what's the general consense's on mounting shock's upside down
got 5000 with the stud and eye would like to mount the stud down at the axle for clearence reasons and put a set of sky hoops on the frame for the eye ??? and no at this point getting diff. shocks is not an option.

5000's must be mounted with the body DOWN! Twin-tube shocks cannot be installed opposite of how it was designed (reguardless of what Calmini tells you). The Rancho 9000's are the exception, but that is because they are a tri-tube design. The 9000's can be mounted in any direction.
A mono-tube (common for Bilsteins) can also be inverted.

although the truly ironic thing is, Rancho goes out of their way to warn everybody NOT to mount the 9000 upside down, while after purchasing my 5000's nary a word was found/mentioned to me regarding the evils of Australian-ness. :D

Ok considering the truck is never driven on the street Trailer queen what are the ramifications of running the body in inverted position ?

not positive, but it may screw up the whole point OF (these) shock's role- to dampen forces via oil hydraulically forced through small passageways.
if the oil is opposite the designed orientation, maybe excessive cavitation? maybe the oil is supposed to be forced "upward" through successive passageways/vents in a certain order of rate, and having it the other way 'round may weird this out?
i dunno. just a guess. :(

From my understanding, if mounted upside down they will develope a dead spot that offers absolutely no dampening. This spot is supposed to be about an inch long and developes over time (a short time). The DT shocks can be mounted upside down too.

Originally posted by okcrawler
5000's must be mounted with the body DOWN! Twin-tube shocks cannot be installed opposite of how it was designed (reguardless of what Calmini tells you). The Rancho 9000's are the exception, but that is because they are a tri-tube design. The 9000's can be mounted in any direction.
A mono-tube (common for Bilsteins) can also be inverted.

I am running 9000s in the rear of mine and initially had them mounted upside to protect the body but was told by the dealer that i shouldn't run them upside due to shock fade and that the dampening qualities would be lost. I have also heard from other users that running them upside dramatically shortened the shock life

:rolleyes: My 9000s are ~4 yrs old, upside down from day 1, and work great.... There are no dead spots in mine, maybe I'm lucky. They are one thing I haven't broken, so I have been happy w/them...FWIW

mine are the 5000 s so back to the drawing board time to fab somethin else thanx for the input guy's

I had my 9000's upside down for about 18 months, then the oil leaked out of 3 of them.:eek:
kinda wierd how they work fine for some, but not for others. :confused: