Just bought front and rear Fox 2.5 with DSC from Accutune!!!

[BellevilleRam]

Another little update. I decided to remove my front sway bar and temporarily unbolt the rear end links for my Hellwig Sway bar. My thoughts are that having the increased damping of the new 2.5" Fox shocks might let me run with no sway bars. I drove home from work and while I will definitely need to run more low speed compression to help keep the swaying to a minimum, the difference in the smoothness over bumps and railroad tracks was drastic!!! There's one particular crossing at an angle that would always cause the rear of my truck to chatter across it that now wasn't even felt at all! It's literally like driving around on a cloud! LOL I am going to remove a bunch of stuff from my truck bed and lighten it up and see how much difference that will make along with more compression tuning. I have a 3" body lift and the Fox's are set at about a 2" lift from the factory which doesn't work in my favour.

 

[ram1500rsm]

Yep keep the low compression on the firmer side and you can get away without the sway bar. I'll still keep one sway front or rear, prob the rear and fully use the IFS front. All you have to make sure is that when you're moving fast enough the tires don't rub the fenders. I had a to do a little massage in my front fenders back when i had the 37x12.5x17 KO2, and that was with the long Spmaxx sway bar links. I put the stockers spmaxx lenght back (I have both) and hammered up both fender lips towards the center to make them round. Never rubbed again after that but i wasn't jumping the truck. You should be more than good with 35's and sway bar but never tested 35's without it. That's the beauty of the compression adjusters even more in so in your case since you can say you have "real" adjusters. lol OE adjusters work in 2-3 maybe 4 clicks and you can barely feel any difference past that, i'd think Accutune gave you a little more adjustment within the range of their custom valving so you have more usable range with them.

 

[crazykid1994]

Oddly enough I’ve removed my front sway bar due to a bad alignment I had that was really messing up my front geometry and haven’t reinstalled it since getting my alignment corrected but I’ve had 0 issues during my drives but I only have bilstein 5100 on my truck. I would actually say my truck feels more enjoyable to drive and the body roll is not as noticeable as I would expect.

 

[novelmike]

How are you liking them? I'm having so much fun tuning the compression and driving over things that would destroy stock shocks! LOL

I love mine! I haven’t messed with my settings in probably a year. I’ll go look to see what my high speed/low speed are set at when I get a chance

After a month or so, my coils “settled” a bit. I was able to adjust the preload on the coilovers without taking them off using a coil spring compressor. Fox recommends removing them, but it can be done by leaving them in. Others say you can do it without compressing the coil. I didn’t want to risk damaging the aluminum.

Your JBA’s look good! They match your truck. I think mine would look funny since I don’t have any red. I had them powder coated before installing them.

 

[BellevilleRam]

Finally got to hit a really good area to fully test both the new Fox shocks and the flex with the front and rear sway bars off. WOW!!!! I could hardly believe how much of a difference the new set up was to the Bilstein's and sway bars! Felt like bottomless travel through super deep troughs and puddles on the un-maintained road! I am super excited to get out again tomorrow and hopefully do some filming with my GoPro!

 

[ram1500rsm]

Once you've tried 2.5 race shocks the rest is before and after that change. The grin in your face will last for months Drop your tire pressure to about 28 psi and let her loose in the dirt. She'll be begging for even more gas...

 

[BellevilleRam]

Once you've tried 2.5 race shocks the rest is before and after that change. The grin in your face will last for months Drop your tire pressure to about 28 psi and let her loose in the dirt. She'll be begging for even more gas...

I can hardly wait buddy!!!

 

[BellevilleRam]

Another little update on my new shocks as well as the whole sway bar removal experiment. I decided after much testing to put the FRONT sway bar only back on and here's why. I LOVE not having the rear sway bar on as I find the rear end of my truck now handles rail road tracks and off camber ruts and washboard roads much better than with it on. In my case, I don't need the rear sway bar for stability now that I am running the much larger Fox 2.5's. I am able to use only 3 clicks in of low speed compression and 2 clicks in of high speed compression in back on roads. The front end however needed too much low speed compression without the front sway bar on to keep the truck having enough control during more aggressive steering situations as well as certain sequences of bigger rolling bumps on the road. I'd get this weird feeling like a boat in a confused sea state. (Look that one up! LOL) Ideally, I want to run as little compression as I can get away with for small bump compliance. With the front sway bar back on, the truck feels much more planted and I'm able to only need 2 clicks of low speed compression now vs the 7or 8 it needed without it installed.The high speed compression is also 2 clicks in up front for on road driving. I'd stiffen that up if I'm going to be hitting anything off road at speeds that would cause higher shock shaft speeds to occur. When driving OFF road, always try to have your suspension set up to use almost or even ALL of the available travel only on the most demanding parts of whatever terrain you plan on driving on.That will give you the maximum smoothness and control and make use of what the suspension is there for in the first place.

 

[BellevilleRam]

I have a quick question about sway bar links. My front shocks should have been factory adjusted to give me about a 2" lift. Would my factory sway bar links be limiting the travel in any way? Would I benefit from the longer and stronger links?

 

[crazykid1994]

I have a quick question about sway bar links. My front shocks should have been factory adjusted to give me about a 2" lift. Would my factory sway bar links be limiting the travel in any way? Would I benefit from the longer and stronger links?

