Fox shocks

[Jay B]

Wondering if anyone here has tried the Fox shocks from Shock Therapy. Due to where I live, about 90% of my miles are on dirt and gravel roads, the rest mountain trail riding so I am looking mainly at ride and comfort and not all out performance. I hesitate a bit because I bought a set of Elka stage 2 shocks for my old xp1000 northstar and I really couldn't feel much difference.

 

[Clubin]

Wondering if anyone here has tried the Fox shocks from Shock Therapy. Due to where I live, about 90% of my miles are on dirt and gravel roads, the rest mountain trail riding so I am looking mainly at ride and comfort and not all out performance. I hesitate a bit because I bought a set of Elka stage 2 shocks for my old xp1000 northstar and I really couldn't feel much difference.

I came from a 20 northstar crew. Suspension is night and day difference. Rack some miles on the stock stock setup. I’ll bet you’ll be satisfied.
I am also looking at places to put money. But the suspension is actually very good imo.

 

[Jay B]

I've got about 3000 miles on my 1500 now. I have driven a couple xpeditions and imo the suspension is fantastic. (The ONLY thing it has over on the XD) I guess I am looking for the same level of comfort and compliance.

 

[oneal]

We ride only our property (so far) and it is all rock. Once this thing gives me confidence in the driveline, shocks and silent sway bar connectors are moving to the top of the list. I think some Kings or Ohlins would be a game changer for the choppy stuff

 

[Big Red]

I'm ok with the way the stock shocks perform, of course there is going to be better out there, the question is how much better and is it worth it? I watched a new video that "Dirt Dudes" put out recently where they praised the XD shocks for being really good for a stock set-up. He owns an Expedition and thought the XD was just as good in the "choppy" stuff.

 

[Mr.M]

Thumper fab is selling a fox set as well

 

[Andy]

So we used Thumper A arms but ended up building shocks with King. The Fox QS3 is a good product just didn't do what we were trying to achieve. Shock Therapy is owned by Fox Shocks and worked with Thumper Fab to design the QS3 to work with there long arm for the Ranger 1500. It works well, they also offer a one to one replacement for the stock shock if you don't want to replace a arms. if you're looking for an up grade from Stock thats the way to go. They will give you a better ride and off road ability over stock. The fox QS3 for the Ranger 1500 from Shock Therapy is a single rate, without bypass and have 3 compression settings. In most applications this will work OK. We wanted a dual Rate spring set up with Internal bypass. So we could dial in Valving, Compression and Rebound. We did all the math in our shop worked with King Shocks to build the shocks and used Eiback to dial in the springs rate. We went through 10 sets of springs for the dual rate to work properly and achieve correct ride hight without being to stiff. If any one wants to take there Ranger to this level we can share details on our build. Here's a few Pictures.

 

[oneal]

Very nice. I knew someone would dive into some advanced suspension. Did you by any chance do any mods to address the noisy sway bar connections ?

 

[Andy]

We used heim joint connectors from Shock Therapy stock sway bars with 4ply PRP limiting Straps and cobra axels. This eliminated all the radials.

 

[Andy]

Whoops Rattles ^ fat fingers haha

 

[oneal]

We used heim joint connectors from Shock Therapy stock sway bars with 4ply PRP limiting Straps and cobra axels. This eliminated all the radials.

Ha, you gave me 3 items to research

 

[Big Red]

Andy - That's one good looking rig, thanks for sharing! More proof that "Red is the fastest color"

 

[stevo223]

So we used Thumper A arms but ended up building shocks with King. The Fox QS3 is a good product just didn't do what we were trying to achieve. Shock Therapy is owned by Fox Shocks and worked with Thumper Fab to design the QS3 to work with there long arm for the Ranger 1500. It works well, they also offer a one to one replacement for the stock shock if you don't want to replace a arms. if you're looking for an up grade from Stock thats the way to go. They will give you a better ride and off road ability over stock. The fox QS3 for the Ranger 1500 from Shock Therapy is a single rate, without bypass and have 3 compression settings. In most applications this will work OK. We wanted a dual Rate spring set up with Internal bypass. So we could dial in Valving, Compression and Rebound. We did all the math in our shop worked with King Shocks to build the shocks and used Eiback to dial in the springs rate. We went through 10 sets of springs for the dual rate to work properly and achieve correct ride hight without being to stiff. If any one wants to take there Ranger to this level we can share details on our build. Here's a few Pictures.

would you happen to have the specs for your king shock setup or who did the work on them?

