Balancing act of shocks, bumpstops, and fenders. Help?

Ok, so let's get some information out of the way first. I've got a 3.5" RE superflex lift, and I love it! does everything I ask of it and more, no problems at all. Well, except one.

I ordered this kit sometime in january and installed it pretty soon after, and it all went together pretty flawlessly without too much rubber mallet coaxing. Anyway, I didn't really realize it at the time, but I have now and it worries me.

as you can see I've got about 6 and 1/4" of travel between the axle and a fully compressed bump stop: http://filesmelt.com/dl/P4230103.JPG

However, I've only got about 5 and 3/4" of travel between the top of the shock and the body of the shock: http://filesmelt.com/dl/P4230106.JPG

this means the shocks will bottom out before the bompstops.

Now, there are a few options I've been rattling around in my head, and I want the one that will benefit my style of off road most. I don't crawl too much, most of the time off road is spent going through muddy trails at relatively quick speeds, or going as fast as logic dictates on the sand, in both of those scenarios up-travel is a pretty big deal.

So, I could get bigger bumpstop blocks, this would be the easiest most likely. Or, I could replace the shocks with a smaller body shock which would allow for more up-travel, but less down-travel (correct?) I was leaning towards this option.

In the future I also want to add the kings air bumps (at least in the front), so I was also wondering how high relative to stock those mount when fully compressed.

The amount of travel I have between the tire and fender is 8" so I've got a good amount of room to play with: http://filesmelt.com/dl/P4230107.JPG

I've already gone through the sand bottoming out left and right with the current set up because well I wasn't going to delay a trip for 1/2" of bump stop, so I'm fairly certain the shocks have been used for the bumpstops already, but they still seem to be good, and not leaking or anything. I'm thinking the down-travel is limited already by my transmission crossover (which I was actually directed to remove in the instructions but nah even if it went down more the boot would just tear and it'll kill itself eventually anyway ) and driveshaft (my driveshaft has made a nice little curve in it already after one trip), so would getting slightly shorter shocks be THAT bad of an idea?

So, with all this information in mind, what would you all suggest is the best idea?

I don't see your upper bumpstop, are they there?

jeeeep said:

I don't see your upper bumpstop, are they there?

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yeah they're there, just not in the picture. The top of the tape measure is at the metal shaft, where the axle would be if the upper bumpstop was fully compressed. Here's where the tape measure was set at: http://filesmelt.com/dl/P4230104.JPG

Christarp said:

yeah they're there, just not in the picture. The top of the tape measure is at the metal shaft, where the axle would be if the upper bumpstop was fully compressed. Here's where the tape measure was set at: http://filesmelt.com/dl/P4230104.JPG

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quadratec has several options, as well as some spacers to add on for not much coin

I would think you would want a longer shock to allow more travel?? I'm not sure, I always call a vendor and ask

If your bumpstops don't limit the travel before the shock bottoms out you will blow out your shock. A properly set up kit should have balanced the difference. Up travel isn't as important as down though. Ideally you would take out your springs and measure the travel up compressing your stops and make sure the shock travel is shorter and nothing else is hitting or binding. Down travel should be limited by the shock and should stop before your spring falls out.

Skirmish said:

If your bumpstops don't limit the travel before the shock bottoms out you will blow out your shock. A properly set up kit should have balanced the difference. Up travel isn't as important as down though. Ideally you would take out your springs and measure the travel up compressing your stops and make sure the shock travel is shorter and nothing else is hitting or binding. Down travel should be limited by the shock and should stop before your spring falls out.

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For the most part, I would agree with this especially for crawling but, if you're into driving hard and fast, up travel will be pretty important too. Also, the primary purpose of your bump stops is to help prevent the over compression of your coils and prevent them from going solid. A good all around setup will have about as much bump stop extension as you have lift. Your shocks should be sized accordingly as so that they do not bottom out.

wayoflife said:

For the most part, I would agree with this especially for crawling but, if you're into driving hard and fast, up travel will be pretty important too. Also, the primary purpose of your bump stops is to help prevent the over compression of your coils and prevent them from going solid. A good all around setup will have about as much bump stop extension as you have lift. Your shocks should be sized accordingly as so that they do not bottom out.

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Yeah, I ordered the kit and the shocks together and assumed I'd get ones that fit, but uhh, well that didn't quite turn out like that (the rear shocks don't have this problem).

If I were to get the kings airbumps, when you mount them into the tube, you have to do some cutting, correct? How high up would these mount relatively to stock? Are the virtually the same spot when fully compressed? meaning even if I did get them I'd still have the problem, or would it limit up travel a bit more not necessitating the need for bigger bump stop extensions (while also preventing the shock from bottoming out).