Jeff the marmot

Yes, I have Eibach 14" 600 ppi springs. I love them, but I think they are still a bit too stiff for rock crawling. I'd consider 550 next time. I have something like 3.25" of threads showing. They never reach coil bind. The quality of these springs is excellent. I obviously have the older version of SAW's (2001) back when they threaded the entire shock body instead of just the bottom couple of inches.

For the last couple years I've told people that I disagree with SAW's higher spring rate of 650. I really disagree with them moving in the wrong direction to 675. At least for rock crawling you really don't need a spring rate that high even with a winch bumper, winch, heavy skidplates, coil-overs, V6, and other weight up front. King and Downey use 600.

Schaefer was probably experimenting with something even less than 500 since he has the 4cyl and stock coils. It should flex well for him, though.

If your SAW springs are sagging too much and you've run out of threads, SAW has a new band-aid now. I just saw that Kartek sells a special SAW 1" spacer that's a ring that just slides around the 2" shock body. It apparently goes between the bottom of the spring and the threaded ring to put it back in the range of the shock threads. This spacer isn't like other spacers because no one has ever put a spacer there before. That sounds cheaper than buying new springs. Transalper - that's what I'd recommend to you first, although I've never seen anyone use that before.

The older SAW 650 springs were the standard 14" long. I now know that the new SAW 675 springs are 15" long. The only other oddball 15" springs were Downeys - and I know they ran out of threads when they sagged, too.

I've heard a rumor that Eibach isn't making 14" 600 ppi springs anymore.

Putting a very small spacer completely above a coil-over has its purpose if you want to reposition the range of motion of the shock downward. So a 3/8" spacer is a possibility if the upper A-arm is replaced with uniballs or something. But any spacer more than that makes no sense. A spacer there won't affect the spring rate or the ride, just the location of the shock's range of motion. I'm guessing someone's description about a huge spacer above the coil refers to the coil reaching coil bind a few inches too early and ripping off the frame mount on an impact.

Gadget had some good points. But I want to mention that if you feel like they are "sinking" too far when you drop off a ledge, then consider stiffer shock valving to help that without hurting flex. I felt the same thing with my old Fabtechs, but they were WAY too soft so it was really obvious what the problem was.

sschaefer3

The blue coils I had for 1 run through box canyon were 500 pound. They flexed awsome. But after 1 short run, they lost over 1" of lift. When I pulled them they were 13.5" and not 14" anymore.

The little 2.7 was too heavy for a 500 pound 2" I.D. coil. Which then led me to build the Franks with the 420 pound 2.5" I.D. stock V6 coils, which are actually the same as the 4WD 2.7 coils, it works even better.

I had to go to the larger stock coil to go below 600.

AznSky

so steve would you say that setup would still retain about 2-2.5" of lift up front with a v6 and a tjm? cuz i'm looking into that setup for the summer, but haven't seen anyone else with a v6 do it.

sschaefer3

Yes, but don't you have OME 881 coils? You'll have to buy stock 99 coils and Revtek and Cornbred spacers.

The 99, 2.7 and the 3.4, 4WD coils are basically the same, so little difference no one can easily tell. The V6 coils are doing the same as my 2.7 coils did with the same winch/bumper.

midiwall

My bad...

My apologies for not being clear. I didn't think about someone putting a spacer there for a lift.

transalper

SAW also has a ~ 1.5" spacer that comes with the Tundra SAWs. One of my tundra valved SAWs had the spacer installed and it's now in a box at home. I bet that would work . . .

I wonder if SAW makes a 15" 650 lb spring? That might be a good solution as well. I run fully loaded (the truck is loaded, not me) a lot and do not want a softer spring, but the 650 is working well except for the sag. Springs are only $55 each, and spacers tend to be almost as expensive.

AznSky

Yes I plan on buying everything and giving it a try, considering costs would be a lot under what SAWs would cost

RTdawgs

Thats very interesting. OME 880, 881, 882 coils are all 500# and the N91S struts are 2.5"

And guess what, the 881 coils are approx 14 3/4 in long...

sschaefer3

Yeah, so. The 881 etc are all 2.5" I.D. coils. I wanted to go below 500 on a 2.5. 500 at 1 I.D. is not the same as 500 at another I.D. Hence the 881 being so stiff.

RTdawgs

Maybe in your opinion, but i have seen plenty of folks with 881 and 882 stuff their IFS to the bumpstops.

In my opinion, i think the OME coils are best for those folks with V6 and bumper/winch combo. Afterall, these coils were designed to improve ride quality when bumpers, winches, etc were added to the vehicle.

sschaefer3

What ever floats your boat. It does not float mine.

Robinhood150

But it's the ease at which the suspension is able to stuff. A softer spring will stuff easier than a stiffer spring in all conditions. A stiffer spring may only be able to stuff when the opposing wheel is completely unloaded.

I'd agree though, that the OME's are the best bet for the vast majority of people.

transalper

I think I'm gonna stick with the 650lb springs and add the Tundra Spacer so I can get the 2" of lift with the heavy front end. Hopefully I will have them back on the truck within a week or so.