Bax03SE

I told you all I was impatient when I get going on a project! I went ahead and made a 3 inch sfd over the last few days, and got it wrapped up this morning. All of the alignment specs look soooo much better! Also it’s a lot easier to work on things under there with the extra space. Getting the motor mounts and front diff out was a challenge, but putting it back together after the drop was in place was a breeze. I won’t lay out the steps as it’s been covered here enough, but I’m very happy I went ahead and did this. While I had the welder out, I also used the extra pieces left over from the front coil spring spacers to make new rear coil buckets that bolt on top of the stock lower perch. That netted another 1.5 inches in the back. So the rear is now LR9449 springs with a 1.5 inch spacer. I also welded in a proper panhard drop bracket. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yep those instructions are spot on! Same way I do it, no need for a spring compressor at all.

Thanks! I really appreciate that. I tend to be pretty impatient once I get going on a project though, so I already tracked down what I need for the steering and have that on the way, and I’ve got a stack of metal in the garage waiting to be cut and welded so I’m good to tackle this on my own from here.

I’ve been happy with Mile Marker hubs. They do have the same issue of not clearing the center bore of the 2003 wheels though. I read somewhere on here about someone using a router to widen the bore. I think it is just the little ridge that the stock center cap snaps onto that is the problem, so it’s only a little material that has to come off.

oops, forgot the pic. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Here’s a Pic. I have a feeling these would be some pretty angry CV’s if engaged them! I already ordered the U joints I need for extending the steering shaft.... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I’ll take a picture, they’re pretty bad! I’m literally sitting here right now figuring out some plans to weld up some spacers. I have a feeling it’ll have a SFD on it within the next few weeks.

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I like how the white looks with the lower center of the bumper painted black!

One other thing I’ll add is that seeing how much these springs lifted it with a 250lb rate makes me seriously doubt the supposed 380lb rating I’ve heard for the AC lift coils. I know I’ve read that the free height of the AC springs is over 16”. Seeing how 14.5” free height and 250lb rate gave me 2.5” lift....the math on the AC springs just doesn’t add up. My guess is the AC’s are closer to the 200lb range. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The spacers fit great over the strut and sit well on the bottom perch. I welded them to the perch to hold them in place. The new springs at 250lb spring rate are waaay stiffer than the stock springs. I ended up setting the spacer all the way at the lowest setting (as determined by my own arbitrary trimming, lol). The free height of the spring and spacer combination is 14.5” as installed and it ended up giving me way more lift than expected. Ground to fender measurement was 36.5” pre-install, and 39” after. So I got 2.5” additional lift. That really wasn’t what I was looking for, but...I’m happy with it. I’m planning to add a winch soon so hopefully that will pull it back down a little bit. I already have one set of camber bolts, (each strut has one regular and one adjustable bolt) and I was able to get the camber close but it’s still off. I need both bolts to be adjustable now to get it where I need it, so I ordered a second set of camber bolts that should be here tomorrow. The ride quality is fantastic. It feels so much more stable and planted now, soaks up speed bumps and potholes no problem, and doesn’t have any nose dive when braking. I’m seriously impressed with the ride! The only big downside is that I seriously need a SFD now! The stance and ride of the truck is where I want it, but the CV angle is atrocious. I have manual hubs so there’s no worries with regular driving, but I need to do the drop before doing anything serious off road. Unless Towndawg and Hawairish have things available soon I’ll probably fab something up myself. I don’t need to do anything more with the struts, just need the sub frame and engine blocks and steering shaft extension. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It turned into a long day, but I got the springs installed yesterday! First of all, I’ve found it hard to find good info on the specs of the stock front springs, so I took some measurements to share. Stock front coil spring, 2003 SE: Free height 15.25” Top inside diameter 4.5” Bottom inside diameter 6” Measurements when mounted in strut: Unloaded height (no weight/supported on jacks) 10.25” Loaded height (full weight on suspension)8” Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I took care of a couple little details tonight. I didn’t like that the spacers don’t have a locking collar or anything to lock the spacer in position. I thought about tack welding them, but I want to keep the option open to change the height in the future. I drilled and tapped the collars and added a couple set screws. Also, I didn’t like that the spring and spacer diameters are different enough that the spring could slide around a bit. So, I made some rubber isolators that slide over the spacer and fill the gap so the spring sits squarely and can’t move around at all. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Springs and spacers came in the other day. They look good, very robust! So far all I’ve done is trim the base of the spacer down a bit since I’m keeping my strut spacers and don’t need as much height as the whole spacer would have provided. Hopefully I’ll get some time to actually work on this tomorrow. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I’ve ordered springs from them twice and both times the shipping has been super quick! I think you’ll really like the 9449’s.

