Radflo's & OME 866's

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I was told by Slee the 866 springs should look just like yours. I know mine looked just liked that.
After you started this thread and I checked out my shock travel I talked to Radflo and Mike said they can revalve them if needed. I told him I was thinking about swapping out the springs and he said do that first so I put the Slee's heavy sof2rh in today.
I like the way it sits right now if it is still too soft after it's loaded then I'll have the shocks revavled.
It looks like there is about 4" of travel before hitting the rubber cushion on the shock shaft so I would say there is 5" total.
Ken
 
Ok, so you probably had a similar conversation as I did with Christo. You will probably need to extend your bump stops. I will post up what my mechanic determines. It won't be for a week or so..
 
I had the Slee heavy springs installed today. My mechanic cycled the rear suspension and concluded I have two options: 1- purchase some rear shocks that are the correct size or 2 - change the shock mount location which requires welding on new mounts to work with a longer shock.

He said it appears Radflo didn't do all the required R & D for our trucks. He said extending the bump stops is not the right solution. The shock is too long.

This is what another experienced mechanic concluded as well. So, I am planning on contacting Radflo to see what they can do to design the correct rear shock for the 100 Series.
 
the springs should have no affect on whether or not the shock will top out or not. That's disconcerting that the Radflo's top out before the axle hits the bump stops, but I think this is a known issue. It's the tradeoff when getting a longer bodied shock, the shock body is allowing down travel to increase but the highest the axle can travel will be decreased.
 
SanDiegoCruiser said:
I had the Slee heavy springs installed today. My mechanic cycled the rear suspension and concluded I have two options: 1- purchase some rear shocks that are the correct size or 2 - change the shock mount location which requires welding on new mounts to work with a longer shock.

He said it appears Radflo didn't do all the required R & D for our trucks. He said extending the bump stops is not the right solution. The shock is too long.

This is what another experienced mechanic concluded as well. So, I am planning on contacting Radflo to see what they can do to design the correct rear shock for the 100 Series.
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That’s certainly not the results I wanted to read…:confused:


I bought my Radflo’s through Metal Tech and between the two companies it’s hard to believe something like that would get by them. What part number rear shock do you have?


My rear P/N from metal tech is 6ST 00500
Raflo’s P/N on their site is 6SE 00500
I believe these are the same shocks. Radflo’s site lists these as having 16” of travel.

How do you like the way your cruiser sits with the Slee springs?
 
I really like the new Slee Rear springs. Testing it over speed bumps, they feel better than the 866's. I'm not sure what my part #s are. I wonder if the design was changed recently?

I also purchased them through metal tech. You would figure others would have had similar issues..?
 
I guess this is one reason to have a mechanic install stuff and check things out. I put them on myself and have no idea how to measure for proper length. I just took it for granted they would be the right length. It will be interesting to see how it all pans out.
I thing the Slee springs were a good move.
 
I am about to order ARB front, Slee rear with tire and ladder swings and sliders for my 04. But can't decide on the suspension. I am thinking 2.5 heavy duty OME. I wonder if that is the way to go...
 
I spoke with Mike at Radflo today. He is going to do some research, talk to his engineers, and other industry experts to determine the best solution. He is willing to work with us, so I am confident that we will have a soluton soon.
 
SanDiegoCruiser said:
I spoke with Mike at Radflo today. He is going to do some research, talk to his engineers, and other industry experts to determine the best solution. He is willing to work with us, so I am confident that we will have a soluton soon.
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I believe that Radflo has a 100 series outfitted with their own shocks...they did not cycle the suspension to see what happened?
 
SanDiegoCruiser said:
I spoke with Mike at Radflo today. He is going to do some research, talk to his engineers, and other industry experts to determine the best solution. He is willing to work with us, so I am confident that we will have a soluton soon.
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Awesome SD Crusier!

I'm pretty close to them if they need to see a 100 for anything.
 
SanDiegoCruiser said:
I spoke with Mike at Radflo today. He is going to do some research, talk to his engineers, and other industry experts to determine the best solution. He is willing to work with us, so I am confident that we will have a soluton soon.
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I don't see where you stated so sorry if I missed it but: What frame mounted compression bump stops are you using? Some LC's seem to come with frame mounted rubber bump stops and some, like mine, came with nothing. I wonder if the compression stops are different for each 100/470? This might explain the moving target (or not) from Radflo, et al.

Going to 74L's, for example, required increasing the height of the OEM frame mounted bump stops...assuming the rig came with them.
 
There a lot of variables that could be causing this like Dan noted, Bumpstops, etc. I know one of the vendors that sells the Radflo shocks made changes to the hose length and fittings on the remote res shocks and then sent them out to me without ever verifying if it works. As soon as Radflo heard of any issues the stepped up IMMEDIATELY and took care of me where as the vendor I bought them from didnt even hint at making things right until after several back and forth conversations trying to make it work.

I do know I have never experienced the feeling of bottoming out in the rear with these shocks like I did with my OME set-up. But, I have also been running Timbren Bumps so....
 
Radflo is going to make a new shock with custom specs.. More to come.
 
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w/ a 2.5" lift and longer shocks, you still have the same length of compression plus you add some down travel for a net gain.

You are essentially shifting the midpoint of the travel down 2" which would be ideal since you have 2" lift springs.
 
We will see what they come up with, but it will essentially be a shorter shock that does not require bump stops. Chris, since you have a body lift, the new shorter shocks probably would not work.
 
SanDiegoCruiser said:
We will see what they come up with, but it will essentially be a shorter shock that does not require bump stops. Chris, since you have a body lift, the new shorter shocks probably would not work.
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Why does the body lift effect it?

Do you have the compressed and extended lengths of the original Radflo shocks and for the new version?
 
correct spec will just mean it has the same compressed and extended measurements as the stock shock. The ones they are selling have about a 2" longer compressed length but about an additional 2" of travel. Thus, you have to lower your rear bumps to keep the shocks from topping out, but you gain additional down travel. But like I said in the earlier post, even with lowered bumps and a longer compressed length, the amount of up travel should be the same as stock since you have a 2" lift. I can understand you not wanting to mess with lowered bumps and that you ordered without them telling you needed them.
 
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