OEM and Aftermarket Shocks/Suspension - Info

[GATORB8]

Spoke with Accutune and they haven't done any HDZR2s yet.

Anyone running Fox's or Kings? Any , feedback or fitment issues and what length are you using?

Any chance anyone has put a tape measure to the suspension/shock dimensions yet? I pulled the front multimatic lengths from a conversion thread on another forum. Don't have my truck to do it yet.

I geek out on shocks/suspension, started a shock analysis/travel calculator similiar to what we use on the Jeep forum:

 

[securityguy]

Spoke with Accutune and they haven't done any HDZR2s yet.

Anyone running Fox's or Kings? Any , feedback or fitment issues and what length are you using?

Any chance anyone has put a tape measure to the suspension/shock dimensions yet? I pulled the front multimatic lengths from a conversion thread on another forum. Don't have my truck to do it yet.

I geek out on shocks/suspension, started a shock analysis/travel calculator similiar to what we use on the Jeep forum:

View attachment 16816

You looking to take off your DSSV shocks and replace them?

 

[Busa Dave]

One of the main reasons to buy this truck is the spool shocks! Nothing else like them out there.

 

[GATORB8]

You looking to take off your DSSV shocks and replace them?

Yes, potentially. If that's a decision I'm going to eventually make, I figure new take offs will be pretty valuable for resale.

At a minimum, I want to identify if the front Cognito spacers (or similiar) are beneficial and work with actual suspension travel.

High end aftermarket shocks will offer the ability to be on vehicle adjusted, application specific tuned, and rebuilt. Including tuning for potential bar/spring swaps.

Realistically, I'm still up in the air, but I geek out on this stuff so if there's improvement to be had, I'll try to identify it.

 

[GATORB8]

One of the main reasons to buy this truck is the spool shocks! Nothing else like them out there.

Trust, but verify .

 

[Busa Dave]

I already have.

 

[GATORB8]

I already have.

Are you running the shock spacers? The reported 3.75" front shock travel (significantly the least of the 24 shocks in the list) and Cognito's note on the spacers that there is only 2" of front downtravel on the ZR2 (sounds crazy) are what peaked my interest the most. Plus the plastic wrap and shock boots, lol.

 

[Busa Dave]

No, I use my truck to work in it is not a toy. Reliability and performance is what I look for and only keep them for a couple of years after about 100k trade them. Quite a bit of highway driving and when I get off the pavement driving on very ugly abused oil field roads to the ranch southeast of Carlsbad NM.

Been through a whole lot of modified some highly trucks and jeeps but now especially with the crackdown on diesel modifications keep modifications to things like bumpers, lights, tires, PPF, toolboxes, cell boosters. Building a mall crawler or a rock crawler with a 3/4 ton is not in the cards for me any longer.

That said this specific truck only has 2 others that were smoother at speed the modified Gen 1 Raptor running Kings (replaced 2 leaf rear springs with 5 leaf Deavers the first they built) and the TRX (factory) both half tons that were really just toys. The slow speed off road performance of these spool shocks beat any Rancho, Kings, Fox or Bilstein I have ever used.

I think that about covers it. Getting into the suspension now except to add a stabilizer or replacement of conventional factory shocks is about all. Trucks are just a tool to me and make no mistake I love to mod and tinker but now drive way too many miles and trade too often to make it a money pit like I used to.

Not to mention dumping 10 to 15k in audio equipment in! My wife still does not know how much I spent on that stuff!

 

[GATORB8]

No, I use my truck to work in it is not a toy. Reliability and performance is what I look for and only keep them for a couple of years after about 100k trade them. Quite a bit of highway driving and when I get off the pavement driving on very ugly abused oil field roads to the ranch southeast of Carlsbad NM.

Been through a whole lot of modified some highly trucks and jeeps but now especially with the crackdown on diesel modifications keep modifications to things like bumpers, lights, tires, PPF, toolboxes, cell boosters. Building a mall crawler or a rock crawler with a 3/4 ton is not in the cards for me any longer.

That said this specific truck only has 2 others that were smoother at speed the modified Gen 1 Raptor running Kings (replaced 2 leaf rear springs with 5 leaf Deavers the first they built) and the TRX (factory) both half tons that were really just toys. The slow speed off road performance of these spool shocks beat any Rancho, Kings, Fox or Bilstein I have ever used.

I think that about covers it. Getting into the suspension now except to add a stabilizer or replacement of conventional factory shocks is about all. Trucks are just a tool to me and make no mistake I love to mod and tinker but now drive way too many miles and trade too often to make it a money pit like I used to.

Not to mention dumping 10 to 15k in audio equipment in! My wife still does not know how much I spent on that stuff!

