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Superflexy on the cheap, or more expensive if you're into that

118K views 330 replies 60 participants last post by  menudoq 
#1 · (Edited)
Version 2.0 is on page 6 with some other cool stuff too http://www.fjcruiserforums.com/forums/suspension-steering-tech/154893-superflexy-cheap-more-expensive-if-youre-into-bigthumb-6.html

"Bilstien 5100 #24-186711 front shocks on first/second setting for the old "FJ lean" with stock springs[for easy compression to the bump-stops] and a 0.5" top plate spacer for the extra extension[see explanation in thread].
Lightracing upper control arms to clear the spring at full droop[see alignment tips in thread, but basically zero everything after shifting the wheel forward for 35s]
Metaltech 19.25" medium rear springs
Pro-Comp 29.77" long shocks with 12.68" of travel at the shock out back. ES9000 #929510 mounted as seen on page one with pro-comp 600020 lower bushing, these do contact the lower link and axle housing under full articulation.
1.5" rectangle tube bump stop spacers out back, this and the Spidertrax spacers keep the top of the tires off the top of the wheel well at full tire stuff.
Extended rear brake lines,
Extended: wheel speed sensor lines, diff lock actuator lines via existing slack in lines and brackets, pulled existing slack down on the front lines
Removed: both anti-sway bars, both e-brake line frame side brackets.

A set of 1.25" Spidertrax spacers set the track width out further to help a little too.[offset and alignment are the key to 35s]

all in all, about $1250 + tires[315/70r17 Hankook MT]"


thought the first page needed a better picture to look at and quicker access to the parts list, great to see people taking numbers!

stock springs and little to no lift up front, bump-stop contact on the front A-arms is key.



Old initial post starts again>>>

so i noticed most of the kits out there are sold with rear shocks that are 2 inches shorter than need be and i've never been one for kits anyway. I should say some of them are pretty damn good, like if you want to run 35s then just go get the metal tech long travel rear kit that ****s perfect for 35s. if you're running a smaller tire then adding three inches to the rear bump stops is a pretty heavy price to pay for a 28.5" shock.

speaking of travel only, The front doesn't really matter much beyond matching the spring rate or preload to the weight of the vehicle. I'm running Bilstein 5100s on the 4th setting with the stock spring and no swaybar. $200.

The Rear is a Toytec super flex spring(many of you have this already) with a Procomp ES9000 #926514 , 26.79 inches long with 11.23 inches of travel. no rear sway bar. extended rear brake lines. no need for a limit strap. $180 spring + $100 shocks +$70 brake lines

for better quality the OME LTR shock at 26.23 inches and 11 inches of travel, can be used with very similar results. These have remote reservoirs and run about $250 apiece, IIRC they are designated for the 80 series land cruiser as are the pro-comps i'm using.

about $550 and no sway bars is enough to cover a 2.5" lift and lots of flex.






The rear fully extends with all stock arms and compresses to the bump stop, the front is just onto the bump stop here also, i'll have to see about getting it there sooner later this year.

good luck and go hang a tire below the body of you FJ :bigthumb:

and i just wanted to post these again, two of the best posts on this forum...

http://www.fjcruiserforums.com/forums/suspension-steering-tech/56511-flexing-ome-extra-heavies-ltr-rear-shocks.html

http://www.fjcruiserforums.com/forums/how-technical-articles/57523-ome-suspension-kits-option-guide.html
 
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#3 · (Edited)
you mean the free length? 16.875 inches
 
#6 · (Edited)
About one more coil than stock springs, 5/8th inch per coil at 8 coils is 5" at coil bind, but you'll get to the bump bump stops before that. whats interesting is I could potentially use a longer shock with a rear coil spacer, but i'd have to look into axle and trailing arm contact and other more difficult questions.
 
#9 ·
Interesting I would have thought the compressed height of the spring would have been more. 12" travel out of the spring is nearly identical to the metal tech spring.

Keep in mind your bump stops will fully compress all the way at a significant load. That's why they don't tell you much, just that they should stop the axle before coil bind. Just the point that they engage. Also need to make sure your tires don't make friends with the fender well before bump anyways.

