My stock shocks are just barely bottomed out when the truck sits level (lowering springs) and my local NAPA isn't able to find me a shorter shock to has the right ends.

I'm sure someone on here has found a stock application from another vehicle that will work, right? The current shocks compress to 10" so something in the 7" or 8" range compressed would be excellent. And sine the springs are shorter I don't need a ton of travel either.

Thanks in advance!

- Joe -

 

From whom did you get lowering springs?

 

I know you're still waiting to hear a response from Joe, but in the mean time I thought I'd share that I got a set of lowering coils fro Eaton springs. They'll build them at a max drop of 2".

 

Just remember that with lowering springs, you need to get a realignment done by having the I-beams bent which nowadays is done only at heavy truck shops.

 

That's correct for those running them with no other changes, in my case I'll be installing them with adjustable seats so I can dial in camber and corner weight.

 

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I dont understand how adjustable spring seats will correct the camber which is dictated by the I-beam geometry. Explain?

 

The king pin inclination is set by the I beam, camber is a result of king pin inclination and the position of the beam in relation to the chassis. By changing the front ride height camber is affected, the adjustable seats will allow me to set ride height and thus camber.

The adjustable seats will have the same effect as adding shims or cutting coils, just with a lot more control and convenience.

 

What are you using for shocks?

 

I didn't mean to hijack your thread, sorry.

I will be running shorter springs, but with the coil adjusters they will be effectively the same length as stock so what I'll be using won't be much help to you.

I'm surprised the shocks are bottoming out before you hit the bump stops.

 

No need to apologize at all, this was completely relevant. Ok, so out of pure curiosity if you're not going lower why get lowering springs? I haven't heard of coil adjusters before but if you're adjusting back to stock height what's the advantage you're accomplishing? Thanks!

 

That's just it, I am going lower but by using aftermarket I beams, so the beams lower the truck using stock or similar length springs.

Mine is a special case as I'm trying to resolve a clearance issue, but the adjusters do have the ability to fine tune the ride height just as I described to HIO, where instead of cutting coils or adding shims to the bottom of the lower seat, I can just screw a collar up or down as desired.

What was described to you earlier about using shorter springs with stock I beams is that it will have an adverse effect on your alignment, specifically too much negative camber. Do the tops of your front tires lean in on yours?

 

Lol, i'm aware of the negative camber. As you can see in this thread there are lots of people just waiting in the shadows for anyone to talk about touching an I-beam in any way so they can jump up and warn us about camber adjustment. That's why I try to discuss it as little as possible.

It's not the end of the world to adjust camber and when I was lowered 2" it wasn't an issue at all, no visible camber, tires wearing evenly after thousands of miles etc. Now I know your mileage may vary and different trucks respond differently but mine has been fine until I pushed it to 3" of drop and I now do have just a touch of camber issue but I work by big truck shops, not an issue, this is after all not a new problem and these truck have needed aligned for the past 50 years or so :P

Anyway, I just bit the bullet and ordered drop shocks from DJM, I will take my stock beams over their hokey looking drop beams any day but their shock absorber is made for lowered trucks and should do nicely albeit a little pricier than a stock replacement for some other vehicle.

Thanks!

 

ok, I'd rather tell you something you know than to keep silent and let you find out the hard way.

I wasn't too impressed with DJM beams either, I bought Chassis tech. The construction is much better in my opinion.

I know DIM has shorter shocks for the rear for hanger/ shackle kits and axle flips, but their front shocks I thought were stock length as their beams work with stock springs?

 

Sorry, it's just a pet peeve of mine. We talk about doing a rear shackle flip on here like it's nothing (because it is nothing, it's easy) but we act like bending a TTB is some sort of sorcery that no one can do. It's just as easy as a shackle flip and the desert racer guys do it every day on their lifted trucks. I personally just wish we weren't scaring so many people away from getting the look/stance they want.

It's funny you mention Chassis Tech, I spent two weeks emailing them back and forth about which beams to buy and I finally gave up. The guy was full of one sentence answers even to three questions. I got them (airbagit.com) the measurements for drop, kingpin size, length etc. The guy still wouldn't tell me which one to order so I gave up and went this route instead. However, they appear to be MUCH higher quality, probably stronger than stock by looking at the pictures.

The DJM shocks have a compressed length of 9" which is the shortest I have found with the S4/LS38 ends. I thought shocks were as simple as stem or loop, loop loop, stem stem etc. but as it turns out they're pretty specific even in their stem or loop sizes. So 9" is the shortest I have found for our trucks, it'll have to work, or at least I really hope it does, haha.

 

Interesting about the DJM shocks being an inch shorter, I didn't expect they would be. Not as short as you were looking for but hopefully sufficient.

I totally get what you're saying about airbagit. For me it was a gamble I was willing to take, I still need to get it together and measure everything before I pass judgement. I could not find anyone near me able to bend the stock beams so I did like you're doing with the DJM shocks and bit the bullet with the chassis tech beams.

I really hope it works out, if I learn of a shorter shock that'll work I'll post it.