I bought an 86 Samurai that is lifted 6" (Rocky Road 6" SPOA lift) and has worn out shocks. I plan to use it off road on small mountain trails that I would consider moderate offroad use. What inexpensive shocks would you recommend? The shocks on it now appear to be stock shocks on the stock mounts.

Are you trying to extend your shocks out?

I run stock replacement shocks on the back and shocks off of a Ford F-250 in the front, cheapest and lightest I can get the right size.  I did have to replace the upper shock towers to make them work.

I have recently got  BE5-A464-H7  Bilstein 5100 Series Shocks. They have 10" travel (~26" extended & 16" compressed). I now need to make fabricated mounts for these.

I also have a question:

#1: What should be the mount distance between the upper/lower mount? Should it be equal to the eye-to-eye length of the shock (extended).

#2: While installing, the black part of the shock should be on the top. Right?

Regards,

With those shocks I believe the black part should be on top.  It depends on the shock.

For the mounting length you want to remove your existing shocks then flex out your suspension as much as possible, see how high you can get your axle before you hit your bump stops.  At that point I would make your mounts 17" long so you have at least 1" of spare up travel.  The key is not to let your shocks take the hit when bottoming out while allowing for as much down travel as possible.

If you end up being able to drop your drive-line you can add a limiting strap at a later date.

Fox 2.0 rez. shocks. Hold up well & can be tuned/re-valved..

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For the mounting length you want to remove your existing shocks then flex out your suspension as much as possible, see how high you can get your axle before you hit your bump stops.  At that point I would make your mounts 17" long so you have at least 1" of spare up travel.  The key is not to let your shocks take the hit when bottoming out while allowing for as much down travel as possible....

Thanks a ton. That's a simple & very valuable suggestion. Will keep this in mind when doing the install.