Long travel shocks

[tculpepper]

I'm starting on my long travel build. I have three options for coil over shocks right now. 350 rancher, 250ex, and some moped shocks. All are coil over. The moped shocks have the most travel, the rancher are the stiffest and, I believe the 250ex will be the smoothest. Which of the three would you use? Or, where can I find coil over shocks? What brand and model work best? I want lots of travel, yet a smooth ride?

[UncleJerm76]

Originally Posted by tculpepper

I'm starting on my long travel build. I have three options for coil over shocks right now. 350 rancher, 250ex, and some moped shocks. All are coil over. The moped shocks have the most travel, the rancher are the stiffest and, I believe the 250ex will be the smoothest. Which of the three would you use? Or, where can I find coil over shocks? What brand and model work best? I want lots of travel, yet a smooth ride?

I've been down this road during my long travel build. Even though I have a CC, I think I might be able to help some.

250ex shocks
I believe the CC is a little bit lighter than an EZGO? ...and yet the 250ex shocks I first tried still would not hold the front end up. Spring rate was just too low. I would stay away from that one.

Moped shocks
What exact model moped are they off of? Like the 250ex, I'm thinking the moped shocks also won’t have enough spring rate... will need specs on the coilover or the weight of the moped to compare to the weight of your cart.

350 Rancher shocks
I have no experience with this particular shock, although if you have to choose between only these three, then this seems like the best of the rest.

What I ended up using
After the 250ex didn’t work out I did a lot more research and test fitting different things. What I ended up using were the front shocks off a Bombardier DS650. They offered very long travel & adjustable spring preload - meaning after I dialed in the shock placement, I could raise and lower the front to get it sitting exactly where I want it …on a daily basis if I wanted too (and I have). I think I got both of them for around $100 on eBay. ...if you care to read it, a lot more details are in my build thread.

You can always play with the placement of the upper & lower shock mounts to get the most from (or reduce) the spring rate & travel you have available. Straight up/down and as far out on the A-Arms as you can get them is going to produce the highest spring rate at the least travel. Leaning the top of the shocks inward will reduce the spring rate, but increase travel. For that reason it’s better to get a stiffer shock than you need and lean them in until you fine tune it to your liking.

I was also after a Cadillac ride, and I got it. It’s like riding on a cloud …until the rear tires hits the same bump :P …I’ve got to ditch those leafs and get busy on the rear long travel. Good luck, hopefully you make a build thread so we can follow!

[smokindawg]

I don't think any of the shocks your looking at will do what you want. I actually used 400ex shocks on the front of my G1 when I did my lift kit. While the cart rides well going forward and straight it has a lot of bump steer which is partially caused by the spring rate being too light. The tires also toe in terribly when I'm backing the cart.

I've been looking for something heavier myself. I've got the front end from an ATV now to adapt to the cart and will be looking for heavier shocks myself. I may have to take a look at the Bombardier shocks.

[tculpepper]

Thanks for the help! I'm not sure what model the moped is. The shocks from it are adjustable so, that might help a little. I'm going to get everything built and then play with what shocks work best. I feel like there's going to be a lot of trial and error and cutting and welding. I will be doing a thread on the build. I've done a lot to the cart and haven't kept up with it. When I get this done, I'm going to completely disassemble the cart, clean and paint everything, and do a thread as I put it back together.


UncleJerm, I'm definitely going to check your build out!

[smokindawg]

I don't think the moped shocks will even be as good as the others. A lot less weight rating on it than those.

When I built my lift I knew nothing of where I would need to mount my shocks height wise. To remedy this I made adjustable top mounts for the shocks so I had a few inches of adjustment up and down. Worked out well and was easy to adjust them. Still adjustable as I just put a bolt thru each side once I got the Single A-arm suspension set correctly.

[UncleJerm76]

Originally Posted by smokindawg

...While the cart rides well going forward and straight it has a lot of bump steer which is partially caused by the spring rate being too light. The tires also toe in terribly when I'm backing the cart.

smokindawg, I guarantee your bumpsteer & toe-in during reverse isn't related to the springs in any way. They might be too soft for your liking, but spring rate wont cause bumpsteer or toe-in. Whats going on is your steering arms are a different length than your a-arms. They must be the exact same length or you will incur bump steer. If they are longer or shorter then as the suspension travels it will force the wheel outward or inward through the cycle aka bump steer. When you travel in reverse this naturally pushes down on the front suspension (even more so on a soft one) doing the same thing except equally on both tires. You will actually be able to reproduce this by just standing on your front bumper. Not a hard fix and I would be happy to help you with it - PM me.

tculpepper, I don't know how much of your long travel you are making yourself, but be sure to study up on how ackerman works. You need good ackerman geometry in order to turn a tight corner without dragging one of the wheels. This is also not hard to get right, just takes a little planning. One more thing, if you are using a quad donor I recommend mounting it in a way that bring the caster back to what the golf cart has stock. Quad caster tends to be way too much on a cart and can lead to stability issues at speed or contribute to making it very difficult to turn while sitting still or going in reverse. I've covered all these topics at some point in my thread... just sayin

[tculpepper]

I'm going to be building the arms and framework. I'm using donor shocks and found a set of heim joints. I'm keeping the original spindles. Hopefully they'll have the correct alignment. If not, I'll chop em up and redo them!! I appreciate that tip. I found somewhere that said 4-5 degrees is what worked on a cart

[cfherrman]

Originally Posted by smokindawg

I don't think any of the shocks your looking at will do what you want. I actually used 400ex shocks on the front of my G1 when I did my lift kit. While the cart rides well going forward and straight it has a lot of bump steer which is partially caused by the spring rate being too light. The tires also toe in terribly when I'm backing the cart.

I've been looking for something heavier myself. I've got the front end from an ATV now to adapt to the cart and will be looking for heavier shocks myself. I may have to take a look at the Bombardier shocks.

Bump steer is due to angled steering arm on a lifter cart, i did a drag link on my g2 that reduces it considerably by locking both tires together

[tculpepper]

^^^ show us

[cfherrman]

The thing that gives me bump steer is the angle of the steering link is not even close to the a arm angle, i have a piece of square tube to install to act as a riser next and most to all bump steer will be gone