2014 G550 expedition build
- Thread starter RobMBush
- Start date
Time to buy a hanger
My house is on a steel frame on the side of a mountain. Amazing that I have a 3 car garage with a concrete floor at all since it all suspended in air!
mk216v
Der Chef der Fahrzeuge
mightymo
Observer
Tidy. Looks great.
Decided to run the new Custom Braid winrace S on the 14 and swap the Thor G10s to my 05. The G10s are forged but the benefits end there. G10s are not DOT compliant, Don't work with the OE carrier, Not TPMS compliant although I was able to rig them with TPMS sensors.
Custom Braid Winrace S 17*8 ET25 in anthracite milled for OE caps Mounted on my 2014 G550:
DOT Compliant
~$550 each in anthracite (Other colors available at upcharge)
Weigh approx 27.5lbs each (~81.5lbs with selected tire)
TPMS sensors worked perfectly
Mercedes OE caps fit perfectly
Required 37mm Mercedes ball seat lugs as the mounting pads were more shallow than OE, sourced from H&R
Mounted on OE tire carrier with some modifications (trimmed top of mount, used 911 motorsports extensions to push the mount from the back of the truck by ~1")
VTS 18" tire carrier cover worked with some small modifications
BFG k02 in 34*10.5-17
Custom Braid Winrace S 17*8 ET25 in anthracite milled for OE caps Mounted on my 2014 G550:
DOT Compliant
~$550 each in anthracite (Other colors available at upcharge)
Weigh approx 27.5lbs each (~81.5lbs with selected tire)
TPMS sensors worked perfectly
Mercedes OE caps fit perfectly
Required 37mm Mercedes ball seat lugs as the mounting pads were more shallow than OE, sourced from H&R
Mounted on OE tire carrier with some modifications (trimmed top of mount, used 911 motorsports extensions to push the mount from the back of the truck by ~1")
VTS 18" tire carrier cover worked with some small modifications
BFG k02 in 34*10.5-17
imjustdave
New member
How do you like the suspension changes? What do you think of the springs ? any more details on them. Shocks as well...
thx
David
thx
David
Love the suspension setup with ORC/Ohlins on my 14 G550! I'm actually pulling the Thor springs off my 05 G500 to run ORC on that truck as well since its a much better ride height for my setup. ORC doesn't muck up the suspension geometry so bad, Thor is like 70mm lift in front and rides about the same as ORC in the back and I'm even running adjustable panhards & castor correction bushings to try and fix some of the issues from the Thor springs.. The Thor springs ride too tall in the front even with an 80lb winch on it, perhaps if I had a winch plus brush bar on my 05 it would level out but I'm done trying to balance the truck out. New set of ORC springs are sitting in the garage for my 05 to install over the holiday break!
imjustdave
New member
wow great info please take some photos of before and after for comparison, maybe some measurements if I can trouble you.
I have a aftermarket metal brush bull bar front and metal rear bumoer. upfront sits a Warn 8274 winch with synthetic line so 110 lbs + bumper heavy but little lighter with the synthetic. riding on stock suspension and I think 40mm spacers. I know the winch and bumper pulled the front down a good inch plus maybe 1.5. but pretty sure factory springs might be a little tired and it leans a little too the passenger side.
What size tires you running?
So your issues with Thor is the lift height messing up the geometry and steering vs ride quality if I understand correctly. do the 2 feel the same spring wise or do the springs act different? Do you pack up heavy on either? do you feel Thor might be OK heavy loaded? or is 70mm lift really too much on a g without a bunch of other mods. How do the ORC ride with weight on your 14?
I reckon my goals are overlanding and offroading having fun off pavement, running KM2. and would like a suspension to handle the potholes better and less bottoming out that I see now on the suspension.
I appreciate your perspective and info. I'm not asking for any brand bashing just seat of pants opinion.
again thank you
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I'll try to snap some pics and take measurements on the 05 before pulling the Thors. Effectively the front rides about 30mm higher than my 14 rig yet the rear is about the same. I've got the steel tow pin bumper and a warn xps9.5 with synthetic line on it. I've also got the steel rear bumper from GWA and a frontrunner box in the back with some gear. Ride height in the front makes the truck handle really bad. I swapped to adjustable panhard bars to center the axles and that mostly solved my stability control issues, also the castor correction bushings helped a bit. The 05 is about to be my tow vehicle for an airstream basecamp 20x when it comes to the suspension needs to be solid!
Ride wise the Thors seem about the same level of softness which is much better than OE on the older trucks. I don't run the truck to crazy heavy but it does have some weight in the back with the frontrunner box and GWA bumper and my front bumper/winch isn't crazy heavy. If the truck had a really heavy brush guard/winch setup it would probably level out better. Regarding lifting 70mm in general, after having done this and had several different iterations of lift I would suggest that it's really not worth it. If you want to do it right then you need to change: trailing arms (or do military drop brackets which are weld on), brake lines, panhard rods. I think if I really wanted the 80mm height and optimal suspension operation I would go ORC heavy springs (~45mm lift) and the ORC 40mm body lift although I haven't researched all the other issues that need to be solved for that config.
That being said, I'm happy to sell you my Thor springs when I get around to swapping it, should be in the next week or so. It may work better for you since you have a heavy front setup
Tires on the 14 are BFG ko2 34/10.5-17 D, Tires on the 05 are BFG ko2 285/70-17 C. The 34s from BFG are the perfect moderately lifted G tire but pricy. KM3/2s are pretty rough for road use but I would consider the km3 if we didn't expect to see more snow than mud where I plan to go.
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