Stiffening up suspension with little/no drop

[Graystone_OG]

the viking atomic sells are also for 2.5" ID springs. they would need a larger spring seat to use 4-5-6" diameter springs
I asked him how much preload am i supposed to set them up with, if he says crank it on down, i'll give it a try...the 900lb are only like 60 bux each i'm going to grab them and go for it
need to set a couple of bolts in the work bench for setting the preload up....kinda pain in the ass tightening the thin jam nut up on truck 1/8th of a turn at a time

Been watching your post and I was starting to get interested myself with the coil overs and how the springs are too weak. I started searching around myself and found this YouTube video:

Guy has 1200lb Hyperco springs but used the QA1 DS401 coil over instead since the spring is 8", so not sure if its compatible to the 403 that you have.

Here's there catalog with all the compatible springs. The 1200lb spring only comes in the 8": https://www.hypercoils.com/hyperco-catalog/

 

[randeez]

Thanks man, I'll take a look.
My other car got rear ended last week so I'm trying to keep yukon up and moving in between checking stuff.

I did pull the stock shock back out today, put in the mounts and measured eye to eye where I want center of hub to be (1 inch down from where I was, or 17" to fender) and got 13-3/4. The shock I have is recommended for 12-1/2 to 13-1/4...but I think it will be fine, will just have a little more compression.

I ordered the 900lb springs, and they came in ,no more red
Overall length of the shocks is 15" minus 13-3/4=1-1/4 of compression at ride height ~or about 1100lbs. I've weight my truck with me in it @5900lbs. For the purpose of just making sure it doesn't hit the ground again I'm assuming 3000lbs over the front axle. Minus the 1100, I need to preload about 1000lbs (or an inch) on each coilover

I will probably go over to about 1-1/2 of preload as it's easier to unload it then it is to tighten the jam nut on truck.

 

[randeez]

they in...and its lower

going to ride around a few days and see how much more it settles, Im still back and forth about how low i want it to be, I went ahead and pulled the spacer out from under the rear spring too, not that i mind it being low but function>form lately - as long as it handles better i dont really care what height it is.

At this point i can either swap the spindles back out and use these coilovers which would be "free" and put me about back to where I was with just the spindles but with a better shock/spring - would just take a couple hours, Id need to go get it aligned again asap, etc

get longer shock/spring - easy to swap but more $$

 

[Graystone_OG]

Wow..so after getting the new springs it's still too low? How you think it is now?

Yeah if the coilovers alone will net the right drop, probably makes sense to put the stock spindles in.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A5010 using Tapatalk

 

[randeez]

well its not necessarily the springs... the shocks have a height they like to sit at. i could preload the springs a whole bunch and it would sit where i want but the weight of the truck wouldnt compress them at all and there'd be no travel "up" travel.

it's probably sitting about 4/4 drop now. 32" tire (275 55 20) is about an inch from the fender height in the front, 2.5" in the back (it may settle a little more)

driver side was sitting a little lower (me+gas on that side) just cranked another 3/8" on the spring for that side to hopefully pick it up and even it out.

And I pulled the valve covers and rocker arms to upgrade the trunions. Not many pics was messy, covered in assembly lube most the time. The CHE trunion upgrade is very nice everything went back together great

 

[randeez]

 

[Graystone_OG]

Truck looks great like that. So is this after settling a bit? Is it much stiffer now? That's been my gripe with my truck, find it too soft, especially on the highway. Also is the truck aligned or have a camber kit?

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[randeez]

Adjustable shocks.... anything above 13-14 clicks on the rear and its bouncy as hell, where it's set now as rough as i like driving it daily. way more responsive than stock spring/shock

I'm at 8 clicks front and rear right now, might go 1-2 more up front it still feels kind of "lazy" to me . Back I need to do free of and prob go back down to 7...haven't bottomed out with 8 but it's not as comfy

hasnt been aligned yet, debating on whether i want to leave it this low or not, i'm diggin it tho, miss my lowered truck!
i think thats part of why it looked so low to me with the tires even with the fender becuase of the camber pulled way in

 

[992dr]

I agree, looks great.
Stance is very similar to mine.

How'd the trunion install go? Time wise, did it take a lot of time?

 

[randeez]

I agree, looks great.
Stance is very similar to mine.

How'd the trunion install go? Time wise, did it take a lot of time?

trunions werent bad, took prob 3 hrs start to finish hustlin through it. thought there was going to be more to pulling the valve covers but only had to pull the coils/brackets. one of the gaskets stretched out, luckily i didnt replace them when i tore engine down so i had an extra set handy . I also wanted to take a look at the rocker to valve patterns as i kinda just went with what everyone said and its been sitting in the back of my mind that maybe i should have checked pushrod length but it was all good. LS rockers just get torqued down to 22ft lbs makes life a lot easier.
the CHE are machined to slide into the rocker bodies no pressing anything back in. i have a cheap harbor freight hand crank press (?) not sure what the real name is, but it made quick work of removing the stock needle bearings. then its just new trunion, put on a bushing, retaining clip, slide it in rocker body, bushing on other side, retaining clip on the other side

 

[randeez]

Truck looks great like that. So is this after settling a bit? Is it much stiffer now? That's been my gripe with my truck, find it too soft, especially on the highway. Also is the truck aligned or have a camber kit?

