ORI-Struts Experience

I daily drive mine, settles a bit in the mornings if its really cold (0 and below) but once they warm back up height comes back. And what you are saying is absolutely correct, the upper chamber controls ride height while the lower one handles spring rate. For my rear setup I've got a constant load of about 600 pounds and a custom leaf pack built to handle that by Alcan Spring, paired with an Icon 2.5 with resi custom built for the length I needed. I do high speed runs just in some test and tune areas we've found around town and the truck as heavy as it is handles them as well as I'd hope.

 

Thanks man!

I'm wanting to upgrade suspension in the spring time but I'm unsure of what route to go for the rear. If love to use ORIs in the rear but I don't think I want to engineer a 4 link for my daily driver!

I'm maybe learning toward a shackle flip and shock relocate with deaver j66 pack with king 12" resi shocks. Chevy 63s are attractive too tho, and prob a lot cheaper. It's a hard decision.

 

hey you guys running these struts, which way do the top hats go? I got mine 2nd hand with no instructions. I think they are the BAMF hats. Mounting tabs up or down?



Judging by the marks on the strut bodies I'd guess they go tabs up, but I'd like to be sure before I install.

 

Would have to be this way for the studs to go through the coil bucket and have the nuts thread on.

 

Thanks guys! I'm hoping to install very soon. I'll be running with stock UCA for now. I wanted a set of JBAs but I ended up buying a fridge instead, d'oh!

I'll probably chime in with more questions / observations sometime soon.

Thanks!

 

Just mounted mine up!

So far I've got 90psi in the lowers and about 780-790psi in the uppers. There's about 6 3/4" of shaft showing.

As it sits right now the front is slightly higher than the rear. I've got maybe 3" of lift on the rear with an AAL. I removed my sway bar also. The truck handled like a boat at first! It would roll hard in the corners but it seemed to get better after a few miles of driving around. Overall the truck rides much more smoothly. I drove down some cobble stone roads and the difference is noticeable from the stock parts. Haven't noticed any bad clunks yet.

Gotta play around some more. Lower the upper pressure to lower ride height. I might keep the 90psi in the lowers, maybe I'll bump it up for stability, we'll see.

I'll snap some pics tomorrow.

 

Some pics after my first adjustment. Looks pretty level. I wanted some rake, I don't mind the rear being a bit higher. Based on rough measurements from the top of the tire to the fender flare the rear is about 3/4" higher. I'm currently at 90psi on both bottom chambers. Driver side top is about 690psi and passenger top is about 660psi. Sits pretty level with me in the driver seat. Without me the driver side is around 1/4" higher.



Some under carriage shots. There's right around 6" of shaft showing. Wish I could be closer to the middle of travel but I guess I'd have to lower the rear...

 

thanks man! I'm wanting some JBA arms hardcore tho. Wish he did some 4th deals.

 

What do you guys think of the amount of shaft showing? Is 6" too much?

I was considering removing my add a leaf to drop the rear and then drop the front a little more. I'm not running huge tires so I don't really need height. With the front struts empty I had good clearance lock to lock except the mud flaps rubbed at lock. I think I can address that though.

 

I can't really get an accurate number for hub to fender but I'm in the ballpark of 21-22". I'd have to set up a laser level or something to get an exact measurement.

 

Anyone know about the remote reservoirs for the ORIs? I have the kit but didn't install them yet. Do they have to be mounted vertically? There's not many pics of them installed online.

 

I was told by ORI themselves that the resi's must be mounted upright. I don't remember the reason off the top of my head though.

6" of shaft showing is probably fine for your needs. I think I ran a little bit more, but since I spent a lot of my time at the dunes I wanted the extra up travel at the expense of my ride having a lot of bro lean...

I ran 120 psi in the lowers and it seems to be more stable. Though increases the lower pressure causes you to have to increase the upper a lot more. I was running 800-900 psi in the uppers to get my ride height.

 

Cool man, thanks for the info!

Something I've been wondering about is the adjusters on the bottoms, I think they are rebound dampening. The manual says there should be 7 positions or detents but when I turned them I couldn't feel any "notches". I have both roughly in the middle of their adjustment. So how do you tell if you need more or less? I've never driven a vehicle with adjustable suspension components. What's it feel like when you need more dampening, or less dampening?

 

This is a pretty good description. haha. I run my Taco hard so you probably don't want what I have, but I believe I set my rebound to be as fast as possible. I also have my comp almost as hard as it will go. For me it rides decent around town, but my rig is really heavy. I can hit those big ass speed bumps at 30+ and you can barely tell you hit them I'm also running LT in the rear though. haha

 

Thanks for the explanation guys. I think I'm happy in the middle so far but I'll probably try maxing the adjustment out each way to try and feel a difference. I'd probably lean toward slow and soft, there's not much high speed to be had around here.

Wutchu runnin' back there? My front feels so good now I'm not sure what to do with the back! I was planning on Expos from All Pro with a relocate but I'm afraid they would be too stiff. SUA is intriguing...

 

I'm running the DMZ SUA kit. If I wasn't planning on doing the high speed thing I would Chevy 63 swap, but it is a lot of custom work.

 

I've heard SUA is not great for load carrying. Is that true in your experience? With my aluminum cap and stuff in the bed I've probably got about 200lbs of constant weight. Occasionally added weight for a roadtrip or whatever.

63s prob are the way to go. It is a lot of work but the payoff is extreme. They seem to offer great flex with minimal lift, I don't want a really high ride height.

 

I had the TSB pack with an AAL and the DMZ kit seems to handle loads better. I haul a dual bike carrier witha 450 and 150 on it. The ass squats some but that's 500-600 lbs plus my toolbox is always loaded and my rear bumper is heavier than stock.

The 63 swap is much cheaper to do though.

 

Yea, but not as sexy! There's still welding and cutting involved with SUA, right?

Ruff Stuff sells a pretty comprehensive kit for Chevy 63s. Just need to add a shock relocate and some plate to make shackle hangers.

http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/catalog/R1799.html

also this one

http://www.lowrangeoffroad.com/chevy-spring-swap-kit-ultimate-low-range-off-road.html

 

Hey, another question for you guys running ORIs. Are you still using the factory bump stops or removing them and relying on the internal bump stop feature of the struts? I was thinking of going to a softer one like Wheeler's Super Bumps. I'm thinking running an external bump can help avoid damage to the strut if you bottom out hard?