Coil Over Conversion Installed

[Bomba02]

This doesn't sound good.....atomic whats your truck sit at. (Ground to fender)
Mike your not happy now??

 

[Tahoewhat]

I kind of expected that sooner honestly given how low you had the spring adjusted. I made very careful to have mine sit in the middle of travel, which is higher than you have. The solution is to adjust the springs up to give it more downtravel. I suggest adding the bumpstops before the shock damaged. The bump stop offers a much softer stop than the shock bottoming out.

You know i know you told me to do that & just flat out forgot about it when installing it. Between school full time and working full time, its not been the best of time lately.

I will be raising it up to 32" again this coming weekend and chopping off the stock cup & adding the bumpstop for sure. (dont want to destroy new shocks) Im kicking myself for not listening to you and remembering. doh. Well easy fix honestly, raise it up. lol as you said.
I think i may be maxxed out on the down travel now, right? I mean the coil over is almost all the way down, never moved up for example. Funny how low it can honestly go though.

I know it seems like it wont do much, but giving a little cushion so it isnt metal on metal will definitely help, and keeping the shock from hitting rock bottom will avoid damage to the (expensive) hardware
Heres a pic of my setup, so others can see. If the stud top pans out, ill most likely trim the bumpstop a little more... as you can see, I already hacked it up pretty good and still have minimal room

Yeah, i have them sitting in my truck just not time to get it installed (see above), but I am installing them no doubt. I'll post a pic of mine currently in a few w/o the bumpstop, but the relative closeness of the stock bumpstop cup and my lca. Very similar to yours w/ the cup.

This doesn't sound good.....atomic whats your truck sit at. (Ground to fender)
Mike your not happy now??

Do not fear grasshopper ha ha, still happy i went this way. Just as above, school, work and other things going on, my tensions have gone up, so i am noticing everything right now. Iregret sits close to what my level is, with the exception he is on 17's, (same setup i had w/ the spares, just different rim)

Honestly, it just needs some fine tuning and time and will have to raise it up some, but does not bother me. If i want on the ground, bags it will go. Eventually it will go up quite a bit more to have extra cushion. But yes, still happy - its all part of doing what we love. Modding a vehicle to our standards.

 

[Bomba02]

Do not fear grasshopper ha ha, still happy i went this way. Just as above, school, work and other things going on, my tensions have gone up, so i am noticing everything right now. Iregret sits close to what my level is, with the exception he is on 17's, (same setup i had w/ the spares, just different rim)

Honestly, it just needs some fine tuning and time and will have to raise it up some, but does not bother me. If i want on the ground, bags it will go. Eventually it will go up quite a bit more to have extra cushion. But yes, still happy - its all part of doing what we love. Modding a vehicle to our standards.

Haha. Just was wondering! I got Atomic's lower brackets Monday! There one hell of a good looking piece very pleased there. Just tryin I scrap rest of money together to do swap. Mean time reading all info and figuring the best way to go. So your coils are set at lowest point? So if you raised it up to 32 and its fine, when you do the stud top mount that will will lower it 1.5 inchs and contain the same travel in the shock or you could go to 32 and have a little more travel in the shock? If you follow any of that lol. I'm in debate if I just wait out the stud top work by digitalfiend. Do you know what atomic sits at ground to fender?
Thanks Billy

 

[Atomic]

I think mine is around 32 (dont have the truck at my house to measure), but I think the truck fender is different than the tahoe fender. Also I like measuring from the center of the wheel to the fender since this will eliminate tire height as a variable.

Furthermore, I think it would be better to measure the cv or tie rod angle than simply fender height. I never measured my fenders before so I dont know how much it dropped when I did the coilovers.

 

[04blackout]

Billy, you also have to take into consideration tire size. For instance, my 305/35/24 measures like 32.7 factory spec and my fender is 33 1/4". If I dropped to 295/35 or even a 285/40, my fender height would drop and suspension would stay the same

 

[Tahoewhat]

Haha. Just was wondering! I got Atomic's lower brackets Monday! There one hell of a good looking piece very pleased there. Just tryin I scrap rest of money together to do swap. Mean time reading all info and figuring the best way to go. So your coils are set at lowest point? So if you raised it up to 32 and its fine, when you do the stud top mount that will will lower it 1.5 inchs and contain the same travel in the shock or you could go to 32 and have a little more travel in the shock? If you follow any of that lol. I'm in debate if I just wait out the stud top work by digitalfiend. Do you know what atomic sits at ground to fender?
Thanks Billy

Ha ha, glad you laughed. lol. Yes, the brackets are a very good peice and put together quite well, I have no fear of atomic's brackets breaking or being any sort of weak point in the setup.

Reading all this info will have you confused like crazy if you ask me. ha ha. Honestly, I would order the shocks you want, make sure you order correct for your height, the lower brkts of course, and wait for digital on his bushings and see how they hold up. If i were to do it again, thats what i would do.

Yes, Right now my coils are almost all the way down, I.E. on last thread. I had to go up a little b/c it was on the knob. Not much further up. I will snap a pic if I get a chance today and send it to you and put on here later. If i go up .5" to 32" to match the rear, it should be better. But remember i also have the pro comp adapter.