Just keep in mind the extra height of the spacers subjects everything to side load stresses that the stock configuration is not subjected to, so the hardware for the sub frame spacers needs to be stronger than stock in my opinion. These are minor and easily fixed details though, it looks great! I like your steering shaft solution, simple yet effective!

Those camber adjustable strut spacers look amazing! Truly a work of art, and mind=blown!

If you already have spacers, and add springs, your overall droop and hence risk to the CV’s is still the same. When you do a spring lift, you’re just partially extending the strut within it’s travel range, so there will be less down travel left before it bottoms out but it won’t extend any lower than it does now. Hopefully that makes sense? With that said, there are two things to consider. Alignment could become more of an issue, but that’s easily fixed with a set of camber bolts. And if you don’t have manual hubs, then the increased lift will add a little more stress to the CV as it will always be riding around at more of an angle than it does now. The maximum droop won’t change but the static angle at ride height obviously will. Personally, I’d leave the 1 inch spacers, plan on camber bolts, and get manual hubs if you don’t already have them.

Yep, I trimmed the inside of the flair, the bottom of the plastic fender liner, and used an angle grinder to take off a couple inches of metal from the bottom front edge of the fender. If you’re just getting a little rub that you can live with, I agree it may not be worth worrying about. In my case, the combination of larger tires and high offset wheels meant there was no way in heck things would fit without cutting. It wasn’t just rubbing, it was full on binding up against the fender when turning.

Oh....sorry for never addressing the original question on this thread, but I would totally buy the Nexan Roadian pro, I almost bought that same tire a couple years ago, even going so far as to have a set mounted up. The reviews on them are really good and they looked great in person. The only reason I decided not to purchase them is because I was really trying to get tires that fit a certain “look” that I was after, and I decided I just wasn’t going to be happy with anything other than a mud tire.

Looks really good! I like the subtle approach. That area behind the wheel is where I had to do the most trimming when fitting 33’s. The pinchweld sits further back and really isn’t an issue. It’s the actual lower edge of the fender that sticks out. Pardon the crude drawing, but this pic gives an idea of what I had to remove from the lower fender. It’s barely even noticeable unless you’re sticking your head into the wheel well. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Btw, cost is at about $145 so far for the springs and spacers. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I mentioned this in another thread but figured I’d share a teaser of what I’m working on next. It’s either going to be awesome, or an epic fail...lol! With the addition of the tube bumper, and plans for a winch in the near future, I need to finally upgrade from the stock springs up front. I considered ordering the OME HD’s, but I like to be different and decided to experiment a bit. I’ve been doing a lot of research on sites that supply parts for race car builders and have a lot of components for building custom suspension set ups. I settled on these springs And the plan is to pare them with this adjustable spacer on the bottom strut perch. Since the stock springs are wider at the bottom than the top, and the aftermarket springs aren’t, I went with springs that should fit the top strut mount and the adapter should take care of the problem of being a bit too small for the bottom mount. I’m going to keep the 2 inch strut spacers I already have, so my plan is to use this combo more for increased load capacity and not necessarily set it up for much more lift. But, if my calculations are correct, than this spring and adjustable spacer combo should able to provide up to 2.5-3 inches of lift without spacers. I’ll update this when I get time to actually dig into it. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Honestly the missing link does very little. It’s one of those things that is so cheap and easy that there’s just no reason not to do it, but it’s not a game changer. If anything it does tighten up the handling a little bit. I 100% think all R50’s should have it because it’s that easy, I just don’t want anyone to get false expectations on what it will do.

To add just a little to Micah’s response regarding spacer lifts, he’s right that it puts the CV at greater risk of damage. With my 2 inch spacers (which yield approx 2.5 inches of lift), they definitely start to bind up at full strut extension. Meaning if it is lifted all the way to the point of the wheel hanging off the ground. This really isn’t a problem at all on the street, and if you’re mindful off road and take it slow it isn’t that big of a deal, but it is definitely a legitimate concern that does not come into play with spring only lifts.