Lets talk Coil Overs

[BigDave!!!]

as far as my comment about sway away, it is the only company i have heard anyone complain about. i know people with every other brand, and have never heard a complaint about any one of them, but i have heard of sway aways blowing fittings out, bottoming, etc....

Any of those shocks are good shocks including sway-away. What will help you decide the brands though is customer service and price. With a shock set up like that they will need work to get them dialed in for your vehicle. I have personally had mine rebuilt twice ( destroyed the metal elbow that connects the resi hose to the top of the shock) and had them revalved both times.

King has always had good customer service with me and they are only $15 to revalve with them, i have seen up to $75 at other shops. they also do all their work quickly and 100%, so far i have been very impressed with everything they have to offer.

I have also heard that fox has incredible customer service and tech. support for their products. They also offer a top notch product but the reason i chose king over fox is because i got 4 King pre-run series 2.5's for $300 each instead of $400 for the foxes. For pre running and rock crawling or whatever off roading you are into, besides all out racing, the pre run series will be more than enough for your truck.

The reason i have heard people want to stay away from sway away is their customer service, i have heard they take forever to rebuild their shocks and are extremely hard to get a hold of. Also, a few years ago, a lot of their shock bodies used to rust and the shafts would get pitted very easily and also rust.

I just had the truck out last weekend in the desert with the new sway-a-way bump stops and my rebuilt kings and was blown away how much a difference some bumps and revalving did. I was able to hit stuff twice as fast and twice as big as before i got those 2 things done. When you actually get your truck dialed in for whatever you do, it is totally worth the extra money and work.

 

[IZwack]

x2 on Fox's support. I've contacted them many times on different situations on how to do this and that.
Though at noon PST, they go on a lunch break -- damn them!

 

[scootr2200]

Obviously link'd and coil overs are the ultimate and ideal suspension for a rock crawling based vehicle.

I'm really wanting to SAS FW (d60) my Ranger and it's coming to the point where I need to set in stone what suspension I'm using. Around here we have Tellico and similar trails. I get kicks out of flexing the crap out of the truck... so having a good amount of flex is what I would like to go for.

Would leaf springs be the way to go (kind of working off of a budget) or should I go all out and just link the truck? I would like to run about a 40" tire and the truck would be mostly street driven but would be taken to the trails when I got chances here and there.

Mickey

 

[SteveG3]

Unless you're buying new, I say just buy whatever you can find at a good price. If you're buying new then first decide on dimensions (Sway-A-Ways have the shortest collapsed and extended lengths) then pick a color. Everything in our price range is basically the same and follows the same principles. Supposedly Radflo has more technology in their shocks, but few people would ever notice the difference. Any brand shock will work well as long as it's properly tuned.

 

[IZwack]

LOL, sorry but I think we need to get back on topic here :shifty_ey
This isnt a discussion on leaves vs. linked

 

[scootr2200]

Sorry bud, just figured with all these experts on the subject in here it'd be good to chime in and get a reliable answer.

So by rephrasing my question..

Obviously running coils is an expensive undertaking. What is needed to determin the different spring rates of the upper and lower coils? What is the advantage of using a dual spring over a single spring? On a bigger truck (running 38"+ tires), wanting to do some heavy rock related trail riding, what stroke of shock would be needed as to have a reliable vehicle?

A couple posts back, a boy said that 14" is the way to go... is that for a low center of gravity truck or period? I always figured bigger was better and just trying to peice together why the 2" extra wouldn't work too well.

Also, is there any good link caculators that are free to download and use?

Mickey

 

[Jefe]

I'm running 2.0x14" reservoir Sway-a-Ways with 250/300 spring rates. I've been running them for 3 years, and just got them rebuilt a few months ago. I did have to revalve them after putting them on, as they were far too soft. I did the revalve myself, and had them rebuilt by the local speed shop. The only downside to the SAWs that I've found is that they come with 7w oil and they don't sell it by the quart or gallon anymore (only 5 gallon buckets and a shock only holds ~20oz ) and I can't find that weight made by anyone else. Thats the only thing that stopped me from rebuilding them myself.

 

[SteveG3]

Jefe, You don't have to use SAW oil and if you can revalve a shock you can rebuild it.

scootr, I think those questions are best answered in a new thread. There are too many variables to give short answers.

 

[RockRanger]

.

Would leaf springs be the way to go (kind of working off of a budget) or should I go all out and just link the truck? I would like to run about a 40" tire and the truck would be mostly street driven but would be taken to the trails when I got chances here and there.

