[suzukikid]

The rear of my vitara flexs pretty good but have now brocken the rear passengers side bottom mount off twice!

Flexs awsome with out it as it would!

This time i have farked the shocker so.......

Some one has told me you can get longer retainer cone things? And a longer shock?

Is this right?

CHEERS

[suzukikid]

Well been talkin to the mechanic over the road and he reckons they have brocken cause the shocks where too short!

He reckons that i flex it till the wheel comes off the ground then measure it and space the retainer cone thing! Then if we have to put some straps on to stop it from traveling to far down?

[tails83]

vn/vp commodore shocks gives about 7 inches more travel, works for me.

[suzukikid]

Really?

What size lift are you running?

I think i have about 2 in suspension and i have a 2" body lift!

[tails83]

i got 60mm lift.

[felix]

Commo shocks will work yes that is correct. They are around 10" travel I believe.

I'm using the calmini setup, I have the measurements somewhere but it flexes damn well!

Remember, the ball joint on top of the diff is really crap, so if you increase the flex with longer shocks and have standard trailing arms and the standard A-arm you're bound to break something. When I did the suspension (i was running 60mm procomp lift, its for sale) i was investigating how much flex the rear end can get with the standard ball joint.. and its not much before it binds up.

[tails83]

i understand about the A-arm with the ball joint on top, what did u do to fix it, just put a spacer in there.

but the trailing arms, being standard still, how does this put extra strain on the suspension, i'm not being a smart ass, i really don't know why.

[suzukikid]

Yeah please tell more felix or any one who knows....

[felix]

Well, when you have longer shocks, the rear end will drop more. However, because of the way the suspension is setup on the vitara (or for any solid axled vehicle with this setup), it will move in a circular motion (because the arms are fixed length, they make an arc).

Consider your extra droop/flex. When it drops down more than what it was designed for, especially in flexing conditions, the arms are not long enough to compensate for this. In turn the bushes will flex out of their limits and you'll probably bend a mount or break a bush. Also, because the arms are shorter, the shocks will move more than they are supposed to. This results in you losing your bottom shock mount, or breaking the shock in two.

With longer arms, this does not happen because well, the arms are longer. It positions the axle back to where it was supposed to be when the car was standard height so you end up with a properly aligned rear end, and no/less broken bits.

With the A arm, i've got the calmini articulation kit so it has a heim joint in there, which also allows me to adjust the angle of the axle so my unis don't die. Alternatively, you can put a spacer in there like what is available on ebay. I was going to do that, but thought, hey, i want the trick front arms and all the shiny blue bits so i'll buy the calmini one.

/novel

[suzukikid]

Ah cheers mate any chance of you gettin a pick of that calmini joint thing.....Custom stuff like this my neighbour loves doin!

[felix]

Yeah i'll take a picture of it for you when I adjust it (hopefully) on the weekend. Its a dramatic improvement over the standard one!