OBS Performance Suspension Parts

[robnolimit]

Here at No Limit, we have been playing with a few OBS trucks for a year or so. We have some great working parts in the works, but we have a few questions for the OBS crowd. Thanks in advance for your help.

1. With out raising the bed floor, a 6" drop is about it. Is that enough for most of you?

2. We are working on a Torque Arm rear suspension with a Watts link. This requires a heavy steel fabbed diff cover. Are many of you using an aftermarket HD cover to secure the carrier bearings? (would not work with what we are planning)

3. Is swapping to a 9" rear too much $$, as this would be around a 3k upgrade (housing, axles, gears, brakes) to a rear suspension package.

4. Is the factory ABS a "Must Keep" for you?

5. How much total investment are you planning on for suspension upgrades to your truck, including drop kit, spindles, springs, sway bars, steering upgrades, rear suspension, coil-overs.........

Thanks again for any feedback.

[EVRLET]

As an OBS and NBS owner, here are my thoughts:

1. 6” isn’t enough. Currently on my OBS, I’m at 8”, but I had to install an under bed notch to keep the rear end from bottoming out. I’ve owned the truck since 1997, during the time of the sport truck movement, and I’m to the point now of deciding do I want to keep it with a 4/8 drop forever or go under the knife and do the necessary stuff to tuck 15” wide wheels. We have installed under bed notches for several customers out here in Vegas, and the majority are satisfied with 8-9” drops in the rear. They just don’t want to do drastic modifications to cut the bed, add tubs and dog house, and then a wider wheel.

2. My trucks and customer trucks all have the stock covers.

3. Performance OBS trucks hasn’t caught on out here in Vegas like Texas and parts of Cali. Now, there are performance NBS and NNBS trucks out here because of the LS engines, but these guys are not hard core performance trucks where they are swapping out components for race proven stuff. They just mess with tunes, swap cams, add torque converters and rear diffs into stock housings.

4. ABS isn’t a deciding factor to any of the guys I speak with out here.

5. Like I mentioned earlier, if I decide to go under the knife to tuck 15” wide wheels, I won’t go with cheap parts. I’m not saying money is no object, but I will use quality parts.

[robnolimit]

Thanks for the info EVRLET. On an 8" rear drop, isn't the diff housing hitting the bed floor? Can you post a pict of the notch you use. From the trucks we have tested on, at a 6" drop, you have 3 1/2" from the top of the diff to the floor, which seams to be the limiting factor on these trucks. We would like to keep at least 2 1/2" of compression travel, which would be a 7" drop, and this requires a small notch. But, any notch in excess of 1 1/2" depth is useless, due to the diff/floor contact. Again, thanks for the info, we are really trying to deliver top quality ride/performance in a smart package. Every bit helps.

[EVRLET]

I’m away from my truck for a few weeks due to work to show you the actual notch welded in, but I have some old photos showing what an 8” drop looks like in a regular c-notch. You’ll see in the photos that I have maybe 1-1.5” of travel before it hits the bumpstop in the notch.

As for the diff from these old photos, I have about 2.75” of travel before it does actually hit the bed floor. I did notch out the center bed brace to accommodate the travel. I originally had Belltech shocks, but now it’s riding on air shocks.

With the under bed notch, it does have a 4” depth. The picture shown is the actual notch prior to install. This notch is also the one I put in my NBS.

When I drive around town, I am aware of dips and crappy roads. But I have never hit the diff into the bed floor. I think that’s a combination of careful driving and the air shocks. There were times when an unexpected dip or pothole appeared that I hit pretty hard, but never did I smack the bed floor.