Bilstien shock experiment $$

[Ski-me]

Originally Posted by akart

Been talking w/Stephen with ORD. He told me that if he were to send me new/different springs that he would send me the same ones. I checked with the Alcan spring people about shocks for a 2" lift and they said they would have a 7" free arch.The springs I got from ORD have a 10" free arch according to Stephen Watson of ORD. The back springs in my opinion and by my measurements is too high. But Stephen says that the "Custom" shocks will be the same for a K20 or a K30. I believe I have a 6" lift in the back which I think is pretty obvious but Stephen of ORD says I am lying so I must be wrong and a liar. Why would I do this? Well I am done here on this topic. My options are to put in castor wedges to correct the low castor and poor steering due to the high rear end and be stuck w/that or to order new springs from Alcan springs who I have found to be most considerate and helpful and who Stephen of ORD says made my "Custom" springs. "But have nothing to do w/them?" Chris of ORD said it would take 3 weeks to make my springs, but they were miraculously shipped in only 1 week. So,Stephen you win and I loose and good luck to you and your ORD. Please draw your own conclusions and to all of you out there thank you for reading and commenting.

I know you are frustrated with your current situation but it looks like Stephen has asked a few times on the truck measurements. Have you done this yet? I'm sure it's no fun for him either but it does appear that he is trying to get your problem resolved. Good luck and hope you can get it worked out.....

[akart]

Originally Posted by Ski-me

I know you are frustrated with your current situation but it looks like Stephen has asked a few times on the truck measurements. Have you done this yet? I'm sure it's no fun for him either but it does appear that he is trying to get your problem resolved. Good luck and hope you can get it worked out.....

Hello Jeff, I have been giving Stephen from ORD measurements but he does not seem to like them. Let me stare at the beginning. I had this 2" lift put in by men experienced in lift installations. Put the back in first and I was sick the back was so high they said it looked like a 6" lift or more. I had nothing to go by then so when I put in the front spring I measured very carefully from the bottom of the bumper to the shop floor. 20.5 before and 23.5 after. But Stephen did not like these measurements saying that they would be different at the wheel well. Fine. I have offered to put the truck in the same spot in that shop measure again bumper and wheel well then jack it up,put it on jack stands at the axle and measure it again and note any difference. That would establish the front height. I heard nothing back on that. But I had to install s 1/2" longer shackles on the front (as the front spring was riding on the frame),which ORD supplied for free and the height may have come up 1/2". I had put on new Rancho 9000 shocks RS999151 good for stock to a 2" lift. No problem here I lost 2" down travel but that was expected but the front shocks went on. I will get Bilstien shocks with more travel. Happy w/the front. Now to the back: when I went to connect the shocks I was shocked. When this shock was installed on the truck there was 4" of up/down travel,7.87" total travel as speced By Summit RS999118 The bottom of the shock,fully extended was 2" short of the axle mount. I drilled new holes in my frame 4" lower. The shock then would reach the axle mount but I only had 1.5" of down travel left. Add the 2.5" of down travel lost to the 4" lower holes in the frame I has a 6.5" lift initially. The springs I got were 56" and the originals were 52" so the rear spring mount had to be moved back 4" but ORD did send me the bolts and nuts. Fine,not a fun job. So, buy measurement of the shock the back came down 2.5". Measuring that lift now by the same method and the truck is heavily laden with a winters worth of snow I get a 4" lift loaded.
But Stephen @ORD doesn't like that measurement because he says he doesn't like those Rancho shocks. I can't see what difference that makes as I am just using them to get the lift numbers and pretty good ones too,I think. Conclusion: I want to quit dancing around the Maypole. I have told Stephen that I want the back 2" lower to bring my lift to 2" with the truck loaded not the 4" where it is at. But I am sure that Stephen will say that my measurements are no good. Lets see how this goes. Thank you very much for your post and concern. And I hope we can work things out too.

[Stephen Watson]

and again:
We can’t really trust rancho (or any other brand) shock dimensions to measure your truck, it’s hard to make any shock work with how close the factory mounts are much less get away with changing the ride height a couple inches and still having decent travel. Bumper height comparison measurements aren’t a good reference number either since the angle on the truck can change the bumper height and the condition of your front springs factors in. There are some pretty good reasons we ask for and use the measurements we’ve asked for, it’s because they’re known points that we can compare with known references.

We use the front axle tube to bumpstop bracket distance to check front lift height because it takes into account all the variables of spring thickness, spring arch, shackle length, spring perch height and anything else you can think of to change the ride height and it’s not heavily affected by chassis angle of the truck. A stock truck should measure 8.5 to 9” for this front ride height. Your measurement of about 10.5” shows about 2” of lift.

Once we establish where the front sits we use a body line measurement to level the rear. This is where we need it driven straight onto a level surface and measurements taken over each wheel to the body crease. Then we will know where the rear sits compared to the front. We can also measure rear spring arch from a string line running over the eye center grease zerks to the top of the main leaf to check things but the body line is what determines where it sits from level.

The reason we ask for pictures is that can give us a way to find things like the rear shackle location problem.

After seeing the picture of the truck sitting level yesterday I suspect there won't be a problem and all this teeth gnashing is a waste of time.