I have been thinking of fabbing some rear upper shock mounts on my 2nd Gen 4Runner to convert from the pin/stud to eye/loop mounting. It seems that the shocks with the pin/stud mounts are pretty limited in terms of selection. My 4" over-stock Pro Comp 3000's already limit my travel with 1.5" springs. I was recommended the downey shock mount kit and have it modified accordingly to fit my frame and having the shocks mounted at an angle facing the rear.

I'm basically looking for more shock travel without cutting into the cab or comprimising daliy drivability. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks,
Josh

 

Welcome to my world!

Do you plan on doing any fast riding? If not, running the shocks like this:

/ \

seems to work well for flex without affecting the ride too badly.

I will be running my shocks in the way you desired. Protrux is going to fab a bar between the rear frame rails (kinda like the downey kit you showed). You won't be able to use your stock spare tire carrier with this setup.

WIth 62" leaves under the axle and this shock setup I should net 14-16" of travel....I'm expecting 14"

Here are some pics of Sean's 1st gen from Trails Less traveled. He is using over axle springs with a similar shock placement.






You've probably thought of this, but the lower on the axle and the higher on the body you mount the shock, the longer the shock you can fit which equald more extension.

 

Yea, Jim was the one that showed me that setup. How much were they quoting for the install?

 

1 million dollars.....

just kidding

I don't know how much just for the bar and new axle mounts, but for everything rear suspenison related it was 2,400.00 but you would have to subtract shocks (600.00), springs (600.00), hangers, shackles, and install of those items. I know that didn't help much....in short I'm not sure. It really doesn't seem like much work. \

I don't mind mounting the shocks lower since they won't be any lower than my damned under axle leafs. But since you have coils, keeping the above and run like / \ would give you more clearance. You're definitely more into the crawling than me so the ground clearance may be more valuable than your ride comfort.

 

Hey Josh,

Talked to Jim today as I dropped off the Deathrunner (I'll see it in 2 years now...hahaha)

Anyway I asked him about the crossbrace for the shocks......He said he'd need to see your frame layout. Sorry, in short...get it over there!!!

 

If you just want to go with the eye mount instead of the bolt, you can just make your own bracket.
This is what I did. I used a square tube and cut it down and welded a bolt to it and drilled two holes. That's it.


mounted

from the top


I plan on cutting up the mount and weld a ford shock tower to get more upper travel. My shocks are too long (RS900012)

 

Good Idea Anthony

 

With Rancho 5009's, I am getting a boat load of travel and still have pin top mounts.

Can't really make a nice hoop with the coils back there still.

If you are going to mess with the uppers, move the lowers up to axle center line and in board. Get them out of the rocks and away from the springs. My cruiser coils and Ranchos are friendly.

 

Im also tempted to go with Bilstein and shorter shocks......dunno yet..

 

The eyelet conversion brackets suck! I am running them and for 1, you8 have to run shorter shocks (just a tad) and they don't really accomplish much. I was talking to Big Rocks up in Vancover WA about having a custom hoop made for the rear to fit 12" Bils. but never got arou8nd to having it done. My rear shocks have offically pissed me off now so I will most likely be doing this hoop in the near future.