Installing the Rocky Road Outfitters extended front shock towers


After installing a set of missing links on the front of "Figmo's Folly" (a 1987 Samurai with SPOA)  it was soon apparent to me that my front shocks were no longer going to be long enough to allow for all this new articulation I had just acquired. Also, the current distance between my upper and lower shock mounts was not big enough to even fit a long travel shock under there. Putting a shock capable of extending that far would mean that the shock would be so long - there would be no room for it to compress under load. Since my lower mounts where already as low as I cared to take them (welded to the bottom spring perches) - my only option was to extend the upper
shock mounts up higher. 

On doing a little research, I decided on the Rocky Road Outfitters (RRO) extended front shock towers. My decision was based on the fact that I had very little experience doing this sort of thing and from past dealings with RRO - I knew I could count on their instructions to be helpful and their kits to be complete and well constructed. 

The kit consists of the following:

Two new shock towers (complete with shock mounting bolts/washers/sleeves) 6 tower mounting bolts (with lock nuts/washers/sleeves)  complete instructions 

Note that this kit will also convert the stock upper shock mounts for the Samurai from female to male - so be sure when you order your new shocks you order shocks with an eye hole type mount on BOTH ends.

The first step was to remove the stock shock towers. The instructions say to use a
sawzall but I opted to go ahead and use a cutting torch. WARNING: if you decide to go the cutting torch route like me, be very careful. Remember - this is dangerously close to your frame. Also, I carefully inspected the area above the shock mounts and used a heat shield to protect any wires or fuel lines from the excessive heat that would be generated. When you make your cut (however you decide to cut it), remember that you do not need to remove the entire shock mount from the frame. You can leave the backing of the stock mount attached to the frame and just cut the sides and the top off. Then take a grinder and grind the cuts flush with the backing. All you are trying to do here is create a flat surface to mount your new towers to. This picture shows what the installation looked like just after the cut. Circle "A" shows the stock tower that I cut off just laying on the spring. Circle "B" shows how I left the stock shock mount backing attached to the frame and just cut the sides and top.


After grinding my cuts flush, I used a C-clamp to temporarily hold the new towers in place while I lined everything up. Mount them with the shock bolts pointing towards the rear of the vehicle. At this point I was caught in a "Catch 22". My old shocks were not long enough (even fully extended) to hold up there to line everything up. And I could not order my new shocks until I was sure what length I needed (which I couldn't do until after my new towers were installed). So I improvised and used a 2x2 piece of lumber as my "imaginary shock".