 

[oneal]

would you happen to have the specs for your king shock setup or who did the work on them?

I would like to know more about these as well

 

[Andy]

First of all, I want to say we do not work for any of the companies I’m talking about below. We are a pro race team and have a in house fab shop for our race team only. We built our Ranger 1500 as a pre-runner for our own use, we were looking for Something that can go across the whoops in the desert at 50-60MPH and have AC Haha. The best way to look at the suspension on the 1500 is at four levels.

Stock, Polaris did a nice job on the ranger 1500 suspension works ok as you can all see but is limited. Depending on your needs this will work all around but not great.

if you want to improve Stock without much work the fox Series 2.0 Podium QS3 shock kit is a good option. Shock Therapy valued and spring the QS3 for the Ranger 1500. They are owed by Fox and have a great R&D shock team, they did I nice job The QS3 fox shock is a single spring no bypass with 3 compression settings. For a one to one replacement bolt on shock using stock A arms. under $3K This is the way to go.

if you need a little more clearance (19In + at ride height) I like the Thumper long arm kit they are boxed and tig welded, Thumper worked with Shock Therapy to design a fox QS3 shock for their kit as well. They extend the shock about 3 in and are using the upper outside shock holes on the ranger. it’s a direct bolt on fit no modes needed. Also using the King Cobra extended 300M axels will help with some of the stock axel issues. Unfortunately, this Kit is north of $10K complete.

What we did! We wanted a internal bypass shock with crossover rings so we could have the first 2 inches of travel soft and then and then primary spring goes to work. This is the same concept we us on a trophy truck. With a short shock travel of only 7.5in this was a challenge. We ended up using a 2.5 internal bypass King Shock housing. #25700-327A with external reservoir. The internal valving for Rebound and Compression was crucial. All springs are Eibach springs. Front spring set 6in-3.0 600lb upper/ 12in 3.0 700 lower with 1.5in pre-load. Rear spring set 6in-3.0 700lb upper/ 12in 3.0 700lb lower 2in pre-load. The Cross over rings are set at ¾ in front and rear at ride height. With lots of test and tuning to achieve 19in of ride height and operate the way we wanted this is what we ended up with. This unit will keep up with our Pro R RZR wide open across the desert. The last thing we did was weld in tabs for limiting straps so were not depending on the shock to bottom out when ranger is in the air. If your interested in these all in their about $5K and King has all the shock specs. You have to us the Thumper A arms as well. Call King Race division tell them you’re looking for what they did for OnPoint Racing’s Ranger 1500. King dose not have the spring sizes we used so you will need to order them from Eiback and build the shocks.

Hope this is all helpful.

 

[oneal]

Hope this is all helpful.

It sure is, I played with suspension a few times in my life so pretty much understand your explanation.
I truly appreciate you taking the time and willingness to share these intricate details.

 

[stevo223]

It sure is, I played with suspension a few times in my life so pretty much understand your explanation.
I truly appreciate you taking the time and willingness to share these intricate details.

could hcr arms work with this also?

 

[Jerem62]

Thanks Andy! Very informative.

 

[Mr.C]

Thanks for detailed information. Sounds like one bad ass 1500. I’ll be upgrading as time goes by and things wear out. Not sure I’ll go trophy truck status, but thanks for sharing the info of all your work.

 

[Big Red]

Andy - Great write up and thanks for taking the time to share the details, some here will really appreciate it. As for me I'm too cheap to spend that kind of money but truly appreciate those that do. My XD is half garage queen half hardpack cruiser so I could never appreciate the suspension upgrade. My XD gets worked a little with the plow and some Iowa off roading that doesn't amount to much. Being a flatlander there's just nothing around here where the suspension would shine.