# Dual shock suspension setup for first gen and lithium upgrade **URL:** \ **Category:** GEM Forum\ **Created:** [February 9, 2023, 4:35pm UTC](https://community.electricforum.com/t/dual-shock-suspension-setup-for-first-gen-and-lithium-upgrade/25839 "2023-02-09T16:35:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Samwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@Samwich](https://community.electricforum.com/u/Samwich)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2023, 4:35pm UTC](https://community.electricforum.com/t/dual-shock-suspension-setup-for-first-gen-and-lithium-upgrade/25839/1 "2023-02-09T16:35:34Z")
I have a 2003 Gem, with a DIY 3" lift. I ordered 4 discounted 412 Progressive Suspension shocks (initially 1 for each wheel) and found them to be too soft for the front. It messed up the wheel camber even at max preload. So I doubled them up (inspired by @Old_Houseboater ([Electric Forum](https://community.electricforum.com/u/Old_Houseboater)) [suicide shock solution](https://community.electricforum.com/t/suicide-suspension-for-long-motors/18963) šŸ˜› ) ![2023-02-09 08_36_01-Photo - Google Photos](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/uploads/electricforum/original/2X/6/6f18f043c734d28c86ba85304b53b1b70167efd0.jpeg) ![2023-02-09 08_36_15-Photo - Google Photos](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/uploads/electricforum/original/2X/d/d6b087ebdad266f3521cc74559f0421c681dfbac.jpeg) and bought a pair of 340mm RFY shocks for the rear. ![2023-02-09 08_36_30-Photo - Google Photos](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/uploads/electricforum/original/2X/c/c1d5a6adecfce8c7a619ef7812f01e34141469a4.jpeg) This solved the camber issue and the ride is great so far on initial test. I think 2 RFY in the front and 1 in the back (per side) would also work well and provide a cheap solution. Note that there might be clearance issue with the motor if you have a larger model. I have PMAC upgrade which is narrower and bigger diameter than the original motor - see thread [here](https://community.electricforum.com/t/30hp-brushless-motor-upgrade-on-2003-gem/25761). Edit: referenced Old\_Houseboater not grantwest (but I think he did something similar elsewhere) šŸ™‚ ---
**Author:** ![AssyRequired](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/community.electricforum.com/assyrequired/32/7621_2.png) [@AssyRequired](https://community.electricforum.com/u/AssyRequired)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2023, 4:50pm UTC](https://community.electricforum.com/t/dual-shock-suspension-setup-for-first-gen-and-lithium-upgrade/25839/2 "2023-02-09T16:50:19Z")
Nice job. Dual shocks give it a serious look. For future readers I bet it would help greatly if you list - What year car you have (but we can guess from the pic) - What mods you have done (LA batts removed and lithium battery in the back). - What lift that is (but it really shouldnā€™t matter) - But also links to what shocks those actually are. ---
**Author:** ![grantwest](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/community.electricforum.com/grantwest/32/15_2.png) [@grantwest](https://community.electricforum.com/u/grantwest)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2023, 4:52pm UTC](https://community.electricforum.com/t/dual-shock-suspension-setup-for-first-gen-and-lithium-upgrade/25839/3 "2023-02-09T16:52:37Z")
Wow. Thatā€™s the 2nd Time I have seen a dual shock set up! The first was 10-12 years ago. Marlon had a set up like that. If itā€™s working for ya thatā€™s awesome! Itā€™s cool to see people trying all these different tricks or hacks to make things work. Yes I could never get the progressive 416 air shocks to work well with the classic Gem. The ride was great but the car had lots of body roll with the 416ā€™s. I finally fixed the body roll problem by adding a front sway bar and it fixed that. Here is the thread > [@Sway Bar](https://community.electricforum.com/t/sway-bar/6297): > > Hey Iā€™ll try and make a long story short, when I took out all the flooded lead acid batterys out of my gem car the car rode so stiff it was a joke. Ya see the car was designed to carry almost 500 Lbs in battery and when I removed that weight the shocks were way to stiff. So I searched around and the only shocks that I could find were some Air Shocks off a Honda Gold Wing. Well they made the ride awesome but they are to soft and they donā€™t make stiffer springs Ect. I have come to the conclusion tā€¦ BTW I wanna take this moment to say how much I hate photo bucket and regret ever uploading 1 photo to those bastards. F them I hate them ---