They should not limit your travel any if it does. I noticed on mine that it was putting a lot more pressure on the upper mount to the sway bar and actually was bending the threaded end. Longer links are better so you don’t get that binding. But I’m also up at 3” which puts a good bit more angle than you have. Now I’m running a custom setup on mine but most people just buy suspensionMaxx links for leveled trucks

 

[ram1500rsm]

I blogged about this in my built thread. I did some experimentation with/without the front sway bar back then i was trying to decide if i wanted to run 37's since i don't have a bracket lift or body lift.. The difference is mostly uptravel, without the sway bar you gain 1.5" uptravel, see post #247 here, and that's with the truck resting on the bumpstop. I'm sure on something that can cause the truck to tuck the wheels even harder at speed the internal bumpstop would prob give a little more, perhaps 1/2 more

2014 RAM 1500 Express Crew Cab

Lol I’m always looking for sponsors! I could only imagine how much more abuse these trucks would take if the money didn’t come out of our own pockets.I reckon you'd need a new frame bi annually. But watching what would happen would be priceless. Hell I'm back on stock 20s just to curb my desire...

www.ramforum.com

I liked the experience better with the sway bar on, especially offroading fast as there is much better control no doubts. I had the boat like confused state feeling without the bar. Without the bar you'll have better performance for technical slow offroading where you have to use all the suspension travel you have.

Regarding the front sway bar links, I've found the Spmaxx L's will give you 1/2" more uptravel compared to stock length. In my case because i don't have a bracket lift or body lift i switched to the spmaxx stock length ones when i had 37's, then back to the L's when i went back to 35's, Every little thing helps

 

[BellevilleRam]

Thanks for the information guys! So it sounds like the SPMaxx swaybar links would give me more up travel but not as much as having no sway connected? Is there a sway bar or links that would allow for the full range of travel that the front end is capable of?

 

[BellevilleRam]

I have a question(s) about my front suspension. I was looking at the Dirt King long travel front end kit and I’m wondering what, if anything I would need to get more travel from my existing set up. I already have aftermarket JBA UCA’s that have greater articulation than stock, I have the same Fox 2.5 coil overs and because I’m running 2” hub centric wheel spacers that put my wheels out to the same distance that the Dirt Kings longer lower control arms do, I think my potential wheel travel should be close to their kit which offers 13.5” of wheel travel? Does having the 2” wheel spacers on act like the longer LCA’s as far as the motion ratio goes? I saw that Dirt King sells long travel front axle shafts and/or long travel front axle assemblies. Would those be the missing piece that I need to get the most from my front travel? What if anything else would be limiting my ability to get to that 13.5” front wheel travel? Thanks for any replies!

 

[Dan90]

I'm sure others with more experience will chime in, but I believe you are on the correct train of thought regarding the axles. Along with the axles, I believe the mounting location of the lower shock is also set out further on the lower control arm on the dirt king LCA. So the longer axles along with the larger shock angle gets you to the motion ratio you're looking to achieve.

I actually didn't realize the accutune fox 2.5 COs are the same used on the dirt king kit. Very interesting. I would have expected longer shocks on the dirt king kit.

I also have to ask at what point are you going to consider your poor fenders?

 

[BellevilleRam]

I'm sure others with more experience will chime in, but I believe you are on the correct train of thought regarding the axles. Along with the axles, I believe the mounting location of the lower shock is also set out further on the lower control arm on the dirt king LCA. So the longer axles along with the larger shock angle gets you to the motion ratio you're looking to achieve.

I actually didn't realize the accutune fox 2.5 COs are the same used on the dirt king kit. Very interesting. I would have expected longer shocks on the dirt king kit.

I also have to ask at what point are you going to consider your poor fenders?

I have a 3” body lift on my truck and the Fox 2.5’s give me about a 2” lift. Plus the 2” wheel spacers push the tires out further. I’m also running a very low profile Bumper which gives me quite a bit of room for my front tires. If I could have been at the shop when they did the installation of my new shocks I would have had them articulate the front end without the coil overs on just to see where any issues would arise regarding wheel travel and rubbing.

 

[Dan90]

I was more referring to fender contact with the 13.5" of travel if you are able to replicate a long travel kit . But having a 3" body lift might be the solution! I think fiberglass fenders give you a 4" rise in fender clearance height over stock to accommodate the long travel.

 

[BellevilleRam]

So is my setup with the 2” wheels spacers basically doing the same thing to increase the wheel travel as having longer extended length lower control arms IF the Dirt Kings have their lower coil over mounts in the same place as the stock ones? I sent them a message asking if they do have a different mounting position than stock or if it’s simply a longer control arm utilizing the same mounting position. I’m curious to hear what they say! It would be sweet to get more front end travel out of my set up now I have the beefy Fox 2.5’s to control it!

 

[crazykid1994]

Wheel spacers do not increase suspension travel. The wheel only moves how far the hub moves. The extended travel is due to the extended lower control arm pushing the hub out farther which increases the ratio for travel. You would not have 13.5” travel. If that was the case long travel kits wouldn’t be so involved

 

[BellevilleRam]

Wheel spacers do not increase suspension travel. The wheel only moves how far the hub moves. The extended travel is due to the extended lower control arm pushing the hub out farther which increases the ratio for travel. You would not have 13.5” travel. If that was the case long travel kits wouldn’t be so involved

Do my wheel spacers not move the hub outwards by 2”? Sorry for my naivety! I would think that if, say I had 6” thick wheel spacers up front that that would increase the actual travel of the tires vertical path no?

 

[crazykid1994]

Do my wheel spacers not move the hub outwards by 2”? Sorry for my naivety! I would think that if, say I had 6” thick wheel spacers up front that that would increase the actual travel of the tires vertical path no?

No. Your hub is attached to the lower and upper control arms at the ball joints. That is what decides your amount of travel. Moving the ball joint farther out is was increases your suspension travel because suspension travel is decided by pivot point to pivot point. So from the frame bushing to the ball joint. Then position of where the shock mounts to the lower control arm. By extending the lower control arm you are changing the ratio of suspension travel. There’s a good bit to it that would be a lot to explain. Adding wheel spacers pushes your tire farther out but your hub has not changed position.