400 LB Alcan Spring

I got the 6200s installed as well as the Alcan Springs. Install was pretty straightforward. Except I wish I had thought to grease the shackles. Squeaky buggers now. I did end up going with the +100 springs and am feeling some anxiety wishing I gone with the +400. They do feel fairly stout though. I'll have to load em up and just see how they do and go from there.
Here are a few pics.
I will add a good b&a with measurements later on

 

I occasionally haul 4-600 lbs with my Deaver J59's and Timbrens. Regularly haul about 200 lbs. It handles it fine. I've been really happy with the Deavers. Does everything I need.

 

Nice, thats cool they are working well for you. I think the Alcans I have may be fairly similar to the j59s. And if that's the case, based on what you said, I'll be happy.

I've thought about the timbrens. A little worried about restricting flex

 

So the main purpose of the Timbrens you reference is to protect your shocks from being over compressed. The last thing you want is your shocks to be the limiting factor for your wheel travel, extended or compressed.

This means it is important to know the exact amount of wheel travel your springs give you when you are flexing. Combine that info with the manufacturer's documented amount of travel for your shocks. Only then will you know whether your bump stops might be limiting your shock and spring combo from doing their proper job.

 

Loaded the 300 pound KLX. The truck handled this fine. Maybe 3/4" inch drop in the rear. I didn't get a chance to measure. So not bad, I still might want to look into adding a leaf, as nothing else was in the truck. Some gear will weight it down more I imagine

 

More than a year later, can you comment on your decision with the +100 and ride quality? I just placed an order with Alcan for 1.5in at 200lbs, but like you I'm running unloaded the vast majority of the time. Occasionally, I load up the back or may tow a trailer, and am sick of being almost on the bump stops. I wanted to preserve the ride, preserve the travel (as much as I could), but still have the spring stiffen up when loaded to be off the bumps. I know the stock suspension is too soft, but it sure rides well unloaded. Just wondering if the +200 is a good middle of the road weight for the modest lift and occasional high bed weight.

 

Howdy, I like them! The ride feels nice. Empty, it feels fine. Not harsh at all. Unfortunately, I really haven't had many opportunities to put em to work with any weight. One highway trip with a 300lb bike and I could barely tell it was there.

A pretty challenging moab trail and they felt great.

Based on what you say, I think you'd be fine with the +200 option. I wish I had gone slightly beefier for peace of mind. But I think mine are also fine for general use.

I have not towed anything, but suspect they would handle anything moderate with ease.

Grease the shackles. I forgot that part. And the u-bolts from Alcan have rusted a lot. If you care about that, could slap some paint on em first.

Alcan was cool to deal with. Answered my questions and always friendly.

 

What is your set up in the front suspension area??
I had Alcan redo nearly all of my suspension over a year ago and it Still rides like absolute sh!t mostly in the front over broken concrete and likely much worse off-road... The backend is very stable and does not bounce on the road like it used to on the stock springs
Nothing has ever settled back down to near stock height like I thought it would do... Still sits much too high!!
Definitely Not very happy at all after shelling out almost 4000$ for this custom makeover lmao

 

This is confusing. What all did Alcan do besides the rear leaf springs?

 

Was wondering the same thing. Looks like they have "stage" builds now, with RadFlo shocks...

Extreme-Build Truck Suspension System Stage 1 - Alcan Spring
Extreme-Build Truck Suspension System Stage 2 - Alcan Spring
(and there are others, but not for 1st gens)

Naturally, I'd continue to use them for their expertise - rear leafs, and leave the shock situation to another vendor.

 

Excellent info. Much obliged. Such is the conundrum, trying to decide how much to beef them up but still have a good ride when empty. Looks like I'm in the ballpark at least. Cheers!

 

He recommended the radflo shocks with the reservoirs in the rear to stabilize the high-speed rear bouncing off the pavement i was having at the time (which it did) and the radflo coilovers + eibach springs in the front which were set way too high when i left the shop in CO and ended ripping the CV axle boots after about 10k miles LMAO

in the past i did try some Bilstein front shocks to replace the original factory ones in the stock springs and it was very rough riding even with those

the most serious 'off-roading' i do is on open-range roads with differing degrees of road surfacing

 

Do you have any specifics on the shocks? Their website doesn't give many details.

Like which Eibach coils were used in the front, 600, 650 or 700#?

In the rear, they mention a ubolt flip. Did that include a lower shock relocate? Seems like the rear shocks would be pretty short (compressed and extended lengths) unless the lower mounts were moved to the axle. Did they retain use of the upper OEM mounts or did they relocate those as well?

Any pics of the rear setup?

 

yup, i told them I needed extra 200 lbs, ended up removing an entire leaf later. Honestly I don't even know if it would be a good idea to tell them you need addtl load capacity.

 

They definitely tried to sell me on Radflo all round. I'm sure it is pretty nice stuff, but I didn't think I needed to spend that much. I went with Bilstein 5110 rear and 6112 Coils in the front. I think that set up is working pretty nice for me. Now I need to decide on some upper control arms, as I'm a bit wandering on the highway and can't quite get my caster where I want it