What to wear...suspension debate with myself. (1 Viewer)

[FJ40JOHN]

I need new shocks on my LX450, probably new springs too. About 99% certain that everything is original. Goal was a bit of lift to allow up to 35" tires (currently on 33" BFG AT load range E), nice ride around town (DD probably 90% of the time) while allowing for a bit more ability offroad (trails and a few rocks) while sticking to a fairly strict budget (that I never really defined...). Ideal would be a 3" slinky Stage 4 kit, but that definitely is not in the (imaginary) budget. No extra gear as of now, although I picked up a front bumper today that weighs a bit under 100lbs.

With that in mind, I began picking up some used items to piece together a new (to me) setup, mostly from the excellent classifieds on here.

Option 1 -'New' stock shocks. Grabbed a set of OEM shocks with ~ 10k miles on them.

Option 2 - 2.5" springs. Found a pair of 2.5" OME fronts, and some 30mm rear spacers. Figured that would even me out a bit (lots of rake currently). Didn't have a shock plan for this in place. Not positive what additional kit I would need to maintain stock-ish drive characteristics (caster, etc).

Option 3 - Full set of almost new OME stock height springs. The set I bought came with 30mm spacers (F&R) and the seller claimed ~2.5" of lift over stock (guessing old saggy springs). Planned to run the OEM shocks from Option 1 with these.

Option 4 - 75mm Slinky kit. Picked up a set of 75mm Slinky Intermediate front springs with a full set of 2.0 Icon shocks. Again, barely used. Rear springs could go a few different routes, but could eventually be upgrade to the matching slinky set. My understanding is that this height will quite a lot of additional work to correct caster, panhard height, brake lines, and other misc. drop/extension brackets. I managed to grab a set of MAF caster drop brackets fairly cheap. Figured those might get me up and running until I can upgrade to Delta arms and panhard brackets.

Trying to figure out how basic (budget) I can go and not kill myself on the road while getting the most out of what I have. Extra parts will all be sold.

 

[bigredmachine]

im running option 3 and I get 2.5 of lift in the front and 3 in the rear, I like the set up and it works well for me. itll also be the lowest cost option to buy the springs, spacers and get shocks when the go on at shockwarehouse.com. I got a set of kyb monomax for pretty cheep

 

[baldilocks]

I’m gathering that you want good, simple and budget minded. Instead of asking the forum for opinions, I suggest contacting Dave Otero at Dobinson USA. He is easy to work with, can set you up with a nice riding spring and shock combo that won’t break the bank and the other pieces, if any, needed to make it all work together.

Ask him about 3” Flexi coils and their simple yellow shocks. These products provide a very plush ride great off road performance at that price point. It’s better to buy a system than mixing and matching which can lead you down a rabbit hole. david@dobinsonusa.com

 

[Uglymud]

I second the flexi coils. Love mine

 

[GW Nugget]

for 315s go Option 3... Did you write you have these? I would do these 1st with the 30mm spacers. I got approx. 1.5" lift out of the 862 coils (21.5") from bottom of fender to center of hub. Those are dual rate coil also. 861 (170/250) 862 (170/260) rates.

 

[FJ40JOHN]

I’m gathering that you want good, simple and budget minded. Instead of asking the forum for opinions, I suggest contacting Dave Otero at Dobinson USA. He is easy to work with, can set you up with a nice riding spring and shock combo that won’t break the bank and the other accessosroues, if any, needed to make it all work together.

Ask him about 3” Flexi coils and their simple yellow shocks. These products provide a very plush ride great off road performance at that price point. It’s better to buy a system than mixing and matching which can lead you down a rabbit hole. david@dobinsonusa.com

Might have to give them a shout. Everything I have was collected from the classifieds. The goal was cheap.

Biggest factor now is additional components (outside of springs/shocks) to keep road manners (caster correction, etc.).

for 315s go Option 3... Did you write you have these? I would do these 1st with the 30mm spacers. I got approx. 1.5" lift out of the 862 coils (21.5") from bottom of fender to center of hub. Those are dual rate coil also. 861 (170/250) 862 (170/260) rates.

I do have all of these. Got a bit carried away piecing together a kit. Would need to finish out the sets for everything except option 3.

Could I run the Icon 2.0 shocks with the stock height OMEs?

 

[baldilocks]

For three years I bought springs off craigslist and Mud classifieds in my Quest for the correct set up for me. The only spring I ever bought new are the Dobinson tapered coils I now run up front. Since then a lot of knowledge has been added to the forum thanks to members like @GWNugget. Experimentation does cost money but so does any other kind of education. In the last two years several 80 series suspension options have come available and variable rate springs are definitely the way to go. In the realm of “cheap” shocks, in my experience, OME produces the least compliant ride.

 

[GW Nugget]

Yes, the 2.0 Slinky shocks will work great, I have them with my 75mm Slinky's. The rear will need 1" of bump stop to protect it. 315s will need 1.5" of bump stops, so you might as well get the 1.5" bump exstension. Hitit66 here on mud sells nice ones or just make a set it of square tube.

Most people don't know that the ONE 861/862 are dual rate coils... they are very good coils.

 

[GW Nugget]

Oh, wait.
Those 2.0 Icon shocks are 28" plus... existended they will exstend out to far for the coils to stay captive in the buckets. If you strap them to 26.5" it will work with 30mm spacers on coils...

See compiled 80 series coil shock thread for info.

 

[FJ40JOHN]

Sold the Slinky springs and installed Option 3: the OME stock height replacements with 30mm spacers along side OEM shocks.

