4 Wheel & Off Road – October 2019

4WHEELOFFROAD.COM 4-WHEEL & OFF-ROADOCTOBER 2019 67

SOURCES

RADFLO SUSPENSION TECHNOLOGY

714.965.7828

radflo.com

RUFFSTUFF SPECIALTIES

916.600.1945

ruffstuffspecialties.com

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We purchased 14-inch-travel coilovers

from Radflo Suspension Technology. These

2-inch-diameter coilovers include remote reser-

voirs and use^7 ⁄ 8 -inch-diameter shafts.

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The two shock towers and lower mounts on

the axle were added, but not fully welded

until the coilover clearance was checked.

18

With the rear frame supported, we used

a floor jack to cycle the axle and suspen-

sion, looking for any sign of binding or interfer-

ence. We had to make small adjustments to the

shock mount locations to get the coilovers to

clear the framerails and tires.

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We further reinforced the framerail near

the Panhard mount and also tied it into the

lower portion of the passenger-side shock tower.

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With all the mount locations confirmed,

we fully welded all the axle and frame

mounts, and added fresh paint.

21

We targeted our shock travel at 6 inches

of uptravel and limit-strapped at 7 inches

of droop. We had weighed the truck on a set of

corner scales and also weighed our complete

rear a x le w ith tires. K now ing our rear corner

sprung weights, we calculated starting spring

rates for two 14-inch-long coil springs.

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We installed our two springs (175-lb/in

bottom and 130-lb/in top) and adjusted

the dual-rate stop ring to an initial middle posi-

tion. We charged the reservoirs with nitrogen,

and the coilovers were ready for final installa-

tion on the truck.

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Without the bed load on the truck, the

rear sat about 2 inches higher than

target. By our calcul ations we should be in the

ballpark once we complete the rest of the bed

buildup. We had also added limit straps to stop

the shocks from topping out about an inch or so

shy of their fully extended length.

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