atari56

Hey guys, long story short...looking to add BJ spacers and 2 inch rear shackles to a 1994 Toyota 2wd DLX Pickup. 4crawler has me covered, now instead of asking "what shocks should I use blah blah blah" (and we do have plenty of these threads only all of them pertain to 4runners or 4wd pickups), I'm just looking for the length of the stock toyota 2wd pickup front and rear shocks fully compressed and fully extended.

From there, I can contact whomever and give them the range and figure out what shocks work best for my rig without me having to either buy shocks just for the measurement or take my bilsteins off real quickly or go to NAPA and harass the clerk into taking out a couple shocks, measuring for me when I have no intention of buying shocks from him.

Now before everyone jumps on me for not searching...you find this info in the forum or on the net and I'll paypal you some $5 no joke. I've been searching for a couple weeks now and havent been able to find anything...

Ok, short version is done. For those looking for details, press on...

I am only asking for the measurements because in my research into what shocks will fit a stock 2wd suspension with a 2 inch lift I have discovered only Ranchos, Nitros and a couple others advertising shocks for "stock 2wd or 1 inch suspension lift." Now, what do we say around here...do it once and do it right? If I'm gonna drop some money and time into this project, that's what I am going to do.

So I dug deeper, wanting to get my full 2 inches of lift from the BJ spacer and rear shackles (I know I will only be getting an inch and a half from the BJ spacers and the other half inch will come from the crank on torsions past stock settings) without sacraficing the longevity of the shock or performance by mounting shocks that were either one inch too short or one inch too large. I turned up an old thread from like 07 where Frank from SDORI mentions that before BJ spacers, no one had a need to create 2wd shocks with only two inches of lift because you would only be lifting via a body lift or a full on long travel where you would need 3-4 inches minimum...so to summarize - no one makes a shock specifically for an extra two inches of lift on a 2wd toyota pickup.

While researching, I did come across several mentions of people using shocks intended for Suzukis with lifts....but those all pertained to 4wd pickups. I also ran across a couple of websites advertising shocks for a 2-4 inch lift but those came with * noting that they would only work with Fabtech et al full on suspension lifts. So any help will be appreciated on the dimensions/ranges of fully extended and collapsed stock shocks.

If I rambled, sorry. Just didnt want to get jumped on for anything except for driving a 2wd...(not that there is anything wrong with that!)

And if worse comes to pass and I get no response (which I doubt will happen), I will take my shock off, measure it and post my details here and try to figure this out over the weekend. But if anyone has this information handy...I would appreicate you sharing.

Thanks.

atari56

Ok, I finally went through Rancho and found some specifications that I believe will fit with a ball joint spacer up front and two inch over stock shackles in back.

Front Shock Options

The front will fit Rancho RS 5609s which use mounting codes for the upper S42 and bottom XP5. The compressed length is 9.125 inches and extended 14.375 which provide travel of 5.250.

The front will also fit Rancho RSX 17070 which measure out to compressed 9.875, extended 14.50 and provide travel of 4.625 inches.

Rear Shocks Have Three Options and all rears use mounting codes upper L1, bottom L1.

RS 5601 measure out compressed at 12.250, extended 19.750 and provide travel of 7.50. RS5111 are compressed 12.875, extended 20.250, travel of 7.375. RSX17008 are compressed 13.250, extended 21.125, travel 7.875.

So I figured out which shocks would fit the mounting of the truck and then started thinking....is it better to go with shocks that are slightly smaller than the 1.5 inches of lift in the front and back or slightly larger? Nothing will fit just right.

Then I decided, . Eventually I will probably end up going Total Chaos long travel at some point and that I should try and get parts that will eventually be used in that. So I decided to go with the Fabtech A arm lift kit for now so that I get the sway-away torsions which I will be using later with the total chaos.

Yes, I realize that all the lift comes from cranking the torsions so I will not be cranking it up all the way. I also have some rear end sag so I will only be upping the front to match the back sag and shackles. Before total chaos I will be going with the fabtech a arm lift, addicted off road front bumper (soon), 3 inch performance accessory body lift.

So in case anyone read the thread before and wanted to know what the heck that newbie ended up doing...thats the plan. I didnt want to leave the thread hanging, when searching I always hate seeing dead one post threads.

Sorry, I cant leave things unfinished. Call me OCD. Also, if any mods want to move this to the bulid up section so I can continue this there, go ahead.

ColoradoRyan

Wow thanks for the detailed info. Unfortunately I'm doing the same thing for an '86 and can't find the info for that year.