The other side of that is to measure the space between the bump stops and the space between the shock mounts and verify that there is less space between the bump stops than the difference between the partially compressed shock and compressed length of the shock. Then you have numbers for full compression and a rough number for checking articulation clearance, you need to check the same measurements at maximum angle of articulation. That's the part I assumed was ok and checked on the RTI ramp. I'll have to look at the numbers again to see how much further I can go.

^that's taking measurements four wheels down on level ground.
You'll need to work back through the triangles though cause the axle 1" from the bump stop does not equate to 1" left of your shock due to the motion ratio. Just thought I'd clarify that for anyone reading.

Spot on though and really good insight for some decent articulation. Great writeup :cheers::bigthumb:
 
#7 · (Edited)
The other side of that is to measure the space between the bump stops and the space between the shock mounts and verify that there is less space between the bump stops than the difference between the partially compressed shock and compressed length of the shock. Then you have numbers for full compression and a rough number for checking articulation clearance, you need to check the same measurements at maximum angle of articulation. That's the part I assumed was ok and checked on the RTI ramp. I'll have to look at the numbers again to see how much further I can go.

^that's taking measurements four wheels down on level ground.
 
#8 · (Edited)
mounting the Pro Comps:

Top stem mount:
new bushing come with the pro-comps i only used the top ones, i used the stock bottom mounts as pictured below.





The bottom eyelet mount: use two washers per side
There is a 3/4" bushing provided with the shocks, you'll need to grease it inordet to mount it in place of the smaller bushing that's per-installed. I also picked up a two large washers ID 3/4", OD ~2.5", width ~3/8", i ground the OD down to about 1.25" and used it as a spacer installed first, in order to spacer the shock out from the mount bracket on the axle housing. The Pro-Comps are a little portly and the lower mount is a little small, the small spacer took care of both issues very nicely.

^looking at the picture now, two spacers would probably be better than one, that bolt is tight.
 
#14 ·
Considering the length and amount of travel from that Pro Comp shock, are you sure you're not bottoming out the shock before hitting the bump stop? I know on mine once I hit the bump stop I have maybe 0.5" of travel left in the shock.
 
#20 · (Edited)
lots of pictures lots of measurements and good results. I also edited that crap out of post #8 for mounting the pro-comp shocks.

rear springs:
stock 15.125"
OME 16.25"
toytec 16.875" (pictured below)
metaltech 19.25"


dust boots = mud holder grinding mill, maybe just don't ziptie the bottom?
also, check out the parking brake cable bracket, if you bend it so that it points parallel to your lower suspension link and pull it out about an inch so its no longer above the lower suspension link it will slid freely with any shock at least up to 29 inches long. as is ir binds with the stock rear shocks before full articulation.


the toytec 16.875" spring unseats here:


1/4" away from full compression on the shock and i'm holding the truck up on the axle and the bumpstop, no spring. Motion ratio is working well for the shock.(i'm measuring from the back side of the bushing mount where the shock body would impact the upper mount)


interesting side note, Toyota doesn't know how to place a bumpstop...


interesting side note at full articulation bump


 
#21 ·
and back to the bump stop topic for a second...

This is bump stop compression of 700 to 800lbs, to get to this much compression with the spring in place it would be compressed from 17.25" to about 8". the spring is rated at 218lbs/inch. A little conservative rounding would give 9" x 200lbs/inch = 1800lbs. with the spring in place that wheel would need to have at least 2500lbs(the reason it doesn't look full compressed on that rock in previous pictures) on it to compress the bump stop to this point. Crawling that would full compression of two diagonal tires with the other two tires almost hanging while going up hill. Not too difficult to get into. even talking about four wheels in the air, the springs alone can handle at least the first 8" of that, mgh=(1/2)kx^2, conservatively speaking. I don't think I'm going to worry about.

 
#22 · (Edited)
Easy summary:

Your rear shocks can easily be about 10 inches (if the axle drops evenly on both sides, which is when your springs are hanging at their longest) longer than your springs without the need for limit straps. If you are only looking at articulation then as much as 11-11.5" with shocks that have 11-12.5"s of travel, the 11 to 11.5 numbers are only useful if you assume you will never have both back wheels off the ground at the same time...