Mickey

I am running leafs on my SAS swap right now and am looking at swapping to a linked coil over conversion. What does that tell you. It flexes well, I can max out my 13" travel front shocks but the quality of the travel leaves a bit to be desired.

Sounds like all the big name companies are good. Now I just need to come up with the 2k to redo the suspension.

 

[Jefe]

Jefe, You don't have to use SAW oil and if you can revalve a shock you can rebuild it.

Yes obviously. I wanted to continue to use the SAW 7w oil because that is what I valved my shocks with.

 

[tdavis]

A couple posts back, a boy said that 14" is the way to go... is that for a low center of gravity truck or period? I always figured bigger was better and just trying to peice together why the 2" extra wouldn't work too well.

It's called diminishing returns. Once you get to 14" of shock travel, you'll find the cost difference between 16" and 14" adds up, yet gets you literally no better performance of the vehicle.

You can have only 'X' amount of up travel, and that up travel is going to be the same for 16" and 14" shocks. With a 16" shock, to get the same up travel as the 14" shock, you'll need to find at least 2" more in the shock mounts. On some vehicles, that 2" is not available, and all of suddenly, your 16" of shock is now limiting your uptravel. Now, I've seen buggies with no real uptravel (2") and they really sucked for certain trails (ie, doing cross country, or having to stuff a tire, and cross up the whole suspension)

As for the down travel, 2" more of extension doesn't really gain any more stability on a rock crawler. Sure, being able to keep the tires on the ground gives you stability, but again, the vehicle's center of gravity takes over after a center point, and you can flop the vehicle.. while still having the tires on the ground.

In my mind, the difference comes in when you start to jump the vehicle.. and now your into a different type of suspension, and you probably also want to add bypass shocks for that. A flexy rockcrawler type of suspension really isn't tuned for jumping. Yes, you can jump with them, but you can also badly damage your axle and suspension in doing it too much.

On my zuk, the rear is running a 14" shock, with a 4 link suspension using a W link design, and was built at full stuff. I have 5.5" of uptravel, which leaves 8.5" of down travel. It goes every where... The front is my current complaint, I had to limit it to 4" of uptravel due to the engine oil pan, and to keep the leaf springs from inverting (which destroys them badly). Some day (not in the near future though), I'll link the front, and use 14" coilovers on it too..

Now, here's another thing to consider. You can get more than 14" of axle travel out of a 14" shock - it's all in the shock placement. Straight up and down, and it's 14". Angle them in some, and now you have more travel. The angle you use also determines the change in the shock/spring rates.

As for the link calculator, do a google search for 'Excel 4 link suspension calculator'. This will get you pointers to Triage's calculator.

 

[tdavis]

Steve, where in Arroyo Grande are you? My cousins live there, and they have been bugging me to come down and play over at Oceano..

 

[FROADER]

Now I just need to come up with the 2k to redo the suspension.

Put it on your Christmas list...hint, hint...

















Tracy might have mentioned something at the last Truck Haven trip...











sshhhhhh....

 

[SteveG3]

Steve, where in Arroyo Grande are you? My cousins live there, and they have been bugging me to come down and play over at Oceano..

I live on the mesa about 5 miles from the oceano entrance to the dunes.

 

[Stic-o]

Sounds like all the big name companies are good. Now I just need to come up with the 2k to redo the suspension.

You bought Tracy a trailer so I'd say a redo on the susp. is fair:

 

[glfredrick]

Anyone have any experience on these:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/14-O...6QQihZ018QQcategoryZ33585QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[BigDave!!!]

^^^dunno, $490 seems very cheap for a pair of 14" dual rate coilovers. i would be safe and stay away from those unless someone else has had personal experience with them

 

[FROADER]

^^^dunno, $490 seems very cheap for a pair of 14" dual rate coilovers. i would be safe and stay away from those unless someone else has had personal experience with them

Agreed.

 

[glfredrick]

I actually contacted one of the people that purchased them from him on eBay. That person said that he couldn't even run them... He advised me to not spend the money on that product. Nuff said.

Too good to be true in this instance. I'm sure they would "work," but "work" isn't generally why a person moves up to coilovers. Regular coil springs "work." We want something that surpasses working to increased capability.

 

[Exploderpilot]

i think that takes us right back to the advantage mentioned earlier to buying the big name shocks: customer service......