So I've got the cal tracs -1 on my duster now and I'm curious what's the minimum amount of shock that I can have exposed? There is about 1" exposed right now. Is this not enough? Just don't want to wreck my new shocks.

I'm not Monte but several different coil over shock companys have told me to have the ride hieght set at rest ready to race at 2/3 the fully extended length, IE if it has 6 inch of travel total set the ride hieght at 2 inches from the bottoming out, fully compressed hieght IHTHs

1" isn't enough, you need at least 2" to make sure the shock doesn't bottom out (especially if you will street drive any). I got caught right between the 7" travel and 9" travel shocks on mine. Mark Menscer was able to use a different top eylet on my Afco's to build me an 8" that worked perfect.

1" is a bit short and I have 2"`s on my street car and it never bottoms out........close but still have about 1/2" left usually.

Ok I'll adjust them down a bit then, hopefully I have enough to get 2".

Thanks for the replies!

What is the center to center called out for by the manufacturer? That is where they need to be set.

You would never want to set them at the center point on a leaf spring car. They separate way further on launch then they ever compress on bumps.

The shock manufacturer has an "install height" this is the distance between center of both mounting points. Set the shock to this number.



I would make changes to the bottom mounting point to adjust height.

Do you have any pics.?

The manufactures have a recommended range for the c-c ride height, not a number set in stone. The common length shock calls for 13.875-14.50 from Strange and 13.75-14.75 from Afco.

IMO, A ladder bar or leaf spring car with a lot of separation should have the shock run short to keep it from topping out. I wouldn't be afraid of an inch of shaft showing if the extension travel is needed. A 4 link that has some squat will need to have the shock run a little longer to avoid bottoming. This doesn't apply to a street driven car.

Here is a video with SS springs. You can see a large amount of travel and maybe even topping them out. I'll see if I can find a pic of the current ride height.


under car video

Here's a pic of before all the lines were fastened down. Not that it matters they don't change the ride height, it just looks like crap lol

Adjusters

I agree with Thumper. Get 2 inches at ride height. If it's strictly race and sees no street driving you might get away with 1-1/2 inches. Also looking at your pics, looks like the exhaust might be in the way of the axle at full droop. Just something to check.....

No witness marks on the exhaust or housing yet.

I got away with 1" on the duster street/strip. Not ideal for sure. I left them set full tight on the street hoping they wouldn't bottom out. Never had a problem, but I wouldn't recommend it.
Do your self a favor and weld on some adjustable shock mounts.

Look at the pic above John, it's already done.

Looks better than the first pic but you know the 8 3/4`s gonna explode on your third pass right?

I've got probably 100 passes on that rear end and a few thousand hard street miles with over 800hp...

Do you have a photo of your upper shock mount?

Thanks

Fab up a spacer for your bump stops on the frame rail. Or get longer polly ones like 4x4's use, tons of sizes n shapes of them on line.