Relatively easy install following the Slee write-up (first time installing coils), only one snag. Rounded off the bolt head on the outside passenger rear upper shock mount, so that shock is still old and shot. Might give removing it another shot this weekend.

Netted a bit of lift. Easily noticeable by looking and can definitely tell when climbing in and out. 21.75" middle of hub to fender in the front, and right at 22" in the rear. Only thing outside of stock is a relatively light (<100lb) front bumper. Definitely need 35's to fill the fenders...

Ride is greatly improved, and my old springs and shocks were incredibly sloppy. Cornering is definitely better as well with much less roll. Very happy with the results, especially considering how little I have into the whole setup.

REALLY tempted to install the Icons and see if they live up to the hype. Not sure how well their valving will pair with these springs though...

 

[Delta VS]

Sold the Slinky springs and installed Option 3: the OME stock height replacements with 30mm spacers along side OEM shocks.

Relatively easy install following the Slee write-up (first time installing coils), only one snag. Rounded off the bolt head on the outside passenger rear upper shock mount, so that shock is still old and shot. Might give removing it another shot this weekend.

Netted a bit of lift. Easily noticeable by looking and can definitely tell when climbing in and out. 21.75" middle of hub to fender in the front, and right at 22" in the rear. Only thing outside of stock is a relatively light (<100lb) front bumper. Definitely need 35's to fill the fenders...

Ride is greatly improved, and my old springs and shocks were incredibly sloppy. Cornering is definitely better as well with much less roll. Very happy with the results, especially considering how little I have into the whole setup.

REALLY tempted to install the Icons and see if they live up to the hype. Not sure how well their valving will pair with these springs though...

Are you talking 2.0 or 2.5 Icons? The 2.5s are about as plush as you can get! They should work fine with your springs.

 

[FJ40JOHN]

Are you talking 2.0 or 2.5 Icons? The 2.5s are about as plush as you can get! They should work fine with your springs.

2.0. If I had the 2.5s, I would have run the slinky springs and y'alls arms/panhard bracket.

 

[Fast Eddy]

What did you do about brake lines and caster correction?

I didn't see your OP when you posted it or I would have sent you my spreadsheet that has tabs for

30mm spacers, no spring update, 285s
Dobinson 40mm, Bilstein, 285s
75mm slinky's w 2" shocks, 315s, Delta arms, panhard bracket
Delta IVD Full Kit, 315s

It's pretty much $4k, $5k, $8k, $9.9k with Slee front bumper, slider steps and 4x4 labs rear with no swingout. KM3 tires. Delta price includes Delta front bumper upgrade. It's going to hurt when I add the turbo to all those prices.

Edit: Delta, your site is painfully slow. When they updated the site lately they killed the old links instead of linking them to the main page.

 

[FJ40JOHN]

What did you do about brake lines and caster correction?

I didn't see your OP when you posted it or I would have sent you my spreadsheet that has tabs for

30mm spacers, no spring update, 285s
Dobinson 40mm, Bilstein, 285s
75mm slinky's w 2" shocks, 315s, Delta arms, panhard bracket
Delta IVD Full Kit, 315s

It's pretty much $4k, $5k, $8k, $9.9k with Slee front bumper, slider steps and 4x4 labs rear with no swingout. KM3 tires. Delta price includes Delta front bumper upgrade. It's going to hurt when I add the turbo to all those prices.

Edit: Delta, your site is painfully slow. When they updated the site lately they killed the old links instead of linking them to the main page.

Nothing to brake lines or caster. These are supposed to be stock height springs, so stock should be good, right?
Steering seems just fine, no additional wander or squirreliness.

That's the primary driver for why I chose this option. I didn't want the hassle/expense of all the additional 'corrections' needed.

 

[Fast Eddy]

Everyone says you get some lift out of them, plus the 30mm. I think some extra caster could be a good thing.

Just curious and not trying to imply you need either.

 

[FJ40JOHN]

Everyone says you get some lift out of them, plus the 30mm. I think some extra caster could be a good thing.

Just curious and not trying to imply you need either.

I'll drive it for now and if it acts squirrelly I'll address it.

Brake lines will happen eventually, but stick will be fine for running around town.

I do appreciate the input.

 

[Delta VS]

Delta, your site is painfully slow. When they updated the site lately they killed the old links instead of linking them to the main page.

Would you be willing to describe your issues (maybe via pm or something)? “They” is actually me and a friend so we can hopefully fix it.

 

[Fast Eddy]

Would you be willing to describe your issues (maybe via pm or something)? “They” is actually me and a friend so we can hopefully fix it.

Slow downloading pics. I'll take a closer look when I'm on an actual computer.

For the links, I had made copies when they were "fj80", then you changed them to "fj80_fzj80_lx450". The old links now get a 404 error, so any links to your products posted on a forum or sent by email or saved, as in my case, no longer work.

 

[Delta VS]

Slow downloading pics. I'll take a closer look when I'm on an actual computer.

For the links, I had made copies when they were "fj80", then you changed then to "fj80_fzj80_lx450", and the old links now get a 404 error, so any links to your products posted on a forum or sent by email or saved as in my case no longer work.

Awesome, thank you. The pics being slow to load is because I didn’t resize them before uploading, I am slowly going through that process now, so it should get better over time. As for the links, they changed a couple times since the software does that automatically when editing the title of the page, also didn’t realize that. They should be solid now though, since naming conventions have been finalized. Sorry for the inconvenience and thanks for your patience!

 

[Fast Eddy]

Sorry for the inconvenience and thanks for your patience!

No issues. Just trying to get a discount code help out.