When installing coilovers for the rear suspension, what are the general guidelines for how much you should lean them in and forward/backward? I have been looking at a lot of rigs lately and it seems like you mount the lower coilover mounts out as far as possible on the axle housing, and then some people are leaning them in about 15* and then forward some. Are their any minimum angles that are good to start with? What is the advantage of mounting the uppers forward of the rear axle housing vs straight up?

When installing a coilover shock in the rear, do you set it up for 50/50 droop and compression or do you set them up for more droop, or more compression? If yrou were installing an 18" coilover, how much would you extend the shock when mounting it at ride height (9" for 50/50)?

When flexing up the rear on a 4 link, should you put a limit strap on the rear diff at ride height and then check for shock travel or is there a better way?

Originally posted by Eric
When installing coilovers for the rear suspension, what are the general guidelines for how much you should lean them in and forward/backward? I have been looking at a lot of rigs lately and it seems like you mount the lower coilover mounts out as far as possible on the axle housing, and then some people are leaning them in about 15* and then forward some. Are their any minimum angles that are good to start with? What is the advantage of mounting the uppers forward of the rear axle housing vs straight up?**CAUTION** The information in this post is from my impressions only based on my vehicle and far from the highly educated of those who have done many installations.

Yes you want some lean in at the top. This helps in centering the body weight over the axle. This also helps on body roll. Too much lean in will create a pivot point for the body to roll about on, thus increasing body roll. What is the magic number, I don't know but on mine I am looking at spreading the top a bit.
When installing a coilover shock in the rear, do you set it up for 50/50 droop and compression or do you set them up for more droop, or more compression? If yrou were installing an 18" coilover, how much would you extend the shock when mounting it at ride height (9" for 50/50)?Depends on what you are doing. 50/50 would be great for desert racing so you can suck up bumps as well as extend into them. A crawler isn't as concerned with sucking up the bumps so 60/40 or even 70/30 is adequate as down travel is used more than up travel. I have 12" in back and about 3" of exposed shaft. And even with a limit strap from frame rails to the center diff, I have about 4' of travel.
When flexing up the rear on a 4 link, should you put a limit strap on the rear diff at ride height and then check for shock travel or is there a better way? If your limit strap is at ride height you will be into the strap over the smallest of speed bumps. This will prematurely wear the strap. Mine are ~2" longer than ride height. However I am considering or at least temporarily limiting at ride height just to see what it does and if it helps or hurts. I don't know at this point. I do know though that when climbing up or down steep angles the less vertical travel you have the less chance of the coils unloading and dumping you on your lid.

Well that's my uneducated opinion.

1. 18 deg. in
2. 50/50
3. 2" longer sounds good
ericfilar@fatcity


If you can mount the rears angled back toward the rear you'll be happier with the way it floats the bumps.

So if you run the rear limit strap at 2" what are you running your front limit strap at? My front is about 5-6" and I'm noticing on steep vertical climbs it has a tendency to unload to the rear. If I suck that down to about 2-3" will it compensate for the weight transfer unloading to the rear?

Originally posted by 1988YJ
So if you run the rear limit strap at 2" what are you running your front limit strap at? My front is about 5-6" and I'm noticing on steep vertical climbs it has a tendency to unload to the rear. If I suck that down to about 2-3" will it compensate for the weight transfer unloading to the rear?

Yes
ericfilar@fatcity

http://community.webshots.com/photo/20225580/36962747JQWhyp

Originally posted by FatCity
1. 18 deg. in
2. 50/50
3. 2" longer sounds good
Wohoo! 2 out of 3 ain't bad. I guess I'm not as dumb as I look.

Thanks Eric!

Thanks for the replies Eric and Belly. I had already figured on mounting them inward between 15 and 18*, but I was not too sure on how much stuff-droop I should set them up at. I guess 50/50 is a good place to start. I am using 175 over 200 for coils so hopefully they won't be too soft at those angles. I will try to angle them towards the rear, but I highly doubt a Cruiser with a stock 2F motor will be "floating the bumps" :D How many degrees are you talking about leaning them back? 10*?