80 shock thread - familiar territory could use update (1 Viewer)

[Budvar]

loving my 80 after 10 years of ownership think its time for a suspension upgrade and looking for some advice. Currently on stock springs and shocks, 33s, stock bumpers, no winch, no swing out spare. I like the stock ride but Im sure id benefit from a refresh. Things get interesting when loading up for vacations: 4 passengers a week of camping gear...so compressed in the rear I can barely get my foot on the rear tire to use it as a step to load the roof top cargo carrier. Then hours of dirt road with washboard, I have to slow way down. The trip home isnt as bad once the beer kegs are empty! Also, drive lots of dune in the summer which gets too bouncy for my passengers.
Im thinking OME springs, 2” lift. Not too stiff for DD but enough to regain some rear height when loaded. I dont mind spending a couple grand or a little more if I can hum along those washboards and woopty-doos with some speed.

 

[Box Rocket]

loving my 80 after 10 years of ownership think its time for a suspension upgrade and looking for some advice. Currently on stock springs and shocks, 33s, stock bumpers, no winch, no swing out spare. I like the stock ride but Im sure id benefit from a refresh. Things get interesting when loading up for vacations: 4 passengers a week of camping gear...so compressed in the rear I can barely get my foot on the rear tire to use it as a step to load the roof top cargo carrier. Then hours of dirt road with washboard, I have to slow way down. The trip home isnt as bad once the beer kegs are empty! Also, drive lots of dune in the summer which gets too bouncy for my passengers.
Im thinking OME springs, 2” lift. Not too stiff for DD but enough to regain some rear height when loaded. I dont mind spending a couple grand or a little more if I can hum along those washboards and woopty-doos with some speed.

The OME coils will work but the OME shocks will be stiffer so your ride is going to feel more firm with that setup. I would suggest looking at a Slinky Intermediate lift. There is a 50mm (2") lift and a 75mm (3") available. The intermediate rate Slinky coils would be good for your lightweight truck. The Slinky stage1 shocks are much better than the OME ones.

Its a rare thing for the Slinky kits to be in stock and available but I think Mill Creek Overland has some in stock right now. So if you hustle you should be able to get one.

FWIW, I ran a variety of OME setups on my 80 for more than 15 years before switching to a Slinky kit. It's a night and day difference and washboard roads will be a much nicer experience.

 

[Budvar]

The OME coils will work but the OME shocks will be stiffer so your ride is going to feel more firm with that setup. I would suggest looking at a Slinky Intermediate lift. There is a 50mm (2") lift and a 75mm (3") available. The intermediate rate Slinky coils would be good for your lightweight truck. The Slinky stage1 shocks are much better than the OME ones.

Its a rare thing for the Slinky kits to be in stock and available but I think Mill Creek Overland has some in stock right now. So if you hustle you should be able to get one.

FWIW, I ran a variety of OME setups on my 80 for more than 15 years before switching to a Slinky kit. It's a night and day difference and washboard roads will be a much nicer experience.

Box Rocket- thanks for the suggestion. I called Mill Creek Overland and found they only have a few of the fronts in 50mm, it doesn't sound like they'll be carrying the 50mm intermediate kits moving forward. They do have the 75mm kits, but the additional lift is a deal breaker for me. In one case, user Kolasin, got 3.5" front and 4.0" rear lift with the 75mm intermediate kit when lightly loaded (see March 18, 2021 80 series slinky/icon long travel suspension officially coming to the usa thread). I'm looking to go 0" to 2.5" max lightly loaded/unbuilt. But not squat as much as I do now when occasionally fully loaded even with zero load you can (see in the attached) I don't have a ton of clearance

 

[Corbet]

You're asking a whole lot out of a rear spring to offer you consistent ride height when empty and when fully loaded. Going to have to compromise somewhere.

 

[SHREG]

Have Radflo on order.... giddy....

This has been a great thread BTW...

 

[Box Rocket]

Box Rocket- thanks for the suggestion. I called Mill Creek Overland and found they only have a few of the fronts in 50mm, it doesn't sound like they'll be carrying the 50mm intermediate kits moving forward. They do have the 75mm kits, but the additional lift is a deal breaker for me. In one case, user Kolasin, got 3.5" front and 4.0" rear lift with the 75mm intermediate kit when lightly loaded (see March 18, 2021 80 series slinky/icon long travel suspension officially coming to the usa thread). I'm looking to go 0" to 2.5" max lightly loaded/unbuilt. But not squat as much as I do now when occasionally fully loaded even with zero load you can (see in the attached) I don't have a ton of clearance

View attachment 2657056

Yeah if you want a maximum of 2" of lift the 75mm slinky coils will be too much. Like @Corbet said, you'll need to compromise somewhere. If you want a particular ride height when fully loaded, it will be higher when unloaded. The only way you're going to get a consistent ride height loaded and unloaded is with a really stiff spring that will ride horribly. As for Mill Creek getting more 50mm coils. That's extremely unlikely from what I've heard. Once they sell through the Slinky inventory they have currently, that's probably it for them.

