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coil over conversion

18K views 20 replies 9 participants last post by  Fatdrew 
#1 ·
if i change over to coil over conversion will it elimenate my leaf springs??
 
#2 ·
yeah but why all the work??? what are you trying to accomplish??
 
#3 ·
na, my freind marcus thought that when u get coil overs u stilll have your leaf springs but i thought that the coil over springs replace your leafs....
 
#6 ·
it depends on what exactly you are talking about... he didnt say front or rear conversion.. It is COMPLETELY doable to convert the rear to coil springs...
 
#8 · (Edited by Moderator)
yeh, total coil over conversion would that be a good idea for an X after a 3" SL and 2" BL??????

or would just front coil over and a solid axle??????

was wondering if coil over convertion is even a good idea for offroading?
 
#9 ·
answer this first, how much money do you have to spend.. a SAS/SOA is not a cheap mod... but yeah its the ultimate offroading mod that we all dream of but cant afford...
 
#10 ·
cbzdel said:
answer this first, how much money do you have to spend.. a SAS/SOA is not a cheap mod... but yeah its the ultimate offroading mod that we all dream of but cant afford...
The SOA isn't $$$ really, It can be done for <$100 easily
 
#12 ·
Yeah, you would definitely be ass up, unless you had your front end cranked big time with the bumpstops removed. Either way, I would SAS it if I were going to spend the Money on coils. Even then, there are other options that flex just as well.
 
#13 ·
yep i knew that i was just wanting to state that yes to do the SOA its cheap but to match it in the front costs a few... LOL and the TC coil over conversion you need the kit from them then you have to buy the radflo coilovers then you need to buy and paint some fiberglass fenders.. i priced it one time and i think it was around 3-4k to do....
 
#14 ·
That sucks. Ac has the hoops and long travel package for a little over two grand however I just wanted to throw the hoops, 3" lift and a set of coil overs on and see how that behaved and try for more flex
 
#15 ·
but there is realy no way to match a SOA on the front with out a SAS correct????
Incorrect. You don't need to be SASed or running the LT IFS kit to run SOA...

I'm SOA in the rear with UCAs and cranked torsion bars up front. I have aftermarket rear leafs (no lift, stock replacement) that are flatter than stock so that helped keep it low. I also went from the extended Calmini shackles back to stock shackles to reduce the overall lift.

Here are a couple shots of 3" IFS lift + SOA (truck has the 2" BL as well):



The rear was a little tall compared to the front at first but the leafs have settled an inch or so since the conversion was done. The spring-over flexes pretty good, let me tell ya (second shot is full droop)...

 
#16 ·
Ewwww purty.so I should be able to do the same in the front then with 3 inch lift...
 
#17 ·
Keep in mind that my leafs are a lot flatter than most stock leaf packs will be. Even though my Eagle leaf packs are manufactured as a direct OEM replacement for first gen Fronty/Xterras, they ended up dropping my rear end about an inch compared to the stock springs. I was Cali leaning pretty hard which was when I started thinking about the SOA rather than adding a bunch of extra leafs to the stock SUA setup.

Plus my truck will be SAS in the near future so the rear would have needed to be converted to SOA then anyway...
 
#19 ·
If the rear being too high was a problem for someone running the stock leaf pack after doing an SOA, they could just remove a leaf and it would sit lower wouldn't it? Probably wouldn't feel that comfortable on the road, but I've heard of people removing a leaf while the truck is still SUA to make the height match.
Yes you can adjust the height to some degree by removing leafs, generally starting with the overload. However, you may find that after pulling the overload leaf the spring packs start to invert where it meets the axle which can break leafs over time.

Here's an example from Zach's build:


The 02-04 trucks have 2 leafs plus an overload so you can't pull any leaf BUT the overload... You might be able to get away with pulling the third leaf from an 00-01 pack (they had 3 leafs plus overload) but you would only marginally lower the rear as the 00-01 had thinner leafs than 02-04 (something like 1/4" -3/8" going from memory).

The overload leaf in my Eagle packs was really thick (~0.75") so I pulled it but then my leafs started looking like the picture above. I called up the spring shop where I got the packs and they cut me some custom helper springs that will support the middle of the pack much better but aren't as long, or as thick as the overloads (the helper springs are also curved to match the arch of the pack).

Also keep in mind that with the stock setup, the axle side of the rear shocks bolt to a pin welded to the U-bolt plate. If you're going SOA, you're probably going to flip the U-bolts up out of the way at the same time which will move the shock mount way higher than it's stock location. You'll have weld shock tabs to the axle tubes in roughly the same location to get the shocks mounted properly. I highly recommend double-shear shock mounts... I've seen single-shear mounts rip off before.

Here's what my setup looks like (this was before I pulled the overload leaf):
 
#20 ·
I removed a leaf from my 3+1 pack and it's stable. I didn't take the overload out cause I haul dead bodies sometimes and they heavy
 
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