King/Fox Shocks - 68' Bus

LivinInnaVWBus · Samba Member Joined: October 07, 2013 Posts: 968

Hey guys!
In a different post, Brian mentioned using King or Fox shocks in place of the front torsion leaves. After quite a few miles and some rough roads to camping spots last year, I'm certain I've been riding on a broken leaf for some time. I've got a donor beam with good parts but I've been putting off changing them out until I replace my ball joints, well, time has come and the Fox/King shocks are looking like a nice alternative.
My driving is largely on the road and at this time, about 5% off road however I do stay off the highways as much as possible so I'm stuck dealing with poorly maintained roads on a daily basis. In the next year or two, I'll be traveling down to Central America where the roads will likely be nearly non-existent or horrible at best so I'm looking for recommendations. I know nothing about these shocks and there seems to be many options. So much as I can tell, none of them are said to be made as a direct fit for a VW bus.
I follow a syncro blog which they had one of their Fox shocks fail so I was also curious as to if it's possible(or wise) to leave the spring pack in there as a supplement or back up for the Fox shocks.

Brian · Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2015 10:39 am Post subject:

They can fail, they also work well when you tune them. Trophy trucks run them for 1000 miles straight off road. Then again, their chassis and suspension was designed specifically for that.

I mean, if you are worried about them failing then yea keep the stock torsion bars. I probably would. And yea sure they're fancy shocks that if they fail you can't get replacements easily out in the middle of nowhere. But if they were setup correctly the first time, they shouldn't have a problem until wayyyyy down the road. I don't know too much about them, but here is a good resource thread.

I want to rock them, but have been going back and forth on ways to mount them properly. And obviously none of us will be racing and taking some extreme jumps.

Link

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raygreenwood · Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2015 10:40 am Post subject:

The front suspension is two parts...the spring (which is the torsion leaves) and the damper or shock.

Fox (and other brands) off road shocks are coilovers (depending on model)....and yes.....incorporate spring and damper.....so yes....you could use them in place of torsion leaves.

Thr trick is getting shocks in the right length (I believe Fox and others make them custom as well)......and the right valving (they also make them with adjustable valving)......and the right spring load (they make them with adjustable spring perches or with dual stage springs with multiple perches).......so its 100% feasible that you could get Fox or other brands of offroad shocks that would be adjustable enough to work well.

Long ago when I was looking for shocks and springs for the 412....I researched offroad coil overs including Fox and others. I could never find a set outside of custom to fit my application. ......and in the 90s they were very spendy.....roughly $250-300 per corner.

I have no idea what they cost now. If you dont find what you need with Fox.....there are other brands. Ray

Brian · Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2015 10:50 am Post subject:

yea most start at $300 a corner now. Limiting straps help too on not over stressing the shocks/suspension.
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Tcash · Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2015 12:04 pm Post subject:

You will want to beef up the mounting points.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Just picture this is the size of shocks and mounts you will need.
http://www.red9design.com/type2.htm

Good Luck
Tcash

Brian · Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2015 12:12 pm Post subject:

Gussets on the arms for certain, don't want them to bend or snap.
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Dynamite_Goat · Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2015 1:53 pm Post subject:

I run Fox coil overs on my Jeep. They are indestructible. However, that stock shock mount isn't going to last long carrying the full weight of the bus. They also should be mounted in a double-shear configuration.

thebusandus · Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2015 2:02 pm Post subject:

I'm interested to see what comes out of this. Once we hit Guatemala the front springs seem to have partially failed. A lot of noise up there, and the Koni's only have 15,000 miles on them.
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Brian · Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2015 2:21 pm Post subject:

Really it's just about welding some extra junk onto the beam. Making sure that the beam doesn't collapse nor the bottom mount shearing off.

I wonder what would be a good deign for a lower mount?

Here's a setup on a rail that I think could be closely done on a bay beam. Would be tight though.

We should throw rear shocks into this mix soon too Wink

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Dynamite_Goat · Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2015 3:34 pm Post subject:

Brian · Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2015 4:07 pm Post subject:

I just checked and in reality I think you could only fit in some 2.0 shocks. I honestly think that as long as you don't hit it severe extremely often, stock mounts will hold up.
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Brian · Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2015 9:24 pm Post subject:

Check out picture #2

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airschooled · Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2015 10:37 pm Post subject:

Installing coil-overs or even charged shocks of any kind on a stock VW bus frame is a waste of time unless you double-shear the mounts properly. I took my PO's charged shocks off, but it wasn't long before the captured nut in the rear broke loose.

Does anybody have that video of the lifted truck going off a small jump and completely destroying the frame because the modifications to the frame members were not double-sheared?

Robbie
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