coil over conversion (have searched)

[Vinson581]

let me explain how this all began, while building my 2010 f150 for a long travel setup, fox mistakenly sent me rear remote resi' shocks that were far too short for my rear of my truck, however they are the exact length for the rear of my exploder sooo it got me thinking! mabey i will just keep those "wrong" shocks and do a overhaul on the X's suspension! well ive talked to quite a few sources on obtaining upper and lower brackets to mount coil over shocks and do away with my t-bars, orw, rcd, and the few places that used to custom make the bolt on coilover brackets are all long gone from production. i was wondering if anyone has had any made or found a place that sells / will make a set of coil over brackets...

it is going to look something very similar to that setup that is the old RCD / ORW setup, i mainly want to do this because my t-bars have around 175k on them, and scare me that they are going to snap in half because of rust, i would much rather just spend the money and do a good suspension in the front, to match the set of fox shocks i already have and replace the bilstein hd's (which i actually do like by the way).


here is the old x that will be undergoing some surgery, 175k miles and still going strong!

And the "wrong" shocks

 

[gmanpaint]

I don't know how your going to get those shocks to work on the front IFS without the T-bars in place. Those are not made for coils it looks like to me.

 

[tgreene92]

Edit: are those shocks going in the rear then a new set of coilovers up front? the brackets would have to be custom made. someone besides gmanpaint, did a coilover conversion just cant recall their username name right now. are you going to keep the truck at same height or use the coils to provide more lift?

 

[storlied]

Corkey did it also.

 

[corkey]

yep

see link below for my elite registry,,

 

[corkey]

okay , i am at home now, and i will elaborate a bit,

the RCD lift kit was the one that came with Fox coilovers for the front, and they were all set for their own 5 inch lift ,
Some people figured out that they could be adapted for use with the Superlift 4 inch front box kit, and that is where everything gets different,
Yes i have the RCD mounting brackets from i think an RCD lift kit, but they had to be made work with the Superlift kit that another member got together,
I bought the lift kit with the coilovers and brackets as a deal, all the parts as 1 kit, and i went to Kansas and a bunch of us got together and installed it on my rig,

there were a few guys that tried making the brackets to sell after RCD stopped making that 5 inch lift for Explorers as they didn't sell enough of them to continue offering them,
and the kits these guys sold were made on the premise that they were for Rangers with T Bars,,

Off Road Wharehouse was one of the companies that actually offered them , but they stopped listing them, than they also stopped them completely, there was a bracket set made for a forum member by another member , but he made only 1 set and probably will not make another set as they are kind of a pain to build,, but can be done,


so in closing it would seem the only way now to get the brackets for coilovers is to make them yourself or have them made for you, which is quite a job as most coilovers have eyes on both ends so through bolts have to be used to install them,

Yes my kit when finished looked exactly like the one in the picture you posted , with the exception that that one does not look like it is installed with a Superlift kit .

 

[Vinson581]

hmm ok well i dont mind having somewhere fab me up some brackets, im extreamly cadd savy so drawing a set up wouldnt be to big of a deal


(those shocks are for the rear)

you wouldnt happen to have any more detailed pictures of the brackets, or know if the guy who was custom making them would have some drawing of them and dimensions? honestly its almost cheaper for me to go the custom coil over setup vs. stock replacement parts, plus the ride quality will be so far beyond stock i cant even being to elaborate! the brackets that im talking about actually allowed for the coil over to have dual eyelet style ends on it, i was planning on going with some fox or king coil overs, ik its deff overkill for a explorer thats in ny, but i believe in doing things correctly and one time. i checked with camburg, brenthal and a couple other companies and they do indeed make the bracketry but its a weld only type of deal, and i dont feel my welding is quite up to par yet, so at this time the rcd style bolt on kit would be the perfect solution

 

[tgreene92]

Its tough to find the RCD brackets, or at least from what i hear. are you going to keep the truck at the height it is now. im sure if you ask around you can find somebody to weld the brackets on. I'm beginning to lean towards a coilover conversion than SAS, because it will prob still be cheaper and easier, and considering i dont do much flexing the SAS is kind of unnecessary. if i do go this route ill be doing it this summer and trying to fab my own brackets. my welding and fabrication skills are getting better so maybe by then ill try to make some kind of simple bolt on brackets that i could make for anyone interested.

 

[corkey]

i have been thinking about this for a few hours now, and have formulated a kind of idea,,

maybe a company that makes shock hoops could be used to make a hoop that could be welded onto the top pocket for a top mount, than a dog bone could be pushed out of an old shock and used in the coilover for the bottom mount,, but that would mean a rubber mount on the bottom, , but that may not be a bad thing,

 

