Slee 4inch, Slinky/Icon kit, maybe a little of both????

[the stig]

Alright, I know these questions get old , but I have searched to the best of my ability and wasn't able to find a clear answer. Right now I am trying to decide between the Slee 4inch, and a hybrid of that and the slinky kit.

I am drawn to the slee kit because it has everything, DC shaft, brake lines, etc etc. I also like the castor correction plates. I have read that the CC bushings don't always hold up the greatest. But.....

I am also drawn to the Slinky kit (75mm intermediate maybe?) because I like what I've read about the springs.

So logically the next question is this: Would the Slee 4inch kit work well if you swapped out the springs and shocks for the slinky/icons? The first concern I can think of would be the Castor correction plates. They are made for 4inch kits, and using it on a 3inch kit would have more castor, but is that a bad thing?

Anyway, any insight would be helpful. Again, I have searched, but I could use a little more guidance from the Mud suspension gods

 

[ajax1]

Yes I think you'd be fine mixing things you could just buy the slinky kit and more then likely all you'd need is brake lines sway bar drops, and castor plates , I've done basically same thing but run js springs with Slee parts mixed in, I would def do castor plates if I were you, I do not run a cv shaft up front but could use it , I just listen to it make noise

 

[Tapage]

I don'd see a problem running your coils / shocks of preference .. and about caster, not a big deal if you get a little to much ( more than factory ) caster .. hard to tell before all in ( suspension parts ) and measure it by and alignment shop coz height ( which affect caster ) can vary from Cruiser to Cruiser due several conditions ..

 

[the stig]

I don'd see a problem running your coils / shocks of preference .. and about caster, not a big deal if you get a little to much ( more than factory ) caster .. hard to tell before all in ( suspension parts ) and measure it by and alignment shop coz height ( which affect caster ) can vary from Cruiser to Cruiser due several conditions ..

I figured as much. I am familiar with castor and how it works pertaining to race cars, but wasn't sure if there any negative aspects on our cruisers (weakening of mounts somewhere due to stress, etc)

I am still kind of tempted to get the 4inch Slee kit and be done with it. I tend to overthink things sometimes. And I have a feeling that piecing it together between the two kits will get expensive. Maybe not though.

 

[FromTjtoLC]

I have slees kit and it works perfectly. It was a no brainier for me as all the hard parts, geometry, was already addressed.

 

[GW Nugget]

I say stay at or below the 3" threshold... going from 3" to 4" is where the vibs & money starts. If you want a 4" lift it can be achieved via 3" suspension & 1 " body lift.
I do agree with the looks & room for bigger tires etc... but 4" can be obtained much cheaper & less by doing ab 3"+1". My rig is is just that... currently a 2.5"+1" but soon will have a 3"+1". I'm also running 37s.

 

[the stig]

I have slees kit and it works perfectly. It was a no brainier for me as all the hard parts, geometry, was already addressed.

How is the ride? I am running stock weight, no bumpers, rack, etc., but plan on it in the future. With no weight, am I going to be sitting higher than 4 inches? And is the ride gonna be harsh with no weight?

What are you running as far as extra weight and how is the ride?

 

[the stig]

I say stay at or below the 3" threshold... going from 3" to 4" is where the vibs & money starts. If you want a 4" lift it can be achieved via 3" suspension & 1 " body lift.
I do agree with the looks & room for bigger tires etc... but 4" can be obtained much cheap by doing ab 3"+1". My rig is is just that... currently a 2.5"+1" but soon will have a 3"+1".

So you're saying to do the slinky kit with Slee stuff added?

And doesn't the Slee 4inch kit address most of the concerns of going to 4inch? It has a DC shaft included, caster plates, brake lines, drop brackets, etc.

 

[Corbet]

Your fine with the Slee caster plates and 3" of lift. I've been running that way for years. At 3" you will notice an improvement with adjustable panards.

From what I've gathered on the slinky coils is that the spring rate is for a medium weight truck. The Slee Spring can handle something heavier. I'd base your decision on how fat your rig is. Talk with both vendors, Slee/Icon then make a decision.

Personally I'll be going Slee Springs when funds allow. My pig is at full capacity.

 

[the stig]

Your fine with the Slee caster plates and 3" of lift. I've been running that way for years. At 3" you will notice an improvement with adjustable panards.

From what I've gathered on the slinky coils is that the spring rate is for a medium weight truck. The Slee Spring can handle something heavier. I'd base your decision on how fat your rig is. Talk with both vendors both Slee/Icon then make a decision.

Personally I'll be going Slee Spring swhen funds allow. My pig is at full capacity.

Right now I am unweighted. I plan on bumpers, sliders, rack, and possibly a sleeping platform, but that will be later when funds are available.

The slinky kits have different kits depending on how heavy you run, and the intermediate kit I am looking at handles up to 600lbs more than stock. They have a heavy kit too.

You might read up some on the slinky stuff, you might like what you see.

 

[Corbet]

You might read up some on the slinky stuff, you might like what you see.

I have and like what I see. Believe it was Dylan from Icon who posted on the spring weights. 600lbs extra is nothing when you start armoring an 80. I don't recall the heavy rating but it was not enough for me.

 

[GW Nugget]

So you're saying to do the slinky kit with Slee stuff added?

And doesn't the Slee 4inch kit address most of the concerns of going to 4inch? It has a DC shaft included, caster plates, brake lines, drop brackets, etc.

There is nothing wrong with a 4" Slee.
I'm just saying a 3" lift most likely won't need a DC shaft, adjustable control arms etc... Just saying a 3" will be less money.
I'm not telling you what 3" lift to purchase.

