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  #1  
Old 04-15-2007, 09:22 PM
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Leige Leige is offline
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Default Rear shocks

Hey Mopar Friends I have a question for ya. What is the best kind of rear shocks do you run or recommend? The current shocks I have on my A body 71 Duster doesnt seem to hold my body up when going over roads with dips. The inner fender wells rub my tires. I have 1" clearance from the lip of the inner fender well to the top of the outside tread of my tire. When the tires rub it rubs at a distance of 2 1/2" from the lip of the fender well on to the side wall right where the tread and the side wall intersect. The roads up here in Pa arent the smoothest so I am looking for a shock that will help keep my body from dropping too much. The tires I am currently running on the rear are 255/60 with rim width of 8". I was thinking of buying a pair of Gas-a-Just Shocks from summit. Some people told me to put a pair of air shocks on and that way I can adjust the height. Also when I manually push down on the car I can't even come close to having the body hit the tires. Usually when you do this and the car bounces 2 or 3 times before settling down its time for shocks. Mine does not. Sure would appreciate any feedback or advice anyone can give me.
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  #2  
Old 04-15-2007, 10:38 PM
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65TerrorCuda 65TerrorCuda is offline
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Got airshocks on mine. They're a tad stiff and make the mirror vibrate if you put em around 100 psi, but they've actually improved the car's handling. Much less body roll, and like said, less rubbin on the fenders. Probably intolerable if you have low profile tires.
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Old 04-16-2007, 07:09 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Leige View Post
Hey Mopar Friends I have a question for ya. What is the best kind of rear shocks do you run or recommend? The current shocks I have on my A body 71 Duster doesnt seem to hold my body up when going over roads with dips. The inner fender wells rub my tires. I have 1" clearance from the lip of the inner fender well to the top of the outside tread of my tire. When the tires rub it rubs at a distance of 2 1/2" from the lip of the fender well on to the side wall right where the tread and the side wall intersect. The roads up here in Pa arent the smoothest so I am looking for a shock that will help keep my body from dropping too much. The tires I am currently running on the rear are 255/60 with rim width of 8". I was thinking of buying a pair of Gas-a-Just Shocks from summit. Some people told me to put a pair of air shocks on and that way I can adjust the height. Also when I manually push down on the car I can't even come close to having the body hit the tires. Usually when you do this and the car bounces 2 or 3 times before settling down its time for shocks. Mine does not. Sure would appreciate any feedback or advice anyone can give me.

First off, your springs hold the car up, not the shocks. Most likely they need replacing. The shocks only control the bounce of the springs.

You never want to install air shocks on a Mopar. Matter of fact in the Mopar CHassis book they are very against it. For one, it increases the rear spring rate and that effects the handling of the car. Since air shocks are made different they actually do hold the weight of the car up. The shock mounts are not designed to hold up this increased weight and often fail. I've personally seen the shock frame mount broken on more than one car that has used air shocks. Some where just cracked, and some was broken completly through.

The KYB gas adjust shocks should be installed on all four corners so handling will not be effected. That will be the best over the counter shock you can get. You'll have to go to a QA1 or some other type of real race shock to get decent valving for some real shocks.
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Old 04-16-2007, 10:07 AM
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Ok dwc thanx for the feedback. I guess I will have to check out my springs or maybe even replace them....
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  #5  
Old 04-16-2007, 12:21 PM
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Ray Bell Ray Bell is offline
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Just to add to dwc's sage advice...

Heavy valving in a shock (really it should be called a 'damper') can actually tend to hold the body down on rough roads.

The damping is heaviest in the rebound, of course. That means there's not much effort required to push the car down (as it's the spring's job to resist that), but a lot to pull it back up, which the spring naturally succeeds in doing nicely when in good shape.

Stiffen up that valving and the spring takes longer to get it back up to proper ride height, hit another bump before it makes it and you see the problem?
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Old 04-17-2007, 11:52 AM
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Rays got the right idea on the current street shocks we have these days. Not the best at all. That's why I like the more exspensive race shocks even on a street car cause you can order different valving for both bound and rebound. And you can tailor them to the springs, T bars, and sway bars yopu have on the car. Shock valving is Not something that you want to go wild on in a street car anyways.

What most people tend to do is put too stiff a T bar and spring in a car and expect it to handle well. All you need is just enough spring to control travel within limits. Then you need a shock that can control it's osilations. The shock just helps the spring hold the tire to the ground while it follows a bump. You want the tire to go up and down both sides of a bump not jump it like a ramp. And a good pair of sway (anti roll ) bars to control the body roll of the car.
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Old 04-17-2007, 04:08 PM
John Kunkel John Kunkel is offline
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I think the OP is missing the basic problem, the fender/tire interference is due to the wrong wheel/tire combination.

