MAF 5" Competition Coil Spring Lift Kit NEED HELP!

[concretejungle]

OK, well since i have started this hijack, i guess i'll continue it...

I now have a combo of OME medium rear and J's up front. Truck sits good, but the ride is like a boat (mind you the shocks could be wearing out as i now have about 100,000 miles on the lift); very soft, which at times is not bad on road, but in curves, high winds, and on the trail it sucks.

I need to call slee and Kurt at cruiser outfitters to find out, but i'm wondering what the height of the slee 4 inch spring is vs. the height of the 5 inch OME comp spring and the slee 6 inch spring (sitting on the shelf). I want to run the longest bilstein shock i can without needing spring retainers (wheeled with Alkaline at Uwharrie and with a bolt out of the front control arm mounts, he was able to flex the front end out enough that we ended up chasing slee 6 inch springs down the trail after they shot out). I don't want to do that.

So, with that said, i'm thinking a combo of either slee 4inch front, OME Comp 5 rear; OR slee 6 inch rear and OME 5 comp up front; OR slee 6/6; can't decide. I have no flares and i do not mind triming the fenders if needed.

or, listen to Nay and call frankie and see what he has also.

 

[FJBen]

Now after viewing FOR's site and Nay's ROTW (nice rig BTW). I like the way your rig is set up with the FOR custom springs and Bilstein shocks combo. I am still planning on adding an ARB bullbar and some sort of sliders/rear bumper for armor regardless which lift kit i get. But im not planning to have too heavy a load so im debating winch or nonwinch cause i will also be taking out my 3rd row seats but i do have 2 x 12" subs with a heavy casing so im thinking a light bumper in the back with no tire mount would fit right. Im hoping FOR can make those custom springs larger to fit the height that i want which would ideally with the armor above be 4-4.5". Wondering what shock length i should goto with Bilsteins cause those seem to be great shocks, leaning towards 14". Im thinking i can just add other pieces after i get this custom kit from FOR thats missing a lot of parts in that of the Slee 4" kit like the DC drive shaft. Might even just go Slee 4" then swap out the OME shocks for 14" travel Bilsteins.

My suggestion would be go to the FAQ's and search members lifts. It will show you height differences/different lifts/weights etc.

If you want the 4" plus range, you have Slee or Old Man Emu to choose from in terms of springs, and at that point, you should just buy the Slee kit or be able to fab some of the parts of the kit.

At 4" plus, you are looking at brakelines(or drop kits) sway bar spacers, caster correction in Landtank or Slee's plates OR his arms, either most likely needing a DC driveshaft, bumpstop spacers buy or fab, adjustable panhards or drop brackets and possibly upper rear adjustable arms.

You can get away without doing some of these, but then usually we'll see a post on here that asks why this vibrates, or why is this wrong shortly there after

Unless you are going 5" or do a bunch of homework, those 14" shocks are going to be a bit of a pain. You have to do custom mounts #1. #2 The rear is the only place you'll see the benefit of flex from longer shocks with the stock setup. You will then at that point unseat your coils pretty good so you'll have to retain them or they'll shoot out. ;p Now your rear will WAAAY out flex the front end. There are options to get the front end to move, but for it to match the rear, you need 3-link IMO...

Here's what I did to run 14" shocks on my old 80. Others have done the some approaches as well to run larger shocks. I would however run the firmest Bilstein (if using the 5100 series) you can find. With the OME springs and Bilstein, it was not an ideal setup in terms of compression/rebound.
RYI

Here's my ROTW: if you want info as well.
ROTW FJBen

 

[Nay]

Now after viewing FOR's site and Nay's ROTW (nice rig BTW). I like the way your rig is set up with the FOR custom springs and Bilstein shocks combo. I am still planning on adding an ARB bullbar and some sort of sliders/rear bumper for armor regardless which lift kit i get. But im not planning to have too heavy a load so im debating winch or nonwinch cause i will also be taking out my 3rd row seats but i do have 2 x 12" subs with a heavy casing so im thinking a light bumper in the back with no tire mount would fit right. Im hoping FOR can make those custom springs larger to fit the height that i want which would ideally with the armor above be 4-4.5". Wondering what shock length i should goto with Bilsteins cause those seem to be great shocks, leaning towards 14". Im thinking i can just add other pieces after i get this custom kit from FOR thats missing a lot of parts in that of the Slee 4" kit like the DC drive shaft. Might even just go Slee 4" then swap out the OME shocks for 14" travel Bilsteins.

I'm curious why you want the extra lift - that seems to be the driver here when what you want is the least amount of lift for your needs. Lift is not a single variable - the higher you go the more you introduce variables that may be undesirable.

The FOR kit (and others) are perfectly set up for 35's. But the biggest thing, IMO, is that what happens on the 80 when you add lift is 35's start looking small. On 4.5" of lift, 37's will look right, and now you are really testing axle strength.

You can put aftermarket bumpers on the FOR kit without losing any material height. My bumpers may be light, but I also wheel with my wife and four kids onboard plus gear.

As for shocks, there is no reason to go long travel. Those pics I posted above are on the regular FOR 9.75" shocks. 80 series suspensions are generally designed with higher spring rates on taller lifts, and the rear coils tend to not be very long. You go 14" shocks and you are just dropping that coil off the tower to no real net benefit.

I'll keep this extremely easy for you:

If you want to keep lift somewhat lower, avoid a couple of cost items associated with the taller lifts, and want your rig to ride extremely well even completely unloaded with only you in the driver's seat while handling passenger, armor, and gear load without a bunch of wallowing, get FOR. What you would typically add to that kit is a rear adjustable panhard.

