FOR 2.5" cut down lift

[landtank]

I had a chance to cut down some FOR springs for a 2.5" lift.

I started by taking my loaded Grey truck on his full 3.5" lift nad put some extra weight in the back. The idea was to similate a situation that I will be doing with the CE truck.

It came apparent that my efforts could have been shortened to just cutting off 1" of height on the springs.

To do this acurately I used a cloth tape measure. I then calculated the circumference distance to remove 1" from the height.

For the front springs that distance was 28" and the rear was 30". So I placed the end of the tape with the end of the spring and just wrapped it around the outside of the spring and marked that spring appropriately.

The unsprung length of the front spring was around 19.75" and the rear around 19". Both these ended up being almost identical to the stock lengths.

The final H/F measurements were front 22" rear 23.25". That was measured with the truck facing down a slight grade. I'm going to load up the rear to see if removing another .25" might level it out better.

The pictures are with stock tires and I have some 285/75R16s waiting to go on and will post a pic of them afterward,

Also I used 3* rubber bushings for caster correction. At this height caster should be fine.

 

[firetruck41]

Was this just a cheap way to do it, because you already had the springs, or was there some other reason that you choose to use those and cut them down?

 

[UCBerzerkeley]

man, I love those lowered chevy blazers with miniature tires

seriously though, i am sure that will fit the long distance / expedition niche perfectly with a friendlier rock'n'roll than the OME

 

[landtank]

Was this just a cheap way to do it, because you already had the springs, or was there some other reason that you choose to use those and cut them down?

I wanted a 2.5" lift for this truck and didn't want to go with the OME stuff. After putting on FOR springs in my other truck and seeing how you could cut them down with no loss of ride quality or load carrying ability it seemed like the ideal solution.

 

[Tuite]

Are you using the FOR Bilsteins with these springs?

 

[Bomar]

Landtank = innovation


Great job!

Keep it up.

 

[landtank]

Are you using the FOR Bilsteins with these springs?

I want to. I've sent FOR the compressed and extended measurements for sizing.

 

[desmocruiser]

Landtank

Looking forward to the results. I would like do the same for another truck that I am modding and have just a few questions:

How much of the lift will you loose after you cut the spring down and decide to add bumpers, winch etc down the road? How much will weight impact the cut spring?

Will this lift have different shocks than FOR's 3.5 set up? Meaning if I decide to go bigger later can I just change the springs?

How do you feel these cut down springs would work with OME LTR's?

Do you think OME bushings will be enough caster adjustment?

Thanks in advance for any answers you can provide.

 

[landtank]

Landtank

Looking forward to the results. I would like do the same for another truck that I am modding and have just a few questions:

How much of the lift will you loose after you cut the spring down and decide to add bumpers, winch etc down the road? How much will weight impact the cut spring?

Will this lift have different shocks than FOR's 3.5 set up? Meaning if I decide to go bigger later can I just change the springs?

How do you feel these cut down springs would work with OME LTR's?

Do you think OME bushings will be enough caster adjustment?

Thanks in advance for any answers you can provide.

I measured my other truck fully weighted with bumpers and such and three large cinder blocks in the rear. From that I chose to cut 1" off. It seems that the front springs change less with weight than the rear and that's why the truck sits higher in the rear. I'm going to throw some weight in the back of it and see how the springs take to it.

I talked with Frankie today and it seems the current shocks are still the best choice but the front ones won't capture the springs on full droop. The likely hood of that is slight unless you jump your truck regularly. Putting together a strap setup on the front might be a good idea.

I used some rubber aussie 3* bushings and would do the same or use Slee's blues. The OME bushings will leave you short in caster.

Right now the cut down springs are the same length as the stock ones unsprung. So the stock shocks should still work ok with this. I'm not sure how it will ride though.

I don't know how the OME shocks would work.

 

[desmocruiser]

Thank you very much.

Keep us posted!

 

[sleeoffroad]

Rick, I have a question about cutting the coils. From the last pictures I saw of the FOR springs, the top coils are not touching each other when not installed, but they do when it is installed. So they are only "dead" coils in loaded and compressed state, but when the axle droops they become active. It was said in other threads that this part helps the spring stay seated which is 100% correct, but somewhere it was also stated that this is the part that makes the FOR springs ride so soft.

Since you cut some of this off, does it not change the behavior of the spring? I know that cutting dead coils off will not change the spring behavior, but I always assumed, and might be wrong, that it was dead coils when the are wound to touch each other before loading the springs.

Any coil that is not touching each other is not dead to begin with, but deadens when it compresses to touch. When this happens, the spring rate increases on the spring.

Just to be clear, not saying this is not a good idea or anything like that, I am just asking on the issue of cutting the coil and changing nothing in the behavior of the coil.

 

[landtank]

I don't know Christo and am not sure how to tell. The front and rear coils are wound differently in that area.

I can check their state when I get home as comparing a heavily weighted truck verses a stock truck but I'm not sure how that will help.

I want to do some measurements with added weight to confirm that I am were I want to be. Right now it's a little high in the back but there is a aux tank heading my way so that might be a good thing.

 

[akarilo]

Cool; plus I don't like when my threads fall off of page 1. In case you feel the same,

TTT

 

[elysium]

LT,

Any more updates on the cut-down lift? Did you have to get special shocks from Frankie or did the standard ones from Frankie's kit work?

 

[landtank]

LT,

Any more updates on the cut-down lift? Did you have to get special shocks from Frankie or did the standard ones from Frankie's kit work?

only update is that the 33" tires are on it. I've had other things come up and haven't got back to it.

 

[jlm43]

Rick, thanks for your help. Bump for an old thread that is a common question with a different solution than OME. Any chance to see some pics of the 2.5" with the 285's on it? The stockers are definately small and I would like to see how the 285's fill up the wheel wells.
J