Slee's 4" lift (1 Viewer)

[landtank]

Last weekend I installed Slee's 4" lift. What I had was OME 850s up in the front with 1" Mr. gasket spacers and CC bushings and OME 863s in the rear.

My truck is a 96 on 315s with an ARB front bumper and MM 12k Hydraulic (100lbs) and a Kaymar deluxe rear bumper with a single tire carrier and Slee's sliders on it as well.


With the old suspension there was some wondering and wallowing as I drove down the road. In a windy situation the truck would get blown around some and rutted roads were a little tricky.

What I installed was springs (front and rear), shocks (front and rear) and sway bar drops (front and rear).


First the rears:

Nothing notable here. The springs dropped right in and the shocks (N74Ls) fit nicely. What I was looking for is with the truck on stands and the axle at full drop (at the extension limits of the shocks) the spring to be seated on the perch but not with alot of force. That is exactly what I got! In fact you could rotate the spring on the perch by hand but there wasn't any looseness or play with the spring on the perch.


Next the fronts:

Well, not exactly what I wanted here. After installing the springs and shocks (N73Ls) there was a whole lot of play going on with the axle dropped at it's limits. Attached is a couple of pics of what I was seeing.

 

[landtank]

This was way more play than what I wanted so I called Christo. We talked for a bit and he offered to swap them out for the shorter N73s. I accepted and they arrived today. I installed the N73s and in a word I'd say they are a perfect fit for these springs. Same condition as the rears. At full extension the spring is captured on the perch but can be turned by hand if you wanted to.

After the lift was done the hub to front flare is 22.5" and the rear hub to flare is 24". The truck has a slight nose down attitude but it's empty and with gear and pulling a trailer I think it will trim out nicely.

Here a some pics of the truck

 

[-uhuru-]

Rick,

was your panhard rod attached?

were the sway bars diconnected?

I run the same kit and have often wondered that ... the only solution I can think of is installing limiting straps ... but then you wouldn´t be getting your front axle's maximum droop I guess...

I think you ment Slee's 6 inch coils right?

 

[clownmidget]

You can't argue with customer service like that.

Truck looks good

Did you consider/discuss spring retainers for the bottom of the front springs?

 

[landtank]

I've had a chance to take the truck and get the alignment checked and the numbers where pretty much what I expected.

Left front right front

Camber 0.1* 0.1*
Caster -1.8* -1.6*
Toe -0.03in -0.06in
total toe -0.08in
steer ahead 0.03*



Steer ahead is the only value that got a green (acceptable) rating, but that's to be expected.


Now I was planning on having a truck that was near undriveable as I lifted it and replacesd the CC bushings with stock bushings. Funny thing is that is not he case at all. This thing drives fantastic!! Tracks straight, no wandering and corners excellent. All I can think of is that the old spring's softer spring rate was a little overwhelmed by the additional weight of the accessories. If you're building an expedition type trcuk as I am I'd highly recommend these springs over just throwing some shims or such on whatever OME spring you have now, the difference is amazing.

 

[YngTLCOwner]

Rick,
Just curious to know if you regeared for the 315s or are you still running stock gears?

Your truck looks great!

 

[Cruisin'Carolina]

Chat:

Nice Rig!!!

Tech: Good customer service. I'll def buy my springs from Christo, prob in the 2.5" variety for my 285s

Again, nice truck.

 

[cruiserdan]

Is the measurement center of hub to bottom of flare?

 

[cruiserdan]

Rick,
Just curious to know if you regeared for the 315s or are you still running stock gears?

Your truck looks great!

He has had 4.88 gears for some time now.

 

[YngTLCOwner]

Thanks Dan!

 

[landtank]

Did you consider/discuss spring retainers for the bottom of the front springs?

Yes we did. I personally don't see much value in unsprung flex, not much traction on that wheel. Also not having the axle free floating helps add a little ballast to that side of the truck, Christo mentioned capturing both the top and the bottom of the springs but that seems to me to be doing the same thing as the shorter shock. with the shorter shock at full extention the axle is help in place rather nicely.

 

[landtank]

Is the measurement center of hub to bottom of flare?

yes, center of the hub to the bottom of the flare.

 

[landtank]

One other thing, at this point in the game I see no reason to move/adjust the panhard rods. Maybe down the line after the caster gets corrected and some more drive time but right now the truck has NO vibrations and tracks wonderfully.

And I also have Slee's double cardon front shaft with a stock rear one.

 

[sleeoffroad]

Here is a picture of the front bottom retainers on the ShortBus. We talked about doing it, but for the wheeling that Rick does, the option of the N73's was better. For hardcore wheeler that want the maximum articulation I would suggest go for the longer shock and retain the spring top and bottom.

I did not take pictures of the top since I made a bracket that comes off the adjustable spacers that I run. So for most people that option would not work.

I have found that by running a shock that allows way more articulation that the spring allows and having negative spring tension (by clamping the spring both side) it has made the truck way more stable and also stops the truck from unloading unexpectedly when climbing obstacles.

 

[concretejungle]

Interesting Rick. Thanks for sharing.

This makes me curious though. . . . when i put the mr. gasket spacers in, i barely had enough room with the front axle at full droop to stuff them in there (that's with the medium OME spring). You have a 4 inch spring and seem to have much more droop and space between the perch and the spring. Seems like with a taller spring like you have, there shouldn't be any space between the perch and the spring. What gives?

 

[sleeoffroad]

That is the reason why free-height does not mean anything when looking at springs. The spring rate on those are stiffer than OME so they handle the extra weight better and do not compress as much when loaded.

 

[landtank]

I think you ment Slee's 6 inch coils right?

Nope, these are his 4" coils. Way early on I had concluded that my perfect lift would be a 4" one. And after many years of want Christo came through .

 

[sleeoffroad]

Here is another picture. It is essentially a piece of flat stock, bent to a 90 degree and welded in. When installing the spring, the pigtail of the spring is wound through it and then seated.

 

[landtank]

Interesting Rick. Thanks for sharing.

This makes me curious though. . . . when i put the mr. gasket spacers in, i barely had enough room with the front axle at full droop to stuff them in there (that's with the medium OME spring). You have a 4 inch spring and seem to have much more droop and space between the perch and the spring. Seems like with a taller spring like you have, there shouldn't be any space between the perch and the spring. What gives?

The front 4" spring is exactly the same unloaded height as the OME 850. As Christo said it's about spring rate that gives the different loaded heights. And that is one reason I went ahead with the shock swap as I thought that I'd get the results I was looking for since the N73s were disigned for the 850.

 

[concretejungle]

Ahh, gotcha. Thanks.