Shock travel KYB

[Skidsurf]

Hi
Just a quick bit of advice needed on shock travel.
My current shocks are bottoming out on our beautiful British roads!
Bump stops were cut off in Cali so it can be quite a jolt if you hit a decent pothole.

So time to upgrade!!

I've dropped off my shocks and measure the distance at 31cm between mounts.

Was thinking of buying the much used KYB gas shock
http://www.justkampers.com/vw-t2-ba...979-vw-t2-split-1955-1967-front-and-rear.html

It has 26.5 cm downward travel and 41cm upward!
Would that be enough down travel considering it is a slightly stiffer shock??

Alternatively there is the KYB GR2 with 24.5cm travel
http://www.justkampers.com/kyb-gr-2-front-link-pin-lowered-shock-absorber.html
They advertise these for a split but VW heritage advertise the same shock for a bay! Anyone running these??

All advice is appreciated
cheers
Mike

 

[Trikky2]

The compressed length of the shock should be a few cm less than the distance between the mounts when your suspension is fully compressed on its bump stops.

Unless your vehicle is stock, that measurement depends entirely on what changes have been made to your vehicle. You will need to measure it.

Incidentally, (whilst on the subject) I have seen a few without any bump stops. I hope that when you say they were cut off in Cali that you mean they were modified rather than removed altogether. In the event of spring failure without stops the suspension can collapse too far, causing the wheel to jam in the arch - leaving you with no rotation and no steering. Should be an automatic MOT fail IMO.

Relying on shocks to act as bump stops will cause damage. These mountings were never designed to cope with such large stresses and will fail, so you are right in wanting to fix this problem.

 

[Skidsurf]

Thanks for the advice Tricky
I'll take a closer look but pretty sure they have been cut off flush between the torsion bars.
I did think this was done a lot on slammed vans as they fouled if left in.
My bus is lowered but not slammed.
The rear stops are intact.

went through MOT without an issue.

Anyone got any more info on this?

 

[ground hugger]

Hi Mike
I ran my bay at 305mm with the kyb Gr2 265mm shocks.Ball joint beam with adjusters at there lowest setting .the beam was narrowed 3inch so a stiffer ride than a standard beam.Every day driving was good but a bit on the bouncy side on uneven roads.If I hit a pot hole or very rutted uneven roads at speed it would bounce and bottom out the shocks.I had no bump stops fitted to my beam as it was narrowed.In my opinion if you fitted the 245mm shocks then the ball joints will bottom out before the shocks at this height.raise the bus up a bit with the 265mm shocks and you should be ok ....Dave