Rear coilover conversion

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

87carl

Full Access Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2016
Posts
328
Reaction score
168
Has anyone ever removed the stock rear coil spring and replaced the rear shocks with a set of coilovers? I have been trying to find any info i can on it but all that comes up is front coilover kits.

I currently have rough country 3.5 knuckle lift for gm 1500 trucks in front, 5 inch rear lift springs, spohn control arms and panhard, and rc 4.5-8 inch lift rear shocks. In the next few months im planning to redo my entire suspension and add a rough country 7 inch lift kit but only lift front 5 inches. The 7 inch kit has rear control arm drop brackets the 5 inch kit doesn't. Im also planning to get king 3.0 front coilovers made for a 5 inch lift. Long lead time on those kinda sucks and will hold this project up for a while. That will lift my front almost 2 more inches from where it is now so I want to lift rear couple more inches also so it stays level.

I was thinking of getting king 3.0 12 inch travel coilovers they are 32.7 extended length and 20.7 compressed length. My current shocks are 30 inch extended and 17.5 compressed. So the coilovers are only 3 inch longer compressed and 2.7 longer extended so they should fit. Our shock mounts are outboard of the frame and the same angles on both sides. Strength would be my biggest I would reinforce the shock mounts on frame add a crossmember connecting top of upper shock mounts. Also would need to add limit straps to limit droop and add a hydraulic bump stop to stop the up travel just before coilovers bottom out. Also need to figure out spring rates and shock valving but most companies that sell coilovers are good at helping figure that out.

https://accutuneoffroad.com/product...r-internal-bypass-remote-reservoir-12-travel/

those are the coilovers i was considering for the rear. Would this work? Has anyone done it before?
 
Last edited:
OP
OP
87carl

87carl

Full Access Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2016
Posts
328
Reaction score
168
https://www.tahoeyukonforum.com/threads/informative-suspension-details-in-depth.124417/#post-1536972

https://www.tahoeyukonforum.com/threads/bds-lift-travel-numbers.124107/

https://www.tahoeyukonforum.com/media/albums/nnbs-07-13-long-travel.3865/

https://www.tahoeyukonforum.com/thr...snowballs-into-a-long-travel-04-denali.90707/

Still have not found anything on anyone running coilovers in the rear and eliminating stock springs. But have found few threads of people using coilover shocks in stock location and stock springs. The threads linked above have useful information about spring rates and travel measurements. I linked them to make them easier to find for anyone else interested in converting to coilovers. The last link above is truly amazing and is the closest I have found to what I want to do to mine. He is using skyjacker c25r springs in rear with coilover shocks. Extended length panhard and custom front midtravel. He had used the stock shock mounts with 10 inch travel coilover shocks and moved the 10 inch to the front when he built his front suspension and is building new upper shock mounts for 12 inch travel shocks. The new upper mounts will allow full uptravel with the 12 inch shocks. In the stock shock mount 12 inch travel shocks will bottom out before the axle bottoms out. So I will have to make upper shock mounts as well for that reason. I will have to find time to lift up my rear end to measure axle travel and plan this properly

Also if anyone wants to learn a alot about coilovers geometry and how to set up spring rates the billavista coilover Bible explains alot of it.

http://www.billavista.com/tech/Articles/Coilover_Bible_Part_1/index.html

http://www.billavista.com/tech/Articles/Coilover_Bible_Part_2/index.html

http://www.billavista.com/tech/Articles/Air_Bump_Tech/index.html
 

Dustin Jackson

Full Access Member
Joined
Aug 9, 2018
Posts
1,376
Reaction score
1,529
Is there a problem you are trying to solve by doing the rear coil overs or is it just something you want to do?
 
OP
OP
87carl

87carl

Full Access Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2016
Posts
328
Reaction score
168
Is there a problem you are trying to solve by doing the rear coil overs or is it just something you want to do?
The front will be going up another 1.5-2 inches taller. I already have 5 inch lift springs in rear to have it sit Level with the current 3.5 front lift suspension. I would need a 7 inch lift spring to keep it level and as far as I can tell no one sells any, unless I custom order new springs. Plus I have wanted to increase travel and go coilover anyway.
 

Dustin Jackson

Full Access Member
Joined
Aug 9, 2018
Posts
1,376
Reaction score
1,529
If the person who has the ability to custom fab what it takes to make the conversion didn't do a coil over conversion that might suggest the benefits aren't worth it.

That being said this 7.5 inch rough country lift doesn't seem to use a spacer, I can't see it in the parts list or instructions:
 
OP
OP
87carl

87carl

Full Access Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2016
Posts
328
Reaction score
168
If the person who has the ability to custom fab what it takes to make the conversion didn't do a coil over conversion that might suggest the benefits aren't worth it.

That being said this 7.5 inch rough country lift doesn't seem to use a spacer, I can't see it in the parts list or instructions:

What person are you referring to in beginning?

The 7 inch kit uses a 6 inch rear lift springs and rear control arm drop brackets. there 5 inch kit has 4 inch lift springs no control arm drop brackets. That's why I'm going with the 7 inch kit even though I only plan to lift the front 5 inches.

Until the 6 inch spring in the kit is installed I won't know how much actual lift that spring provides. Or if it is even any higher than the skyjacker 5 inch springs. most reviews of the rough country lifts say the rear sits low compared to front.
 

Dustin Jackson

Full Access Member
Joined
Aug 9, 2018
Posts
1,376
Reaction score
1,529
@87carl This guy you posted, he did a build for his wife or something and did a lot of fab work to make it work and I think he could have done a coilover conversion but didn't
 

Forum statistics

Threads
128,789
Posts
1,805,483
Members
91,772
Latest member
dvnt
Top