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Old 08-26-2013, 04:10 PM   #1
superwade57
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thought I'd share

Dropped my truck this weekend.. flip out back 3 in spindles and cut coils up front. Turns out I cut 2 rounds and it may be too much. Looks awesome. But not sure about practicallity. I cut one coil and it maybe dropped it an inch. So I wacked another one. It brings me to this discovery/idea.... would running air shocks up front lift a little and stiffen enough to make it work? I found some monroe air shocks with same dimensions as stock front shocks...that's what I wanted to share... part number ...ma785. I can't post pics from phone not sure why not but no go. What do you guys think about running these?
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Old 08-26-2013, 04:59 PM   #2
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Re: thought I'd share

Id think the ride would be terrible and they would wear out pretty quick.
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Old 08-26-2013, 08:24 PM   #3
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Re: thought I'd share

Its really just to stiffen. Why would they wear fast? Less stress than if they were on the back hauling stuff right? Just devils advocate
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Old 08-26-2013, 08:34 PM   #4
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Re: thought I'd share

Quote:
Originally Posted by superwade57 View Post
Its really just to stiffen. Why would they wear fast? Less stress than if they were on the back hauling stuff right? Just devils advocate
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My thought is using them to lift the front youd have the wight of the motor and everything along with the brunt of bumps in the road, they would be under quite a bit of stress all the time. But with them in the rear where its lighter when not loaded down, youd only have them aired up when hauling something. This is just speculation on my part however so take it with a grain of salt.
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Old 08-26-2013, 08:40 PM   #5
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Re: thought I'd share

I can see that point. I do like the height but Im not far from the already trimmed bump stops... I thought maybe 30 lbs wouldn't be too stiff. Would like raise it a half inch and decrease the travel considerably... can I remove bump stops all together? Ive read the more coils you cut the less spring reaction.. essentially a stiffer spring. But is it stiff enough? Or will I trash my new ball joints... maybe jonboy will chime in I believe he had (has)? A beautiful orange truck with a 5/7 or 6/8 looks to have wide ish slot mags up front leading me to believe its only 2 or 2.5 spindles so he would essentially have the spring cut? And maybe some input.
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Old 08-26-2013, 08:48 PM   #6
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Re: thought I'd share

Lets see pics!
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Old 08-26-2013, 08:49 PM   #7
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Re: thought I'd share

Won't let me post em?
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Old 08-26-2013, 08:51 PM   #8
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Re: thought I'd share

Try uploading pics on photobucket and using the image code to post on here!
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Old 08-26-2013, 10:08 PM   #9
superwade57
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Re: thought I'd share

http://m863.photobucket.com/albumvie...0.jpg.html?o=5
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Old 08-26-2013, 10:11 PM   #10
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Re: thought I'd share

I'm new to photo bucket so that's all I got lol
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Old 08-26-2013, 10:18 PM   #11
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Re: thought I'd share

Damn that thihg is low up front!
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Old 08-26-2013, 10:23 PM   #12
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Re: thought I'd share

Yup lol I think I need 3 inches off a stock spring.... its 2. Full coils now. But I'm thinking an inch up from where its at... but maybe I need to go 2 inches up then put my hood inners and bumper on and it'll settle out. Can you cut a half coil off? The retainer "nub" on the uca seems to b e oblong so the spring only properly seats in one position. Is that accurate? I was also thinking about adding a 1/2" or 1" block to the rear to bring it down a little more.
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Old 08-26-2013, 10:34 PM   #13
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Re: thought I'd share

Air shocks on the front are a very bad idea.

About half of these trucks have the upper shock mount wallowed out on the frame rail already. They were marginal on stock shocks and certainly not intended to carry the added stress of air shocks. You're pretty much certain to rip the frame hole bigger in fairly short order. It's single shear and mounted through a thin frame rail.
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Old 08-26-2013, 10:39 PM   #14
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Re: thought I'd share

Good point and info. Makes up my mind. Ill just have to find some used springs now so I don't have to spend $100 for new ones cause i got over anxious lol. Doubt a wi junk yard will pull them for me as rusty as stuff is and its worth 1009 $ to not have to lay in thistles and hornets to pull myself. Hopefully I can find a used set.
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Old 08-26-2013, 10:41 PM   #15
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Re: thought I'd share

Man, that looks cool, but I don't think I could get that in and out of my driveway !! I've wondered the same thing about cutting the coils, so I'm gonna follow along. I don't think the air shock idea is good, long term. You're basically taking most of the suspension action out. ( My .02)
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Old 08-27-2013, 10:19 AM   #16
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Re: thought I'd share

That looks really good, but awfully low. How much room is between the crossmember and the ground? I could stick my hand between them, so I had 4-5" of clearance. The roads around here are pretty decent, and the control arms still got pretty roughed up.
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Old 08-27-2013, 08:04 PM   #17
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Re: thought I'd share

3 1/4 I definitely need to find new used springs...I called several yards around her. They won't pull them and they won't let me "under the truck" to pull them myself. Hopefully a fellow member has a set laying around. What do you guys think of in coil bags like the airlift 1000 part number...81560

http://www.airliftcompany.com/vehicl...0-pickup/1986/
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Old 08-27-2013, 08:16 PM   #18
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Re: thought I'd share

Since Summit has free shipping over 99 dollars, you could probably get a set of new lowering coils delivered to your door for not much more than you'd pay for a pair of used springs and shipping to get them to you.
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Old 08-27-2013, 08:23 PM   #19
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Re: thought I'd share

Txfirefighter I agree with you on the shearing of the frame mounts but what about adding the 4x4 shock braces? I would think that would be almost enough to prevent anything happening
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Old 08-28-2013, 10:28 PM   #20
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Re: thought I'd share

Here you go....



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Old 08-28-2013, 10:32 PM   #21
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Re: thought I'd share

Hey thanks! I thinkbi put 6 pics on photo bucket. All for this thread
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Old 08-29-2013, 01:09 AM   #22
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Re: thought I'd share

Air shocks on the front are a band-aid for something WRONG. Why not just get some new/different front coils & do it right?
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Old 08-29-2013, 08:26 AM   #23
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Re: thought I'd share

That's the plan but even with correct coils I was wondering about how they'd work to stiffen springs and tihhten tolerences... but it seems to be a terrible idea. But what about inner spring bags?
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Old 08-29-2013, 08:29 AM   #24
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Re: thought I'd share

Quote:
Originally Posted by superwade57 View Post
That's the plan but even with correct coils I was wondering about how they'd work to stiffen springs and tihhten tolerences... but it seems to be a terrible idea. But what about inner spring bags?
Get the right spring rate on the coils & the 'inner spring bag' also wouldn't be necessary.
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Old 08-29-2013, 08:34 AM   #25
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Re: thought I'd share

You can check Amazon also. I bought a new set of Moog springs for another project I have, I got them for 58.00 and free super saver shipping.
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