My new "TWACK LIFT" setup

[twack]

I had the daystar lift with 02 springs with rancho struts. I bought the OME ligt duty coils hen they were on clearence for dirt cheap. I left the dust gaurds on and after a couple of months they got crushed and had to be removed. Since i was going to tear it all apart again i figured i wanted to get the new springs in but not loose any height. Ive tried in the past to put the OME LDs on top of the daystar 2.5 lift and it was way to much and i ran into Aarm issues and possible CV issues. I felt i would loose height if i just went with the springs alone. I thought about modifying the spacers the shorten them but because of the strut design it would be really hard to do without a lathe.

I figured that since i got te springs so cheap I really didnt care to much about them. So i grabbed my cutting disc and cut just under a full loop out of each spring. Bringing them down to about a 1/6 lower then 02 coils. I flattened the bottom of the coil a tiny bit and painted the bare metal to protect from rust. I figured that since the OME coils are new and rated at 40lbs heavier then stock this would turn out and ride great. Reassmebling the struts and installing them was much easier then when i tried doing it without cutting them.

When it was all together it sits nice and tall but without Aarm issues. Its higher then the daystars with stock coils but not to much. Rides very nice, not spongy or real stiff. Very comfortable. I know a lot of people dont like the idea of cutting springs but the amount im removing is not hurting the rate and load of the spring. Im not heating the springs either so not exerting that stress on it either.

Im calling it the "TWACK LIFT"

Its a budget lift kit that rides awesome and raises the KJ to the edge of the Aarms without going over the saftey zone of the Aarms.

Lowered OME Light Duty springs in front
Daystar Spacer 2.5 lift kit front and back
Stock rear isolators used
Rancho front struts
Durango rear shock

I know some are going to hate on the idea of cutting springs or continuing use of the daystar lift but i had the stuff around and had to try something new, and it works great.

*PICS COMING SOON*

 

[ridenby]

Glad it works,keep us informed.

 

[kj924]

Interesting.:-k Since these are linear coils, then you are just decreasing spring length I guess...stock car racers have done that for years. Keep us informed.

 

[HoosierJeeper]

Wait a sec...the OME light duty is stock height...right??? If so, you're not getting the 2.5" lift.....

 

[twack]

they are taller then stock by an inch maybe inch half. i cut them to the height of 02 prelowered height, just a much better spring. ome says they are 1.5in of lift and 40lbs stronger then stock

 

[HoosierJeeper]

they are taller then stock by an inch maybe inch half. i cut them to the height of 02 prelowered height, just a much better spring. ome says they are 1.5in of lift and 40lbs stronger then stock

Oh.....alrighty. My bad.

 

[Uncle Krusty]

Ok, I follow your thought process...

2.5" daystar plus 1.5" OME = too much.

My guess is that with the settling and such you ar probably still arround 3.5", and I agree - too much.

Still, the last thing i would do is trim the coil

Lets say that by trimming the coil you where able to get it back down 1.0", so you are around 3.5". Still a bit much for me, but hey, its your ride.

The problem I see is that you have the height you want, but have totally compromised articulation to get it! Part of the beauty of the OME springs is that you not only get the added 1.5" of height, but that it is added to the 1.5" of additional wheel travel too. That is why you don't need to extend the bump stops when doing the OME lift. It is engineered that way.

So, now you've cut out the additional flex plovided by the springs, further compromised it with spacers, and I'd almost bet you have less articulation that a stock 2WD. But it looks great.

Like I said, not the aproach I would take - but it's your ride.

 

[twack]

Krusty, one point i agree with you and one i dont. i dont think ive done any damage to the function of the spring. but i do agree with your spacer comments. spacers are never the best way to go, but they get the job done on a budget. i got no problem with trying something new and so far been opperating great, drove it 150 miles today and it was very smooth

 

[Uncle Krusty]

Twack,

Sorry, in re-reading my post I did come off a little harsh. I was trying to hurry so we could go over to my in-laws (fun enough in it's own right). I'm glad to hear that everything is working for you so far.

Years ago, my brother cut the coils on the front of his Chevy, and removed a leaf from the rear spring pack to achieve that "lowered" look. The truck handled and rode great, though he did lose about an inch of travel at the bumpstops. It was no big deal, as it was a Street Truck, and the suspension worked well enough for the application and fit the budget perfectly.

