? About Rear Shock Replacement

[SwaintaN]

So what are the advantages and disadvantages to hooking to rear shocks into the sway bar links instead of connecting theme to the u bolt plates?

 

[red.EDDIE.4x4]

ive done it and i actually still have them...i cant tell the difference. however, i would suggest welding or bolting in a "stud" that the shock can slip over.
much like the front mount on the radius arm.

 

[SwaintaN]

i thought i saw somewhere on the forum, someone bought a kit that did it, bolt on kit, but didnt know for sure what the advantage of it was, I was thinking If i found the kit, i could set up maybe some dual shocks

 

[SwaintaN]

ahh ha

My ahh Ha moment.. Found em. now would just like imput

WAR161 says for YJs but other site says same number for Explorers

anyone else got input on this set up?

 

[red.EDDIE.4x4]

Go for it!

 

[Anime]

The main advantage is clearance. If the shock bolt plates are under the axle (for most 4" and under lifts) they are a really low hanging piece of hardware.

Of course going SOA with a 5.5" lift fixes this.

You can get the benefit without having to go SOA by removing the sway bar, using aftermarket u-bolt plates with built-in skid protection, and using the sway bar mounts as a lower shock mount point.

The other advantage is the ability to use stock-length rear shocks, if you put the mount in the right location at the same distance as stock from the upper mounts.


The WAR161 is an okay bolt-on solution, BUT some reports are that they are not all that strong, or twist and come loose.

The better solution is a custom mount that attaches to both the upper and lower bolt-on points. Turdle came up with a good set of no-weld mounts using a drill and some cut-up 2x4 metal tubing. Check out his registry on Vitamin D for pics.


The disadvantage is that the lower mount is moved inward. Not by a lot, but enough that it affects the geometry as to how the shock is compressed/extended. This might actually be a benefit under normal driving/rear travel since the shock is actually more vertical, but under flex, it's not as ideal as the geometry with the stock plate mounts.

Is it worth it? If you do rock crawling or wheel hard. Ask anyone who's messed up their lower shock mount or skid-plate-less U-bolts and had to remove them later if they would rather have switched to a swaybar mount/skid plate setup.

 

[94Gexplorer]

i have mine on the sway bar mounts i used jeep cherokee rear swaybar to axle mounts i put one bolt in the bottom and welded the rest on

 

[SwaintaN]

well i dont have the rear sway bar, the lift kit got rid of that. i do mainly mudding, fielding, lil trailing. so i was trying to figure out if it would be worth it. cause if i did do it, i would have it bolted and welded in place. i looked into this at the same time as doing a skidplate style plate up against the leafs so they wont move sidewayz

 

[94Gexplorer]

for the leafs just get 2 square ubolts and weld it to the bottom leaf that keeps them together

 

[Makahveli]

I know the last comment on this was over a year ago but I gotta ask since the idea of the lower shock mount position with be changed and looking to be even higher does this mean shorter shocks can be used?

 

[SwaintaN]

think you can still use the shocks you have, i didnt do it since ppl said no difference.

 

[Makahveli]

it looked like an obvious answer due to the fact that the swaybar mounts are already so many inches higher than the lower shock mount location....

 

[SwaintaN]

I thought about doing it for a custom dual shock set up, but strayed away from it for a very long time because of money issues and fabrication

 

[Makahveli]

Yeah It makes alot of since to me now cause since I lifted the explorer the rear sway bar be beating up on both my shocks outter tubes pretty bad. I'm gonna go for it.....Might buy the Jeep Shocks on sale at 4wheel parts right now....bilstein 5100's