replacing shocks on nl

[Yvonne]

time has come to replace front and back shocks on my 99 nl 3.5ltr. It has a 40mm lift in it but couldn't afford the shocks at the time.



The places I have priced are saying that the new ones will cater from stock to 50mm. but looking at the compressed and extended they are the same as the stock ones.


Will putting longer shocks appropriate to the 40mm lift give me any more downward travel?


And brands people recommend. I only do beach runs with the car.


cheers
Yvonne

[stumagoo]

stock length front shocks are good for modified front ends and up to 3" lift

Rears are a bit different - I ran stock ones with 3" rear lift and it was ok although I killed them - many 40-50mm lift use the same uncompressed length rear springs and have just a harder spring rate. with that longer rear shocks can leave the spring non captive.... you really need to identify the ideal lengths

Short of it - sock length is not ideal but will work without major issues

[Fuzz260z]

Im looking into new front shocks for mine. Cheapo one shagged out pretty quick.
Ill be going Dobinsons.
I have dobinsons in the rear(springs and shocks) they are great , still going well after quite a bit of touring including a trip to Tassie and back carrying a motorbike on the tow bar.

As far as a shorter shock giving you more down travel, i don't think so. You will hit the bump stops long before you compress the shock all the way.
The shocks only effect the dampening action of the suspension, they have no bearing on ride height or suspension travel.
As is my understanding.

[stumagoo]

in a gen 2 the rear shocks are what limit the dropout of the suspension - too long and the compressed length is no good without extending the bumpstop but you have to be a good 50mm longer compressed I believe.... if you fit 50mm extended rear shocks or longer you need to fit a longer brake flexi to the diff and also reset the brake bias valve on the diff (the thing with the spring going from the diff to the chassis)



front stock length is no issue for up to 4" lift which you can not do on standard setup no matter what anyone tells you.... even 3" with flipped ball joints and no bump stop is pushing the limits of available travel but you will get there - if you have lifted 3" without at least flipping the ball joints then most of your lift is just removing old sag.... standard ride height has 15-18mm of clearance to the upper bump stops with no triming.... that equates to about 35mm of lift available without triming the bumpstop - remove the bumpstop and you go to about 55mm, flip the ballpoint gives you another 20mm or so all of these options do not bottom out the front shocks ---- that happens at around 95mm of lift. for which you need balljoint spacers or custom control arms