Yeah I hear you. I was able to keep my last Ram relatively mild with my itch going toward the Jeep. Now that I've pretty much exhausted the options on the Jeep until I go tons, I'm drooling a bit over this one.

 

[Busa Dave]

Yeah I hear you. I was able to keep my last Ram relatively mild with my itch going toward the Jeep. Now that I've pretty much exhausted the options on the Jeep until I go tons, I'm drooling a bit over this one.

Oh, hell yes, the Jeeps are a REAL MONEY PIT!

 

[The_Q]

Oh, hell yes, the Jeeps are a REAL MONEY PIT!

Just Empty Every Pocket! I know from experience

 

[AXE]

One of the main reasons to buy this truck is the spool shocks! Nothing else like them out there.

Not true, if you spend the money on King, Fox, Bilstein, Elka with reservoirs and compression and rebound damping you will have an incredible ride.

 

[GATORB8]

So I finally got around to taking some rough measurements up front, plugged those and extrapolated theoretical travel numbers (I haven't ramped it).

Some front suspension observations:
1. If the stock bump stop fully compresses, it does not appear to be the actual bump stop, rather the shock is.
2. At stock height, shock limited up and down travel are fairly balanced.
3. Total stock travel is approximately 6.88"
4. Barring tire and suspension component interference, it does look like additional uptravel could be accomplished with a shock with a shorter compressed limit.
5. Although my stock droop calculation does not match Cognito's claimed 2", as balanced up and down travel is preferable (as long as you have enough up travel) it definitely makes sense that if you crank your T-Bars to increase front height by 1"+, you'll likely see a better ride by using shock spacers designed for approximately that much movement.

 

[AXE]

So I finally got around to taking some rough measurements up front, plugged those and extrapolated theoretical travel numbers (I haven't ramped it).

Some front suspension observations:
1. If the stock bump stop fully compresses, it does not appear to be the actual bump stop, rather the shock is.
2. At stock height, shock limited up and down travel are fairly balanced.
3. Total stock travel is approximately 6.88"
4. Barring tire and suspension component interference, it does look like additional uptravel could be accomplished with a shock with a shorter compressed limit.
5. Although my stock droop calculation does not match Cognito's claimed 2", as balanced up and down travel is preferable (as long as you have enough up travel) it definitely makes sense that if you crank your T-Bars to increase front height by 1"+, you'll likely see a better ride by using shock spacers designed for approximately that much movement.

View attachment 19558

Who makes them, I might give them a try?

I can tell you from a real world experience that the front end suspension performs really well leveled and getting worked hard. I was towing about 11k trailer near Colorado Springs and crested a hill with a slight curve at night and immediately hit some construction where the road was torn up and the bridge ahead was under construction. Very poorly marked and I came into that shit 65 mph and immediately hit an abrupt dip. I am pretty sure my front end came off the ground and I got three huge residual bounces as the truck and trailer (20k+ gross) came through that dip. I thought for sure I was gonna pile that MFer right up. I honestly have no idea how I didn't end up off a cliff or into the jersey barrier, but that suspension ate that shit right up and never missed a beat as it tracked right through that curve, between that narrow barrier and cones. Glad I had airbags too. Not every truck would be capable of that without this kind of suspension.

 

[GATORB8]

Who makes them, I might give them a try?

I can tell you from a real world experience that the front end suspension performs really well leveled and getting worked hard. I was towing about 11k trailer near Colorado Springs and crested a hill with a slight curve at night and immediately hit some construction where the road was torn up and the bridge ahead was under construction. Very poorly marked and I came into that shit 65 mph and immediately hit an abrupt dip. I am pretty sure my front end came off the ground and I got three huge residual bounces as the truck and trailer (20k+ gross) came through that dip. I thought for sure I was gonna pile that MFer right up. I honestly have no idea how I didn't end up off a cliff or into the jersey barrier, but that suspension ate that shit right up and never missed a beat as it tracked right through that curve, between that narrow barrier and cones. Glad I had airbags too. Not every truck would be capable of that without this kind of suspension.

There’s probably a couple others, but here’s cognito. Be worth throwing a tape measure on the shocks to see where you are at with the heavier diesel. I measured 17” center of eye to center of eye at ride height. From the lengths I got from the post on the other forum, that’s pretty close to the sweet spot. I’m guessing the spacer is between 0.5 and .75” from their claimed addition of a little over an inch of droop, so if you’re sitting at 17.5” or more it’s probably worth trying.

Cognito Front Shock Extender for '24 GMC 2500HD AT4X / '24 Chevy 2500HD ZR2

Details: Billet Aluminum Anaodized blue to match the DSSV shocks Precise thickness to maximize droop travel 1-hour DIY install time

cognitomotorsports.com