Theorizing about front coil lifts....are they being used the way they were designed?

Read a thread about someone stacking lifts to obtain more lift, and it got me to thinking....So...I have come to realise that in order to get the "true" 3" of lift from the coil lifts, they have to be spanned and put all the pre-load in the spring, causing a stiffer ride right???. My question is....why couldnt you add the 2" strut spacer that bolts above the strut for a leveling kit, which will give you roughly 2" and span the spring colar down and unload it to make the spring actually work the way it was designed to?? That would give you full lift plus a softer easier ride...has anyone tried this??
I have alot of experience w drag car shocks and pre-loading for ride height, but in order to obtain proper suspension travel, the spring will bind at a certain point and cause A loss of power transfer. If there is a stiffer spring that contains the already needed built up powef stored in it, and not put in such a load to male it higher, then the spring has more total compression and rebound capabilities. I know for the most part, drag cars and off roading are two totally different devils, but for the most part, an adjustable coil-over doesnt care what it is bolted to, as long as it can be used what it is intended for, and effeciently, and effectively...

 

ohhh boy. im not much the guy to try and get into this but I do know that with a strut spacer, you are liable to run the shock past its travel limits which would suck.

adding preload for ride height I don't think is a big deal. with a factory spring, if you have it pre-loaded for 3" higher its mounting on the lca looks like it would actually travel less than half the wheel would. just say now the spring travels 1.5" further at full bump than it did before. no biggie to me. . . . .

I bought taller coils myself just because they also came with a stiffer spring rate. I like them a lot. I also think that coilover manufacturers offer different height/weight springs for drastic ride-height adjustments. I don't see preload being a big issue though as it is the same amount of spring force at ride-height no matter what (unless you have preloaded past the suspensions travel limit). I only seeing it having an effect at full droop. full droop gets hit harder

 

Im not talking about a spring spacer. This would be a bolt on spacer above the strut itself. All it basically would do is drop the actual mounting point of the coil over. On a race car, when you buy coil overs, you have multiple mounting points that change ride height, but the coil over is never spanned all the way up to get maximum ride height. It defeats the purpose of the spring.
Your ride height doesnt change. You still have 3" of lift, but the strut is not spanned up all the way to get it.

 

Not an expert....

But theoretically if you add a 3inch spacer on top of the strut it would make your down travel way too much. On a flat race track that's ok but when your off roading wouldn't it put excess stress on lower control arm ball joints and CV

I know I read something on this topic before..

 

I hear what youre trying to say, Chad. I guess i trust the manufanufacture of the coilover to set it up to the specs they claim. If they say it will yield 3" of lift and the coil gets compressed that it will still fall into acceptable parameters and not change the quality of the ride. But then again, maybe im a dreamer.

 

Only if you don't extend your bump stops though.

 

Think about what happens at full stuff. Let's say you are chasing down a hog at night and damned if you don't nose it into the ditch at full tilt. The tires slam upwards compressing the springs until the lower control arm contacts the bump stop, which absorbs the energy, while you let out a Bo Duke yell of triumph. Now, imagine that same situation with a spacer lift. The coil spring binds up before the lower control arm touches the rubber bump stop and the energy has nowhere to go. Your shock is now a solid rod. Boom, the shock breaks and you are now upside down in the ditch like Rosco. I know what you're thinkin'. If you extend the bump stops then you are losing travel. Pickups, unlike drag cars, need travel to go fast in the dirt. Unless you're driving the general lee of course.

 

Your fine if you extend your bump stops. I've been thinking about doing the same with my kings. I like the ride and don't want to preload the springs any more. What about just adding a 1/4 spacer in between the C/O and shock mount. Like TOYTECH top plate spacer.

 

Yes, but you are losing travel. That means your truck will be less capable than a stock one. That don't make no sense.

 

Your kinda right. But it will be taller. Thus having that same travel as before.

 

No sir. Your droop (downtravel) remained the same. You just lost more bump (uptravel). I can stuff 37's on stock bumpstops. Hell, I could fit 37's on an X-runner. Why do you need lift at all?
A) Trim your cab mount
B) Trim your pinch weld
C) Wheel like a boss.

Option 2: Lift it sky high 'cause you think it looks cool. Stack lifts on top of lifts. Fuckit, just remove the coilover and replace it with solid steel for maximum lift.
At least this dude did a SAS.

 

I guess it's not all coming together in my head like it is yours.
Help me understand this.
If you add a top spacer your just moving the whole strut assembly down and moving the angle of both control arms. Adding more lift. But if you add too big of a spacer your shock will become the new bump stop and most likely break the shaft like on that billy in the pic. So to prevent that you add to the bump stop as well to prevent a destroyed shock.
So you should have the same suspension travel as before. Just a taller truck. If the ratio is correct of spacer to bump top addition.
But be careful that the ball joints don't get too over stressed.
Am I missing something?

 

The only thing that is getting forced down further is the lower control arm and everything attached to it. The coilover assembly acts the exact same way as stock. Its just 2" lower. No amount of droop is going to cause damage to it. Now your ball joints on the other hand will have to deal with more angle due to the further droop, as well as cv's. Extending your bump stop yes limits travel but also protects the shock from being busted as this picture shows.
This picture of a busted shock is circulating and misunderstood.

 

The bump stop need only be shimmed the difference of a before and after measurement from the stop to the LCA. For my 2" spacer I had to shim the stop 1/8". This is due to the fact the stop sits closer to the pivot point of the lower control arm.

 

guys correct me if i am wrong please but i think of it like this, between the control arm and the cup at the top of the strut there is a finite distance. the oem spring is setup to operate when there is a certain distance between the control arm and the strut. when you put a spacer and keep the oem spring, the space between the control arm and the top cup is made longer, thus more pressure put on the spring. oem springs were not designed for that setup. so the only thing that the spring can do is collapse a little to handle the extra tension. that makes the distance between each coil smaller, so the spring can overload alot easier. now when you put a longer spring that is designed to be under the contant additional load it can operate like normal, like it was designed to do.

hope that made some since, lol

cheers,
disco

 

this is an old set that had spacers in it, there was also about 1.5in spacer on top, its a little hard to tell in the pictures but you can see where the coils would collapse and hit each other. i guess raising the bump stops could help with that, but then you lose more travel.


cheers,
disco