OG's method of 2Gen shock swap.

The issue I see with even a limit strap equipped 2nd gen to original generation swap is that internal bypass is inherently very position sensitive.

The way around this is to raise either the entire shock bucket, shorten the shaft or an extended hat.

I was not able to find an extended hat for our trucks.

I was able to find a set of these billet aluminum paperweights for around $30.



Yes, a leveling spacer but I call them paperweights because prior to this idea that's all they were good for.

All measurements and bench fits show this is good to go. I'll update with fit-up and measurements on the truck as I move forward. It's looking like the 1.5" paperweight is the one to go with if not 2" billet aluminum paperweights are also cheap.

Because of the motion ratio of the suspension, 1.5" closer to 1" thick but that is ok if you read on.

The first modification is to press out the mounting studs in the 2 gen hat.



The second modification is to press or cut out the rubber shock shaft bushing from your old OG shock hat. Make sure the shaft passes clear through the modified OG hat.

You only need one rubber firmly gripping your shaft or you'll get binding and possible bending of the shaft and we all know that hurts.



Bottom side up of the stack up.



Side boob... um view. It's close but clearing the ID and OD of the paperweight.

the game plan.

So this will sit on top of the upper spacer you see in the engine bay like it sits here on my sockets. The 1G hat will be underneath the bucket and it wil be transferring all the spring and bump stop force into the bucket just as it always has.

This rig just moves the shock shaft up to limit droop and by moving the shaft up which also moves the internal bypass of the shock.

Mount the OG hat in the truck without the shock exactly per the original configuration with the tapered rings correctly aligned on their correct side of the shock bucket.

Mount the 1.5" actual 1" thick paperweight ON TOP of the upper OEM tapered shock mount spacer ring.

Between the upper tapered ring and the thickness of the bucket, it looks good to be close to 1.5" higher placement of the shock shaft.

Next, mount the 2 gen hat to the studs on the paperweight. Assemble the shock, spring, and bump stop on the truck.

For testing will probably install the shock without the spring and bump stop and without the 2 g hat bolted to the paperweight while on the stands and cycle the suspension up and down.

I will be able to see if the shock body limits up travel and if the spacer limits down travel that way.

Then I'll figure out my bump stop cut down strategy.

With most big $ upgrade shocks back-ordered this just ought to be just fine and perhaps even thrash proof until you upgrade.

More to follow.

Seems legit. Spring installation could get sketchy. Got Live Valve disabled? Interested in seeing how it progresses!

No need to disable live valve.

The shocks just default to stiff and a 1G has no electronics.

There is a live valve delete... It just swaps out the stub for a N2 schrader. Not needed.

With the springs just disconnect everything CVs etc...and the LCA will droop low enough to get it in.

I had seen a post or two about the live valve delete but haven’t seen exactly how the system works, I understand the concept though and would think the stiff mode would be worth deleting.

Right, spring removal not so bad, install maybe not either as you could use the weight of the truck...then just a matter of aligning the shock shaft into the hat...

I’m also interested in how brutal the ride is gonna be with the Live Valve defaulted to full stiffness.

KTag98 said:

I’m also interested in how brutal the ride is gonna be with the Live Valve defaulted to full stiffness.

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There are a whole ton of people who have done it WITHOUT doing the KHC buckets and this means not moving the shock rod up which puts the position-sensitive shock's internal bypass 1.5" off of where it should be. Nobody says it's valved too harsh.

Stock is Starbucks/mall crawler bullsh*t so live valve at full hard is probably softer valving than bolt on king or fox 3.0's.

Stock is Starbucks/mall crawler ********? lol you must love having your ******** jammed up hard into your ass. Unless you use this thing 80% or more for serious off-roading like race conditions with jumps, that's a bit much Enjoyed the laugh though

This seems like a lot of work just to put the wrong shocks on the truck.

codeman said:

Stock is Starbucks/mall crawler ********? lol you must love having your ******** jammed up hard into your ass. Unless you use this thing 80% or more for serious off-roading like race conditions with jumps, that's a bit much Enjoyed the laugh though

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I served in both Iraq and Afghanistan and spent over a decade working on and inspecting aircraft and a **** ton I won't ever talk about.

A friend of mine with a 2g took the solenoid coils off because that's what they are off his 2 gen live valve truck just too see what it was like. Back off the plastic knob, zip tie them out of the way, and see what happens. It wasn't soft but it wasn't repulsive. Yes he put them back on after. Its a coil that slips over a valve making an electromagnetic controlled valve. ALL actual sensors are on the truck side.

As for stiffness, I would say not quite as stiff as Bill Clinton at an Ariana Grande concert but nowhere near as stiff as when he was on Epstein's **** Island.

Nobody in the truck had their ******** jammed hard up their ass. If that is what you like to do for fun then who am I to judge.

Personally, I'm more a fan of the sequel but if you like the first one it's cool this is America, I've served and I have got some cool gay friends so I literally support your freedom.





$500 for a set of 4 take-offs, you already have two hats, $28 for the spacers, stick a hole saw you have already in a drill press and cut out the donut hole bigger in the 1 G hat, Then bolt it all on and not need limit straps. It's better than rebuilding the shocks that puked oil all over when you hit some whoops.

Then when the shocks you actually want aren't back-ordered due to pandemic arrive take it off and sell it on eBay.

I had an SVC rack and king 3.5" five tubes but halted my install when a welder I know who has welded sh*t currently in space, as well as race trucks, showed me a cantilever truck and a mezzie arm truck he built...

We'll be kicking it with beer and I'll be welding and fabbing mine up his way and getting even better with my new multi-process Mig, DC and AC TIG multi-process welder.

It's all a f*ck ton easier than trying to put a strapped together stack of pallets under the side of a landing helicopter that ripped a strut off flying SF troops in Afghanistan, then having an airframe team fix the structure followed by mechanics bolt on a new strut.

PS. Shock shops ARE going to rebuild these into a bolt-on 1G form. It's easier than dealing with corroded 2.5" shock bodies all the time and marketable because not everyone goes hard enough to spend $3000 + on just the front 3.0's..

They will machine on more perch grooves, use an extended hat or shorter shaft, and a shorter rubber bump stop. You can adjust the length and durometer to get the later part right with existing aftermarket and other application parts to choose from.

There are two forms of live valve delete. The 2nd gen form is making the electronics happy on a 2 gen truck that no longer has live valve shocks. The other form is removing the valve from live valve shock.

BlueOvalF22 said:

I had an SVC rack

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Dibs. Still got it?