Steel bumper suspension

With a steel bumper, winch and rock sliders I am going to upgrade my suspension to support the weight.
Bilstein 5100 with 886 springs are off the table becaude they aren’t built to support the heavy spring rate and there are reports of them breaking.
OME nitro chargers with 886 seem like my best option (based on reviews 10 years ago)
More recent reviews seem to bring a lot of complaints to the table and question ARBs modern shock quality.
What do y’all think? Steer clear?
Anyone who has put nitro chargers on in the past year have any opinions?
Anyone with similar weight using a different suspension setup they like?
I like dobinsons IMS or Gas charged, but they are a good bit more money.
Any input is appreciated.

 

FOX 2.5s, all 4 corners. Deaver leafs. Expensive, but fully satisfied.

I'm sure FOX 2.0s would also do fine and save some coin.

 

Don’t foxs require more maintenance or rebuilds? I don’t need the best… although it would be nice. I make a couple bucks over minimum wage .

 

Maintenance? Not that I'm aware of.

FOXes CAN be fully rebuilt, typically somewhere between 5K and 50K miles, depending almost entirely on how much & how hard off-roading they do.

I have ~12,000 miles on my FOX 2.5's so far. About 250-300 of those are medium-duty off-road miles, the rest just normal highway/town daily-driver miles so far. No issues that I'm aware of. One nice thing about refillable or remote-reservoir shocks it that, with an appropriate no-loss pressure gauge, you can check the pressure in the shock and get a positive verification that it is holding well.

 

What’s the rate of the 886 coils? I have a similar setup & wouldn’t recommend anything under a 700# coil….

 

One word: Dobinsons.

 

I've got an ARB summit plus Warn Evo w/synthetic rope, RCI steel front skid plate, and Cali Raised sliders. Im quite happy with Bilstein 6112s set to #9/#7 and the 650 lb spring - minor lift over stock. Icon RXTs in the back.

Bilsteins were my choice based on performance and also environment - I can't count on being able to rebuild shocks due to the extreme salt here, even aluminum gets eaten up quickly, so if you can count on being able to rebuild, another choice might be better in the long term for you.

@HeadStrong Off-Road has been of immense help to me over my last several suspension setups.

 

They are 730

 

Would you go with the 650 again or do you wish you had a higher spring rate?
As for the rear, what “stage are the RXT”? Any weight in the bed? I wanted to throw 285 on so I was thinking 2.5-3 inches up front, 1.5-2 in the back.
Not really any rust here in southern VA so rebuilds would be attainable.

 

The 650 are fine - any stiffer and it would ride like shit on the roads up here in Vermontistan. As it is, I like it a lot. Great in the dirt, decent travel over rocks and logs, girlfriend says she likes it better on pavement than the previous setup of 885s on 5100s.

The lift comes from the perch settings, not just the coils. Coils have a weight and also a height/length, and ride at a certain height on an adjustable height shock (like 5100s or 6112s, and many others).

A stiffer spring on the same perch will ride higher than a softer spring on the same perch (a 650 lb spring @ 12" tall will ride higher than a 600 lb spring at 12" tall on the same perch), but again, stiffer springs will ride stiffer. A longer spring of the same stiffness on the same perch will give more lift than a shorter spring of the same stiffness on the same perch (600 lb spring @ 12" unloaded will ride higher than a 600 lb spring @ 10" tall unloaded if they are on the same spring perch). If you max out the lift from the perch height, you lose travel in the shock and you lose flex in the coil. If you use super strong springs, you (effectively) lose travel because the spring is so strong and you (effectively) lose dampening from the shock because it doesn't compress as much as it would with a more balanced coil and perch setting.

Not all lifts are equal - you can get to 2" of lift many different ways, some of which will ride like shit, some of which will feel great on the road but not the dirt, and some of which will magically unlock a whole new world of fun, depending on what you do with the truck and how you like to drive it. The trick is balancing the lift with the weight of the truck and the type of driving, unless you only really care about how it looks on the curb. Headstrong has tables showing various coil/perch settings giving X amount of lift (on a stock weight truck) - you can do a little math and guesstimation from there, I find their numbers to be very accurate.

If I didn't have so much armor on the truck (ARB summit/winch in front, plate engine skid, sliders, tube rear bumper), I would probably be running the 600s on the same perches they're at right now.

The RXTs are with one leaf swapped from the factory condition, the "medium" combination. The "Stages" for Icon suspension have to do with the addition of Icon UCAs/LCAs/leafs/coils/etc, not just the leafs themselves. The RXT leaf packs are adjustable, and come with a leaf that you can either swap with one of the ones in the pack, or add to the pack, corresponding to different lifts for the rear.

I have a toolbox full of shit in the bed 24/7, probably 150 lbs, with occasional large loads of material to and from supply/jobsite. With just the toolbox, a full tank of gas, and me in the driver's seat, the truck weighs about 5100 lbs, and I have a decent rake with the bed empty (except for the toolbox).

You should also be aware that as you approach and exceed 2" of lift, especially in the front, you start running into other issues with these trucks without further modifications (UCAs, driveshaft alignment tricks, diff drops for some). CV axles will wear faster, alignment will be much more difficult with factory UCAs, strange vibrations at different speeds that can be extremely difficult to track down, and all kinds of other stuff that will generally be harder on the truck and harder on your pocketbook.

 

I will look into 6112, I like bilstein, they seem to get a lot of love on here. I wanted 3 inches of lift because that is what seems like a good amount to fit 285/70 or 255/80.
For the “stages” on the RXT, I just meant did you have them as they came, with the leaf swapped in or the leaf added. But you answered that question.
I have some supporting stuff I am going to be adding at the same time as the lift, I think I got everything covered. I have new uppers to correct the caster, new LCAS, high angle CV boots, ECGs bearing, carrier bearing spacers and new wheel bearings. I’m planning on doing it once and doing it right. I saved the most important stuff for last (in my opinion leaf springs, struts and coils)

 

Do y’all think I could get away with 2.5 inches of lift and fit 285s? I’m fine with doing the cab mount chop and the steel bumper eliminates trimming on the front. Offset would be -12mm on a 17x9.
I am now leaning away from dobinsons (~2k)
And looking towards 6112 with a 650 spring (perch’s set to max and adjusted for taco lean) and 5160s (~1.5k).

 

With -12 offset you will most likely need CMC or a cab mount relocate . You will prob need to beat down your pinch weld with a BFH & trim various plastic out of the way ….

 

I’m fine with that, I wouldn’t be the first or the last to do it. Not a show truck. Just wondering if 2.5 inch lift is enough.