I think if I were you, and based on what you're trying to achieve, I'd just look at running a 2" coil spacer and leave the rest of the suspension alone. You'll still have some sag when loaded because you're not changing the spring rate but you'll gain some clearance. The other solution would be to run an "inside-the-coil" airbag to increase the spring rate when loaded to control the sag. So a spacer with a rear airbag setup is probably the best solution to achieve what you want.

 

[Corbet]

Air bags or error on the side of stiff coils. Better to have better control over the heavy load and stiff when empty.

 

[Budvar]

Air bags or error on the side of stiff coils. Better to have better control over the heavy load and stiff when empty.

Airbags may be the ticket, but hear me out: I've scanned the 80 series tech suspension sticky, I haven't done the math, but Dobinson progressive springs (C59-220V, C59-269) might be a good compromise for me. These are for a modest 1.75" lift on a light rig (meets my lift req') like I usually run. Similar initial spring rate as stock, so they should allow me similar road manners as stock when lightly loaded if I'm understanding this correctly, or better manners if paired with the right shock. These springs progress to a +/- 250lb/in rate so as I begin loading the vehicle for camping and compress down to that bonus 1.75" position (to where I'm riding now unloaded as pictured above ) and compare spring rate versus stock at that position, I'll be much higher with the already-significantly-compressed progressive springs and have an accompanying- much lower deflection per added pound of gear. And with this lower deflection I should be able to resume using my rear wheel as a step up to access my roof!

 

[Budvar]

You're asking a whole lot out of a rear spring to offer you consistent ride height when empty and when fully loaded. Going to have to compromise somewhere.

Im not asking for consistent ride height between “unloaded” and “loaded”. Actually, when unloaded I’d like to be even or up to an inch higher in the rear. lift of 0” to 2.5” from where Im sitting now.

When loaded for camping I accept accompanying sag in the rear, its just sagging too much now, when loaded I blow through much of my travel before putting her in drive.

 

[Box Rocket]

Airbags may be the ticket, but hear me out: I've scanned the 80 series tech suspension sticky, I haven't done the math, but Dobinson progressive springs (C59-220V, C59-269) might be a good compromise for me. These are for a modest 1.75" lift on a light rig (meets my lift req') like I usually run. Similar initial spring rate as stock, so they should allow me similar road manners as stock when lightly loaded if I'm understanding this correctly, or better manners if paired with the right shock. These springs progress to a +/- 250lb/in rate so as I begin loading the vehicle for camping and compress down to that bonus 1.75" position (to where I'm riding now unloaded as pictured above ) and compare spring rate versus stock at that position, I'll be much higher with the already-significantly-compressed progressive springs and have an accompanying- much lower deflection per added pound of gear. And with this lower deflection I should be able to resume using my rear wheel as a step up to access my roof!

Not a bad solution. But the dual rate coils only have a very small amount of travel in the lighter rate portion of the coil while driving on the road in most conditions. You will use up the small amount of light spring rate a lot so you should plan on a bit firmer ride overall that what you have on the stock coils.

 

[Nay]

Im not asking for consistent ride height between “unloaded” and “loaded”. Actually, when unloaded I’d like to be even or up to an inch higher in the rear. lift of 0” to 2.5” from where Im sitting now.

When loaded for camping I accept accompanying sag in the rear, its just sagging too much now, when loaded I blow through much of my travel before putting her in drive.

Take a look at the Ironman Foam Cell Pro Stage 1 kit. The shocks are heavy duty (they weigh over 13 lbs each) and ride extremely well onroad and are especially good on washboard and rough roads. 25% off sale right now, this is a 2” kit.

You really don’t need anything fancy for a basic 2” lift - the shocks will be by far the biggest factor. I run them on my 80 (5” lift), an ‘04 Sequoia on a 2.5” lift and an ‘04 4Runner on a 2” lift. In each case, they transformed the rig.

Foam Cell Pro 2" Suspension Kit Suited For Toyota 80 Series Land Cruiser/Lexus LX450 - Stage 1

Ironman 4x4 America offers off-road parts, accessories, and equipment for the off-roading enthusiast. Check out our website for more information.

ironman4x4america.com

 

[Budvar]

yes, that Ironman kit was tempting. Thanks everyone for their input. I ended up ordering a Dobinson “1.75” 80 Series lift kit. I selected the variable rate comfort springs for up to 110 lbs in the front and stock weight rear. Shocks have external reservoir and adjustable low speed compression, high speed compression and rebound.

 

[chicagoJay]

yes, that Ironman kit was tempting. Thanks everyone for their input. I ended up ordering a Dobinson “1.75” 80 Series lift kit. I selected the variable rate comfort springs for up to 110 lbs in the front and stock weight rear. Shocks have external reservoir and adjustable low speed compression, high speed compression and rebound.

@Budvar How are you liking this setup so far? I'm looking for something similar. I'm not often loaded up much, and don't expect to be when offroading typically but I do haul stuff in the rig.

 

[Budvar]

I've had the set up and camber correction bushing for over a year and am very happy with it. It raised the front 1.5" and rear 2.0". For general use I've chosen nearly to max out the low speed compression and rebound damping. With this setting, even with the lift and when loaded, the truck feels stable at speed changing lanes on the highway. Once I'm more lightly loaded and off highway I have a different set of settings for rough dirt road that allow for a much higher speed than in the past.