Drag Race Rear Shock

[yellow rose]

My car is a 4 spd. car and likes a stiffer setting and I think the gas shocks are to soft on the hit.

Oh yeah, you need a DA shock bad. You need to be able to keep bump and rebound separate, because clutch guys tend to hit the tire pretty hard, and then the tire wants to bounce back up after it gets hit. With a DA shock, you can slow the rebound up until you aren’t killing the tire, and you can set the bump so the tire doesn’t fight back and try to bounce.

And the fronts are equally important. I’ve seen guys hitting the travel limiters so hard it unloads the entire chassis. If you have a DA shock up front, you can slow down the rebound and control that. And you can keep the bump relatively stiff so the car doesn’t slam down from a wheel stand, or if that’s not an issue, you can keep the bump relatively soft to let the front end settle.

It all depends on your power, gearing, RPM, flyweel weight, clutch application, two step RPM and your front and rear suspension. If you have a SA shock you have to way to control both directions of shock movement.

 

[yellow rose]

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.

I *THINK* I paid $185.00 each for my shocks. And I was glad to do it. They may be a skosh more now, because my shocks are a couple of years old now.

I’m trying to remember if the Calvert 9 ways change both bump and rebound at the same time. My memory is they do, but I don’t have the paper work in front of me. My cousin didn’t listen and bought those because he didn’t want to spend the money, and now he is having issues because the tire either gets hit too hard and it doesn’t bounce back, or it doesn’t get hit hard enough...or some combination of that.

I know he has Strange SA up front, and they change both at the same time. I called Strange to find out what the knob actually does, and after a 10 minute explanation I came away understanding that in the middle adjustment, the shock acts like a 50/50 shock, meaning it comes apart and goes together at the same rate. IIRC, making the shock stiffer in bump made it act like a 70/30 shock, and it you turn the knob counterclockwise (that’s widdershins if you are Wiccan) then once you get past the middle setting, it acts like a 30/70.

I suspect all those single adjustable shocks like that operate in the same manner.

 

[Duane]

I *THINK* I paid $185.00 each for my shocks. And I was glad to do it. They may be a skosh more now, because my shocks are a couple of years old now.

I’m trying to remember if the Calvert 9 ways change both bump and rebound at the same time. My memory is they do, but I don’t have the paper work in front of me. My cousin didn’t listen and bought those because he didn’t want to spend the money, and now he is having issues because the tire either gets hit too hard and it doesn’t bounce back, or it doesn’t get hit hard enough...or some combination of that.

I know he has Strange SA up front, and they change both at the same time. I called Strange to find out what the knob actually does, and after a 10 minute explanation I came away understanding that in the middle adjustment, the shock acts like a 50/50 shock, meaning it comes apart and goes together at the same rate. IIRC, making the shock stiffer in bump made it act like a 70/30 shock, and it you turn the knob counterclockwise (that’s widdershins if you are Wiccan) then once you get past the middle setting, it acts like a 30/70.

I suspect all those single adjustable shocks like that operate in the same manner.

Yes I found current pricing of $190.00 each. Rancho singles are $160.00 each. The Viking look like a bargain with the heim ends and all for the money. Never looked at them before.