Sent from my ONEPLUS A5010 using Tapatalk

I'm still messing with shock settings but yea, the sway bars helped a ton...masked the worn out front shocks for sure.
I'm went ahead and ordered longer front shocks instead of swapping back in stock spindles. Mostly to get a set of double adjustable up front, and a little bit longer so they'll be all I have to swap. after theyre in ill get it aligned, front has a noticeable amount of neg camber

I'll prob throw these up for sale, they'd be fine for no spindle drop, or smaller tire (ppv) with spindle to get pretty low. With a way better shock

 

[randeez]

V2 underway....ill see what happens.
These are qa1 dd501, 12" close/17" open (for ride height 13.5-14.5). Last time I had it apart I measured ride height at about 13.75 eye to eye on the shock mount for 17"center of hub to fender. I'm good with coming back up a little bit. Springs only preloaded about .5" looking for truck weight to drop them about 2" to get to ride height.

opened one of the shock boxes to find the bearing mounts was the steel one i needed to order for the other set, guessing someone bought/returned and lost them or something, shock was still in factory packaging just different bearing kit. and the thrust bearing kit and wrenches i ordered came with enough to do 4 shocks , so at this point all i have to do when i pull the other shocks out is swap one set of bearings and they can go right back in.

Also front left tire seems to want to roast anytime I get into it (worse than before) so I'll be playing with sway bar lengths, maybe move the battery to that underhood location....try and get more weight on it

 

[randeez]

filthy... and ready for wheels i think.
only did short drive seems much better with this set up, could prob have done 750 or 800lb springs for a little more drop but it rides nice for the little bit i drove. time to mess with settings next few days

 

[992dr]

Man, that looks great.
With V2, what did the drop come out to be?

Lookin forward to your updates.

 

[randeez]

Probably only an inch maybe inch and a half. Could prob loosen preload a little more but it's good. 750/800lb springs would work nice.

 

[992dr]

That looks great Randy, nice job.

Random question about the aluminum arms. I have aluminum lowers but steel uppers. Looking to get some aluminum uppers. Did you end up getting the aluminum uppers?

 

[randeez]

Nope still steel,
I think you need to do the aluminum spindle as well and it needed diff ball joint and tie rod ends.

I am pretty satisfied with the ride, seems to rain everyday I want to mess with settings...still doesn't launch worth a crap I'm thinking it may have something to do with some corner balancing. Driverside front just doesn't want to plant, kinda need to find someone with scales to mess around with end links ....I may try a few runs without it connected at all to see if it helps. Maybe try and run helper bags blown way up to keep weight xfer. Spherical bearings squeaking a little bit, I may try to use a poly on one side but not much I can do about it

@NORCAL SS , Tony, any chance you can still find dub future 24s in chrome. Ordered some they came back and told me they were discontinued

 

[992dr]

I ended up getting steel uppers again. Didn't want to take a chance on them not fitting and have to shuffle around for new arms. Bringing my front up about 2" maybe this weekend.

Any updates? Ride, handling, adjustability?
What drop do you think your at with this set up?

 

[randeez]

updates= not really

rear - I flipped the qa-1s over so the body doesnt rub on the rsb it has plenty of clearance now. did the free travel mod, it definitely needed to be done, allows me to adjust the rear pretty soft for cruisin around and throw it way up for f-around time at the track. i will probably need to grab some helper bags at some point if i ever need to tow anything. ive had about 20 boxes of tile (600lbs or so) in the rear and didnt squat or anything.

front - as it sits, im getting a little tire rub with 275 55 20s (32") on stock wheels so i will go to a shorter tire if i ever find 22-24" wheels i like. ride is great, 900lb may be to much see below.
I'm as "loose" on the 900lbs springs as i can go (barely any preload on coilover jamnuts) two things - wouldnt mind a little more drop so i may grab some 800lb'ers after i get a few other things worked out AND I think that the 900lb spring may be a little to much to control for what i want to do, im no expert so seek real explanation elsewhere as its hard to explain but: the 900lb spring has so much tension built up in it that when I go to launch the truck, that tension also releases throwing the front end up even more/faster. that same weight tension will be true for the 800lb spring but would have a longer/weaker release that may be more control able, and being lower would add a some rake back to front to help more. for any sane person that isnt an issue but trying to launch 5900lb/awd, having the much of the weight come off the front and transfer to the rear causes the front to spin, traction control/abs brakes to kick in, etc.

And the spherical bearings suck lol, squeak after a week


center of hub to fender, dont remember what stock was but i think it's 2.5-3 up front and 4" belltech drop spring without air shock is a little bit lower
front is 17 -3/4
rear is a little shy of 19


Ive got the other set of single adjustables if you wanna make a deal on them, are you on ppv wheels? you may be good with them ive got 800 and 900lb springs for them. with atomic mounts theyll be a little more than 3" of drop i think

Always dirty

 

[992dr]

How was the free travel mod?
Man, I load mine up and it sags like an old ladies, well you know whats
I do have helper bags but they did not come with the shrader valves or any fittings. Kinda pissed me off. I need to find them locally.

Are your stock tires 32" tall or are they aftermarket?
Mine are roughly 29", stock closer to 28" tall.

Hahaha, I gotcha. Trying to launch such a beast can pose a challenge. You will get it worked out for sure. I'm more of a street truck kinda guy. Actually never been to a drag strip before.

Spherical bearings? Are they in the rear bars? Spohn adjustable?

It's funny how you measure the height. That's how I measure as well. I see more people measuring from the ground to fender, not center of hub to fender.
As of right now mine measure
F- 16-1/4
R- 18-1/8
I will be leveling out the front with the rear and see where I'm at.

Hmm, do you have a part number for the coil-overs? I just want to check the availability and variety of coil choices. I'd like 1200 but would like to try as many as possible. I also went another route from Atomics as someone local was selling some ProComp upper mounts, so I'm actually waiting to meet up with him hopefully this weekend to check them out.