Have full length, 235" RaceTech dragster. Need new shocks, looking for recommendations of a great shock that won't break the bank. Want a double adjustable, what is everyone using?

I use Ohlins myself

quote:

Originally posted by SmokeEm:
Have full length, 235" RaceTech dragster. Need new shocks, looking for recommendations of a great shock that won't break the bank. Want a double adjustable, what is everyone using?

Penske - Adam 773-229-0655

He's the crew chief for Kye Kellyy

Does a lot of dragster dampers.

99.9% of bracket dragsters are going down the track with either Afco or Penske out of the box shocks, without issue. My car has had Penske from day 1 and still has the same Penske shocks on it and they have yet to be rebuilt despite having around 2000 passes on them.

OHLIN…

Adam Lambert PRS Suspension and get the Penskes

Dave Connolly with Competitive Suspension. If you have 2000 passes on the shock with 6 yrs of travel time in the trailer...REBUILD the shock...you may be shocked what you been missing out on...especially on marginal track surfaces. BTW the BIG Bubba will cover up a wore out shock more often than not.

We use Penske on one car and JRI the rest...

Chris, I’m not a believer in custom shocks for what WE bracket racers do nor the many companies out there that pitch them, usually individuals nor their sales pitch to rebuild them and DC is just the latest player in the custom shock business.

I don’t usually fix what isn’t broken and my shocks on my dragster are not leaking oil nor nitrogen and based on the 60 foots and deadly consistency, they are still working as good as their first hit.

That said as you maybe aware, I rebuilt the front and rear suspension of the Firebird over the winter including sending the shocks back to Afco. The rear shocks were installed in 2004 and had thousands of passes in them and no sign of imminent failure. Sane as the front shocks installed in 2010. Afco rebuilt the front shocks and replaced the rear shocks because they don’t make this shock anymore and therefore aren’t rebuildable. It should be noted that Afco doesn’t offer a rebuilding service for their shocks, rather an employee they recommend does the rebuilding.

Anyway the point to this is the Firebird picked up right where it left off, with the new rear shocks and rebuilt front shocks, no improvement but I wasn’t expecting any.

Ed,

To each his own...

I will continue to service these items as we clearly make a s h I t ton more laps than you guys do as well as likely 5 times the miles in the trailer per year.

Hell, no different than servicing trailer axles annually with alot of use each year.

quote:

Originally posted by SmokeEm:
Have full length, 235" RaceTech dragster. Need new shocks, looking for recommendations of a great shock that won't break the bank. Want a double adjustable, what is everyone using?

Smoke

From your post you state shocks, not shock so your car has the shocks mounted behind the rear?
What's most important is to make sure the shock manufacture has all the correct info on your car, especially with a mono shock setup! With these you need to know the shock travel vs rear end travel ratio in order to get a shock that's properly valved! And do not assume that just because Joe's brand X chassis has a ration of 1.5 and that you have a brand X too that yours is the same! Need to measure it.

As for shock manufacture and cost, I will say this, the faster your combo is the more benefits your will see from a more expensive customized shock. That said I have had good luck with Afco's, Adam at PRS and Chris Bell/Kinetic Engineering which are now on my car, Penski based shock.

quote:

Originally posted by TORQIN:
BTW the BIG Bubba will cover up a wore out shock more often than not.

X100000000 !

My 235" RaceTech had Afco's and they were from 2003
I replaced them with new Afco's that had a much wider range of adjustment but basically the same shock

ZERO difference and I often played with shock settings to experiment with things like RT and 60' changes....

Sold the old shocks and springs....

As I said, WE don’t need custom shocks nor rebuilds unless they are leaking.

Ohlin

With ohlin you won’t need to own a charge kit lol

QA1s
Never had an issue, and fully adjustable like the fancy ones.

I am leaning towards trying the Ohlin shocks. Does anyone have a part number and/or a contact that you are happy with so I can get going in the right direction? Looks like you cannot buy direct from Ohlin and I need a dealer to help me buy two shocks for a four link RaceTech dragster.

Call Russ Farmer..Race tech...He won't steer you wrong....He knows his chassis better than anyone

quote:

Originally posted by S/S Dart:
Call Russ Farmer..Race tech...He won't steer you wrong....He knows his chassis better than anyone

This is the best post in this thread

ep