Everything Elka and How They Compare

This will partially be determined by your spring. I recall having to do 30-50 to go from .5 lift to 3" on the short 700lb coil.
Out the box

Adjusted

Same spring rate but longer coil

 

Mind came with the standard 700lb spring but I'm sitting at about 2.25 inch after getting everything installed today, Elka 2.5 IFP icon add a leaf and 4130 dirt king UCA all I have on my truck is a DiamondBack switchback with Pelican BX135 cargo case in the bed of the truck, I have no resivors on my set up so I'm trying to figure out how many turn clockwise to get another .5 of an inch.

 

2.0 2.5 2.5dsc doesn't matter to determine ride height spring specs only. I just did it in increments of 10 turns then checked where I was. Just remember to steer or back up and drive forward a touch to let things settle before checking your height. But honestly I would leave it where it is as you get over 2.5" these things top out like no other.

 

It's roughly a 2:1 ratio for lift->preload. So if you expose 1/4" more threads, you will get about 1/2" more lift. But I agree with Veet, 2-2.5" of lift is the sweet spot. I was at about 3" at first and went back down to 2.5" because I was topping out just on potholes and speed bumps. 2.5" is a noticeably better ride.

 

Here is my bling

 

Started (finally, after a summer of delays) getting my 2.0's (90229 2-3" lift package) on. Had to start late today, with the rear end. Archive garage add-a-leaf and stage 3 u-bolt flip kit. Ran out of daylight, so will start in the morning chopping the u-bolts down to length. Got my rebuilt 2.0 rear shock on as well.

Going to run the add a leaf until I do leaf hangers at some point, and I'll look at leaf pack options then.

Managed to kill my grandfathers jack in the process. Which is sad. Another winter project to tear it apart and see if there are any parts/seals that could work for it.

Have everything else laid out for tomorrow. JBA upper control arms, will be deleting my front sway bar so that will be a quick removal. Front coil overs prepped and cleaned off.

Will have to post some pics.

I do have one question that I'm sure has already been answered in this thread- as far as adjustment goes, these are an aluminum body shock- do I need to remove the upper control arm bolt and remove all weight from each corner before adjusting, or do I simply need to have the front tires unloaded prior to adjusting?

These are a 2-3" lift shock. I'd like to stay closer to 2" and just adjust the driver side to level put any taco lean afterwards.

 

Keep us posted

 

If I ever get my Elkas rebuilt I’m getting a longer spring. The stock ones are 13” I believe? Oddly short and stiff. I’d rather go longer spring and 650 pound for my full skids and sliders and only a touch of preload. Even 600 if I can. Seems ridiculous that the other stock options for 2.5 ifp was a 700 lb 13” spring..

Longer spring not stiffer would be better feel. Mine technically need rebuild now that they’re nearing 40k but fuck it. They did hells revenge and black bear pass this year just fine. Truck squeaks like hell but shi happens



obligatory picture of the daily driver on hells revenge and drove me home 2k miles.

 

Well shit I hope I can get at least over 50k or more out of my street princess lol

 

I just sprayed some penetrating oil on the threads and collar, then just jacked up the front to unload the suspension and adjusted. No problems for me.

Cheers

 

Same to that for all my adjustments^^

moved it around 4-5 times in the last 3 years and threads on mine still look as new. Don’t need to bother with spring compressors makes it real convenient to randomly add shit to your truck and not worry about suspension if you’ll have to “re-do” it

 

You can technically get whatever combo you want when you order them. I had Elka build mine with 14" 600s. So they can get you whatever spring you want. Just depends on what shop you purchase through and if you want to wait for a custom order. Just remember that you should also change the valving if you change coils.

 

Alright. And other than an alignment and retorquing after a few hundred miles, we're done.

Reused the oem UCA bolts. The driver side slid out with barely any fuss and a pair of vice grips after a smidge of bending the body seam outward. The passenger side was another story. Much tighter to the inside of the fender there, ended up using the vice grips to hold the bolt in place, then using the bolt as a pivot for a prybar. Checked to make sure I had not bent the bolt afterward on a piece of soapstone countertop I knew was flat/true enough. The AC hard line on the passenger aide was in the way. But if you remove the forward mounting bolt there's enough flex to shim it outward away from the inner fender with a piece of scrap wood, which also keeps it out of the way for reinstall.

I had noteably less slack on the ABS wirenon the passenger side as well. Ended up removing all of the brackets, prying open the bent portions that retain the wire and adjusting it.

JBA upper control arms were an almost 3 handed reinstall job. On both sides they required a prybar to push the rear of the arm out enough to slide the thin washer in to place. Got everything greased up nice and evenly.

I totally messed up and forgot to get before measurements yesterday on the rear end. Remembered for the front end today.

Archive garage add a leaf (for now) and U-bolt flip kit.

I didnt want to run a grinder so close to my fuel tank, so I opted to trim the u bolts in place with a sawzall and carbide blade. Made short work of them this morning, and a little less noise for the neighbors.

Sitting at 22-3/4" on both sides from centerline of the rear wheels to the bottom of the wheelwell arch at the rear.

I-shock said they pre-loaded the front coilovers back to where they were at. I didn't count threads before/after sending them for rebuild, but they must have gotten it right on. Sitting at 22" from wheel centerline to the wheel well on both sides at the front. Will check again after a few hundred miles. Was at 20" on the passenger side and 19-3/4" driver side front prior. So nice and level/even as of now.

Did a quick check of the toe after circling the block a few times to let the suspension settle. It's close enough that I'll be fine driving it to get an alignment.

I snaked my front swaybar out without removing my bumper. Took a bit of back and forth but I managed without crashing it into anything or pulling any wires.

I thought I'd have more cv angle than I ended up with. Not very much which is good. I'll keep an eye on my boots.

While I am very far from any desert whoops, my commute to work is very rough, almost as bad as roads I've seen in upper peninsula michigan lol. So I'll definitely have some thought on comfort and performance improvements over the next couple weeks.

 

Post 2 with more pics.

 

I rote Dirt king and ask them how many turns would it take to get half an inch adjustment on the elka 2.5 IFP since elka makes dirt king and they are pretty much the same shock, hopefully I'll get a response back tomorrow/ Monday