You were missing a piece of the puzzle when spec’ing your shock. You need to calculate the weight of the vehicle and the leverage ratio of the suspension. In simple terms; if the wheel moves 1" in its travel, most shocks will move much less than that in their travel which gives the suspension leverage against the shock. As we all know, a lever gives us the ability to apply less pressure over greater distance on one end to apply greater pressure over less distance on the other. So, depending upon the rate of leverage, we need to spec our shock at a greater rate. I’m not sure what the ratio is on the GEM suspension but it wouldn’t be too hard to calculate.
@diymatt - your observation is very astute. I had not even contemplated the fact that a fully loaded GEM E4 can approach double the weight of an empty one (assuming lithium conversion). That is a very broad range for the suspension to accommodate and all but ensures it will never be optimal - except for with an air system and onboard pump. You’ve now convinced me that air is the only way I’ll be satisfied. At least for ride height anyway. Damping will always be sub-optimal but its only a slow moving vehicle on pavement so that’s manageable. This actually answers the nagging question of why they were specced so stiff to begin with.
I think @grantwest figured out why so stiff. When he optimized the ride, roll was bad (dangerous).
He then built a custom sway bar.
It was then I thought of an air system that would counteract roll by cross connecting air lines.
Google found a few ideas, but I never pursued it.
Dave is correct. The Air system that I went with needed lots of fine tuneing. And was pretty much a no go with the addition of a $500 Sway bar that had to be modified from a side by side. It could use a rear sway bar as well. The front sway bar took out most of the sway, but if it was to get a rear bar the car would be amazing. If money was no object then sure.
My opinion “Someone” with a early car needs to convert to lithium, and then take the time to Re valve and re spring a gem. Fox shocks and Few others will work with you to build and tune a shock. Allowing you to swap out springs over and over until you get the right ride. This of corse would take time and energy but once you got the shock valving and spring rate right, here is the kicker! You could share all of your hard work and Labor for the amazing price of FREE and THANKS. If I was still into Older cars then this would be a must, but seeing how that’s not gonna happen the market is wide open for someone else. I was happy to see Matt take on the challenge but he simply didn’t want to continue throwing good money at a project and not getting where he wanted to be, I know that can be frustrating but it’s only a waste of money if you give up. 
^^LOL how true^^^
Look at guys like Dave that have spent Thousands on projects that went no where just to try somthing new and overcome a challenge
@Inwo Did you ever purchase those blue shocks and try them out. After doing my bolt conversion my shocks are very stiff, I really need a softer shock
Thanks
No, I was researching for others. As I recall the company was very helpful with specs.
Found the link.
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/2803037
First searched the store for “8mm” which I thought was largest spring.
Then tried 10mm and 12mm also got hits.
Measure Gem’s spring wire diameter and start from there.
No reason that someone can’t figure this out.
Buy a bunch of samples and sell mistakes on Ebay.
That’s what I do. 
I’m sure if you tracked down the right pair of shocks you would make many people lives happier
I’m interested. Looking for a softer front end.
Arent we all, fella, arent we all.
Does anyone have these dimensions off hand for a 2002? Starting to review requirements and options myself for suspension.
I went thru the same this winter with my 2000 four seater. I took the car to my friends shop who fabricates race cars and here is what I learned.
The first thing we did was weigh each corner of the car. The front corners (tire sitting on scale with no jack) weighed 365lbs and the rear weighed 320 lbs.
We took the shocks that a particular place for Gem Cars sells and tested them. They had a spring rate of 400lbs to compress 1 inch. This means you would need a shock that has a eye to eye (center of bolt hole) distance of 13.5" (340mm) with a 400lb spring rating. This way when the cart has passengers the front wheels will ride square. If you have a full cart of adults consistently you will want a 13.5" shock with a 500lb rating or a longer shock 13.625"-13.75" with a 400lb spring.
The a-arm style early cars sweet spot (center eye to center eye) distance of the shocks (off jack sitting on tires) is 12.5".
When looking on eBay you have to be very careful. The sellers sell them usually as the spring weight for two shocks not one. For example they list as a 400lb shocks and when you look at them the springs are very thin. This is because each shock is a 200lb shock. After u install them and drop your car off the jack it bottoms out. Also you have to look at the top clearance of the shock from the bolt hole. Most of the ones on ebay do not have the needed length to clear the shock brackets and you have to run them upside down.
Thanks, That will definitely help!
When you had it on the scales, did you have the batteries installed and if so lithium or 6 deep cycle?
M@
I had all lead acid batteries in the car. My car is a 2000 four seater. All of my body panels are fiberglass gel coat except for very very back panel where tail lights are and it’s plastic. There are 4 Trojan 1275 under the back seat and two of them in the front. Those corner weights were taking using the same scales they use when setting up a race car. If u have a similar year car with similar acid batteries the corner weight should be very close to your car.
Mine is a 2002 so I would guess the weight be almost identical. Only difference is I don’t have the lead acid batteries. The ones it did have weighed in at 86lbs each.
Going by your wheel weight for the front of 365 minus the 86lb battery for each side puts it at 279lbsx2 so front 568lbs. Rear weight of 320 each with 2 86lb batteries is 148lb each plus approximately 84lbs of lithium and 2lbs of BMS and charger under back seat would be approximately 191lbs per wheel or 382lbs.
Total unloaded curb weight approximately 950lbs which is pretty close to my guesstimate of 1,000lbs. Actual use rate for my case is 2 adults and 2 kids typically is generously 500lbs so operating weight of 1,500lbs.
Looking for a smoother ride, may be just bad old original shocks but thinking of adding another pair in front and back to take out the small bumps and flex a lot with a pair of stiffer ones to account for the large bumps that the others bottom out on. Not sure if that’s how it would really work, need to do some more research.
Thanks for the ebay tip, went and looked and yea they make it look like it is a per shock weight and when you ask the seller it is indeed the pair.
M@
Glad to hear our numbers are pretty close. That means we are heading in the right direction lol. One other thing to think about instead of running different shocks is going with a lighter spring and adjusting the front up a click toll or two to compensate for the weight difference if u can not find the setup you want. All four of mine are the same and I run 1 click on front and none on rear.
Hello all, I wanted to revive this thread, I am in need of some softer shocks.
I converted my 2002 to a Chevy Bolt in the front for my Gem, taking all the weight of the batteries out from under the back seats (4 Seater). My Gem is WAY STIFF.
So if I am reading @bundcur correct my GEM in front weights around $325 with the Bolt Battery, and with all the battery weight taken out of the back end (320 - 270 in batteries) so my rear end weights about 50 pounds? is that correct?
I have been searching for Shocks in the 340mm range with spring load around 325? I figured that would help my ride out. However I was wondering if anyone else has tackled this better than me just purchasing a bunch of shocks.
These are the ones I have been looking at
I’m working on a lithium conversion on a 2000 and know this is going to be my next project. I started emailing some of the custom shock companies a while ago… of them, only one got back to me and the discussion didn’t go very far.
Super curious what you come up with. My car runs stiff and like crap as far as suspension is concerned. I’m not sure it could be any worse. We’ll see…
Please keep us posted!
I would suggest talking to the seller before purchasing, another member that was looking into new shocks had said that the weight rating was per pair not per shock.