Limit straps on air shocks?

taylormade · Mar 30, 2014

How important is it to have limit straps on air shocks, or is it even necessary?

TJRHD · Mar 30, 2014

had a buddy pop the shock apart up near the eyelet. the shock was the only limiting factor on droop and was holding the weight of the axle

yankster · Mar 31, 2014

I would run one in the middle at least. You'll find that they unload and extend when climbing up and down long hills.

taylormade · Mar 31, 2014

Yes, I have one in the middle.

TacomaJD · Mar 31, 2014

Never ran em on my rig and never had a problem, just center limit strap. Of course they are long enough travel and mounted to where I rarely extend them all the way out to really worry about it, though. If you are toting a tire often with air shocks, buy longer ones or just limit strap the ones you have. if you have room to remount them, changing the shock angle can help gain more wheel travel without having to buy longer shocks too.

taylormade · Apr 1, 2014

Thanks! The ones I have are 18' travel. They are long Mo Fo's! They have never made me tote a tire yet, but they do get close to the limit at different times. Was planning a trip to Harlan soon and from what i have seen, you need plenty of wheel travel at Harlan. Thanks for all the input.

pachary · Apr 1, 2014

Limit straps are way cheaper than ruining even a one day wheeling trip. Unless you have something exotic, they are cheap insurance. Ask a guy on the side of a trail with broke **** if he wished he would spent that $25 a corner......

ibrokeit · Apr 1, 2014

I pulled a coil over apart from not having limit straps on my Tacoma. Bet I had them after that...

bbounds · Apr 1, 2014

Run one in the center you will be fine.

TacomaJD · Apr 1, 2014

When I bought my Toyota, it had 2.0 18's on the rear. Never had problems out of them in terms of maxing them out. I ended up switching to 16" 2.5's later on and have had no issues with them either. What I did learn was the way my shocks are mounted, they allow for more wheel travel than if they were mounted more straight up and down (they are semi close together at the top mounting points). When I went to remove the 18's in my shop getting ready to install the 16's, the suspension would not even travel far enough for the 18" shock to extend all the way out so I could remove the mounting bolts, it would start picking up the axle on the side I was jacking up. This was due to the center limit strap. Had to remove the center limit strap then I could get everything to stretch out far enough. This is a good thing, I'm guessing that's what helps my shocks not max out really hard when I'm wheeling. My rig is currently under the knife getting the front 4 linked, but it used to be leaf sprung front. The leaf springs did not allow for very much up or down travel the way they were set up, so I was always flexing the rear like crazy when crawling tough obstacles. So the center limit strap has been holding it back from ripping the shocks apart, I suppose. At static ride height, it only had about 1-2" of slack in it.

taylormade · Apr 1, 2014

They are definatley worth the money, the only problem is when they are at ride height, aren't they alot of slack in them? And what do you do with all that slack?

ibrokeit · Apr 1, 2014

taylormade said:
They are definatley worth the money, the only problem is when they are at ride height, aren't they alot of slack in them? And what do you do with all that slack?

I had a small bungie that pulled them out of the way when slack, but would stretch so they could tighten when flexed.

taylormade · Apr 1, 2014

Continued fromt he previous post. Assuming you put the limit straps out where the shocks are.

TacomaJD · Apr 1, 2014

Re: Re: Re: Limit straps on air shocks?

taylormade said:
Continued fromt he previous post. Assuming you put the limit straps out where the shocks are.

Do you already have a center limit strap on it? (If you've already answered that, I missed it).

If not, that would be the first thing I'd do.

GONOVRIT · Apr 1, 2014

Zip tie the strap to the body of the air shock a few times leaving all the slack at the bottom. Be sure to mount them on the forward side of the shock as this can help deflect debris from the shaft. Wide open design sells the most durable ones I've seen, twisted stich.

John Galbreath Jr. · Apr 1, 2014

I feel you should limit each corner. That is the way Adam did on both the 38 Special and the Solo Buggy. It is not a good idea to allow the shock/air shock/coilover be the limit. I have run center limits, but now that I have run the ones on each corner, I think that is preferred. A center limit can still allow the shock to fully extend.

TacomaJD · Apr 1, 2014

JohnG said:
A center limit can still allow the shock to fully extend.

In most cases, yes. But it depends on how your links are set up and travel (both shock travel and wheel travel). Mine will not fully extend unless the center limit strap is removed, the axle will just hang there with some travel still left in the shock. It would actually be best to run both a center limit strap AND limit straps at each corner, as they serve two completely different purposes. Especially with air shocks due to them unloading so easily (going off hills, ass end raises up / and vice versus for going up hill.)