top of page

Left Rear Shocks

Updated: Nov 30, 2022



I am trying to update this every time I post it so it has new info in it and you can learn more about the left rear. In this update we will cover the 4 thing that make up a left rear shock. See 7-8-21 below


Lets look at why we build some of the stuff we do and then what we build, this is probably true for other builders too.


· Stiff LR to hold the car up on entry.

· To make more drive.

· I ran one that a friend had, and it worked well.

· I am spinning the tire on exit.

· It frees the car up to much.


What ever you reason is the left rear shock will do so much for a car and that is it and it is somewhat different on a 4 bar car than a 3 link car depending on where it is located.

Here are some of the shocks we build and their functions:


· LR1-40-330@150 psi: Good in moisture / Hobby Stock

· LR1-40-350@150 psi: Same thing as above, just a touch more compression.

· LR1-40-400@175 psi:

· LR1-40-550@275 psi:

· LR1-50-350@150 psi:

· LR1-50-400@175 psi:

· LR1-50-550@275 psi:

· LR1-60-350@150 psi:

· LR1-60-400@225 psi:

· LR1-75-550@275 psi:


See update below 11/3/22 Also new valving below


 

This is a list of some of the left rears we build, and this list can go on for a while with different combination of low speed and high speed. When going down this list from one shock to the next the jump is not that great, so if you have a LR1-40-350 the next step would not be a LR1-40-400 because they are close to each other. This is not a complete list of what we do just some of them and it don't include things like base valve, bypass or SRT piston.


The 4 things that make up a left rear shock are compression, gas pressure, bleed and zero point. How you affect these will determine the outcome of your shock and they are going to come in effect by what you are looking for vs. your track conditions. A lot of issues can come out of your left rear shock and I feel like a lot of them get overlooked when diagnosing the problem of the race car and mainly because we don’t understand the effect that the left rear has good or bad on our car. We need to understand the pros and cons of each of the 4 factors of the left rear shock and the outcome to the car and what would be a good way to combat them. (SRT, Base valve, different locations)

One thing you must understand is that the stiffer the left rear the less traction it makes, now a lot of people are going to argue with this statement, and it is different in different cars, 3 link or 4 bars. So, the two thing it comes down to most of the time is this, holding the car up a ton or making a ton of traction and this will take 2 different shocks.


When buying a BSB this will be determined in the evaluation we do of your car/driver interview and we will cover more or go in depth in later update or in the members only guide. Left rear shocks good or bad you are going to need one until it falls off and you think it is better without. (this is where you ask why)

 

Update 5-16-2020:


Types of LR Shocks we build:


Gas shock: This is a standard gas shock built in any valving that you like, we normally do it with low speed nose and try to maintain the lowest gas we can in order to make traction. This shock gas pressure is based on the amount of compression that the shock has.


Gas Shock High Gas: This shock is built in any valving you want but has a higher gas pressure than normal as to increase the rod force to increase its ability to hold the car up. (300 psi)


Base Valve: This shock can be built in any valving and also can be built in low or high gas version depending on the desired outcome. The base valve is very good at making traction on a 4 bar car.


SRT: This is a piston design that allows bypass in the piston so when the car hits a bump or a hole on the track oil is processed through the SRT valve instead of the main shim stack. This allows the tire to stay in contact with the ground more increasing the cars traction.


Air Shock: Not to be confused with a gas shock an air shock has both an oil column and a air column, when in the oil the shock will build very good traction because of the lower gas pressure applied to the shock, but is the air column the rod force will increase to a level that hold the car in position through the corner.


Bypass: Bypass can be done in one of two ways, in the tube or by a T3 style shock. Either way oil is being bypassed around the piston allowing the tire to stay in contact with the ground. This shock can be configured in many ways and the mind is your playground.


COB: Compression only Bypass is what COB stands for, now it is being used in different ways and some of those may or may not work as good as we would like. As a standard I like it on the left rear for a shock that produces a very low rebound and a very high low speed (nose) compression shock. Some people have used this shock in the flip condition to produce rebound, but I feel as if there are problems with doing this, looks super good on the dyno and sometimes lack performance on the racetrack. This is a piston with a built-in check valve, and it works very well.

How to understand our shock valving:


We will stay with the left rear on this, but when dealing with a BSB shock we mark what is important to the shock. RF, LF and RR are mark in rebound low speed and LR is mark in compression low speed and high speed. Well here is how it works:

LR1-40-400 SRT@225 psi (2-8)


  • · LR: is the position of the shock.

  • · 1: Means the low speed has been increased from standard.

  • · -40: Is the low speed at 1” on the dyno on the average chart, this is higher than a standard bleed system, or when you have a hole in a piston that you can’t make any smaller.

  • · -400: Is the high speed at 10” per second, this is also where the generic valve number comes from. This number is not the same for two shock companies or two shock builders.

  • · SRT: This is where it will tell you if there is anything special about the shock. SRT, COB, Base Valve or Schrader valve is being added to the shock.

  • · @ 225 psi: This is the amount of gas that is being added the shock.

  • · 2-8: The 2 is rebound and the 8 is compression.

Now we can build any type of left rear you like as far as valving is concerned, we can also vary the zero point and gas pressure too. What we need and what we want sometimes are different and what we want doesn’t always make traction. Just let us know what we can do to help.