Vintage iron
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Stalwart the pictures are great! What is the travel on these shocks?
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rear shocks on a 5 ton
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Stalwart
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21" compressed end to end (I didn't measure center to center), 32.5" extended SO 11.5" of travel. They are big, 3.25" in diameter.
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Problem with that thought is two compleatly different spring set ups front to rear on his unbobed truck.
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As a side note, leaf springs have damping qualities, the more leaves the more damping..one reason that you should never lubricate leaf springs.
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Image of the 757 with left rear wheel in the air. Not caused by the shock (did the same with shocks removed), but apparently from unloaded 5th wheel and the tight torque rods.
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Vintage iron
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I received my shocks in the mail recently. I want the thank 3Dangus for hooking me up with the shocks I needed. I think that they will work perfect. The shocks have 11 1/2 inches of travel. I believe they are for a HEMMT originally. I have some shock mounts off a Western Star semi for the top mount. I will need to fabricate the bottom mounts. I will post up pictures soon.
Stalwart
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Yup, HEMTT and MK48 shocks. Dell is a great guy!
dburt
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Vintage Iron, hurry and get those puppies mounted so you can give us a road test report to see if they really do help! This thread has me 'hanging on the edge of my seat' and I don't want to fall off while waiting for results!!
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So what was the results? Anybody know?
5tontiny
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ya what Happend I would like to know
Csm Davis
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Yes how did it turn out?
Vintage iron
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It was put on hold.
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It's been a little over a year now. Has anyone been able to make this happen?
Vintage iron
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I sold the M813 that I was doing this project on. I am now driving a M936 and they don't bounce 
Speedzilla
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I have an M816 and I have a lot of tandem axle movement over 50mph. Would like to be able to cruise a little faster, or at least ride decent downhill. I have tried two different sets of tires, both a very nice set of new 11R20 XZL's and another nice set of 14R20 AT2A's and both have the same results. Have tried various balancing methods and haven't had any luck with the tandem axle movement. Could be something in one of the drums maybe, I am not sure. The tandems just seem like they want to fight each other and have been heavily considering adding some shocks on the back. Anyone know any sources for some surplus shocks that might fit the bill?
I have tried two different sets of tires, both a very nice set of new 11R20 XZL's and another nice set of 14R20 AT2A's and both have the same results. Have tried various balancing methods and haven't had any luck with the tandem axle movement. Could be something in one of the drums maybe, I am not sure. The tandems just seem like they want to fight each other and have been heavily considering adding some shocks on the back. Anyone know any sources for some surplus shocks that might fit the bill?
Vintage iron
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I have about 8 sets of new shocks. Give me a call and I can help you out with mounting them. Matt 617-650-2108
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Thanks for the update. I ran across this thread looking for something else and a dampener system in the rear had crossed my mind before.
I had a little something different in mind. I was going to try to dampen the speed of oscillation of the tandems instead of the rebound of the springs. The measurements for travel this way are more cut and dried since travel is a set figure once max compression of the bump stops is accounted for. I'd mount a vertical support on top of the trunnion bearing held in place by the U-bolts. Then I'd make a mount on the frame rail and run a shock between them.
My idea here is not to limit the amount of oscillation but control the speed of it. Tandems bouncing around uncontrolled over bumps contributed to the rough ride just as much as spring rebound. It's a simple enough design to make, only requires 2 shocks and doesn't affect the articulation or function of the tandems.
An empty truck with a heavy suspension is always going to ride rough but excess movement in the suspension just magnifies the problem. Even going super slow over rough RR crossings and bridge approaches can get me bouncing for a good couple of seconds. This is on a M923A0 with 14.00x20 tires and 50 psi rear and 70 psi front. I don't want to lower tire pressure anymore or add needless weight to the bed because you start to affect other things.
When it gets warmer (read as after taxes come back
) I might try to tackle this.
I had a little something different in mind. I was going to try to dampen the speed of oscillation of the tandems instead of the rebound of the springs. The measurements for travel this way are more cut and dried since travel is a set figure once max compression of the bump stops is accounted for. I'd mount a vertical support on top of the trunnion bearing held in place by the U-bolts. Then I'd make a mount on the frame rail and run a shock between them.
My idea here is not to limit the amount of oscillation but control the speed of it. Tandems bouncing around uncontrolled over bumps contributed to the rough ride just as much as spring rebound. It's a simple enough design to make, only requires 2 shocks and doesn't affect the articulation or function of the tandems.
An empty truck with a heavy suspension is always going to ride rough but excess movement in the suspension just magnifies the problem. Even going super slow over rough RR crossings and bridge approaches can get me bouncing for a good couple of seconds. This is on a M923A0 with 14.00x20 tires and 50 psi rear and 70 psi front. I don't want to lower tire pressure anymore or add needless weight to the bed because you start to affect other things.
When it gets warmer (read as after taxes come back
) I might try to tackle this.
Vintage iron
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You only need to shocks, this is the way R model smacks did it. It won't be a costly projects to do. I think a lot of you bounce is coming from the sidewall deflection. You need to run higher pressure to get rid of sidewall bounce. I have all my customer run 70 PSI on rear and 90/100 on front G177s 1100s and 60 PSI rear with 90/100 PSI on 1400s. If you run harder tires they wear better and make the suspension do the work. I have do front stock mounts off a M923 for the frame side and I would recommend a piece of sold 1x2 bar stock for the axle side mount. This is the way Mack did it.
Csm Davis
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Vintage iron I agree with your pressures on the 177s but not the 14.00s the wheels on most of these are only rated at 80 psi.
Vintage iron
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Sorry about that. I meant to post 70/80 on Goodyear and Michelin 1400s. 90/100 on General NATO tread 1400s