shock valving

[jermedic]

So I am trying to get my front shocks dialed in. I am running the camburg lt kit on my 01 standard cab prerunner. Right now I have the 8 inch saw's with off the shelf valving, and it seems to be way too stiff. Anyone have an idea of a good starting point for revalving. What are you guys running?

[Tweeter]

.10 comp .10 rebound is a great starting point actually. I have no idea what "off the shelf" valving is for the SAW's but it will be STIFF on road and plush offroad if valved correctly...if it's too stiff offroad you might want to try .8 comp .12 rebound :2cents: What spring rate do you have? What engine size? 4WD or 2WD? I'm asking for a reason.

[jermedic]

I have the 4cyl 2.7 and 2wd. I am running 500lbs springs. I haven't taken the shocks apart so see what is in there now, but it deffenatly needs changing. It is stiff as hell on the street and it is pretty stiff even for the dirt.

[motoxscott]

Their are a few things you can try. If you have the shocks we have Sway-Away build specific for that kit for us, the valving is setup more for offroad than street use. Plus since you have the 2.7L you're on the lighter side up front.

Here are a few things you can try ....

1) Drop the nitrogen pressure down to 150psi. This well help on the street and give it a plusher ride, plus this is something you can do that you dont have to take the shock apart. Charge the shock with them fully extended.

2) See how many bleed screws are in the piston, you should have two. Remove one, that will also help out on the street and low shock speed bumps. You'll have to take apart the shock to do this.

3) Change your compression valve stack to 0.012 or 0.010 to soften it up everywhere.

Also look at your ride height, if you have it set up too tall because you have a lot of preload on the springs try lowering it, that will also help.

Are you running air bumps? I see a lot of people running them that arent shortened 1.5" so you're riding around on them way too much. Look at that also.

- Scott @ Camburg Engineering

[jermedic]

Scott, thanks for the info, sounds like a good starting point. I actually bought the shocks from your shop in early december. you were selling them on the DR sight. The boxes said "ranger race truck" if that means anything to you as far as if you might know something about the valving. I do have air bumps, but they are not on right now because they ar 4 inch, so I am not putting them back on until I have a chance to take them apart and shorten them.

[cabbage]

Since there's already a thread for valving I'll just put my question here..

Im going to get my rear bypasses revalved tomorrow, I bought them used but no one knows what they use to be on... (I think they were on a F150)

I dont have a bed, only 2 spare tires, a shock hoop and 2 fiberglass bedsides. I understand that its gonna take some trial and error to find the right setup but I would like to know where would be a good place to start.

Here is what the rear end looks like right now:
http://www.miltonyin.com/Pictures/Yotatech/070326tacorear.jpg


Thanks! :D

[Tweeter]

I have the same thing going on now. I'm going to start mine off at .12 comp and .08 rebound and go from there. You have bypasses though so it makes it a bit easier. I'll let you guys know once I get all my shit together.

[BLOWNYOTA]

Have you tested them yet or do you want to revalve them before testing them?

The tubes should give you enough adjustability to set them up for your truck no matter what they came off of...or atleast close. Then once you have a borderline test done. You can valve your piston based off of the settings on the tubes. I.E. if your tubes are almost all closed you will need to valve the piston stiffer. If the tubes are all the way open, you will need to valve the piston lighter. The idea would be to valve the truck so that the tubes are all about halfway open. That way you have the most adustability if you were to go to a rougher, or smoother location and you could tune for that specific location and terrain.

The bleed screws will dictate a certain amount of fluid flow and one may need to be removed if they came off of a heavier truck.

The internal valving will controll your high/low speed compression and the tubes will change the compression/rebound at different points in the stroke.

[cabbage]

Thanks for the replies guys, great info!

We just finished putting the truck back together and went to pismo on Saturday night, we did open the first compression tube all the way but it still felt extreamly stiff...

My front drivers side coilover is blown and the passenger side is almost out too... So Im gonna get the front shocks rebuilt and the bypasses revalved.

Blownyota: Dont quite understand the bleed screw part, can you explain more? Thanks! :)

[BLOWNYOTA]

Your shock uses multiple circuits to controll the amount of fluid that can flow durring on stroke of the shock. Piston valving, bleed screws, and bypass tubes, all flow oil and effect your vehicles handling.

This is a picture of the shock piston without shims:
http://www.off-road.com/toyota/projects/tacoma/shock_valving/600px/14compression_side_piston.jpg

Because you have Fox shocks your piston will look drasticly different than the one above.

If you look closely at your piston there are 3 "bleed holes" (I think) that are around your shims...they are the smallest holes on your piston. There are three smaller threaded bleed-screw holes located on the topside/rebound side of the piston. When a bleed screw is removed, the piston can pass fluid freely both ways (compression & rebound) through that orifice in turn making your "valving" softer.

[BLOWNYOTA]

I forgot to mention that when you go testing and tuning, the tube that you adjust will only effect the dampning characteristic of that section of shock. for instance if you adjust the shortest compression tube all the way out, your shock will blow through the first portion of your travel and then become super stiff (or harsh) once the piston passes the start of that tube. If you want the entire stroke to be stiffer you must turn out all compression tubes the same ammount. It is also important to pay attention to where your shock piston is at ride hieght and what tube effects what obsticles.

I could go on forever about theory, but everyone has different ideas on how a truck should be valved. I live close to you and if you need some help I could try and meet you down at the beach sometime with the video camera...that really helps.

[usaf_taco]

i was looking at F.O.A. shocks and the only have light,medium,and stiff settings for compression and rebound. i am looking into some 14" shocks so what should i request for the compression and rebound? thanks

[BLOWNYOTA]

what is FOA?

[jermedic]

what is FOA?
First Over All. There is a big thread about them over on Dezertrangers. New upstart company out of Vegas. They seem kind of cheeply made to me, but they might work good, I don't know. There website is http://www.f-o-a.com/