Skyjacker 2.5 inch lift springs?

[EBottema]

I notice that the stock springs on my 2500 are much more narrow than the skyjacker springs that came in the lift kit box. They are almost 3/4 on an inch narrower, i have no idea of how these springs are gonna fit in the perches!



any ideas?



Erik

 

[Hohn]

They fit. Mine went in without a hassle, and I reused the stock spring cushions.



The SJ springs seem to work OK, but they're cheapies-- thin and spindly with few windings.



If I were to do my leveling over again, I would just have bought the T-rex springs custom made for my FAW. They're the best.

Justin

 

[Got Smoke?]

I had D25 skyjackers on my first 97 and would swear by them. In fact my new set for my current 97 should be here tomorrow! Oo.



I never noticed the stockers being narrower, I'll have to compare them when I put my new D25's in this weekend. I do know that the D25's ride a heckuva lot better though, and if I choose too I shouldn't have much problem clearing some 315's!

 

[jabird]

E Bottema the springs your talking about are the rears... right? I'm thinking about getting that set up also. Now youve got me worried. I see Hohn's post, but isnt he refering to the fronts?

 

[EBottema]

Sorry guys, im talking about the front coils



Erik



ii just dont know how they are gonna fit up inside the perches without taking out the rubber insolator



erik

 

[Kry226]

They'll fit. I got the T-Rex springs and they are great. Well constructed and ballsy.

 

[Got Smoke?]

Sorry guys, im talking about the front coils



Erik



ii just dont know how they are gonna fit up inside the perches without taking out the rubber insolator



erik

Trust me they will fit. I had a set on my first 97 and I can't wait to install the new ones in my current 97 this Saturday! Oo. Just got 'em in the mail today and yeah your right they are STOUT!

 

[cArNiVaLwOrKeR]

see my rig ERIK

 

[Greg Boardman-RIP]

Springs are tapered from the bottem up. They are about an inch wider on the bottem. Your new springs will work to lift the truck but they will not make it work much better. The T. Rex springs on my truck are super burley and will hold forever... .

 

[me4osu]

Just did the D-25s on my 3500. Went great, and I am completely satisfied. Truck is nice and level, and rides better than stock on and off-road.



Greg,

I have never heard of a coil spring failing in any situation other than extreme off-road use (ie. trying to be an airplane). However, just because a spring has a thicker cross-section does not make it have a higher cycle rate to failure. It all has to do with the metallurgy. The t-rex springs may be compensating for inferior materials with a thicker cross-section. Just a thought.

 

[jrobinson2]

The springs dont fail or break, they can simply sag with use. The cycles mean very little unless the spring is commpressed beyond its "set point" and this is possible using the factory bumpstops with the D25s. My OEM springs had sagged about 1" by 90,000 miles and the set point on them is actually less than the D25s.

The following is from one of Kent's posts about springs in the "Racing Suspension" thread.

Jared

I'm not going to mention names of companies, but I am going to describe products. I need to do this to illustrate the difference between a T. Rex product and the usual stuff.



Let's talk about the red coils. Ever wonder about those things? Don't they look kind of strange? Skinny wire and a lot of space between each coil, isn't there? Then again, perhaps a spring is a spring is a spring...



In coil spring design, there are some important dimensions that must be considered. The three dimensions I'm going to discuss are "free length," "set height," and "solid height. " Our goal is to get as much wheel travel as we can, so we can absorb bigger bumps. At first we did this with a coil I designed that was a bit stiffer than OE. It was stiffer, because I like to hit big bumps going fast and I like the truck to exhibit very little body roll in turns. We used the same "free length" as OE, meaning the spring was the same length as the stock coil without being weighted. We got a couple inches of extra travel by virtue of its stiffness. Not everyone likes a taut front end (Kent Kroeker's taste), so we found it more beneficial to go lighter on the spring because revalving to a client's taste is much easier than changing coils. A spring determines, for a given amount of force, how _far_ your chassis will move to a certain point. Shock valving determines how _long_ it takes to get there, so with tricky valving you can simulate a stiffer spring. Our new coils are a couple inches longer than OE, but in some cases, are actually a softer rate. The red coils are longer too - so why do they look different than T. Rex coils? Because we're extracting every inch of available wheel travel out of the OE suspension, we have to keep the "set height" very small. "Set height" is the point at which a spring will lose its resiliency and "take a set" - the point at which it will stop doing its job of compressing and bouncing back. The red coils are not designed to use all the available wheel travel your OE suspension can offer so, when they are sold as part of a kit, the company that sells them includes an extended bump stop to prevent them from going past their "set height. " This is one way the lift kit companies reduce your wheel travel. But why? Because the red coils are cheap to make! They use a short piece of narrow wire, so they don't have to use many coils, this keeps the cost down! That weird little red spring is under incredible amounts of stress. It is super easy to fatigue it because it can only be compressed a few inches before it reaches it's set height. The length of wire determines how many coils there are, the longer the wire, the more the coils, the softer the coil is - simple leverage. That's also why the lift kit companies sell you longer control arms - to help compensate for the relocated bottoming location due to the extended bump stops that are compensating for the bogus coils that are only made that way to save money! Meanwhile the consumer thinks he's getting a whole lot of great stuff - wow, red control arms! A piece of MIG welded . 120 wall with some cheap urethane bushings that don't flex nor isolate shock as well as the OE rubber part.



So why is the T. Rex coil so good? Because in order to get it to work correctly, meaning living in an unstressed state, it's got to be thick and serious. We use a lot of coils to keep it soft, but use a thick material to keep it stiff enough to hold the truck up while cycling well past the point at which the red coils would take a "set. " In fact our set height corresponds almost exactly with our "solid height!" The point at which the spring's coils all touch! And that point is well below the point at which your axle is 1. 5" or more into your bump stops. That's just how well-engineered our spring is. That means you can bottom out your truck using the OE bump stops a million times and the T. Rex coil will never take a set. You can use your full travel all the time and your truck will always return to the ride height it originally had the day you installed the T. Rex springs. Why are they expensive? Two reasons: our normal diesel coils, P. N. DD410 weigh 64lbs a pair! That's a lot of steel! Pure material cost. Reason number two: my company is small and we can't buy more than 100 coil sets at a time because we don't sell a million kits a year. Why? Because truck guys don't know about suspension - yet.



So you may say, "I've had my D25's for years and they work fine - I haven't lost even a half inch of height. " That's precisely what the company that makes them is banking on - that you won't ever cycle their springs hard enough to fatigue them. And even if you did and complained about it - why would they care? - they're so cheap, they'll just send you a fresh set! From a marketing standpoint they're doing something really smart - selling a product for the average guy who drives in average circumstances and has average expectations concerning performance.



So what keeps you driving like an average person? What prevents you from cycling your red suspension through its full stroke while you enjoy some off-road adventures? Probably that "add-a-leaf" and lift block combo out back that's kicking your butt on the way to work, not to mention the five dollar (production cost) white shocks at each corner. Forget taking the truck off-road - it's bad enough on the pavement!