Coil spring spacers

Submitted: Wednesday, Mar 09, 2005 at 12:13

ThreadID: 21082 Views:2552 Replies:7 FollowUps:10

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Member - Roachie (SA)

I'm due to have a full front end alignment and possibly offset castor bushes installed next week in Adelaide. I was thinking of getting them to whack in a set of 4 x 30mm coil spring spacers (those donot shaped doo-dads that jack-up the truck's height without changing the coils).

Has anybody on here used them? I am interested to know of any downside to them. I already have very heavy-duty Lovells springs (4" front and 5" back) which give me an overall increase of about 90mm front and back due to the 3+ tonne my vehicle "normally" weighs. It's interesting that when I do load up for a trip and chuck the camper on the back, the height of the vehicle drops about a half inch only; I've only been able to measure this by line of sight recently, following the addition of 3 large mudflaps at the rear of the Patrol. At normal (b4 loading etc) they sit about 1" above the ground......whack all the gear in/on the 'trol and they are about half inch off the ground. I guess the polyairs are also partially responsible for this situation.

Thanks in advance for any feedback you provide.....

Cheers

Roachie

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Reply By: Member - Beatit (QLD) - Wednesday, Mar 09, 2005 at 13:26

Wednesday, Mar 09, 2005 at 13:26

G'day Roachie,

Is this a birthday present? Thought I'd read somewhere that you have/were or about to celebrate your 50th.

Sorry I can't help you with your question but only ask another of my own, man what do you need all that height for? That'll be like 5" up front and 6" in the rear, I take these SA parking speed humps are somewhat higher than those in Brisvegas.

Mate, I can understand the high clearance thing for some tracks BUT these are unlikely to be the same ones you would drag the CT over - or are they? Is the Ultimate up to that or is it getting the same treatment?

Kind regards

AnswerID: 101736

Follow Up By: Member - Roachie (SA) - Wednesday, Mar 09, 2005 at 14:41

Wednesday, Mar 09, 2005 at 14:41

G'day mate,

50th was on Sunday (just another day as far as I'm concerned).

I like to keep plenty of clearance between my undercarriage and the rocks when driving in the Flinders Ranges and anywhere else we find ourselves. I live in the country and am on bush tracks a fair bit.

The Ultimate won't need any adjustments; it already has heaps of ground clearance and even now it only just sits almost level when hooked to the patrol with towbar tongue as high as i can get it; so the extra 30mm would also be the only way I could get it "look" right.

Thanks for your reply.
Cheers
Roachie

FollowupID: 359586

Reply By: DukeAtty - Wednesday, Mar 09, 2005 at 13:46

Wednesday, Mar 09, 2005 at 13:46

I use spacers in a similar vehicle and the only downside is that the spacers cause your spring not to go into the top spring-well as far and if you disconnect your swaybar your spring can fall out easier...
Keep your swaybar and all is good...(rear springs by the way)....
I use 35mm spacers with a 50mm body lift and 100mm suspension lift...

AnswerID: 101740

Follow Up By: Member - Roachie (SA) - Wednesday, Mar 09, 2005 at 14:43

Wednesday, Mar 09, 2005 at 14:43

Thanks for that replay Duke.....I've already ditched my sway bars, so I guess losing a spring is something I'll need to consider as a possibility.

Cheers

Roachie

FollowupID: 359587

Reply By: ianmc - Wednesday, Mar 09, 2005 at 15:03

Wednesday, Mar 09, 2005 at 15:03

Sounds like you might have more trouble with your own undercarriage than the pootrol,s. Try some thicker boots or an elastic support! Help with climbing in!

AnswerID: 101751

Reply By: Truckster (Vic) - Wednesday, Mar 09, 2005 at 15:07

Wednesday, Mar 09, 2005 at 15:07

They wont last with the weight you are expecting them to put up with. Have tried them, but harsh offroading will fubar them.

Why do you need more height? 4in isn't enough for outback touring? Its enough for weekend hacks...

AnswerID: 101754

Follow Up By: Member - Roachie (SA) - Wednesday, Mar 09, 2005 at 20:01

Wednesday, Mar 09, 2005 at 20:01

Trucky, You're probably right; I don't really 'need' the extra height, although some of the places we go verge on being classed as 'low-level rock climbing' I would think. It's certainly not all bitumen and good quality dirt roads that i drive on; far from it.
I have not scaped anything under the truck except for the bit of the towbar that the safety chains are "D" shackled onto and that was on my first Cape York trip and was when I only had Old Man Emu 2" spring lift which was sagging anyway under the load and was the reason i went to the Lovells in the first place.

