Shock angles

[Bajabugfred]

i have a Baja bug with an a arm front end that is complete but now I am laying out the back shocks. I understand to set the shocks at 90 at full bump.i am running 14" co and 16" Hp. My question is when looking directly at the back of the car from the engine do the shocks need to be 90 to the arms pivots or can they be set at an angle. If so how much of an angle is ok. The arms are approximately 8 by 8 and there is roll cage under the window fabed by the person who started the car. Thanks for any input.

 

[07FJRog]

They can lean in some, just need to clear the uniballs in them so they dont bind, most all buggy rear shocks lean in some. Make sure your mounts are inline with the shock

 

[Bajabugfred]

So as long as the mounting tabs follow the angle of the shocks it will cause no bind even though the trailing arms pivot horizontally. How much of an angle is acceptable 1-2" off 90 ?

 

[Bajabugfred]

I will post some pictures later if I can figure out how to do it. I am new to this so l have a learning curve.

 

[Bajabugfred]

Here are a few pics of the mock up. I don't have the bypass in the pictures as I do not have the 16" that I need so I am using the 16" coil over to get approximate clearances and temp mounts. The first picture shows the shock angle I was referring to. I can move the bottom mounts over if needed. Thanks for looking and giving any advise.

 

[07FJRog]

Nothing wrong with that at all, imo. Just cycle it to make sure both ends clear

 

[KTB Racing]

What's the result of having the shocks at less than 90 degrees at bump? Say about 75-80 degrees. Does it make the shock hard to tune.

 

[Scott_F]

Do you realize that the angle is measured between the three pivots?

 

[KTB Racing]

Yes my truck is beamed so I am going off the radius arm axis and the beam pivot axis. I'm just curious what an angle of less than 90 degrees does to the tunability of the shock.

 

[PhillipM]

What's the result of having the shocks at less than 90 degrees at bump? Say about 75-80 degrees. Does it make the shock hard to tune.

Not really, just flattens out the progressiveness at the ends of the travel - not always a bad thing, depending on what you're after.

 

[Bajabugfred]

Well I made new bottom shock mounts with a wider spread for the shocks to properly clear. I set a temp top mount so I could cycle the coil over to see where I am. I have full bump set but I am not sure where to set full drop. I am running full race prep 930 CV. What is the max angle to set my drop? Also I understand that it is critical to set the bypass at full bump but how critical is it to fully extend at full drop where it will be strapped? Same with the coil over better at full bump or full extension if it comes to that. Thanks for the input.

 

[Scott_F]

Try to use the entire stroke of the bypass. The coil over doesn't matter because it is not position sensitive.

 

[Bajabugfred]

What about the max angle for the 930 cv for the droop. Is it 25-26 degrees?

 

[Bajabugfred]

I set up the bypass at full bump and at full droop I have 2" of extension left. I have the cv's set at 26 degrees. I have the mounts set as far to the back of the trailing arm as possible. Will this work? Thanks for any input.

 

[mexracer10]

that sounds about right, you have to use a limit strap to catch the arm before the cv sees too much angle.

 

[MC@ Performance Fab]

The major bends on the inside of those trailing arms leaves a lot to be desired, probably a lot more then your shock angles.

 

[Bajabugfred]

Ya,I bought this car set up like it is. So far I have only mounted the gas tank where he had it set up and fabed up the spindles for the A arms which have issues of their own.He made the entire rear section out of chromoly. I have never seen rear arms like these and I think this is why I am having issues setting up the shocks. I want to work with what I have for now and learn from it for my next build. Thanks for the continued support.