For your question, Honestly that is very similar to what i was going to ask Richard - Atomic. ha ha
I have a theory, but will see what atomic says. I think i would get more travel because right now i belive i am on the bottom of the downward travel, meaning not much room for the shock to go down, only up.

When installing remember this what atomic told me- Try to draw a line on the shock in the halfway point so you know the upward travel and the downward travel and can set it up to be in the middle. Just a thought.

Like Atomic & Craig (blkout) said, going from tire to fender is not really a good way, I need to measure mine from center to fender. Measuring from cv up I can not do as I do not have a CV axle.

 

[Atomic]

Yea, exactly why I prefer to go by cv shaft angle instead of fender height. If you dont have CVs, tie rod angle will work just as well as long as its still on top of the spindle, heck even UCA angle would work, just be harder to measure.

Philosophically, I made these brackets with only my setup in mind, and my goal was to have a better ride than the tbars and have it at such at height that the cv shaft is level since the main use of my truck is drag racing. I didnt care about ride height, that was merely a result of what it took to get the cv where I wanted it. I was able to accomplish my goals with the procomp shock adapter so I never bothered much with the stud top, but I knew it was out there so I mentioned it. I have not run it personally so I never came up with a fix for the bushing thing. I am happy to see other guys carrying that one step further and trying to make that work for them. More specifically, I never designed these with the expecation to lay frame, or do be a replacement for a full lift kit. What they are is an easy way to add a modest amount of drop or lift on an otherwise stockish setup. If you want more than that out of the swap, then additional resources on your part will have to be invested.

So with that in mind I offer these for other people to do the swap if they want, but everyone must understand this is not a one size fits all type of thing. I am just one guy in my garage with a full time job and girlfriend, not a company that mass produces these or has done R&D on multiple vehicles. A big part of hot rodding is taking something that wasnt necessarily fully intended to be used on your specific application and making it work. If you are not prepared to invest some time in fine tuning your own setup then I would not recommend the swap because the only setup I can guarantee right out of the box is the one I run on my exact application because that is the only one I have personally done.

My goal in selling these was to take care of the hard part of doing this swap for other hot rodders. Most guys dont have the resources (be it time, skills, contacts, or whatever) to have steel brackets designed, machined, and welded so that doing a coilover swap becomes a bolt-on modification you can do in your garage with hand tools instead of an extended effort by a custom fab shop. I offer my help in the form of advice based on what I have experienced in doing this for myself.

This is not a bash on anyone, not at all, I just feel it is important to make sure peoples' expactations match reality as closely as possible.

 

[Tahoewhat]

Very nice response Richard and I hope I have not come across as being mad or anything on the setup. As I stated before, when we mod something that did not come factory, then modifications will entail and I have no problem with this, I bought them out of being a guinea pig and see how the setup works. I think your brackets alone have allowed a much greater use than originally thought of. I for one thank you for bringing this up on our forum.

I guess one thing everyone needs to make sure they understand, which i think most of us do that are attempting this, but for future mod people, You sell only the brackets that will allow the use of a coil over system. The shocks and other mods are utterly up to the person doing the mods. (owner)

And.. you surely did take care of the hard part for me at least. I have no way of making those brackets. lol.

Thank you Richard for this and please do not take any of our critism bad, its not your brackets at all, its our choices of shocks and being about 2in off the ground and trying to have it ride like a dream. ha ha..

One main thing for those attempting this...

1. Do research
2. Make time - for fine tuning shocks & just all around fitment. Dont rush this.
3. In no way do I regret doing this, even slammed, its all about a happy medium.

 

[Bomba02]

Richard, I understand completely and my comment to mike was just wondering fact. I know you just make the brackets (which are car **** very nice piece). Glad you made the brackets and brought this info onto the site. I've been modding cars since I could drive so I know what it takes. I'm in no mean backing out or questions your brackets I just like to ask questions to obtain info. As you are the guys that have done the swap and I want to join that group. I fully understand they were not meant to lay frame which Im not going for. My thought when I saw this was holy shit that would ride way better for my applications then t bars (******). I'd like to thank you for hooking me up with the brackets and giving the options to do this.

The ground to fender lip I understand just most people measure like that got into the habit. I understand the difference in overall tire size as well. I'm on a 285/45/22 which is 32.1 inches tall. Ill get a center to fender lip measure later today. I would say as long as I can match the back at around the 32 and have good ride I'd be happy if I could go lower great but in the end just looking for a little better ride!

Once again I'm just asking question to have knowledge of the subject not hating or anything. This swap is awesome to me and I just like to ask questions as you are the few to have it done. Hopping to join your group soon!! Lol

Billy

 

[ThatDudeOrion]

Mike, do you have any ideas why your truck and Blackout's truck aren't very different in front end height even though you have 2" drop spindles and he doesn't? I know his fender is a little higher than yours, but he has taller tires, I would think the difference would be more than what it is since you have the drop spindles. Especially since he appears to have room to adjust down on the coilovers and you're already on like the last thread. Is this just a case of different trucks being different? Thanks.