Long Travel BS Thread

What kit?

They should be parallel, you're gonna end up eating bushings faster.

 

It’s the giant 64” kit.

 

Giant has been doing for a long time I can't image them fucking up a bracket that bad.

Maybe something went wrong on the install?

These tapered frames can be a pain in the ass.

 

Yep exactly. That’s why I’m guessing it has to be something with the install. Although it’s a bolt on kit so not sure how I could have messed that up.

The inner bushings on the front of the springs are basically gone so it’s just spring on hanger. That’s what prompted this measurement thing. All of the other bushings are pretty okay for mileage. Just those two are gone.

 

Ok, I've got a question. I've finally got my Solo LT kit installed. I've got the ride height dialed in where I want it, and limit straps are adjusted where they limit before the CVs bind. (In my situation, it appears the CVs are my limit. The UCA uniball is not limited out, and I have plenty of available shock travel beyond the straps)

Solo recommends 16 inch compressed x 24 inch extended - 8 inch "off the shelf" coilovers with 16 inch 600# coils for their kit (per directly from Bobby)

My coilovers are (actual) 16.44 compressed by 24.45 extended. I'm running 16 inch 650# coils (due to weights of double cab + all 1/4 inch skids + bumper + winch + dual deep cycle batteries under hood)

So here's the dilemma. To reach the ride height I want, I can't put any "pre-load" on the coil. In fact, the coil is around an inch away from the preload collar when the coilover is off the truck. The issue is, when I hit the limit of the strap There is about 1/4 inch between the top of the coil and the bottom of the preload collar. I guess 1 way to deal with this is to adjust the straps up... but that gives away down travel.

Should I go with an 18 inch coil at less spring rate? I'm already thinking about dropping spring rate, because I'm trying to get more up (wheel) travel, and with the 650# coils it's lifting the corner of the truck more than lifting the wheel (if that makes sense).

I'll try and get ahold of Bobby tomorrow, but I figured I'd ask the brain trust, here, this evening, and see what some of you think.

 

Yeah if its that far out i would say you need to drop to a #600 lb coil. running a 18" coil with that setup could work but it could also give you more lift than you want with the collar all the way up.

 

I was even thinking maybe even go down to 550# at 18 inch. I have a little room to go up, probably a little over an inch, before the preload collar would get too close to the resi elbow.

 

I did 550, but i did went with a custom shock valving

 

Can you provide a pic of what you're talking about?

From your description, its sounds like you have no preload in the spring and you need to move the preload collar down to keep the spring from moving around freely. If you're obtaining your desired ride height with no preload you probably have too high of spring rate.

 

Shouldn’t you have at least a little preload? Even if it’s just to hold the sprint? He’s having to adjust his limit straps, losing down travel just to keep his coil from flopping around at full droop.

 

yes, I would say at a minimum you need the collar hand snug against the spring with the coilover fully drooped out.

 

When I am sitting at ride height, the coil is compressed by the weight of the truck. The point in which the coil becomes "free" is close to full droop. At full droop (limited by the strap) I have around 1/4 inch between the top of the coil, and bottom of the preload collar.

I'm not sure this situation is just simply the coil rate is too high... considering my previous set of coilovers (stock travel) I was running 700# coils, and now I'm running 650# with the added leverage of 3.5 inch additional length on the lever (the LCA).

Maybe I can decrease the coil rate... I think I'm going to for the other reason I mentioned. But I absolutely should be able to run 650# coils without this problem, with the weight I have up front.

 

Agreed... I'm thinking the coil should at the very least, I should have the collar hand snug on the coil at the bottom of the limit strap. Problem is, if I do that, the ride height is WAY higher than I want it... like 1.5 inches higher.

 

I don’t know if this helps at all…

On my truck that’s about the same weight as yours I’ve ran 600x16, 700x16, and 600x18.

- with the 700’s I had around 0.50-0.75 preload
- with the 600x16’s that I run now I have maybe a little more than 0.50 more preload.
- with the 600x18’s I had no preload at all and I had something like a 4-5” lift. They weren’t even close to working for me. With “no” preload (meaning collar was at the very top) I still had around 1.5” of preload just to get the spring on.

I think you might be better off running a little lighter spring with a titch of preload.

 

yeah than i would say you need to drop to a 16" 600# spring.

 

Finally started putting the fuse box togethor...about 1/3 of the way done. hopefully will finish it tomorrow and can test it tomorrow night.

 

Are you relocating it or just slimming it down?

 

Is everything new? Have you actually driven the truck or let sit on its own weight long enough to give it a chance to sag with it like that?

 

I've been driving it and fine tuning the ride height for a week. I've been totally aware that the coil adjustments can take a few hours to settle. (The initial ride height took over night to settle in) I'm also aware that when you set it back down on each adjustment, the truck needs to move to allow the tires to track back to their natural spot or you'll think the truck is sitting too high.

 

It can take hundreds of miles of actual use to settle. Not hours.