Stock LC springs on LX with AHC??

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DallasCrzr

DallasCrzr

Joined
Jan 3, 2011
Threads
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Location
Dallas
My slee rear bumper and tire carrier should be coming in hopefully by Friday. With my car being a '99 with 121K I figure the AHC could possibly be toward the end of its service life. Maybe not but either way I want to help it as much as I can until I rip it out and put a lift on it.

With the bumper, carrier, and KM2 hanging off the back I feel like I could probably put the stock LC springs in place of the weak LX ones to carry the extra weight of the bumper instead of just making AHC work harder. Anybody have any thoughts on this? Are AHC and stock LC springs the same length uncompressed?
 
Is this just a really stupid question or just an untried solution to save AHC?
 
Install non-AHC springs, adjust AHC sensor to get AHC pressure within spec. Measure lift. Adjust front t-bars and AHC sensor (for height and correct pressure).
 
Good question

That is not a stupid question; it actually *should* work just fine if you have added enough weight. I have not seen that anyone has tried it yet though.

I'm not sure how much stronger the 'standard' coils are than the AHC coils but if you add the difference worth of extra load then the system should perform the same. I.e. if LC coils add 300lbs capacity and your bumper etc weighs 300lbs then AHC would see no difference to stock == all good.

Worst case is that LC coils add 800lbs capacity (or something like that), your bumper+ only weighs 300lbs so the AHC is completely unloaded. Then the shocks would not see enough load to operate correctly and you may get a hard ride. Of course if that happened you could fix the problem by adding a fridge, side steps, and roof rack. :)

j
 
jOnathN said:
That is not a stupid question; it actually *should* work just fine if you have added enough weight. I have not seen that anyone has tried it yet though.
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Here is some more info on this subject https://forum.ih8mud.com/100-series-cruisers/137234-ome-springs-ahc.html
while this seems to work ok for carrying heavier loads, I doubt that the car will be able to lower to LO with stiffer, non-AHC springs ....

I also think that I read somewhere that you can get the dealer to increase the weight carrying capacity of the AHC set up (-no, not by Tbar adjustments) -I am confident I read this -but can't seem to get the info -will post as soon as I locate it .... :bang:

Good luck and please post your results :grinpimp:
 
It will work, and has been done my at least one person on here (can't remember his name). It will take some careful measuring and adjusting though.


If i remember correctly from the last time this was discussed, you might actually might need more weight than just a bumper/carrier and a KM2......Ill try to find the thread.


EDIT:
https://forum.ih8mud.com/100-series-cruisers/392840-ahc-accumulator-old-fluid-b-b-vs-toyota.html

Post #11.....kind of along the lines of what you want to do. Send a PM to RoderickGI, he knows a lot about AHC
 
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EDIT: I got the bumper on and tire carrier, unless it's in my head I can definitely feel that weight hanging off the back going around corners. In a 2000+ I'd feel better but '99 with no VSC...eh

MilkmanVX said:
Here is some more info on this subject https://forum.ih8mud.com/100-series-cruisers/137234-ome-springs-ahc.html
while this seems to work ok for carrying heavier loads, I doubt that the car will be able to lower to LO with stiffer, non-AHC springs ....
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Unless theres a reason I need to be able to go to Lo, I don't care if i can or not. I don't think I've used it one time since I've had the car except the first day bc I thought AHC was cool. Thanks for the think, that's good info.

pman said:
It will work, and has been done my at least one person on here (can't remember his name). It will take some careful measuring and adjusting though.
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By careful measuring you mean using Techstream and something like a tactrix openport? On a side note, can you download techstream with the two day subscription to TIS?
 
It'll work fine with the weight and if adjusted properly, you will be able to go into LO and HI mode. You'll either need the cable as well as the software to read the pressure... or you can use a brake pressure gauge.
 
I had a heavy car on the car trailer, the 3rd row seats in the back and probably the car trailer tool box if not all of my tools. I probably had 27lbs of pressure in my airbag helper springs. I got home, pulled the car off the trailer, parked it in the garage and the trailer on the driveway and then headed off to go for dinner. It was raining really hard, and I hadn't reduced the pressure in the air helper springs. The AHC shut down to Lo mode. So, you know, I had to get out and do things properly, lowering the air bag pressure, restarting the vehicle.

I think that if you put new stock non-AHC coils in an AHC vehicle that is stock, you run the risk of a similar low pressure shut down of the AHC. Buying some used coils from a person going to aftermarket coils would reduce this likelihood, or adding a steel carrier bumper.

Lo mode has one excellent use: I change the AHC fluid by dumping the truck to Lo, sucking the fluid out of the reservoir and adding new fluid. I just don't see any advantage of messing with the bleeders, and the fluid already in the system at Lo mode is still good enough or it would have been changed earlier.
 
hoser said:
It'll work fine with the weight and if adjusted properly, you will be able to go into LO and HI mode. You'll either need the cable as well as the software to read the pressure... or you can use a brake pressure gauge.
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I need an OBD reader anyway....do I need to stay subscribed to TIS to use tech stream or can I get the 2 day, download it and keep using it
 
DallasCrzr said:
I need an OBD reader anyway....do I need to stay subscribed to TIS to use tech stream or can I get the 2 day, download it and keep using it
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Official answer is that you need to stay subscribed to TIS to use Techstream.

IIRC, before you register it will give you a max of ~30 uses b/f it stops working. After you register with a 2 day subscription it will stop working when your 2 day subscription expires. Don't quote me on that.
 
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