**Author:** ![Samwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@Samwich](https://community.electricforum.com/u/Samwich)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2023, 4:53pm UTC](https://community.electricforum.com/t/dual-shock-suspension-setup-for-first-gen-and-lithium-upgrade/25839/4 "2023-02-09T16:53:37Z")
> [@AssyRequired](#): > > For future readers I bet it would help greatly if you list Good point. Will do. I somehow can only create new posts on my phone (not sure why?) so made it briefā€¦ I will edit and add more detail on my PC. ---
**Author:** ![grantwest](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/community.electricforum.com/grantwest/32/15_2.png) [@grantwest](https://community.electricforum.com/u/grantwest)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2023, 6:21pm UTC](https://community.electricforum.com/t/dual-shock-suspension-setup-for-first-gen-and-lithium-upgrade/25839/5 "2023-02-09T18:21:32Z")
I Also wanted to note the proper use of spacers and washers on this install. Sure itā€™s not pretty but it looks like everything has a washer or spacer where it should have one. Iā€™m not a big fan of the lower rear swing arm mounts but they look like they work. Hey on another side Note I used [boltdepot.com](http://boltdepot.com) The other day. I was really happy with them I bought some grade 8 bolts that even McMaster car didnā€™t have. ---
**Author:** ![MikeKC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MikeKC](https://community.electricforum.com/u/MikeKC)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2023, 6:37pm UTC](https://community.electricforum.com/t/dual-shock-suspension-setup-for-first-gen-and-lithium-upgrade/25839/6 "2023-02-09T18:37:33Z")
@Samwich - are you running a PMAC motor? Off-topic sorry ---
**Author:** ![Samwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@Samwich](https://community.electricforum.com/u/Samwich)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2023, 7:56pm UTC](https://community.electricforum.com/t/dual-shock-suspension-setup-for-first-gen-and-lithium-upgrade/25839/7 "2023-02-09T19:56:42Z")
> [@MikeKC](#): > > are you running a PMAC motor? Off-topic sorry Yes, I shared the upgrade here: > [@30HP Brushless motor upgrade on 2003 GEM](https://community.electricforum.com/t/30hp-brushless-motor-upgrade-on-2003-gem/25761): > > Wanted to share an upgrade I made on a 2003 GEM that I bought. The car did not run, so decided to get a brushless motor, which I am more familiar with from building ebikes. The motor is a ME30-31001 capable of 22kW or 30HP. It has a sine/cos encoder as opposed to the more common hall sensor, so went with Kelly KLS-8080N 500A Excellent tutorial on how to wire/program this combo: [[ME1507 Motor with Kelly KLS96601-8080IPS ā€¦](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jk19vtf5hNI) Do you have experience with them? ---
**Author:** ![Samwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@Samwich](https://community.electricforum.com/u/Samwich)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2023, 8:02pm UTC](https://community.electricforum.com/t/dual-shock-suspension-setup-for-first-gen-and-lithium-upgrade/25839/8 "2023-02-09T20:02:56Z")
> [@grantwest](#): > > ā€™m not a big fan of the lower rear swing arm mounts but they look like they work. > > Hey on another side Note I used [boltdepot.com](http://boltdepot.com) I agree, if I had to redo the mounts, I would try to do a better jobā€¦ this is my first lift. Thanks for the bolt depot recommendation, Iā€™ll check it out. Iā€™ve been using McMasterCarr - not cheap but I like their affordable overnight shipping - the original amazon - Iā€™ll order stuff a noon and it shows up the next morning at 8am! BTW I upgraded to Grade 10 on the longer bolts, probably overkill but worth the extra bucks for extra piece of mind. ---
**Author:** ![MikeKC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MikeKC](https://community.electricforum.com/u/MikeKC)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2023, 8:16pm UTC](https://community.electricforum.com/t/dual-shock-suspension-setup-for-first-gen-and-lithium-upgrade/25839/9 "2023-02-09T20:16:35Z")
Ah yea. I remember that now. Thanks for the reminder ---
**Author:** ![MikeKC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MikeKC](https://community.electricforum.com/u/MikeKC)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2023, 8:48pm UTC](https://community.electricforum.com/t/dual-shock-suspension-setup-for-first-gen-and-lithium-upgrade/25839/10 "2023-02-09T20:48:21Z")
> [@Samwich](#): > > Do you have experience with them? Not really, I had several of @Inwo PMACs for a while. I mounted one up and did some minor testing before giving them back to Dave. We struggle with the max RPMā€™s of a PMAC and the speeds we want to run. ---
