Topic: upside down shocks

[yoter4x4]

i put new shocks on the rear of my 83 toy today, i mounted them upside down.. in other words the tube side is bolted to the frame "crossmember" above the rear axle, and the shaft side of the shock is mounted to the stock tabs on my rear axle, reason doing so is because i liked the look better (My truck is so short all you really see from behind is axle and shocks, so on..) so i wanted to give it a different look and i figured the shaft side would be less likely to hang up on the rocks versus puncturing a hole in the shock tube possibly.

the more i thought about it the more i pondered the problem that bolting shocks in upside down might make the seal on them go bad... not sure though, they are your average RANCHO 9000's 6 inch lift shocks, nothing crazy cool about them 

will they be ok mounted this way? thanks for the input fellas

[IronClad]

they will work that way for a while and they will eventually start to go soft. once they do that flip them rightside up and they will stiffen up again after a while. tis what i did when i ran rs9k's

[Joey88RUNR]

I know a lot of poeple that run their shocks the same way, they look at my rig and tell me i need to flip my shocks, Not my thing really, They flip them becuase to put the shaft up high so rocks and road debris dont damage the shaft.

[Cheesemaker]

Need to do some research.  There are some shocks that can only be ran one way, and if you flip them, they won't work like they are designed.  I used to know, but I can't remember. 

[crazykooter]

Rancho 9000s can be run either way.  Bilsteins on the other hand can only be mounted one way. 

[yoter4x4 [OP]]

alright, cool. i really like the look alot more. but heard it would ruin the seals..... either way it's a solid axle toy.. not like it will ever ride "nice" lol

[emsvitil]

Rancho 9000s can be run either way.  Bilsteins on the other hand can only be mounted one way. 

That really depends on the shock ends............