em done for 80bucks me thinks anyway so might be worth doing.... but yeah the shocks are fully compacting and bottoming out on themselves and its nasty! specially on desert road :rolleyes:

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i dont agree on the fact that the shock goes all the way into the strut standard anyway......The only reason shortening the shock to give more "downward" travel is if they havnt been set up with the right sized insert in the first place.

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Correct me if im wrong but.

The shock sits in the strut and when load is on the car it is say, half way down its travel.

When you hit a bump it pushes down and bottoms out.

If you are to shorten the top of the shock by machining then the top cap will move down lower and the spring will hold captive.

This wont change where the shock sits at all! It willhowever move the car down a tad.

So, how will this stop the shock bottoming out?

Buying new shortened shocks would do it because they would prob be harder or the shock may perhaps go further down into the shaft and have less above the strut.

Am I missing something here?

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Basically, if you have 2" Machined off the top of the shock, when you connect it back to the top hat you have move the centre/insert up 2", thus moving the bottom of the shock itself (not the strut) further away from the bottom . Gives you more bound :rolleyes::cry:

Also WildplumDx, try your new shocks (assuming they are actually "new") they may just have enough pressure, to fix your problem.. (Old ones quite often are shagged, and dont do shit all Damping)

Cheers,Chris

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If however the outer body of the shock or strut was hitting the body mounts then that is what will need shortening to increase travel. Its quite common with macpherson struts to run a shorter insert and cut down the strut body to ensure sufficient travel.

Callum

And thats where most people get confused about the "shortening shocks" bizzo...if they are doing the shaft, will make no difference if it's the body hitting the top mount... buy a shorter bodied shock.

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Guest sexychevette

Rodeo in the rear if your going lowish. Suzuki SJ if you're going real low :wink: Although I think something in between would be good because mine has a tendency to lift rear wheels off the ground all the time :cry:

Dont wagons/hatchs have a different rear suspension setup to sedans? like the shocks are on crazy angles in the liftbacks but the sedans they just go straight up? or are the shocks the same length and shit anyway. I dont know whats going on :cry:

Gona get some short as shocks soon for mine so let us know how they work out wildplum :wink:

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