Shock-ing! Calling all Calmini UCA for feedback

[Hodge]

if anyone decides to measure the extended length of their front shocks, post it up for comparison. might help a few guys out.

ive got 12 month old blue max shocks, they have been good so far, just had uca's fitted last week so im going to have to check theyre long enough when i get a chance.

I'll post up measurements of my ranchos once they arrive, together with my OEM, and a side-by-side photo, to compare.

 

[Hodge]

Stupid question time. A perfectly level D22, should have identical measurements at each wheel, from bottom of rim, to bottom of top guard, correct ? Or do the guards on the tub, sit every slightly higher ?

 

[qqc d22]

Just measure the sil or the line that runs through the body. Cant be wrong that way.
Or get a spirit level on the roof :O

 

[ben85]

so i just adjusted the front ride height, 810mm from bottom of rim to guard.
leaves me with 20mm bump stop gap, measured with a 19mm thick peice of timber, there was about a 1mm extra gap.

i also found out that my front shocks are long enough! pretty happy with that.

when you jack the car up and the front tyre is off the ground the upper control arm should be resting firmly on the bump stop. if its not its likely that your shocks are limiting the travel, funny thing is though, for memory the stock shocks were the same length as the ones i'm running now so if thats right nobody should be having problems with shocks being too short.

 

[Hodge]

so i just adjusted the front ride height, 810mm from bottom of rim to guard.
leaves me with 20mm bump stop gap, measured with a 19mm thick peice of timber, there was about a 1mm extra gap.

See this is where I get confused. Mines sitting lower. 790mm, and I have 8-10mm of bump stop gap, if that. How do you get more gap with the front being higher.

Edit: Just noticed you have a body lift mate. That's where the difference is.

 

[tony d22]

A body lift makes no difference to the gap on the bump stops.

 

[Hodge]

A body lift makes no difference to the gap on the bump stops.

But it makes a different in the height measurement, which is what i was referring to.

 

[ben85]

well i measured the gap at max travel to be 865mm, so i have 55mm of down travel, your suspension is 30mm higher than mine so id say you only have about 25mm of downtravel, which isn't a lot.

when you hit potholes and the wheel drops down, i suspect the bump stops compress a bit more with the force of the wheel dropping down quickly and i think you get some slight metal on metal contact which makes a noise. use to happen to me sometimes out bush with the 2inch lift and no uca's (i had aboout 12mm gap then), never used to happen in town though. will probably still happen from time to time.

thats probably whats happening to yours seeing you have such limited down travel.

 

[Hodge]

well i measured the gap at max travel to be 865mm, so i have 55mm of down travel, your suspension is 30mm higher than mine so id say you only have about 25mm of downtravel, which isn't a lot.

when you hit potholes and the wheel drops down, i suspect the bump stops compress a bit more with the force of the wheel dropping down quickly and i think you get some slight metal on metal contact which makes a noise. use to happen to me sometimes out bush with the 2inch lift and no uca's (i had aboout 12mm gap then), never used to happen in town though. will probably still happen from time to time.

thats probably whats happening to yours seeing you have such limited down travel.

Spot on Ben. Basically on the road with potholes or when exiting speed humps thats exactly what happens. Although mine don't hit the bump stops. Full weight of mine are taken up by the shocks. A lot of people still do not believe me. When i jack the car up off the chassis, the moment the tyres leave the ground it's all supported by the shocks, and the bump stop still has 2-3mm gap. Now on-road it's hard to tell, i'm almost tempted to stick my GoPro under there and go for a spin and record whats happening. But i suspect while on road due to that sudden drop it would stretch the fcuk out of the shocks and hit the stops at the same time, because that thud i get is serious business.

In other news still waiting for my shocks. Coming from Sydney apparently and it's now been more than a week.

 

[qqc d22]

i reckon arb probay fitted the wrong front shocks to begin with. if others are getting enough travel out of standard shocks. with standard uca's a suspension lift on a torsion setup you only need standard shocks as the maximum travel hasnt changed. with uca's its obviously gonna be a bit more.

 

[ben85]

sounds strange, i'm pretty bloody sure my original shocks were the same length as my new ones.

strange that yours are shorter.

 

[Hodge]

i reckon arb probay fitted the wrong front shocks to begin with. if others are getting enough travel out of standard shocks. with standard uca's a suspension lift on a torsion setup you only need standard shocks as the maximum travel hasnt changed. with uca's its obviously gonna be a bit more.

I doubt it mate as theyre the usual ones they fit with the 30mm lift up the front. And they do state clearly it is only a 30mm lift, nothing less nothing more.
But... anything is possible.