If you really want that extra inch of lift, then there are no shortcuts and the Slee 4" is exactly what you need out of the box. Those springs are designed around the OME shocks, you'd be wasting your time IMO to swap them out. I'm not a huge fan of OME stuff, but it's already tuned and outside of a set of something like Bilstein 7100's you are unlikely to improve on it.

Here are some pics of my 80 on FOR. The third pics shows it completely unloaded including tools, etc. before I chopped the frame for the bumpers. The other two pics show how much clearance you can get approach and departure on the lower lift.

 

[Nay]

And here is the same pic with a 3K lb trailer on the hitch plus 300 lbs of kids and gear back in the seat (about 600 lbs).

It rides about the same either way, so you aren't trying to solve for spring rate by adding weight.

Second pic is a rear shot of my pics a few posts above, showing the balance in the suspension without going long travel. You can't get the front to move more than the shocks I have without additional modifications, so unleashing the rear flex means you lose front to rear suspension balance.

 

[concretejungle]

Nay, i hear you. I like the FOR kit. I may even call him.

My 80 is finally going from DD to a dedicated "fun" truck. So it's time to get serious with it. I already have a DC shaft sitting on the shelf waiting to be used. I have extended brake lines. I have block ready for the extended bump stops. I have the adjustable panhards ordered from MAF with the spherical end. Wanting to run 37" tires.

I'm deciding between just getting slee's arms, or, flipping the arms and putting them on top, or, just do a 3 link.

Only thing i'm still chasing is the spring choice and associated shock.

 

[Nay]

Nay, i hear you. I like the FOR kit. I may even call him.

My 80 is finally going from DD to a dedicated "fun" truck. So it's time to get serious with it. I already have a DC shaft sitting on the shelf waiting to be used. I have extended brake lines. I have block ready for the extended bump stops. I have the adjustable panhards ordered from MAF with the spherical end. Wanting to run 37" tires.

I'm deciding between just getting slee's arms, or, flipping the arms and putting them on top, or, just do a 3 link.

Only thing i'm still chasing is the spring choice and associated shock.

I could get 37's on my lift. I'd just need to raise the lower shock mounts slightly and drop the bumstops another half inch to maybe an inch to space the travel down. My coils would still stay fully on the tower, and I'd extend the front brakelines as my rear is already dropped with a homebrew bracket.

I'd need new rims or wheel spacers to get the rims out a bit. That pic above of the rear so fully stuffed with all the weight on that side was the first time I just kissed the frame. Didn't even hear it, but 37's would have to be carefully designed to fit.

If you are going big, I'd look at those FOR 4.5" springs with 10" Bilstein 7100's or 10" Fox 2.0, keep the stock arms with caster plates, MAF 4+ panhards, DC's front and rear with adjustable rear uppers (MAF 4+) and then it's gears and axle strength upgrades. Shift axle mount locations to ensure travel stays 50/50 and is bumpstopped down a bit for the 37's. I say stick @ 10" because it is a lot of travel and you don't introduce the issues of all the droop on one side. The 80 needs lockers and big tires and balance way more than it needs monster flex.

I'd love to see how it turns out, not that I need a reason to go 37's beyond those that are staring me in the face

 

[concretejungle]

here is a shot of Alkaline's rig at URE puking a slee 6 inch spring. I can't remember what length shocks he was running, maybe he'll chime in and say.

He was testing the hitch pin mod that day

i'm a believer.

 

[Nay]

Puking a coil isn't an indicator of flex in absolute terms. It is simply the extended length of your coils vs. the extended length of your shock. You take a coil designed for load bearing on an 11" OME shock mounted in the stock position and combine it with a 14" travel shock and you've suddenly added a whole lot of down travel in the suspension. Drop a bolt in the arm and drop the coil.

This is *the* issue in 80 series suspension design. You want the longer coil for opening up flex, but you want the stiffer coil for stability on the tall lift, and you want the longer shock to go with the lift.

What do you give up?

 

[concretejungle]

What do you give up?

my credit card!

 

[FJBen]

You'd really have to be wary of your weight and work with the shocks if you go FOR. Last time I talked he didn't have any 4.5" or plans to do that until the 3" was going good. Of course that could have changed by now.

You have a pretty heavy rig, and nays is just the opposite. On the other hand, Sam has their 80 loaded with FOR and the only thing that they wanted to change from what I gathered was stiffer shocks. Which again, isn't a big deal, but something to plan for.

When I was running the "hitch-pin" and SLee 4" it actually worked pretty well. The shock is maxed (L) but the spring is just slightly loose, not clanging or anything. With the L shocks front rear, it was actually pretty balanced and worked well. I did have extra compression on the shock that was unused...but by spacing that down, all I have gained is a looser spring.

 

[Nay]

my credit card!

Yup . Get some custom coils going like Project Rooby. I pointed to FOR in the idea of having him source the custom coils for you.

 

[Nay]

You'd really have to be wary of your weight and work with the shocks if you go FOR. Last time I talked he didn't have any 4.5" or plans to do that until the 3" was going good. Of course that could have changed by now.

You have a pretty heavy rig, and nays is just the opposite. On the other hand, Sam has their 80 loaded with FOR and the only thing that they wanted to change from what I gathered was stiffer shocks. Which again, isn't a big deal, but something to plan for.

I agree with this - not that you need to be wary of weight because I carry a lot of weight when my whole family is onboard, but that if you are planning to be fully armored with all the goodies plus loaded up storage boxes, i.e. you are never running light, the Slee 4" is going to be pretty ideal, because that is exactly what it was designed for.

I go from relatively light in the sense of it just being me plus my gear/tools/spares and tube bumpers, to pretty loaded up taking all this stuff say to Moab with my family onboard and everything you need for 4-5 days and then wheeling hard with most of that weight since my whole family wheels with me about half the time.

There's really never "better" here, it is designing for your needs within your budget so that the system performs well across your entire intended usage.