Droop..How and why.

[mudman1]

This crawling thing is still new to me and I don't quite understand the droop suspension. Do you just remove the springs and let it sag? Don't you loose ground clearance? Maybe one of the resident experts could explain the pros and cons.
Thanks.

[jfraymond]

Your best bet if your wanting to try a droop suspension is to use the search button up top...go advanced and search "droop" by title only. there is a ton of information on this topic.

That said...Yes, you remove the springs and run with the shock collapsed. You want to use MUCH heavier oil in the shock body to dampen it.

Ground clearance is set according to where you mount the shock. The general Idea is for the rig to sit real low for better sidehill and verticle climbing stability (ie. keeping your center of gravity low). And yes...that is why they are referred to as "belly draggers". When articulating or moving over a ledge the axle will then drop out to maintain contact with the ground and pull the rig forward.

Droop is a proven setup and many people really like this style of rig. the disadvantages to droop is it is alot more difficult to tune. you will have to play around with shock oil weights to get the correct dampening and alot of people also put a small spring inside the shock under the shock piston to help keep the shock shut when the vehichle is on steep verticles or severe offcambers. (this undesired extending of the shock is called "unloading" and will cause your rig to flip over)

Hope that helps.

[EeePee]

If you don't run the internal spring, you're not doing it correctly.

[ultimate_monkey]

Originally Posted by EeePee

If you don't run the internal spring, you're not doing it correctly.

pfft unloading is where its at.


that being said i run droop, jfraymond was correct in saying its "harder" to tune (i wouldnt say harder just more time consuming) some chassis are better suited to run droop then others, if you have very limeted shock mount locations your ride hight may end up being incredibly low and u will get hung up on almost every thing. so there is a fine balance between low COG and being usless.

now for the how. one day i will write this up properly with pictures..

1) remove the shocks from the rig
2)remove the spring and lower spring cup
3) remove the cap and drain the oil
4) remove the lower ball and and remove the piston from the body
5) (this is where the turning comes in so im just gonna say what works for me) remove the internal rubber bump stop from the shaft
6) slide 2 clicky pen springs over the shaft and reinstall in the body and reinstall the ball end
7) refill with oil Wt of choice ( i use 70wt) and bleed the shock by slowly pulling the shock shaft out and allowing it to come back in slowly, you will see the ait bubbles rise up and oil level drop, fill and repeat untill shock is full. note- its easier to pull the shock to full extention and hold it there while you fill

8 ) put some teflon tape around the threads and reinstall cap, then put it back on the rig.



on say the stock axial chassis you will need to put about 1/4" of fuel tubeing on the shaft out side the shock to have a remotly decent ride hight. how ever other cassis have enough mounting options that this may not be required

no u get the fun part of driveing and tunein , useing differnt spring rates and oil weights

[Nate08]

Originally Posted by ultimate_monkey

pfft unloading is where its at.


that being said i run droop, jfraymond was correct in saying its "harder" to tune (i wouldnt say harder just more time consuming) some chassis are better suited to run droop then others, if you have very limeted shock mount locations your ride hight may end up being incredibly low and u will get hung up on almost every thing. so there is a fine balance between low COG and being usless.

now for the how. one day i will write this up properly with pictures..

1) remove the shocks from the rig
2)remove the spring and lower spring cup
3) remove the cap and drain the oil
4) remove the lower ball and and remove the piston from the body
5) (this is where the turning comes in so im just gonna say what works for me) remove the internal rubber bump stop from the shaft
6) slide 2 clicky pen springs over the shaft and reinstall in the body and reinstall the ball end
7) refill with oil Wt of choice ( i use 70wt) and bleed the shock by slowly pulling the shock shaft out and allowing it to come back in slowly, you will see the ait bubbles rise up and oil level drop, fill and repeat untill shock is full. note- its easier to pull the shock to full extention and hold it there while you fill

8 ) put some teflon tape around the threads and reinstall cap, then put it back on the rig.



on say the stock axial chassis you will need to put about 1/4" of fuel tubeing on the shaft out side the shock to have a remotly decent ride hight. how ever other cassis have enough mounting options that this may not be required

no u get the fun part of driveing and tunein , useing differnt spring rates and oil weights

Excellent way to get a starting point for setting up droop

Before you start...head over to your local hardware store, and pick up an assorted pack of springs 100 or so springs for around $5 some will be useless but you'll be glad to have the options when you start tuneing.

Next, throw away all the shock oil you have lighter than 70wt (I prefer 100 wt, but some like heavier some like lighter).

Now put your shocks together as posted above and go drive the thing.

Be sure to post pics and your experience with setting it up, others will thank you and you can get some great free help if you get stuck.

[Calichingon00]

just did the droop setup but kept the 30 wt oil in there and yes it unloads bad! with 80 wt oil i find it manageable

[Offroader5]

Originally Posted by Calichingon00

just did the droop setup but kept the 30 wt oil in there and yes it unloads bad! with 80 wt oil i find it manageable

I ran mine without internal springs for a while...then found that the oil had to be so thick to counteract the unloading that it didn't let the suspension react like I wanted it. Thick oil is not a replacement for springs. Oil should only do the dampening duties (how fast or slow you want the shock to react). The spring along with the weight of the truck and axle acts as the force that moves the axle & suspension. Oil cannot create force (unless it's under pressure...but we're not talking about hydraulics).

I ended up finding a nice sweet spot that used a thicker (but not overly thick) oil weight, and a spring that had a small amount of rate.

[mudman1]

Thanks for all the info guys, it's much clearer now. I've got an Edge chassis on the way so I think I'm going to p/u a second set of shocks and have a set of each to try.

[Nate08]

Originally Posted by mudman1

Thanks for all the info guys, it's much clearer now. I've got an Edge chassis on the way so I think I'm going to p/u a second set of shocks and have a set of each to try.

In my experience, droop is the best option to use with this chassis since it is such a heavy chassis.

[Neeley]

Sorry just a quick question.... should the shocks unload at all if you lift up the chassis with your hand? Or is unloading necessary but it needs to do it slowly?

I've no idea...

[Nate08]

When you lift the truck, yes the shocks should unload some, but not completely. The trick to setting up a droop system is to find the sweet spot where the unloading is controlled and intentional not instantaneous