Suspension Lift/ Spring Spacer and Cranked Torsion Bar Guys... LONGER SHOCKS?

KIRK!

Amateur Philosopher
Looking for input from anyone who has lifted their Monty with taller springs or the 2" spring spacers and cranked their cars to match about shocks. I have nice KYBs on mine and it seems fine so far, but have any of you opted for longer shocks? If so, what did you use?

Thanks!
 

jeep-N-montero

Expedition Leader
I already did my homework on this, just order the Bilstein or Kyb front shocks for a stock Cherokee XJ, they are about the perfect length for the rear of the Montero with a 2 inch lift.
 

jeep-N-montero

Expedition Leader
Or if you can live with a few less inches of down travel you can simply wait until your current shocks wear out but that could be awhile.
 

JamesW

Adventurer
I've ironman +2" ones from a 95 series LC on mine,they have a larger range of travel than the +2" pajero ones,only issue I have is they are a small bit on the under damped side. I went for rough country ones on my suzuki and they are the business! I had the standard shocks in with the lift springs in mine which were fine for the few months I had them in.

I kept them in,and found someone to buy them S/H off me,and then bought the extended ones and put them in. The front ones I life alone,because you can get the full range of travel that the front allows from the standard shocks
 

All-Terrain

No Road Required
If you crank your torsion bars to lift the truck, don't you lose some up-travel on the suspension? I believe the front wheels basically refuse to go up into the wheel wells very much because cranking the torsions makes the suspension extremely stiff going upwards... right?
 

Toasty

Looking for that thing i just had in my hand...
The front is set geometry, even with lift you use stock shocks. They will just ride in on a different section of shock.

As for the rear here's the deal, when you lift 2" you don't just add 2" to your shocks. The reason for this is that the axle movement is not equal to the shock movement this is because the shocks are mounted at an angle instead of vertically. So depending on the exact shock you get you may run into the issue of having too long of a shock body and having the shock body become the limiting point of the suspension compression instead of the bump stops (this is bad and results in broken shocks). Now yeah i know "someone on the internet" just like me can tell you 2" will work just fine, and it could but there are also variables to consider. Wheeling style, sway bars, street time vs trail use all of these things are game changers you could go years on this setup or one trip.
A side note: When an aftermarket company has a shock for 2" of lift does not necessarily mean that the shock is 2" longer, as long as it is specific to your application.

The best thing to do is measure your full compressed and full extend lengths with your new springs. Order your shocks accordingly, keep in mind that you want a little more shock than amount of travel so that you use the bump stop to do it's job. Otherwise you may find yourself spacing your bump stop which isn't really a big deal. Tuning.
 

slamunion

New member
If your shocks are not long enough as in travel, the weight of the dropped suspension is stopped by the shock travel. Not good. Not only does it blow the seals out it causes excessive stress on the mounting points of the shocks I've seen to many shocks break off the mounts because they are used as suspension limiters. A shock should never stop the suspension travel they are not designed for this. Easiest way to tell, unbolt one end of the shock, Jack the corner of the frame up until the wheel comes off the ground, don't jack it via the axle or control arm must be frame to let the suspension drop. If your shock won't reach the mounting point it's to short you should have to compress the shock a tad to get it to bolt back up, to short you have to jack the suspension back up to bolt the shock back on. Not good.
 

jeep-N-montero

Expedition Leader
If your shocks are not long enough as in travel, the weight of the dropped suspension is stopped by the shock travel. Not good. Not only does it blow the seals out it causes excessive stress on the mounting points of the shocks I've seen to many shocks break off the mounts because they are used as suspension limiters. A shock should never stop the suspension travel they are not designed for this. Easiest way to tell, unbolt one end of the shock, Jack the corner of the frame up until the wheel comes off the ground, don't jack it via the axle or control arm must be frame to let the suspension drop. If your shock won't reach the mounting point it's to short you should have to compress the shock a tad to get it to bolt back up, to short you have to jack the suspension back up to bolt the shock back on. Not good.

Also keep an eye on brake lines, ABS wires, and any other wires while doing this.
 

cnutco

Adventurer
The 2" OEM lift here. I would like to have another inch in the front though. More or less for esthetics. I like the OEM shocks. No complaints at all.
 

ultrakill

Adventurer
Anybody have OME torsion bars on a Gen 1 or 2-2.5? I am debating torque-ing up my factory torsion bars for a 1" lift (to level vehicle from OME Coil Springs) or just purchasing OME torsion bars and doing the same. It's on a 1990 Montero, I am just worried about putting too much stress on torsion bars that are about 25 years old. I wheel with this rig twice a month.

Would installing OME torsion bars give me any lift without even torque-ing it up?

I just want to fit 33s so I'm pretty sure 1" in the front would be all I need.
 

Toasty

Looking for that thing i just had in my hand...
Anybody have OME torsion bars on a Gen 1 or 2-2.5? I am debating torque-ing up my factory torsion bars for a 1" lift (to level vehicle from OME Coil Springs) or just purchasing OME torsion bars and doing the same. It's on a 1990 Montero, I am just worried about putting too much stress on torsion bars that are about 25 years old. I wheel with this rig twice a month.

Would installing OME torsion bars give me any lift without even torque-ing it up?

I just want to fit 33s so I'm pretty sure 1" in the front would be all I need.

You'll be fine winding up the old bars, they're tough. The OME bars are just a higher spring rate so they require less cranking to achieve the desired amount of lift.
 

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