I won't know until my new ones arrive. I reckon i could have ordered a set out of US and it would have arrived quicker. Sydney is not 2 oceans away ...

 

[Ridgie]

When I jack my front up the suspension stops on the upper bump stops. Now I want to know if when fully compressed the same happens - that is the bump stops restrict the movement or the shock does. How would I check that?


.

 

[Coogsnav]

Can confirm tough dog foam cells to suit 40mm lift are long enough,fitted them with the arms on the weekend .

 

[ben85]

when i was checking mine the bump stop compressed down to about 3mm on its own, so an extra 3mm of compression and it would be metal on metal, which i assume happens when you hit a big hole and the wheel drops all the way down quickly.

i couldn't be bothered checking past there, if the shock cant handle the extra 3mm down travel then bad luck i guess.

When I jack my front up the suspension stops on the upper bump stops. Now I want to know if when fully compressed the same happens - that is the bump stops restrict the movement or the shock does. How would I check that?


.

 

[Hodge]

Quick question...
Bump stops, when covered in mud, dust grime etc... If they regulary touch each other/compress, it should leave marks or smudges on each one to indicate they have been in contact right ??

Mine have no marks at all, which may tell me that the bump stops are doing stuff all and shocks DO in deed cop most of the brunt.

In other news, i'm still waiting for the shocks, since the last ones they sent out were the wrong ones. So i'l be waiting till way after new years.

 

[qqc d22]

yep mine doesnt get dirty and its still very visable where the stops are coming in contact with the arms. so thatpretty mich answers your question. shocks definatly to short.

 

[BIG GUS]

[Hey Mate, just read your thread about Calmini UCA's first try putting a bit more grease in those ball joints i have a 3" lift in my D22 running 10 yr old OME shocks and in rides smooth as you don't really need UCA's if you have a 2" lift wind your torsion bars down so you have 770-780mm from the bottom of the rim to the bottom of the guard (flare) I am replacing my old worn out shocks with Calmini ones.
I will let you know how it goes with them.

Good Luck







QUOTE=Hodge;215178]Basically my front end is rough as guts after getting the UCA fitted. Yes I sort of brought it upon my self, by levelling the car out at the sacrifice of bump stop clearance. I have sweet f*** all bump stop gap... See pics below. The car looks nice and level but she rides horribly. Every bump with a drop off, like a pot hole, or the exist side of a speed hump is not not a nice feeling. I need to attack them at super crawling speeds if i don't want my front end to sound like it's about to crumble to bits from the massive knock I get from underneath. It sounds like a massive pile-driver hammers my car from underneath. This is on-road, I had a go at slight off-road after the UCAs got fitted, and i tell you it's not nice...

Now when the knock happens i'm unsure what it's actually knocking. Is it the car hitting the bump stops or is it the shocks at full stretch and about to be ripped apart...
After i got the UCAs fitted and car levelled out to where it is now, everytime i jacked it up at the chasis, the wheels would be pulled up by the shocks and not by the dump stops... So my Old man emu shocks were too short. As time went on the front must have settled, because now when i jack up at same point, the wheels are somewhat assisted by the dump stop but not much, meaning the shocks are still assisting the wheels being brought up.

Mate of mine is running the same set-up, but hes got the Calmini shocks to replace his OME ones... When he got the shocks he dropped his car by a bit as well, to give a bit more room at the bump stops. His is very smooth. But i don't know what fixed his, the shocks, or lowering the car a tad, or perhaps both...

I'd like to know what shocks everyone is running with the Calmini UCA and how much gap do you haver at the b.stop, and more importantly how smooth is your car at drop-off points... I need to do something about this, as it's doing my nuts in, so doing some home-work as to where to start with.

Cheers!

[/QUOTE]

 

[Hodge]

yep mine doesnt get dirty and its still very visable where the stops are coming in contact with the arms. so thatpretty mich answers your question. shocks definatly to short.

Hey mate just took a few snaps, to show what I mean. This is how clean (or dirty) the contact points are. Notice on the metal bit, there is no indication of any contact from the bump stop. Passenger side ( 1st photo), shows some, but very light contact. If I smudge the area with finger even lightly, it's clearly visible as the dirt is scraped away. Considering the thud I get all the time, I'm sure there would be a mark more visible than this. As you said, It's more than likely the shocks.

 

[Hodge]

Ok, just to confirm again I jacked up the front today and this is what I got...
Both wheels hanging in the air, and spinning and there is about 3-4mm gap at the bump stops. Other than the shocks I cannot see anything else holding them up, nor there should be.