The tires should remain within the wheelwell during the entire travel of the suspension, trying to keep the fender off the protruding tires with suspension changes is just a band-aid approach.
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  #8  
Old 04-17-2007, 07:38 PM
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I 2nd the KYB's though for the past 18 plus years, I have had air shocks on the Cuda.
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  #9  
Old 04-18-2007, 12:21 AM
bjoehandley bjoehandley is offline
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How much room do you have between the Quarter panels-Tires-Fenderwells when mounted and have you ever tried stuffing an unmounted tire as high as possible in the fenderwell to see how well they fit as well as where the wheel center is?




Quote:
Originally Posted by 65TerrorCuda View Post
Got airshocks on mine. They're a tad stiff and make the mirror vibrate if you put em around 100 psi, but they've actually improved the car's handling. Much less body roll, and like said, less rubbin on the fenders. Probably intolerable if you have low profile tires.
Yikes, 100psi! Why so much air on such a light car?
I've got Napa/Tennecco airshocks that are combination air spring and Nitrogen charged shocks on the back my Cherokee but when un or lightly loaded I rarely run more than 40psi, even with a full tank. Granted with only P235/75/15's tire rub isn't an issue with my truck, but that seems like alot of air. I've had 80psi in mine once and it made the truck somewhat twichy, hard riding, tall in the arse (probably 2"-3" higher than at the 36psi I normally run in them), and that possibly lead to it getting broken into that one day.
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  #10  
Old 04-30-2007, 12:56 AM
Jack_440 Savoy Jack_440 Savoy is offline
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You might want to check http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/catalog.php There is a lot of info on shocks there. I cant remember if A and B bodies use the same rear shock, but I would guess that they would. I just bought a set of shocks for my 62 Plymouth. I was looking for HD shocks with long travel. I got Monroe 72 Dodge Monaco Police shocks for $50 a pair. I put some info together that I researched online if anyone is interested. Monroe 1962 Plymouth Savoy V8 383 # 32073
Upper Mount A= 1/2" B=1 5/8" Lower Mount A=11/16 " B= 1 9/16"
Compressed 13.625 " Extended 22.50 " Travel 8.875 "
.................................................. .................................................. .
Monroe 1980 Dodge 150 4x4 V8 360 # 32375
Upper Mount A= 1/2" B=1 5/8" Lower Mount A= 11/16" B = 1 9/16"
Compressed 15.75 " Extended 26.25 " Travel 10.50 "
.................................................. .................................................. ...
Monroe 1972 Dodge Monaco Police V8 440 # 32128
Upper Mount A= 1/2 " B= 1 5/8 " Lower Mount A= 11/16 " B= 1 9/16 " " BEST OVER ALL SHOCK " MONROE # 32128
Compressed 15.625 " Extended 26.25 " Travel 10.625 " .................................................. .........................
.................................................. .................................................. ....
Gabriel 1972 Dodge Monaco
Upper Mount 1/2 " Lower Mount 11/16 "
Compressed 13.53 " Extended 22.39 " Travel ???
.................................................. ...............................................
KYB Shocks One Size Fits All !!! #5512 Gas Adjust
Compressed 13.98 " Extended 22.64 " Travel 8.66 "
.................................................. ................................................
KYB Shocks One Size Fits All !!! #343159 GR2
Compressed 13.98 " Extended 22.44 " Travel 9.06 "
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  #11  
Old 04-30-2007, 02:08 AM
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65TerrorCuda 65TerrorCuda is offline
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Hey Bjoe,
The range for those air shocks is actually something like 25-200. I don't have a pump that goes to that... 100 just makes for a very stiff ride. Under 40 is like the old shocks that got replaced, pretty mushy. No swaybars either, but I don't miss them with the air shocks.
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  #12  
Old 04-30-2007, 07:11 AM
MrChemist MrChemist is offline
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I recently changed my rear shocks to some competition engineering drag shocks. Oddly enough, my Barracuda will actually 60 foot better with my old air shocks…I’m still trying to wrap my brain around that one…:shr
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  #13  
Old 04-30-2007, 07:18 PM
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Ray Bell Ray Bell is offline
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Easy... softer, allows the tyre to bite...
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  #14  
Old 05-01-2007, 04:15 PM
George G. Leverette George G. Leverette is offline
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The largest tire wheel combination I have been able to fit to the rear of a stock suspension A-Body at normal ride heights are 235x60x15 on 7" wheels. The rear end of a Mopar is designed to aid overall steering any changes to rear end geometry changes the steering effect. I agreee with the KYB suggestion at all four corners an excellent comnpromise between cost and handling. Summit had the best prices when I purchased the last set. JC Whitney has some good prices on springs that has worked well for others. A set of helper springs from Pep Boys is a cheap band aid fix for sagging springs and they work well. Just remember that 70 rear wheel combination was for a 25" tall tire on a 14" wheel with a 7" tire width compare that with where you are now.
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