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I own a 96 bronco and in the process of buying some q80-2 for the rear. Also getting a under the bed shock mount. The bronco will be used for driving in town and sometimes to work. Also be using the bronco in the desert on the weekends. My two boys will be with me most of the time while in the desert. So I probably won’t be going 50+ down pole line. Trying to get the best bang for my buck. I noticed most broncos are running bypass shocks in the rear. Would 2.5 smooth body kings work? I’ve been told that bypass are usually if your racing or always hauling ass in the desert. Please help with any info.

Since the ideal angle for maximum dampening is 90°, any angle away from this causes the shocks to be less effective. You can mostly counter act this by having the the shocks change dampening rate as they travel through their cycle. The usual 3 tube bypasses (2 compression/1 rebound) gives you 3 compression zones in the shock. So as you get closer to bottoming out the shock gets stiffer. With the final zone usually acting like a bump stop. With an under the bed shock hoop on a bronco, as the suspension cycles up the shocks move away from this 90° ideal angle. So a smooth body will have less dampening force when the truck is almost bottomed out, when you need it the most.

A bypass is not really needed on the front of the ttb if you set up the shocks correctly because you can have the shocks bump out at a 90° angle to the beams. Bypasses only help the front if you need the tuning on the fly or are not able to set up the shock in the correct position.

Thanks for the info. That makes sense.

Bajadave55 wrote:Thanks for the info. That makes sense.

I been reading that everyone uses 12inch. Will 14inch work?

Assuming you are still talking about the rear - 14's can work if you cut holes in the body & come into the cab...

With a 12” under the bed you almost use the full shock shaft before the springs separate. If you have an e4od you are limited by your driveshaft angle. With a 14” under then bed your lower shock tabs will be hanging down off the axle really far and you will not end up using the whole shaft anyways. If you want to go through the floor that’s a different story.