 

[FromTjtoLC]

How is the ride? I am running stock weight, no bumpers, rack, etc., but plan on it in the future. With no weight, am I going to be sitting higher than 4 inches? And is the ride gonna be harsh with no weight?

What are you running as far as extra weight and how is the ride?

Ride is fine. You can tell a difference when I stuff the whole family in there but it's not super stiff when unloaded. All I have right now really is an arb and a winch. Just added full rack and I didn't really notice a difference. Maybe because it's spread out. But...... Like I said previous, I did it and was done. No chasing vibes, no castor issues. All the thinking was done.

 

[LINUS]

I'm on a Slee 4" - how about buy the Icon & springs, then grab the Slee parts you really need ala' carte.

Then you even could pick what exact caster plates you want, lengthening the rear lower arms vs. shortening the uppers, etc - at least from the Landtank parts if he's still vendoring them (IIRC through Joey now).

 

[NLXTACY]

I'm on a Slee 4" - how about buy the Icon & springs, then grab the Slee parts you really need ala' carte.

Then you even could pick what exact caster plates you want, lengthening the rear lower arms vs. shortening the uppers, etc - at least from the Landtank parts if he's still vendoring them (IIRC through Joey now).

Yup. New LCAs.

 

[Box Rocket]

Your fine with the Slee caster plates and 3" of lift. I've been running that way for years. At 3" you will notice an improvement with adjustable panards.

From what I've gathered on the slinky coils is that the spring rate is for a medium weight truck. The Slee Spring can handle something heavier. I'd base your decision on how fat your rig is. Talk with both vendors, Slee/Icon then make a decision.

Personally I'll be going Slee Springs when funds allow. My pig is at full capacity.

Actually the Slinkys are capable of handling a heavy built truck just fine. There are intermediate, and heavy rate Slinky coils as well as an extra heavy (actually same spring rate as the heavy but 1" taller free height).

My 80 is on the heavy side for sure and I'm using the 75mm heavy Slinkys and they are excellent and the dual rate coil makes for a nice ride.

I'm not criticizing the Slee kits, they are good complete kits.

The Slinky kits are also pretty complete but won't include a DC shaft. But will include sway bar drops, bump stop extensions, brake lines, caster correction along with the other obvious parts.

But to answer the original question, there shouldn't be any problem in mixing some of the parts like the caster correction. I already had adjustable panhards, Slee caster plates and longer brake lines when I switched to the Slinkys so I know that those particular parts can be substituted if you really want to but I see no reason to. If you need to purchase those parts anyway, there is no reason why you'd need to source pieces from elsewhere if you're looking at a Slinky kit. The caster bushings work well but if your preference is for caster plates, that's up to you and something else can be used.

In terms of mixing and matching the key components of coils and shocks, in most cases I don't agree with breaking up "kits" that are designed to function together. I believe the Slee kits are developed to have the best performance from Slee shocks paired with Slee coils. The same goes for the Slinkys. The ICON shocks in the Slinky kits are tuned to work with the Slinky coils. In my opinion after driving/riding in a number of 80s with a variety of setups, the Slinky kits are without question the best riding, best performing suspension kits (using factory coil buckets and links) that I've ever experienced. I know the question posed here is not necessarily about mixing and matching coils and shocks but I've seen it brought up a number of times. I know some people like to do that but it's something that doesn't make sense to me in most cases.

Other bits can be mixed in if you need to.

 

[9780LC]

Slee's 4" lift kit was being sold way before Slee's shocks. Slee's lift was engineered to work with OME shocks. That being said, Icon shocks work great with the Slee 4" lift. Like someone mentioned above, go over a 3" lift and prepare to pay dearly if you want a perfect ride....fixing vibes, spring bucket noises and caster issues Some luck out and bolt a ton of stuff on and it works the first time. This was not the case for me. I chased many issues until I was satisfied.

If you buy the Slee 4" lift kit, i highly recommend buying Slee's front control arms to go with it instead of the castor correction plates. The plates did not provide enough caster correction for me.

 

[richardlillard1]

I've run 5" of lift (J springs all around and front spacers) with the stock drive shafts, currently on 850J/863 and on the stock drive shafts. Why waste the money?

According to some, the radius arms I run screwed with the pinion angle so I should have a bunch of issues, but the only issues I have come from the tires getting trashed in rocks and not staying balanced.

A capable lift can be done for much less money than any of the options mentioned here so far, would ride just fine (it's a lifted rig anyway, what are you after?), and would need far less of the components offered from most high-end kits.

Then again, it wouldn't have the cool factor or be en vogue, it would just work, leaving the rest of the rig's abilities to the driver and his seat time. But again:

 

[richardlillard1]

Why does everyone want to lengthen the lower arms? When I put 37s on, guess where I rubbed? The back of the wheel well.

Hmm...

 

[dogfishlake]

My lift is for the most part, like a Slee 4". It is a Frankies Off Road 1st generation (I have castor plates, adjustable panhards, DC shafts, bump stop and sway bar drops). The springs are a lot like Slee 4" (they may even be, i'm just not sure). I am currently working on a set up like you are talking about. Slinky coils and ICON shocks. Still trying to figure out which but I think the two will work together well. I could just do the shorter ICON shocks (26.5" extended) and be done with it, but the slinkys have so much more travel and the ride should be better. I would love to do the longer ICON shocks and swap springs later, but I risk losing a spring as my springs now just loosen up at full extension with OME L shocks and the ICON long shocks are 1.5" longer.
So anyway, to respond to your original post, I think the mix is a good idea.