well wrapped up my front end today. only took 5 hours BECAUSE I TRUSTED MATH OVER MY GUT AND I ENDED UP NOT ACHIEVING WHAT I WANT THE FIRST TIME.
Did the math involving spring rates, ride height, preload, spring length, weight, and stuff. 30 minutes of calculation said I just needed to up the preload collar by 0.25" and with the 600lb springs I put in last week I could get it back down from 41" to 40" fender to ground, so I did that instead of going with 0.5" adjustment that my gut was telling me.
This is the result:
Because... I only got 0.5" lower. UCA angle not good still after I torqued down and paint marked everything. I was not happy hence the finger. The thought of "why did I bother to mess with this in the first place" ran rampant in my mind since last weekend, and even more today. Not going to lie, the thoughts of "just drive this to the dealer and trade for a PW" was constantly crossing my mind.
Well I wasn't feeling great since morning. Long story short, contributing factors are:
1. I only slept 5 hours last night
2. Installing Baja Designs on a brand new Ford F150 Raptor 37 ended up not working, checked all my work just in case I missed something only to find out the upfitter switch fuse was broken. BROKEN, not popped. Wasted a good 30 minutes on that under the sun.
Can you believe it? BROKEN FUSE on a brand new car. No sign of fuse burning off or anything. Just broken. If I didn't see the logo I'd think that's some Auxbeam made truck.
Anyways, redid the work for the 4th time in 4 weeks. This time I decided if my gut is wrong then i'm not messing with this anymore. I'd email Anthony at Mark Dodge and get my power wagon order in.
This is how much preload there is on the passenger side. The driver side has more preload than this, compensating for driver side lean. (1" preload on the driver side, 0.75" preload on the pass side).
Well, at 7PM, I was done. 40" fender to ground in the front, 39" in the rear. At this point I'm so done I don't even know if I should chase that 1" in the back. The Clayton Offroad 2.5" JT HD springs are on the way, but I don't even know if they are better than the Carli Rebel HD springs. I like the ride quality in the rear, and I'm only messing with it for aesthetic reasons (going against my own rule: never do things just so it can look good) and hoping to gain a bit of departure angle (going with my own rule: function over form). Theoretically, the 2.5" HD springs should give me a bit more than Carli, since Carli Rebel HD spring is more like 1.5" gain instead. Oh wells I guess we shall see how I feel next week, because to be honest, it looks and rides perfectly fine like this with 885lb constant over rear axle.
So, what have we learned today? We learned:
- The general 1:2 ratio for preload vs ride height is mostly accurate, spring rate used does not affect anything.
- When you've been doing this as a professional, there are things that you just know. Your experience/ gut tells you things that are right. Don't try to get all scientific about it and use math to find the answer, even though this is the first Ram truck that needed spring change (all my other customers are running empty so their spring rates are fine). My gut was telling me adjust 0.5" while math was telling me to adjust 0.25". I could've saved myself round 2 had I listened to my gut. So, experiences trump everything. Listen to experience.
- Don't be buying Ford Wraptors. Those are no good. Sorry @Waterfowler41
- Follow rule number 1: do not do things for aesthetic reasons when functionality is good. Doing things for aesthetic reasons will guarantee headaches to follow.
oh, and for anyone wondering: with 600lb springs, cranking preload collar while coilover is not off the truck (suspension full droop, wheel taken off) will lead to disaster. I tried to do that and the collar jumped and skipped the thread (despite applying lube liberally beforehand). Had to remove the coilover, compressed the spring, and force turn the collar all the way to the top to reseat the collar. Luckily I did not damage any thread.
sorry this happened, frustrating as he11 for sure.