**Author:** ![grantwest](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/community.electricforum.com/grantwest/32/15_2.png) [@grantwest](https://community.electricforum.com/u/grantwest)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2023, 9:47pm UTC](https://community.electricforum.com/t/dual-shock-suspension-setup-for-first-gen-and-lithium-upgrade/25839/11 "2023-02-09T21:47:17Z")
yea Iā€™m not trying to pick anything apart, If it works it works call it done. But I also like the saying **Overkill is Underrated** ---
**Author:** ![JarJarJava](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/community.electricforum.com/jarjarjava/32/15158_2.png) [@JarJarJava](https://community.electricforum.com/u/JarJarJava)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2023, 4:15am UTC](https://community.electricforum.com/t/dual-shock-suspension-setup-for-first-gen-and-lithium-upgrade/25839/12 "2023-02-10T04:15:52Z")
> [@grantwest](#): > > Hey on another side Note I used [boltdepot.com](http://boltdepot.com) I heard [screwhouse.com](http://screwhouse.com) was better. Followed by [nuttrader.org](http://nuttrader.org) ---
**Author:** ![JarJarJava](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/community.electricforum.com/jarjarjava/32/15158_2.png) [@JarJarJava](https://community.electricforum.com/u/JarJarJava)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2023, 4:19am UTC](https://community.electricforum.com/t/dual-shock-suspension-setup-for-first-gen-and-lithium-upgrade/25839/13 "2023-02-10T04:19:48Z")
@Samwich This might very well be the first 00-04 I wont recommed being shot, burned, crushed with a bulldozer and then finally the pieces shot into a decaying orbit around the sun. ---
**Author:** ![Samwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@Samwich](https://community.electricforum.com/u/Samwich)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2023, 4:40am UTC](https://community.electricforum.com/t/dual-shock-suspension-setup-for-first-gen-and-lithium-upgrade/25839/14 "2023-02-10T04:40:43Z")
> [@JarJarJava](#): > > This might very well be the first 00-04 I wont recommed being shot, burned, crushed with a bulldozer and then finally the pieces shot into a decaying orbit around the sun. If I new anything about GEM cars going into this I would have gotten a 2005+ model. But my wife found this cheap 2003 model (rolling chassis) on FB marketplace that she really wanted and it was Christmasā€¦ so here we areā€¦ ---
**Author:** ![JarJarJava](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/community.electricforum.com/jarjarjava/32/15158_2.png) [@JarJarJava](https://community.electricforum.com/u/JarJarJava)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2023, 4:51am UTC](https://community.electricforum.com/t/dual-shock-suspension-setup-for-first-gen-and-lithium-upgrade/25839/15 "2023-02-10T04:51:21Z")
Too funny, thats basically the same story almost all of us have who owned gems from that time frame ā€œfound this 00-04 GEM cheapā€¦ and bought itā€¦ its a money pit POSā€¦ someone please bytch slap me for doing itā€¦ā€ šŸ¤£ But yours doesnā€™t suck now. An 00-01 differential which is 8.9:1 would be killer with that pmac. Your 03 shpuld be a 10.35:1 ---
**Author:** ![Samwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@Samwich](https://community.electricforum.com/u/Samwich)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2023, 5:28am UTC](https://community.electricforum.com/t/dual-shock-suspension-setup-for-first-gen-and-lithium-upgrade/25839/16 "2023-02-10T05:28:13Z")
> [@JarJarJava](#): > > But yours doesnā€™t suck now. An 00-01 differential which is 8.9:1 would be killer with that pmac. Your 03 shpuld be a 10.35:1 Yup, it was a 10.35:1 but found a 8.9:1 on FB marketplace - for about what I paid for the GEM šŸ¤£ā€¦ I like it so far, I think it will meet our needs as a kid picker upper and sunset beach cruiser (still need to install the LED strips and JBL speakers) ---
**Author:** ![AssyRequired](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/community.electricforum.com/assyrequired/32/7621_2.png) [@AssyRequired](https://community.electricforum.com/u/AssyRequired)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2023, 5:34am UTC](https://community.electricforum.com/t/dual-shock-suspension-setup-for-first-gen-and-lithium-upgrade/25839/17 "2023-02-10T05:34:22Z")
> someone please bytch slap me for doing itā€¦ā€ I think you guys need a jacket patch or something. maybe a survivor pin?