ADS life adjustment help.

Good morning. I just I fished installing ADS 2.5’s front and back OME dakkars HD leafs and Camburg UNIBALL UCA’s. All an early birthday present for my 50th. Question for a noob. Does anyone have the spanner wrench and some experience setting lift height on these coil overs. Preferably east valley. I’m I. Scottsdale. I’m getting the alignment done aT 11:30 and can meet either before or after. Thanks for your help!!

 

I just grabbed one of my old Crapsman Phillips screwdrivers that had the same shaft diameter of the spanner holes and cut the Phillips end off. I think its 5/16" and fits perfect.

Unload the front end, spray some penetrating lube on the threads, and turn the collar about 1/4 turn at a time.

Easy peasy!

 

Perfect and now for the really dumb question which way do I turn it to lift the truck. My intuition tells me move the collar down to make the truck go up. Correct?

 

Yes. The suspension will settle and you'll have to adjust again soon. Especially if you swap springs. Of you go to harber freight they make some center punches . 5/16 fits in it perfectly

 

So I’m reading online and a few forums say I need to jack the truck to droop the suspension then figure out a way to compress the spring to release the tension. What the hell does that even mean

 

when you jack up the front end via the jack point, when you get both tires off the ground they droop (sag) down, meaning the load on them from being on the ground is no longer present. Use jackstands after you jack it up. It is optional to remove the tire or not. loosen the collar nut a little and get a 5/16 center punch, start cranking. I would use a sharpie to mark lines as you go and use a tape to measure. I never got an actual number of how many turns equals what height. Most of us go by themeasurement and how thread count, ass well as measuring from center hub of wheel to fender.

 

I just counted threads on mine. The drivers side will come from ADS preloaded a few threads more than the passenger side to compensate for the normal Taco lean.

Just turn each collar to expose an equal amount of additional threads from where they came.

I think I currently have 9 exposed threads passenger and 12 on driver.

This gave me a solid 2" lift. No need to jack the preload to the moon or it can mess up the quality of the ride and put your CVs at unnecessary angles that could kill them early.

When the truck is back down on the ground and settled after a loop around the block, make sure your CV boot creases don't touch, and then you know you're good!

Also, there isn't any need to remove the tire or compress the spring to make the preload adjustment. Just unload the weight of the front of the truck from the coil overs and support the truck at the frame.

 

As a noob balancing this is not fun. I have it moving but I’m not sure what I should be looking for but I’m winging it. I appreciate all the help.

 

My gut tells me you might not be in the right mindset for this kind of project.

Usually a person that goes for these higher end suspension systems has a general working knowledge of how they work, why they work over lessor systems, and possibly even know how to install and tinker with them well before purchase.

I could be wrong, and even if I am not, it's your truck and your learning curve.

So, in a nutshell you are turning the collar clockwise, effectively pushing the top of the spring further downward from the top of the shock body. This preloads the spring and will lift the truck. You will see more and more shock body threads exposed above collar as you go.

NOTE: There is a point of diminishing returns if you go far enough. Too much preload can greatly reduce your down travel, overly stiffen the ride, and worse, you could prematurely wear out your CV joints due to running them at high angles full time.

Go ahead and count the exposed threads you have above each collar.

I wouldn't suggest going more than 12 on the passenger side and 15 on the drivers side. Any more than that, and you might be getting into the "no reason be" zone.

On a side note...
You have to ask yourself what is your priority when you purchased this lift. Were you going for maximum lift for looks, bigger than reasonable tires, etc...

 

All good points. As far as the what and why Is I spend at least a day every weekend in the dirt of Arizona trails with my kids. They live crawling rocks and running washed out roads as do I. I’m function over fashion but that’s not to say I don’t want my truck looking good. We also want to camp out of it and do some over landing dispersed camping. I’m also a DIY kind of guy and I’m not afraid of tacking projects and find it fun to learn. And in my experience the best way to do that is to just do it. It is very helpful to have forums here with all the experience. I appreciate it.

 

I can completely respect your desire to get outside and spend quality time with the family.

Everyone has to learn somewhere at some point if they want to play in the dirt.

Not gunna lie, I've learned my fair share of how-to info on the internet as well. But, before the internet it was more risky and costly to try stuff uneducated in the process. It was really a "wing it" approach and hope you get it right the first time. There wasn't the option to tap into all of the experienced people all over the world with a simple stroke of the key board.

Hopefully I've given you a semi clear path to get things setup on your ADS.

 

Definitely. I’ve feeling pretty good about since I’m at the step of adjustment. I’m gonna take the tools to work today and dial it In during lunch. Thanks for the help.

 

Ok. Got the collared turned. Here’s where I’m at 15 threads driver 23 1/2 center hub to top of fender. Passenger 12 threads 24” center hub to top of fender. The rears are still about an inch higher. Im hopeful that the leafs will come down once they’re broken in and I add my bed rack. Thoughts?

Over all really happy with how this turned out. Still need to get the caps from Camburg but here’s the finished product.

 

I guess one more question. Should I throw 2 more turns on the driver and one more on the passenger to level out the front or just wait until the rear settles?

 

I would get it to where you are comfortable at and let it settle. Will prob take you several hundred miles. If not a thousand

 

Check your CV boot creases after a couple laps around the neighborhood.

If the creases are touching, you might want to backoff the preload 3 full turns/threads each side and recheck your CVs after a quick drive.

 

Perfect. I’ll give that a try.

 

What do you think?

 

Can't really see the CV boots where the creases are at the closest to touching. That would be the bottom side of the inner CVs and top side of the outer CVs.

In a quick glance though, I think you'll be fine right there. The axle itself does not appear to be at an aggressive angle.

How's your rake look front to back? Having the rear 1" to 1.5" higher than the front is normal and in some ways desirable if you ever plan to load the bed or have some hitch weight that will make it squat a tad and level out.

 

It’s about an 1 1/2” higher. It bugs me but I’m going to wait I til get my tires on before I look at a bed rack. I appreciate your help brotha.