[Vinson581]

yea thats kinda what i was thinking as well! i was talking to the owner of brenthal about this, because thats the custom longtravel kit thats going on my 2010 lariat f150 and they are one off-ing me some components to keep my truck 4x4, i feel like if im going to go through all the effort of doing a shock hoop, i will just scrap the lower controll arms and do a long travel setup, but then that involves new axles, fiberglass fenders, heim steering and so forth and so on then in upwards of 5k in cost(i would love it but i just cant afford to do it) i was planning on keeping the truck at a stock height, mabey like 2" higher then stock, because even if i crank the coilovers 2" i am going to get like 2" more of down travel then the stock t-bars will allow so by me lifting the truck will not affect the down travel per say (i mean it will have less then if they were at 0" cranked but you get my idea) i dont wanna use a drop brack lift kit for the simple fact that yes it will lift the truck to clear larger tires, but it doesnt really improve the offroad ability, i feel like most people dont realize this, because in fact the suspension travel is the same poor #'s as stock, so in short its going to have a very small lenth coil over, prolly no longer then 16" extended, but i really feel like it would be a vast improvement over stock, espacially when it is sprung correctly and valved correctly. sorry im rambleing a bit but im just throwing some senarios out in my head lol, and man if you would make some brackets i would surely buy them off of you, or if your serious enough about doing it perhaps we could look into a offroad shop fabbing up a couple sets? hmm i wonder if rcd would send me their cad drawing for the brackets i feel like thats very doubtful, however since its a discontinued item they no longer sell i could perhaps tell them i had the kit, broke a bracket and needed to fab up my own? mabey strech the truth a little :x

 

[gmanpaint]

I have no lift and am running 35" meats. I use QA1 coil overs, and went a little diff than most. Instead of using a 10", I went with a 12" setup. By doing this bigger size, I do not have to crank on the coils as much to get the lift out of them, leaving me room for compression dampening. I did this because of not running a lift (which I agree, I don't like drop bracket lifts) and this extra 2" made the decision worthy.

I could crank on the coils and get 4-5" of lift if the C/Vs would allow it, but we all know that the stockers will be maxed out at 2". Keeping the LCA as flat as possible gives you the most out of possible travel. The compression rate of the springs (I use 750# coils) gets so great when you tighten, that you lose up travel, and have limited your down travel. It is also hard on all stock suspension parts at the angles. I have gone all HD parts to help with this. Moog ball joints would last a couple months, and the warranty don't mean squat when they break when your in the middle of a hairy situation. Rather have them be there for you when your counting on them. So think about adding HD pro grade parts to your list.

No lift, bigger meats means sacrifices. Yes, I am talking about trimming the sheet metal and pounding the pinch folds flat. Even if you spend $4-500 on fiberglass fenders, you will have to alter your wheel wells.

Okay, as far as the brackets go, your pretty much on your own, if you can't find a used set for sale. You will need to find someone that can let you look at them first hand to see the angles and the placements. The reason they stopped making or selling the bracket kits is because of these brackets. I highly doubt any company will give out the diagrams/blueprints/specs for these. It is just too much a legal nightmare for companies.

For that same reason, I would not allow someone to copy mine, or go by my chicken scratch diagrams. The thought of someone getting hurt from a faulty weld, the wrong materials used, etc.. is too much for me to bear.

I wish you all the luck on your endeavor.

 

[syn-]

since this is a coilover thread, I don't want to hi-jack. Though, can someone clarify for me if coilover setup could help a 2nd gen go low instead of up high? if so what coils should I be looking at, anyone know?

 

[tgreene92]

yea it could help you go lower, not sure what kind of coils they'd be small as heck. As of now debating what i want to do in regards to my truck, SAS, Coilover, Superlift etc... i change my mind weekly but as of now im leaning towards a setup like gman. the drop brackets do nothing more than a body lift and an SAS is just kind of unnecessary for me. In regards to finding an offroad shop to do it, theres tons around my way that probably would, but i want to be able to say i built it myself (im stubborn like that) and it'll save me some much needed money for other stuff like gears and tired. My fab and welding skills are pretty good and in a few more months id have no hesitation putting something i fabricated and welded on my truck. I actually thought about taking the dog bone out of an old shock and putting it in the coilover, i tried getting it out on an old shock i had without and ounce of luck, on top of that youd have to find a shock/coilover combination that would work. Maybe if you don't get around to this by mid summer id be able to make you a set of the brackets i use,still assuming i go this route, whether i fab them or someone else does(hoping someone else doesnt have too)

 

[corkey]

maybe some of these parts could be made work,

http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=3&sort=2a&page=1

 

[Turdle]

For the lower control arm bracket I would be sure to make it a "bolt on", just in case you need to swap out the control arm for new bushings.
The stock bushings are very difficult to replace without the bracket in the way, and, usually the whole arm is replaced.

I was also told welding in 2 directions on the lower control arm is a bad idea anyway.

 

[Vinson581]

well i MAY have some luck with a company, they are going to get back to me but before i go and say i have a solution i want to have them on order! and after talking to my shock builder im going with a fox 2.5 coilover with 750 spring, and for the record i am not trying to stuff huge tires on the truck, but rather get rid of the t-bars, its already got brand new 31' bfg's on it so unless i use some existing 35" bfg's i had from my f150 i doubt i will be putting big tires on.

 

[Vinson581]

well i would like to say that i just got off the phone with a place i will have all the brackets IN MY HAND by next week

the brackets are going to look like this!

price was pretty resonable, it included all grade 8 hardware, and the shock tower gussets that i will weld on for additional support.

 

[gmanpaint]

Those look perfect.

Good job on finding someone to make them. Hopefully they come out right and give you no problems.

Dont forget the spacer that goes between the upper bracket and the top of the shock tower.

 

[Vinson581]

yep got it! i will take some pictures as soon as i get some parts in!

 

[tgreene92]

Awesome!! glad you got somebody that could make them, the pics you have look like there pretty simple, i think i would have no problem fabbing my own. make sure you post some pics of the actual brackets when you get them. I may have to hire you vinson to give me a hand if i go coilovers haha.