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Coilover question.....


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So I have always had a rake to the look of my truck , however I'd like to bring the rear down a little more. Measuring the gap from the tire to the fender the front is about 1-1/2 while the back is 3-1/2. I'd like to bring the rear down probably an inch.... 

Now the problem....

I am running coilovers and when I installed the springs they were barely under tension when I assembled them.... and basically they gave me the ride height I have.... 

If I were to loosen the coilover to lower the truck the spring would be loose and moving out of position if I ever jacked the truck up.. that to me seems bad... 

I doubt I could ever drive it hard enough to get into a situation where the suspension would be completely dropped or hanging to make the springs come loose but I don't really wanna break anything either.....

 

Does this sound correct?

What are my options....?

 

Lower it and dont worry?

 

Shorter coilover =$$$$?

 

Or possibly limiting straps (which aren't too expensive)?

 

Or Is there another way I can't think off?

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30 minutes ago, thisismatt said:

Keeper springs will keep everything in place. Will your setup bottom out your shocks at full compression or do you have bump stops?

I had to look up keeper springs...

Definitely an option if I can get one short enough.... I'll dig deeper into that idea....

 

I do have bump stops.... I'm not 100% sure where it bottoms out if it's the bump stop or past it to keep the coilover safe... I forget what I measured but that's easy enough to figure out.....

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Well I dont have much room left to unscrew the coil over. I have enough to lower the amount I want , but I would have to do a shorter spring as well to add the keeper.... or maybe they have a combo one ..... 

Edited by Crashtd420
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Well now that I'm looking at the setup under my truck I might have no choice but to get shorter coilovers..... the ones I'm using have about 4 inches of thread adjustment in the lower body and as I said I only have an inch of threads left....  I'll have to remove one spring and see how far It has left to travel to the bump stop and past... 

I'll probably also lower it first as far as can to also see how much travel I would have left if I did use a keeper spring....

Edited by Crashtd420
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10 hours ago, iceman510 said:

Longer springs?

I actually thought that at first but if you think about it won't help....

The weight of the truck will only compress the spring so far no matter how tall or short the spring is..

I think either new coilovers and probably new springs or the keeper spring but will require 2 keeper spring, new shorter main spring and 2 couplers the keep the 2 inline....  

Neither choices really fit my budget right now ....

 

First up is to see if the coilovers I own even have enough travel to lower it with new springs....

 

 

 

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22 hours ago, Crashtd420 said:

I had to look up keeper springs...

Definitely an option if I can get one short enough.... I'll dig deeper into that idea....

 

I do have bump stops.... I'm not 100% sure where it bottoms out if it's the bump stop or past it to keep the coilover safe... I forget what I measured but that's easy enough to figure out.....

Remove the springs and cycle the suspension.

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6 hours ago, Fredy Raynor said:

You could be to consider adding a leaf spring or a lowering block to the rear suspension to bring it down without compromising your coilovers. This may be able to provide the drop you're looking for without affecting the tension on your coilovers.

I have a 5 link rear end...

3 linked with a watts link....

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I did some measuring and checking today and it looks like the shock can handle the drop I'm looking to do....

Qa1 says ride height should put the shock between 13.5 and 12.5 inches I'm currently at the 13.5 length....

 

Fully bottomed out to where I'm lifting the truck with the bump stop the shock is at 11.5 , full compression is of the shock is 11.125.... 

 

So I'll probably try the helper spring with a shorter load bearing spring... 

Still gonna cost about 175 to 200 or so... but better than 500 for new shorter coilovers and springs.... 

 

Because we like pictures.... this is how far up I can stuff the tire on the bump stop....

 

 

20230528_135447.jpg

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So I think I have my end solution....

I found helper springs and couplers for a decent price....

Springs are $25 each, 4 inches tall and compress to .440....

Couplers are $28 each.. 

 

I think I can fit these in my setup and  get some drop out of it... maybe not the full inch but it will be the start.... from there I'd have to get a shorter main spring to get the full inch drop... anything beyond that will require new shorter coilovers...

 

 

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1 hour ago, Stoffregen Motorsports said:

Help[er springs aren't absolutely required. I mean, how often do you have the shock at full extension? Unless you go off a jump, it will probably be fine.

That was the whole point of starting this thread..... 

 

I was actually thinking about lowering  just to see the look anyhow....

 

I generally put the jack stands under the axle when I do maintenance and 99% of the time I'm the only one jacking up the truck.

 

At least now I have an idea of what I might need if I wanna go any lower....

But I do prefer the zero $ option at the moment.... 

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32 minutes ago, Stoffregen Motorsports said:

Just drop it and see if you like it.

 

We never ran tender springs on the race cars until they were invented in the '90s. Nobody used them before that, except maybe baja racers.

Just did..... so far I do... just need to see if the ride changed....

Dropped it about 1inch on the coilover length to the lowerest recommended ride height, basically it's as low as that coilover will allow....

This actually lowered the truck about 1-1/4 inches...

 

 

20230530_170203.jpg

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