Your bump stops hold the truck up with your shocks compressed to 16 inches short, they need to get a little shorter than that at a minimum. But you can extend your bump stops and that 16 inches minimum at a 1 to 1 ratio. There is more motion ratio working in your favor than against you.

Common spring lengths are listed above, and rear spring spacers are fair game to just add to your OEM spring length.
 
#24 ·
This rear suspension set up(or any "long travel" rear set up) does require the wiring extended for the rear wheel speed sensors. Its located on the passenger side of the axle housing at the back of the upper link mount. I pulled mine but did not break it. The upper and lower brackets can be bent down and up to point at each other along the line the same line the upper link will be pointing when fully drooped. There is plenty of slack on the axle side of the lines, along the length of the axle. Just push and pull each line through the mounting clips until you can get an inch or two of extra of length hanging between the upper and lower brackets.

anyone who has the need for longer brake lines aught to be extending their wheel speed sensor lines on the other side of the axle as well.


 
#27 ·
#31 · (Edited)
You aught to go back and rear this thread carefully, so you don't make a mistake and waste your money on the wrong parts or break something. Just hit reply at the bottom of any particular posts and ask a question about it if you're not sure.

I think this is more what you're looking for...

The shock I mention below should work well with metaltech's rear spring. I say should because I haven't put my hands on that particular shock but I do know you'll need to change the bottom mounting bushing.

10" longer than the free length of your springs 17" + 1.5" = 18.5. So for you, 28.5" extended length max just watch out for the compressed length. 15.5" is as far as i would push it with stock(non-extended) bump stops. Take a look at Jeep Wrangler YJ front shocks, you'll need to change out the bottom bushing to a 0.75" ID bushing. there is a bilstein 5100 #24-064576 that would need a 2" bump stop spacer also, 11.47" of travel and 28.44" extended length.

check out this thread: http://www.fjcruiserforums.com/forums/suspension-steering-tech/154893-supperflexy-cheap-more-expensive-if-youre-into-bigthumb.html
 
#33 ·
Previously, with the set up from the first few pages of this thread? None

Currently, with my new set up, 1.5" but I haven't been able to verify that they are adequate yet.
 
#35 ·
Question was to the latter... I just can stomach giving up 3" of up travel with the MT setup. Esp with me only on 33's. Half that is a little more palatable.
That was then reason for this thread, I was able to use an 11" travel shock with no bump stop extensions. With a 3" spacer on metaltech's set up they are making use of less shock travel, its still the best "off the shelf" travel you can buy, but you could do a lot better on your own if you are aware of what you're getting into.

then after moving to 35s I was rubbing lightly on the very top of the fender and the top of the top of the inside of the fender on the passenger side. If I was going to have to space the bump stops for the tires anyway then I was going to take full advantage with longer shocks too.
 
#36 ·
The current part bumper is Pro-comp #929510, this is 29.77" extended, 17.09" compressed, for 12.44" travel.
EXP-600020 is the lower bushing from Sumit Racing.
Metaltech spring at 29.25" is barely long enough, maybe not LOL
Extended brake lines, wheel speed sensor lines and diff actuator lines are all a must have.
Bump stop spacers of minimum 1.5"

This is what I'm running now with 35" tires on stock wheels with 1.25" wheel spacers
 
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#38 ·
yeah i figured "can't",

its easier than that, i unbolted the bracket from the axle pulled 2" or 3" extra slack up from across the length of the axles, bent the bracket up to the bottom end of the upper link taped off the new 2" or 3" of lines hanging out above the axle mount and put it all back together.
 
#40 · (Edited)
pushing a little harder, still all stock rear links but now on 35s instead of the 32s

Metaltech 19.25" rear springs with 29.77" long Pro-Comp shocks with 12.68" of travel



using a 1.5" bump stop spacer for the new shocks and in an effort to keep the tires off of the rear fender well a little more, I need bigger spacers LOL
 
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