We used Fox 2 1/2-inch 14-inch-travel coilover remote-reservoir shocks in the front of our project Jinxy. We mounted them in the hoops and checked for clearance as the axle twisted and, with a few shaves of the grinder, made them fit without any rub. The bottom mounts were easy, as we retained and used the original shock mounts directly above the axle. Coil selection is hard to make without first knowing the weights and how you want to use the truck. And then when you figure this all out, you're still usually wrong and need to swap out coils.
We started with two 14-inch coils rated at 350 and 550 pounds. After initial test runs around the block, we decided to call back Poly Performance and swap out the bottom 550-pound coils for 16-inch-long, 500-pound-rate coils. The longer bottom coil took up the extra slack in the shock and gave us a little softer ride. Luckily Poly Performance has an easy coil swapping policy where you only have to pay shipping to trade out coils as long as your originals are not scratched.
Brad Wilcox built our hoops...
Brad Wilcox built our hoops using 1 1/2-inch tubing with gussets and reinforcements all around. We went with two conventional hoops with two additional supports, and added a removable crossmember between the hoops so we could get to the engine and anything else that we might need to remove.
Before anything was touched,...
Before anything was touched, we needed to change brake lines. The original ones had been rerouted to sort of work, but pulled tight about 7 inches before full droop, and we tend not to use brake lines as limiting straps. EGR Brakes had the lines we were looking for. EGR is, to our knowledge, the only supplier of DOT-approved Kevlar braided stainless steel brake lines for stock replacement Dodge Ram lines. All necessary brackets were already attached. We bolted them up, bled the lines, and could feel the improved responsiveness of not having old, corroded, stretched rubber lines.
The Fox hydraulic bumpstops...
The Fox hydraulic bumpstops were mounted using bumpcans we ordered from a local race shop. Van Gaale made removable brackets on the cans in the rear and placed them to hit directly above the spring pad. In the front the cans were welded to the hoops and frame for extra reinforcement. The bumpstops give 4 inches of travel before stopping and subsequently act like a third rate to the suspension.
We tried to remove the track...
We tried to remove the track bar from its mount only to find that years of dune and beach use had left many bolts seized in their bushings. No matter, we weren't going to use the original mounts anyway. Van Gaale fabbed a new mount and reinforced it on the axle using 3/16-inch metal plate. The final length of the track bar came out to be 41 inches, only 2 inches longer than our drag link. And with the new mount, the drag link and track bar had become almost perfectly parallel. It is important to have the track bar and the drag link at the same angle and length so they travel the same arc as the suspension cycles.
A new track bar was made using...
A new track bar was made using 1 1/2-inch tubing and Donahoe adjustable urethane rod ends. Donahoe's rod ends have a couple of inches of adjustment, and the urethane can be replaced if worn out. This will also give us more cushioning than a hardened spherical bearing rod end.
One of the downfalls to coilover...
One of the downfalls to coilover shocks is the massive amount of sway that they can allow. We solved our swaying dilemmas with a Speedway Engineering antisway bar. They use a splined-shaft design with two arms on each end and rod ends to attach to the suspension arms or axle. Van Gaale chose to weld the mounts into place on the frame instead of bolting for fitment reasons. Speedway Engineering has a few different shaft sizes to choose from, depending on how much force is delivered in a vehicle's leaning turn. We chose to run the biggest they had--a 1 1/4-inch-diameter bar.
How Well Did Our Buildup Work?
Jinxy got thrown into the Oceano Dunes for a little high-speed testing to see just how well our buildup went. We're glad to say Jinxy made it home in one piece (eventually). The front setup seemed to work beautifully and soaked up bumps that would have sent us flying before, but the rear could not keep up and limited our funtime as it kept getting thrown in the air.
I continued to run it up and down the whoop-de-doos for the camera until I ran into a little snag. I was taking a gradual turn (OK, really it was a powerslide at 45 mph with tires deflated to 12 pounds) when one of the tires ripped right off the bead. The wheel dug in and almost threw Jinxy onto its lid after so many years of work. But luckily, when the dust cleared, the driver side decided to come back to the ground and we were only stranded, instead of stranded and screwed. Of course, all this was done over a sand hill, just out of site of any camera.
And of course, both of our spares were 200 miles away. So there David Kennedy and I sat, trying to figure out how the hell to get the tire untwisted and reseated with only a Hi-Lift jack and no compressed air. But after Kennedy advised releasing the vacuum suction inside the tire and a friendly duner came by with some compressed air, we were back on our way out of the dunes, realizing that we had pressed our luck enough that day.