Drag Race Rear Shock

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We have a different definition of what works. They aren’t tuneable. A set of slapper bars will out hook them. You can’t use a decent shock with the SS spring because none of them have a mile long extension length.

If you ever tuned a chassis with some suspension is tuneable, and shocks that work and can be tuned, you make think differently.
... You can tune a guitar, but you can't tuna fish...
 
We have a different definition of what works. They aren’t tuneable. A set of slapper bars will out hook them. You can’t use a decent shock with the SS spring because none of them have a mile long extension length.

If you ever tuned a chassis with some suspension is tuneable, and shocks that work and can be tuned, you make think differently.
I found this Rancho shock on there website the other day. I have a custom fabricated upper shock crossmember, that why I looked at this one, but it's got lots of travel. The application oem is a 2018-2019 Nissan truck. Rancho appears to make something in the 9000 series for every application. 23 inches long and over 8 inches of travel.

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Wow 10 inches of travel on those.
I don't know if that's the exact part number but that's what i have front and rear.............. Don't think i would buy them again.

I most have turned them 50 times before i was sure that i had the pair of shocks on the same setting. Front shock were the same thing. Good concept but a pain in a arrrs to adj. They need to redesign the clicking method so your not guessing............was that the harder click?????? or did it go back to the soft one???????????????
 
I don't know if that's the exact part number but that's what i have front and rear.............. Don't think i would buy them again.

I most have turned them 50 times before i was sure that i had the pair of shocks on the same setting. Front shock were the same thing. Good concept but a pain in a arrrs to adj. They need to redesign the clicking method so your not guessing............was that the harder click?????? or did it go back to the soft one???????????????
Get Ranchos
 
That's what i should have got then these. maybe next time around. they work just a pain in the but to set and to re set
 
That's what i should have got then these. maybe next time around. they work just a pain in the but to set and to re set
Me too I have Joe blow pair of mu roes on there now but I thinks the ss springs will work better with a better shock that lets the springs work.
 
I have plenty of travel, just sure would be nice to make adj externally, not pull the shock off every time.
 
So here is a question for the shock experts. I have a full Cal-Trac suspension on my Dart with the one inch lowering mono leaf springs and 5 way adjustable Rancho non gas shocks that came with this set up when new and QA1 adjustable on front. Two years ago I bought a new set of Rancho rs999113 9 way adjustable gas shocks to get a finer adjustment for the car, 60 foots went in the toilet, know matter what setting they were on. Went back to the old shocks(which are 15+ years old) and 60 foots went back to normal, was this because the new one were gas shocks? I did see that the new Cal-Trac 9 way shocks are not gas shocks. P.S. All Rancho 9000 shocks are gas shocks now.
 
So here is a question for the shock experts. I have a full Cal-Trac suspension on my Dart with the one inch lowering mono leaf springs and 5 way adjustable Rancho non gas shocks that came with this set up when new and QA1 adjustable on front. Two years ago I bought a new set of Rancho rs999113 9 way adjustable gas shocks to get a finer adjustment for the car, 60 foots went in the toilet, know matter what setting they were on. Went back to the old shocks(which are 15+ years old) and 60 foots went back to normal, was this because the new one were gas shocks? I did see that the new Cal-Trac 9 way shocks are not gas shocks. P.S. All Rancho 9000 shocks are gas shocks now.


The problem I have with the 9 way adjustables like that is every time you change the settings, you change bump AND rebound. And how much does it change both of them? I don’t know.

If you can’t separate bump and rebound, and let’s say you only want to slow the shock down in rebound so you turn the knob whatever way it says to slow down extension. Now, you’ve also changed the bump setting. Did the chassis WANT a bump change too? Maybe. Maybe not.

And the opposite is true too. What if your too fast (too soft) on your bump and you want to slow it down? So...you turn the knob to slow the shock down in bump, but you also changed the rebound. Did the chassis want the rebound changed? Who knows.

I know lots of guys go fast with stuff like that, and SS springs and snubbers, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room there to make the car quicker with a better shock. I’ve seen cars that were said to be the best they could be, get on the corner scales and get exposed for bound up suspension, misadjusted suspension and other stuff. Cleaning that stuff up made the car quicker, even though the customer though his chassis was finely tuned.

It’s the same with shocks. When you can seperate out the bump and rebound, especially when you can do it on all four corners, you can really clean up the chassis tuning and find some ET.
 
The problem I have with the 9 way adjustables like that is every time you change the settings, you change bump AND rebound. And how much does it change both of them? I don’t know.

If you can’t separate bump and rebound, and let’s say you only want to slow the shock down in rebound so you turn the knob whatever way it says to slow down extension. Now, you’ve also changed the bump setting. Did the chassis WANT a bump change too? Maybe. Maybe not.

And the opposite is true too. What if your too fast (too soft) on your bump and you want to slow it down? So...you turn the knob to slow the shock down in bump, but you also changed the rebound. Did the chassis want the rebound changed? Who knows.

