Shock valving....???

[CORPO]

Looking at some shocks for the front of my truck, can someone explain to me the valving, I understand compression vs rebound. But what I'm not entirely sure on is as the number gets higher is this more resistance?

For example a shock that is 3/5 meaning 3 compression and 5 rebound, is the rebound stiffer?

Then the second part of my question is if you are looking a two shocks one is a 5/5 and one is a 7/7 obviously they are equal between compression and rebound, but is the 7 then stiffer??

Im sure some of you racer guys would know this stuff
thanks guys

 

[CORPO]

Anybody....?

 

[bob w]

I'm not an expert, but, I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express... Actually, I've talked to tech. people at Cararra & Pro Shocks. First, there is no industry standard. Some use the 1 through 7 system, some use terms like; extra light, light, medium, heavy, etc. Some actually use pounds/inch numbers.
Yes, a 5-5 shock and a 7-7 would be 50-50 shocks with compression and rebound being the same. Number 1 is the lightest and number 7 is the stiffest.
For the light weight hot rods I build, I use the lightest shock available. Used to use Monroe racing shocks in the extra light calibration. But I can't find them anymore. Pro Shocks, in the Speedway catalog are claimed by the manufacturer to be a light caibration. I use the them and they are fine. Alan Jouhnson, the world class rod builder uses Bilstein mono tube shocks on his Rat's Glass roadsters and coupes. Pretty expensive though.
Of course, the ultimage is a 14 position adjustable.
On my grandson's bobber truck we used some worn out junkyard shocks. They're still a bit stiff but not too bad.

 

[CORPO]

Bob, thank you very much for the insight... That was what I was thinking but wanted to get a little more knowledge before ordering up blindly. I'm thinking i Need nice and stiff shocks because of my air bag set up, adjustable shocks would be nice, but I am not sure I can find adjustable shocks with the heim style mounts.

Hows your grandsons truck running? Its a good looking little truck, any changes since you guys got it on the road?

 

[Sam_Fear]

You might want to take it out for a spin without shocks first to see how it rides. Air doesn't need much dampening like a spring system. I don't have any shocks on my Olds and if I run it more than 4" up, it starts getting stiff especially the rear.

 

[Old Iron]

I've got Koni adjustable front and rear on my 40 Pontiac and even at their lightest setting they are way too stiff.
50-50 shocks are used for everyday drivers the split valve shock are used for specific conditions circle track, drag racin, road course, etc. adjustable shocks generally are if you have the money and want them. jmho
If the lightest shock is too stiff, on the rear, you can lay the top in 10 to 15 degrees to soften them even more unfortunately the fronts are a different story.
If you want the shocks on the front to limit suspension travel without resistance, you can always drill a hole in them and drain the fluid out us old drag racers would do this to let the front end raise fast for weight transfer to the rear tires.

 

[DoubleJ]

Depending upon which brand you buy determines whether the first number is rebound or compression. Each manufacturer should tell you what is what. Bilstein makes a digressive valved shock that would probably be good to use on a street car/truck, they are primarily used on dirt cars on a rough track, although I used them with success on rough paved tracks as well. Adjustable shocks start getting very expensive, for a street vehicle I doubt they would be necessary. A 4/4 or 40/40 would be a good starting point, for any brand and whether it is gas or twin tube. Hope that helps.

 

[deerchooper]

corpo, i have rear air bags on my olds. with out a shock its like a basket ball. i bought some shocks off of ebay by there size/ lengh for my ride. i dont know the damping or ratio of them. i put them on a 30* from the get go. well it rides allmost like it has no suspension. i added another hole 3" back and it softened them up by 30% or more. im going to try another hole soon to see if i can get it dialed in to be some what pleasant. it rides nice at times but them dam little road patches we have here covering 50% of our roads kinda sucks at times. some of the larger ones that go across like a little speed bump will make the rear of the car do a little bunny hop, thats what it feels like. right now i still dont have any front shocks on ( i have them), but the front ride is nice for a buggy spring.

that is why i told you to add holes inbetween your upper brackets so you could adjust the shocks a little.

 

[DoubleJ]

The actual spring rate of either your air bag or conventional springs, the mounting of the shock and springs all play a factor in your ride quality. It looks like you have done a great job on building your truck, but it will still probably be a cut and try job to figure out what works the best. I'm not trying to sell you Bilsteins but have raced many different brands over the last 20+ years and can tell you they have the softest valving of any I ran. P.S.-all factory air spring suspensions still use a shock also.

 

[Sam_Fear]

I wasn't trying to imply you don't need shocks, just that you probably won't need stiff shocks.

I have been driving shockless for now and it's not the greatest ride. A lot of it will depend on how much air you run your bags at. My front end doesn't seem to bad at 60lbs, but I do get some big boat wave bounce. My rears at 40lbs, the tires can be heard bouncing on the cracks. And over all, road patches and such kinda suck.

 

[deerchooper]

i only have 18lbs in my rear bags.