I've got a duff 3.5" lift on my '76 bronco with his front hoops and stock rear shock mounts. this summer on planning on wristing my passenger side radius arm, but how should I mount longer shocks in front w/o anything too crazy. I don't have a body lift either. In the rear I think I'm going to add Wildhorses/JBG dual shock mount. I think I'd rather cut my wheel wells and weld in covers rather than do an inboard mounted shock and have to redux all of my exhaust work. Any ideas?

I think Fearme is running the duff hoop up front. Works just fine with his wristed arm. F-250 shock mounts are also a common swap for longer shocks. Do search and you'll pull up ton's of info on them. Only $11 new at the dealer.

http://www.greatnorthern.net/~fearme/tech/leftuppershock.jpg

thanks, but I don't think I'll be able to mount longer shocks with the f-250 mounts as compared to the duff hoops. I am willing to toss the duff hoops if there is another way to mount longer shocks though. has anyone ever move the shock further away from the axle up the radius arm? since that would travel less distance? Of course I realize that wouldn't work once I wrist my passenger side arm.

any ideas for the rear axle or is the wildhorses4x4 / broncograveyard rear mount the way to go? 4xdoctor has some pictures on their site of shock mounting but they don't reply to email.

Originally posted by eastcoasthop
Of course I realize that wouldn't work once I wrist my passenger side arm.

a wristed arm still goes up and down with the axle...why wouldn't it work?

why won't the duff hoops work? You can also make your own shock mounts from 3" channel. Any length you need.

If your duff hoops are at the top of the inner fender the only way to get longer shocks is to cut the inner fender out, or get a body lift

I have the WH/proto fab rear hoop, i like it

Originally posted by Kevbo


a wristed arm still goes up and down with the axle...why wouldn't it work?

Hold you arm straight out in front of you. keep your wrist stiff and pretend your arm has a shock mounted at the elbow. Move it up and down fast. See how the stiffness through the arm and wrist dampens the movement of your hand? Now pretend your wrist is hinged, just like it is normally. When you move your arm (radius arm) up and down the arm is dampened but the wrist just keeps on floppin'. It will work as long as your wristed arm has a provision for pinning it when you want full dampening of the shock.

Dispite the wrist, the axle isn't flopping around loose at the end of the wristed arm. If it were, you couldn't steer.

Because the solid arm won't allow axle rotation (or controls caster if you prefer) the wristed arm still must go up and down to follow it's end of the axle. The wrist supliments the motion of the arm, it does not replace it.

To extend your model, add a rod (axle) gripped firmly in each hand (C bushing). brace your elbows (radius arm bushings) against the arms of a chair (frame). Move your right hand up and down, but keep your left wrist stiff so the rod can't rotate. If you prevent the left end of the rod from rotating, then the only way to move the right end of the rod up and down is to move your right forearm as you bend your wrist.

The wristed arm is going up and down with the right end of the axle. Attaching a shock to the arm will reduce the damping due to the decreased mechanical advantage, and may result in some dynamic bump-induced caster changes when unpinned, but the shock will still dampen the suspension pinned or not.

OK, you still don't buy it. Fine. There is another way to achieve large axle travel with a shorter shock. Attach the lower end of shock in the stock location, but move the top mount rearward and downward so the shock is not vertical. If you moved it clear back to the radius arm bracket, (so shock is paralell to radius arm) the stroke (and damping) would be reduced to zero. By moving it upward and forward from that extreme, you can trade damping for stroke to any extent you want. Front shocks are normally mounted as verticle as possible, for maximum damping linear action, and simple upper mounts, but this is not a requirement. See most any rear suspension for proof. The upper mount will probably need to be some sort of hoop, rather than a C-channel since the geometry causes the shock's angle to change as it follows the motion of the axle.

I don;t buy it either, The shock needs to be on the axle end

enough with the arms wrist moving things, all my co-workers are stareing at me screwing around

Un pin your radius arm, Get a Fat-assed friend to jump up and down on the front of the truck, Watch it
The wristed part goes in and out of the radius arm, while the arm its self just barely move at the rear bushing

As for not being able to steer, umm no, there is an extra 1 inch plate of metal on the wristed arm that holds the arm side to side

There is another option to hoops and F250 mounts. ARE sells a a F250 like mount that is 2" longer and much wider. I bought a set to replace my current F250 mounts and they extend to the top of the fender well with a 2" body lift.

As far as the lower shock mount. I played around with this a lot with my hinged radius arm and it is definitely better mounted on the axle end-much more control.

yeah I saw those ARE shock mounts too. THe problem is I don't have a body lift. I was all excited about cutting out my inner fenders for a tall shock mount then I realized there's a master cylinder in harms way. DAMN!