I know lots of guys go fast with stuff like that, and SS springs and snubbers, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room there to make the car quicker with a better shock. I’ve seen cars that were said to be the best they could be, get on the corner scales and get exposed for bound up suspension, misadjusted suspension and other stuff. Cleaning that stuff up made the car quicker, even though the customer though his chassis was finely tuned.

It’s the same with shocks. When you can seperate out the bump and rebound, especially when you can do it on all four corners, you can really clean up the chassis tuning and find some ET.
Do you have a magazine article from hot Rod we could reference to that?...:poke:..
Sounds good...
 
The problem I have with the 9 way adjustables like that is every time you change the settings, you change bump AND rebound. And how much does it change both of them? I don’t know.

If you can’t separate bump and rebound, and let’s say you only want to slow the shock down in rebound so you turn the knob whatever way it says to slow down extension. Now, you’ve also changed the bump setting. Did the chassis WANT a bump change too? Maybe. Maybe not.

And the opposite is true too. What if your too fast (too soft) on your bump and you want to slow it down? So...you turn the knob to slow the shock down in bump, but you also changed the rebound. Did the chassis want the rebound changed? Who knows.

I know lots of guys go fast with stuff like that, and SS springs and snubbers, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room there to make the car quicker with a better shock. I’ve seen cars that were said to be the best they could be, get on the corner scales and get exposed for bound up suspension, misadjusted suspension and other stuff. Cleaning that stuff up made the car quicker, even though the customer though his chassis was finely tuned.

It’s the same with shocks. When you can seperate out the bump and rebound, especially when you can do it on all four corners, you can really clean up the chassis tuning and find some ET.
So that explains why you like the double adjustable type.
 
Thanks for the reply YR, one thing I did notice is the car works best with the 5 way shocks set on 3 or 4 , 5 was to stiff and 1 and 2 were to soft. With the 9 way shocks even 9 seemed to soft, would that be because the gas shocks are always trying to extend?
 
The problem I have with the 9 way adjustables like that is every time you change the settings, you change bump AND rebound. And how much does it change both of them? I don’t know.

If you can’t separate bump and rebound, and let’s say you only want to slow the shock down in rebound so you turn the knob whatever way it says to slow down extension. Now, you’ve also changed the bump setting. Did the chassis WANT a bump change too? Maybe. Maybe not.

And the opposite is true too. What if your too fast (too soft) on your bump and you want to slow it down? So...you turn the knob to slow the shock down in bump, but you also changed the rebound. Did the chassis want the rebound changed? Who knows.

I know lots of guys go fast with stuff like that, and SS springs and snubbers, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room there to make the car quicker with a better shock. I’ve seen cars that were said to be the best they could be, get on the corner scales and get exposed for bound up suspension, misadjusted suspension and other stuff. Cleaning that stuff up made the car quicker, even though the customer though his chassis was finely tuned.

It’s the same with shocks. When you can seperate out the bump and rebound, especially when you can do it on all four corners, you can really clean up the chassis tuning and find some ET.
Yellow rose I looked at the Viking website and I see a few models that would work for my application with ss springs. Viking claim there shocks cost only slightly more than a single adjustable, but no pricing. What kinda money do there shocks cost.
 
Thanks for the reply YR, one thing I did notice is the car works best with the 5 way shocks set on 3 or 4 , 5 was to stiff and 1 and 2 were to soft. With the 9 way shocks even 9 seemed to soft, would that be because the gas shocks are always trying to extend?
I could have sworn I read on Ranchos website that there shocks only control the rebound direction. So if that's correct I cannot see why that they are gas would matter. I thought they were a combination of gas and hydraulic.
 
They are gas and hydraulic, but like all gas shocks as soon as you clip the band that hold them together they extend to full length. So that is why I was wondering if that was the problem with the shocks feeling to loose.
 

They are gas and hydraulic, but like all gas shocks as soon as you clip the band that hold them together they extend to full length. So that is why I was wondering if that was the problem with the shocks feeling to loose.
Yes I understand what you are saying. Having spoke with Calvert a few days ago about shocks for my ss application, they informed me
That my standard non adjustable gas shocks are likely impeding
What they call the separation of the body and tire. A race shock is tune able in that direction. So if your gas shocks are extending on there own, that should not be hurting your performance because that is the direction of travel that helps the car perform.
 
A lot of good suggestions, thanks.
Thinking it over, I ordered a cheap shock just to get the car up and around. (Which will be a while yet.) More Information for FCS 342567 They had a cheaper one, but they only had one of those left.:) I need something on there because I'm trying to see what I need to bolt them to the universal shock plates I got from Speedway Motors. I want to get the axle and springs done so I can put the gas tank in and move on to a thousand other jobs that need to be done on it.
I can't swing the best right now, but I want to get the car sorted and driving. As such, I don't want the single adjustables.
Later, I may go with SS springs. They fit the time era I'm building it in. More likely though, I may just get over the "time era" thing and go with DA's and Caltracs. I've seen the way they work on Stock Eliminator cars.
BTW, if you want sticker shock, google "Santhuff Shocks"!
 
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