Roachie

FollowupID: 359647

Follow Up By: Truckster (Vic) - Wednesday, Mar 09, 2005 at 22:35

Wednesday, Mar 09, 2005 at 22:35

Remember dude, theres dozens of trucks weighin in the same as you with 2 or 3in lifts doing the cape, and all through the country.. 4 I can think of from my club alone - one is ex-pres, his car is setup to the doortrims...

FollowupID: 359687

Reply By: warthog - Wednesday, Mar 09, 2005 at 15:12

Wednesday, Mar 09, 2005 at 15:12

Hi Roachie,
I am interested in doing the same at the back of my gu and was wondering what you have done with your brake lines to extend them given that yours is already higher than mine will end up?
thanks Chris.

AnswerID: 101756

Follow Up By: Truckster (Vic) - Wednesday, Mar 09, 2005 at 15:28

Wednesday, Mar 09, 2005 at 15:28

You can buy them as a kit from bigballsoffroad.com or any brake place will make longer ones.

FollowupID: 359589

Follow Up By: Member - Roachie (SA) - Wednesday, Mar 09, 2005 at 17:14

Wednesday, Mar 09, 2005 at 17:14

Chris,

To date I have not found it necessary to lengthen my brake lines, but figure i would have to do so if i did add the extra 30mm. I've already got enough slack in the extended diff breathers I fitted and the air locker seems to have a reasonable amount of slack in it's air line too.

If you're raising yours up to 4" it would seem you won't need to worry about extended brake lines, but i guess different models/years could be different too.

Roachie

FollowupID: 359609

Follow Up By: warthog - Thursday, Mar 10, 2005 at 13:43

Thursday, Mar 10, 2005 at 13:43

Thanks fellas, mine is supposed to be 3" at the moment though doesn't look it when parked next to a newer std gu3 at least not at the back anyway.

FollowupID: 359766

Reply By: Pezza - Wednesday, Mar 09, 2005 at 22:29

Wednesday, Mar 09, 2005 at 22:29

G'day Roachie,

If your shockies don't extend far enough to let your springs fall out now then they won't let them fall out with the spacers fitted as the spring will be slightly more compressed over the same extended distance. I had 30mm spacers fitted to my shorty GQ which spent as much time with the wheels off the ground as it did on, and they had no adverse effects at all.
As to all the questions on 'why do you want to go higher'? I reckon do it....Just because you can!

Avagoodn
Pezza

AnswerID: 101849

Follow Up By: Truckster (Vic) - Wednesday, Mar 09, 2005 at 22:34

Wednesday, Mar 09, 2005 at 22:34

"....Just because you can"

then why not go 24inch lift + same in body lift?

FollowupID: 359686

Reply By: Member - Rick (S.A.) - Wednesday, Mar 09, 2005 at 22:42

Wednesday, Mar 09, 2005 at 22:42

Roachie, very good Q of yours.

I'm booked in on Monday for a lift all round, and revised, new castor bushes, + front end alignment. Getting it done at Alltrac.

I asked them about the spacers, as a quick lift, for my bus is 3.3 t fully laden, and currently scrapes a bit. The answer was non commital.

But what I have realised is that as I lift the front, I will need to address the castor issues, so I am going with taller, heavier coils as well as the bushes. The old bushes are rooted anyway, although it drives pretty true. I have a castor kit in the LHS front + a return to centre damper, whicgh IMHO is very good.

Where are you going for your work?

AnswerID: 101855

Follow Up By: Member - Roachie (SA) - Thursday, Mar 10, 2005 at 11:20

Thursday, Mar 10, 2005 at 11:20

I'm going to Alltrac too Rick, booked in for 18th.

How much lift are you looking at and are they going to instal longer brake lines?

Hope it all goes well.

Cheers

Roachie

FollowupID: 359754

Follow Up By: Member - Rick (S.A.) - Thursday, Mar 10, 2005 at 17:29

Thursday, Mar 10, 2005 at 17:29

Roachie

Only going for 2 " lift. So longer brake lines should not be needed.

But going for the EXTRA heavy duty springs in the rear, as I really only drive the old girl when:

1) she is loaded (beer+ boys + etc = heaps of weight. Regular extra weight in rear is ~ 350 kg - water, tucker, vehicle tools & spares, cooking & camping eqpt, swags, etc)

2) on the blacktop en-route to a remote or rough destination.

I also have the Noble suspension supports. Quite firm when engaged & they stop an amount of body roll also. Bottoming out still is possible, but they sure are better than the OE bump stops.

We got the cook a city car, so Shirl, the Big Niss, is not doing the miles any more. Thus a harsh ride when empty does not concern me, as Shirl is not driven MT.

C ya

FollowupID: 359785