Motorcitydak
11-06-2010, 09:16 PM
I have been in the off road world for a lot longer than this PT thing. I was reading an off road mag last night, specifically an article about rebuilding air shocks. These things are super light (8 pounds) easily rebuildable and tunable and cheap ($230 for the 2.0 inch). They are an emulsion shock which means that the shock oil and nitrogen gas they are charged with are mixed together. You can pull em apart and add/remove oil volume and/or change the shims to change the valving and the spring rate is controlled by the amount of nitrogen they are changed with.
The 2.0 can only support 500# a shock (good for the rear ends) while the 2.5 inch body can hold up to 1000#. The 2.0 are available in a nice amount of travel lenghts starting out at 4.0 inches and goes up from there. The 2.5s are only built in long travel app's (12 inches and up) but a call to Fox could probably get a shorted pair. The capacity of them would be great for a front end where they meet with with a control arm. The spring rate ramps way up at the end of shock travel to create a bump stop.
Granted the nitrogen can heat up and expand causing a lift in ride height and change in spring rates. They are not designed to be used for road cars but Im still curious if its a worth while application. Maybe a remote reservoir could help with the heating issue? I have not done any other digging into this sort of thing, Im just throwin it out there for discussion. I know there will be the die hard spring guys out there, but take a look at modern air ride suspensions as they beat coil overs around the track.
http://www.foxracingshox.com/offroad/shocks/bumpstop/20_AIR_SHOCK
http://www.foxracingshox.com/offroad/shocks/bumpstop/25_AIR_SHOCK
http://polyperformance.com/shop/Fox-2.5-Air-Shocks-p-182.html
http://polyperformance.com/shop/Fox-2.0-Air-Shock-p-102.html
The 2.0 can only support 500# a shock (good for the rear ends) while the 2.5 inch body can hold up to 1000#. The 2.0 are available in a nice amount of travel lenghts starting out at 4.0 inches and goes up from there. The 2.5s are only built in long travel app's (12 inches and up) but a call to Fox could probably get a shorted pair. The capacity of them would be great for a front end where they meet with with a control arm. The spring rate ramps way up at the end of shock travel to create a bump stop.
Granted the nitrogen can heat up and expand causing a lift in ride height and change in spring rates. They are not designed to be used for road cars but Im still curious if its a worth while application. Maybe a remote reservoir could help with the heating issue? I have not done any other digging into this sort of thing, Im just throwin it out there for discussion. I know there will be the die hard spring guys out there, but take a look at modern air ride suspensions as they beat coil overs around the track.
http://www.foxracingshox.com/offroad/shocks/bumpstop/20_AIR_SHOCK
http://www.foxracingshox.com/offroad/shocks/bumpstop/25_AIR_SHOCK
http://polyperformance.com/shop/Fox-2.5-Air-Shocks-p-182.html
http://polyperformance.com/shop/Fox-2.0-Air-Shock-p-102.html