Opinions on Coilovers for Daily Driver Expo Rig

[wrench-head]

As some of you may know I have a 95 Tahoe with an ORU SAS and Alcan Leaves up front. The thing flexes great and I'll drop a few pics for reference. The only issue I have with the leaf springs is the bump steer. Everything else is excellent. I have looked into adding a panhard with the leaf springs similar to a super duty ford to minimize the bumpsteer. The next option is to go to a custom linked front suspension with coilovers.

Now I know that is a large price tag, but my main question is on durability and maintenance. I'm looking for any feed back from anyone that may have run coilovers (King, Swayaway, Fox, Bilstein) on the street or for many miles. Most people only use them on competition type trucks that don't see 13k miles on the street a year. My leafs have no "real" problems, but I can't leave well enough alone sometimes. My gut feel is to add the panhard and call it good. The durability with leaves is dead simple and the panhard will be next to no cost for me.

Thoughts...

 

[C-Fish]

...I installed used ICON coilovers on my FJC in March of this year. Previous owner claimed ~12K miles.

I was concerned about rebuild prior to install. Talked to Ryan at SDHQ (local to me). Was told to run them, no need to worry until they start to leak (if ever).

Ryan (and others) confirmed that the CO's will last (longer) if driven frequently (seals stay lubricated).

I've put over 15K on the rig since March. :smiley_drive:

 

[Scoutn79]

Bump steer is caused from the drag link not being parallel to the ground, or as close as possible. Any angle in the drag link will cause bump steer when the suspension cycles. It is difficult to tell from your pics but do you have crossover steering? Not the drag link attached to the tie rod design, or the typical short steering arm design. With the solid axle you have can you go high steer?
Darrell

 

[cnynrat]

I've had King coilovers on my FJ Cruiser for well over 50k miles now. I've not had any issues with them, and they haven't been rebuilt in that time.

I've been thinking I should find some time to pull them and have them rebuilt just on general principle sometime soon. It's fairly convenient for me since King is local to me.

 

[wrench-head]

Yes I have crossover steering with the steering arm on the knuckle, not inverted Y or T. The draglink is flat as it can get, but it will always exist in a leaf sprung truck with crossover. The draglink swings in an arc and the springs move straigh up and down. It isn't bad on the road, but on dirt you pretty much have to let the wheel dance as the alcans and bilsteins soak up the bumps. High steer won't change anything other than move my tie rod up and I'm not on that wagon. I like to leave the tie rod down on the knuckle not loading the top of them. Seen too many broken knuckles to even consider it. At this point the next step is a panhard in the system with mods to the leaf spring bushings to let them slide as the panhard arcs.

If I do the links, I'm not sure on the ends just yet. I have enough 1 1/4" heims to do it as well as Currie joints and teraflex rubber bushings. The biggest concern i have is the coilover durability. I have personally helped on a few sets of frozen shocks but unsure of owner maintenance routine. I keep up on everything and just don't want to get into something that is just impossible to stay on top of. It will be King if I do it.

Thanks everyone for the feedback so far. 50K on a set is quite encouraging.

Below are some better pics of the steering components. As you can see there is a spacer under the steering arm to get it higher and flatten out the draglink. You can see how close it gets to the frame in bump and that is not all the way. The pitman arm is a 4.5" drop unit and I can't go any lower or it will run into the diff cover in bump. It is tight under there.

 

[greg mgm]

I've had Bilstein CO's on my baja since '98. Never had them rebuilt or serviced. No idea how many miles on them, but a lot. 2 of the 6 are seeping a little, but otherwise all 6 shocks still work great.

 

[Scoutn79]

Yup that is what I was talking about. The only idea I can think of, which you already don't like, is to raise the passenger side arm and have the drag link bent to go under the frame when in compression. Definitely no the ideal design, and I am not fond of it but have seen many run "z" drag links in SOA conversions with nary an issue and raised passenger arms to...The trick is to use a strong enough axle to begin with so all of your components are way over built to handle the extra loads. A panhard bar, even if it isn't exactly parallel to the drag link might be your next attempt...Try it and see if you can live with it...If not then pony up the bucks for a linked front.
What about using coils, not coilovers?
Darrell

 

[Patman]

Hard to tell from the pic of the steering box, but I assume it is at close to full droop. Angle doesn't look that bad, and there shouldn't be that much bump steer, but if it is enough to bother you, it is Too much.

Could always try going with a bigger drop pitman arm to level the link some more, assuming there is room. A second gen Ram arm is plenty stout and gives you some room. Factory has the drag link end on top, but you can retaper and run in on the bottom. It is plentyful in the yards and is the correct spline for your box.

Panhard is an easy solution, and done right will not reduce your travel noticeably. Again assuming there is room to do it right.

Its really nice to see a cleanly done, well engineered CK SAS, so much junk out there.

I would stay away from a linked coilover DD, just from reliability reasons. A rig that came factory with coilovers running application specific Kings or Icons, etc. is great. A full custom setup, not always so great.

A full custom 3 link on Race type coilovers works great when all the bugs are worked out, and the shocks are tuned correctly. However the benefits of a simple bulletproof leaf spring setup far outweigh the advantages of a long travel C.O. set up on a DD or expedition type rig. Naturally depends on what you plan on doing.

 

[wrench-head]

Yes the two bottom pictures are full drop on a two post lift. The angle at droop is definately ok. I unfortunately don't have room for a further dropped arm, in fact when I put in the Dana 60 this arm will have to go making the issue worse. I already have the Dodge arm and there is no way I can run it. I'll knock a hole in the diff cover on the first decent bump. There just isn't enough room over the differential for a large drop pitman arm. When the 60 goes in is when I'll add the panhard, since with a shallower arm things are going to only get worse. The SAS kits move the axle forward and unfortunately the steering box doesn't. In these 88-98 trucks it is further rearward to start vs the earlier straight axle trucks. I have a whole pile of pitman arms right now and room is driving me into a shorter pitman arm and a custom matched steering arm. The truck is also getting ram assist, as these IFS boxes leave a lot to be desired and aren't the same as their earlier brethren.

Scoutn79, I prefer coilovers just due to ease of mounting and quality of the shock. Price while a consideration, is not a deterrant. A coilover is just so much easier to mount than and separate coil and shock.

-Alex

 

[blakeape]

I have leafs and a Dana 60 under my 1997 Dodge Cummins. I used a pan hard bar, am on 37's and have no noticeable or offensive bump steer. I run a cross over steering system basically the same as yours. Make sure you caster is correct, hydro assist could help, but I wouldn't give up on the leafs quite yet.