Is this normal for rear shocks?

[Vandy_Guy]

Is it normal for rear shocks to not even budge with a 270 man jumping on them???

Installed a 6" drop axle lift and heavy duty rear leaf springs on my '97 EZ GO DCS. I haven't installed a rear seat kit yet so I decided to put all of my weight on the rear end to see how the shocks would react. They don't budge at all. The cart is gutted so I haven't had a chance to even ride it with the new lift and leaf springs. I did notice the lift has significantly extended the resting position of the shocks. I didn't think different shocks were needed for a lift kit.

[Timberwolflt]

Sounds to me like you’ve got the shocks fully extended and the springs under load but I don’t know how you might have done that without noticing during installation... bet that was the toughest leaf spring installation you’ve ever undertaken

The rear don’t have a “drop axle”... the whole axle drops so you’ll be needing to either modify the shock mounts or find 6” longer shocks

... and no that’s not normal... there is no spring that an 8’ tall man can’t bounce

[Vandy_Guy]

Originally Posted by Timberwolflt

Sounds to me like you’ve got the shocks fully extended and the springs under load but I don’t know how you might have done that without noticing during installation... bet that was the toughest leaf spring installation you’ve ever undertaken

The rear don’t have a “drop axle”... the whole axle drops so you’ll be needing to either modify the shock mounts or find 6” longer shocks

... and no that’s not normal... there is no spring that an 8’ tall man can’t bounce

Here are some pics. Not sure if they help. The rear springs were a pain to install. Maybe these springs are simply extremely stiff and the shocks are literally doing nothing at this point.

IMG_6142.jpg

IMG_6143.jpg

[chvybeatsford]

Originally Posted by Vandy_Guy

Here are some pics. Not sure if they help. The rear springs were a pain to install. Maybe these springs are simply extremely stiff and the shocks are literally doing nothing at this point.

Attachment 194719

Attachment 194720

Quick test.. remove shocks and see what happens. If it don't move then springs are that stiff.

[zero26tb4u]

I recently went to heavy duty springs and noticed the same thing, so please let me know if you get it figured out.

Thanks.

[ezgo05]

I put a 4in factory lift on my 05 and even when fully extending the shock, the bottom bushing and locknut could'nt go on. I ended up using a automotive shock extender to make it work. my springs were also the hd type

[Phil_Billy]

I put a 4" lift kit, HD leaf springs on my Marathon. I had to put shock extensions on mine and I also pulled the smallest leaf off as well.

[Cobra,1]

Shocks only “dampen” the ride or control how fast springs compress and rebound (go up and down) so you don’t get a “bouncey “ ride. My guess is springs are too stiff for the wheight unless shocks are all ready fully compressed when installed.

Example, if suspension travels a total of 4” from no wheight in cart till it fully compresses with full load in cart. You would need a shock with a minimum of 4” travel with shocks piston at mid length with unloaded cart.

[Timberwolflt]

I recently put the same springs on a cart without the lift... your configuration should not require modifications for the shock mounts, however, apparently these shocks provide for little or no rebound travel

When I bolted the shocks back up... they actually loaded up the springs a bit... that 1” lift due to the HD spring was apparently too much for the brilliant engineers at EZGO

This from the spring manufacturer....

“You need shock extenders if wanted to use the factory rear shocks( which aren’t really necessary with these springs)”

I at first read that to mean that mount modifications weren’t really necessary because they shouldn’t be... but they meant that the shocks weren’t really necessary

Mine loaded up about a half inch and I figured there would be a sufficient amount of rebound once the cart load was applied to the springs and there is a little rebound but probably not enough but since this cart has no speed upgrades... I just left it that way

Truth is... I should have just pulled them off because leaf springs don’t really get any benefit from shocks... it’s not like they’ll bounce several seconds like coil springs and it’s not like you’re going to experience wheel hop on an EZGO

But you should definitely be able to bounce the rear of the cart

[Timberwolflt]

Upon closer inspection of your pictures... your shocks are definitely loading up your springs.... I’d pull em off and chunk em in the scrap pile and run without em... Then you’ll be able to bounce it again... I doubt anyone would be able tell the difference between running with or without shocks