The point I was trying to make was that cutting the spacers would have been better than cutting the spring - wouldn't it? I'm not even sure if cutting the spacers could easily be done, but sacrificing the flex you gained with the OME springs just for height (clearance) is not my idea of a good trade-off.

Back when 4-wheeling first took off ('70s) I saw too many people re-arch the leaf springs to the point of looking like U-bolts just so they could slap some 40" plus tires on, and go "cruising". The worst part was that the truck now had the handeling and ride of the earth-mover they stole the tires from...

Trust me, I understand the budget thing all too well. I've been planning and saving for my OME lift for more than a year now. I too have explored a few un-conventional things (frankie lift, 1/2" longer KK clevis, etc...) and aplaud all of those who have put effort into trying new things. Especially when they share the results here for all of us. How else would we know that we can use Durango shocks on the rear of our lifted Libby's?

As far as your springs go, you did compromise it some. Think of it this way, if you had cut the sping in half, then added a spacer to make up for it plus 1". You got the added 1" lift, but now your remaining spring is having to do twice the work, and can only expand/compress half as much to do so. In your application, it is entirely possible that you may never even notice the difference, especially with the heavier spring rate, and what you did does sound feasable otherwise.

One other word for anyone else thinkng of cutting the coil. You will note it was done using a cut-off wheel - NOT A TORCH! Using a torch on a spring is the best way to totally ruin the spring...

 

[twack]

haha torching is bad, especially when you see the honda guys melting their springs and letting them stack up. as for lowering the spacers, if you look at another one of my threads that was my first approach. the problem is the daystar pucks have an inner lip for the strut, that must also be lowered. i think the easiest way is on a lathe, i dont have a lathe. if it eases your mind i only cut them to the height of 02 coils which means they are taller then most stock coils. so i still have as much travel as someone doing daystar lift on stock coils. i am using the daystar upper strut plates so that helps.

 

[Uncle Krusty]

The lip would present a problem, especialy if you don't have a lathe (few of us do...)

When you mention the Homda guys torching their's, I can go one better. Back in the "U-Shaped" leaf spring days, I saw a 70's Stepside (SWB) F150 that had been lifted well over 12". These had the coil spring front with the track arm. The drive shaft angles were idiotic and brackets were a hack job. All in all it was a disaster waiting to happen. But the thing I remember the most about it was that instead of using longer coil springs, he had welded 12" (or better) pipe sections to the top of the coil spings!

Now I never saw it on the road, and it sat out in front of a repair shop of some sorts. I hope it was an advertising gimic, but who knows? When you get lifted that high I hear the air gets thin and you don't think all that well... I also wonder if their unique engineering skills were applied to their "normal" repair work - makes you think...

One question I forgot to ask last night. How did you do the back? the shape of the spring keeps you from cutting it - doesn't it?

 

[Atrus]

Understandably, the 2.5" spacer would be too much, but doesn't the Frankenlift use the a 3/4" spacer and a different top plate? Don't Daystar and Rusty's offer the 3/4" spacer for next-to-nothing? I have the 3/4" Rusty's on my stock springs/struts. I thought they were <$25 a pair at one time.

 

[twack]

working on pics working open to close the past couple days dosnt help to much. i could have gone with OME springs with a top plate, or kk clevis, or any of the other options. when i started modifying my kj i got the daystar lift, my struts were dead so i got ranchos for a discount. then i saw the light duty coils for clearance and couldnt say no. the reason i did the lift this way is because i had all the parts lieing around so in my mind this was the best way to get all new suspension parts in my car. right now i still have the stock coils in back. i feel if i take out the rear isolator and use light duty OME with the daystar puck it will be perfect. and dont worry this car will never see a clevis lift

 

[Mangate]

Just out of interest, how many miles did it take to kill your stock struts?

 

[twack]

Just out of interest, how many miles did it take to kill your stock struts?

123k

 

[twack]

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[twack]

so its been about 2 1/2 years with this lift and im at about 147k miles i think and the lift has held up great. Still have great height and it performs like the day i installed it. The one issue i had was after time i kept hearing coil noise from the front drivers side and i couldnt figure it out for the longest time. finally it got bad enough to where i could pinpoint it. The coil is rubbing on the inside of the spacer and making the noise. So the temp solution was to toss some grease in there to make it silent then probably this weekend ill pull it al apart again and trim the spacer down a little bit for a permanent soloution

 

[badkittystt]

Ha, I didn't look at the dates as I was reading this post and just noticed that it was from 2009. Great to see an update on something that was done such a long time ago!