By Slider on Saturday, March 31, 2001 - 11:42 pm: Edit

Anyone have pics or comments on this fancy gizmo??

OK..the front shocks are captured in the springs, so to speak...has anyone run these air lines through the shock tower? Should I just drill a small hole there and use a grommet? -- Obviously, I don't want to pinch these by running through the springs.

Anyone have pics or comments on this fancy gizmo??

Thanks
Slider

By Tom on Sunday, April 01, 2001 - 07:04 am: Edit

Slider -- please keep us posted when you do the install...I am curious how this goes together as well...

Tom

By Grady on Monday, April 02, 2001 - 07:58 pm: Edit

I've had the set up now for about 6 months, works great. I ran the front shocks so that the air line connections are at the top by cutting a 3" by 1" hole in the sides of the shock towers. Rears were easy, just ran the shock so the connections were on top too. I mounted the compressor in the engine compartment on the right side, in front of the windshield fliud tank. The plastic T junctions are mounted next to the compressor, by the fluid tank. In dash controls and guages are mounted on the dash under the drink holders (in front of the transer case direction sticker). I had to trimm the center consal right above that sticker to get the hoses through, and gain enough space. Because you have to run 4 airlines to the control panel, unfortunatly you need a lot of back space.

By slider on Tuesday, April 03, 2001 - 02:04 pm: Edit

Grady...Is it OK to be cutting the shock tower like that...Limiting strength of the cone? --Do you have a good picture of this you can share?

Also...did you do that to make some clearance for the plastic hardware?? or...to gain access to the air line nuts?or both? 3" seems so large.

Is it important that the shocks are mounted with the control valve at the top?? My directions say nothing about proper orientation!! And the frons, I think mount either way.

Thanx... going to install this weekend

Slider

By Grady on Tuesday, April 03, 2001 - 07:36 pm: Edit

Sorry don't have a camera, but this is the way that John at Rovertym told me to set it up. His is set up the same way too. I don't think there is going to be a strength problem with the cones. The shocks aren't exerting that much force on the cones. Besides, the dinky 3 nuts that hold the cone down would most likely fail before the actual cone. In fact one of my cones is only held down with 2 nuts, the third snapped off while trying to break it loose, and there hasn't been a problem with that one yet.

Clearance is a problem, that's why you need about a 3" long hole or square cut out in the cones. Because the cones taper towards the top, you need to cut a hole in it so the plastic 90 degree connector sticks out of the hole. It needs about 3" because you have the length of the plastic connector, the airline screw nut, the airline (which can't be kinked at all), and enough space to thread it all together with your fingers. This is if you point the plastic connector down, if its pointed up, or you are just going to use the knob controls, a smaller hole might work.

Rancho claims the shock can be mounted either way. Some guys believe that the shocks work better with the shaft on the top. I think it might make a difference if you were running off-road at high speeds, like a dune buggy, but for rock crawling, I don't think its going to matter. I didn't want to run the hose way down at the bottom either. Think about it, the rears would need 3 feet of extra hose at full articulation to work, so what happens to those 3 feet while you going down the freeway? Probably going to wrap around the tire and rip everything out. Just doesn't make sense to have all this extra hose moving around. This system leaks sometimes as it is.

By Slider on Wednesday, April 04, 2001 - 02:39 am: Edit

is the cut 1" wide & 3" tall?? or vise vrs.

Thanks for all the input so far...

Slider

By Grady on Wednesday, April 04, 2001 - 07:27 am: Edit

Yes, about 1" wide, and about 3" long. Just take the cone off the car and mount a 9000 to it with the plastic connector on the 9000. You'll see that you won't have enough room for the plastic connector unless you make the hole. This will also show you where you need to cut. If you want, start with a small hole, then make it bigger as you need to. Before you install the shock and cone on the car, make sure you have made a big enough hole to be able to thread on the airline. Its very easy, you'll see what I mean when you put a built 9000 up in the cone for the first time.