ADS Off-Road Racing Shocks - Information, Pictures, & BS Thread

I have a full plate bumper with a winch with 700's. I just have no idea where I'm sitting at anymore.

 

I fail to see why you guys are so worried about 1/8". Does the truck perform the way you want it to? Does it look the way you want it to? If the answer is yes who cares if you truck is lifted 1 5/8" or exactly 3"?

 

Installing the fronts right but I am having a little trouble turning the hoses so that it will fit without kinking them and and I don’t want to losen it too much and mess something up. What is the process for this?

 

Agreed

 

After calling ADS and talking to Brian we figured it out. Turning the 90 angle fitting was easy it was when I went to turn the hose fitting that I got sprayed in the mouth and face with oil (Brian said losing a little oil was not an issue) but I was so gun shy from the first spray that I let it sit where it is at even though it’s not perfect.

The install of both front and back was straight forward but time consuming. The only thing I really struggled with was getting a good angle on the top of the brake lines and then trying to remove the drive side UCA bolt. Removing the battery really helped me out and using a punch to push it out and then using a hammer to get it back in. Adjusting the pre-load was also slow, I used a punch but it was deforming the plate a little. I’m hoping that the ADS wrench will make it easier. I adjusted to 1” on the drive side and 3/4” on the passenger side. We’ll see how it settles.

The next thing that took a long time, my fault for not seeing it, was how bad the lift took my alignment off. My tires were turned in really bad, thankfully I have SPC UCA which really helped with the adjustment. Next I had to turn out my tie rods by 4 turns. A long process trying to find the right angle where I could drive to an alignment shop without it feeling like I was pushing snow.

Two days later and one massive back ache later and I am done. It looks amazing but now we’ll see how it rides. One thing I may need to do is shim the rear but I’ll drive it for a little bit and see how it feels.

 

Pics? Front and side

 

I’ll upload when I get a chance I’m just getting the alingment done at the moment.

 

Confirmed much of this yesterday running both street and rock trail and technical trail. Could not believe how much a difference a few clicks make. I like 3 clicks up from zero for street. 8-10 clicks simple trail and 12-16 clicks seems right for rock trail. On slow technical stuff 4-7 clicks seems right.

got out a bunch of times to adjust, and did some testing because there was varying washboard (15 clicks) and fist sized rocks.

Don’t do washboard above 25 mph below 10-clicks...it’s not comfortable

Pretty crazy to go through a 5 inch deep pothole at 40mph and not really feel it. (12 clicks)

up in the woods on the side of MT Hood Oregon

 

Kick ass! I’ll have to remember to turn them up on washboard next time.

And yeah man, you can run over stuff and not even feel it sometimes. Happens to me on curbs every now and then

 

Finally got a chance to take some pictures of what she looks like after the install. Driving without a swaybar is taking a little getting used to as I can feel the stiffness gone on sharp turns but overall it doesn't affect the driving too much. I have all of my clickers set to 0 at the moment and I am hoping to get on some trails to test out the different setting. There was an obstacle I tried with my bilsteins that I didn't have enough flex to get over so I am excited to try it with my new suspension and see home much more flex I am going to have.

I am feeling good about how my truck sits currently, I am hoping that it doesn't settle too much. Measurements from fender to center hub are as follows.
Passenger Front: 23.5"
Driver Front: 23.25"
Passenger Rear: 25"
Driver Rear: 25"
Tires Cooper 265/75R16 probably going to be getting 285s in the near future.

I gained a full inch all around from my previous measurements. Now the only issue i am having is a vibration around 20-25mph and after measuring my drive shaft angles I ordered some shims for my rear axle and I am hoping that fixes the issue when they get here. Seeing as I have a 8hr road trip to Montana tomorrow I am crossing my fingers that something doesn't happen with the vibration to delay my trip.

 

Do you have the ECGS bushing to replace the stock driver CV needle bearing?

 

Just curious...what’s your reason for 285’s vs something else

 

I do not have the bushing to replace the needle bearing but I am eventually going to pay somebody to do that because I hate messing with cv shafts. It is such a pain in the ass that I will never mess with them again.

I should have just said 33s because I have also been look at 255/85s. I don't want to go much bigger until i get re-geared later on down the road. That will all depend on when i start adding on armor and such.

 

That vibe is likely the needle bearing. I recommend 255’s for functionality if you can be ok with 1” less in width. Better power, mpg, and digging utility

 

Possibly but I’m going off of what Quadabaum was saying because he has the same kit I have so I’ll start there and if shims don’t fix it I’ll move on to the needle bearing. Yeah I can’t decide between 255 or 285. I also wanted to go with 285 because it’s more common at tire stores.

 

Ok. ADS is my second lift. My first OME lift had the bearing fail literally 24 hrs later

 

I did the ECGS/Needle bearing swap when I installed my lift as a preventative measure. Measuring driveline angles will help you determine if you need to shim the rear axle for the pinion angle.

 

Agreed. For 2” lift I used 3 degree shins with Dakars. Working angles of my pinions are 0.3 degrees different

 

These are my current measurements and from the thread I read I ordered 3* shims

 

Is that a diff guard in your last photo? Did that come stock?

Also, 3 degree shims should be ideal