Coil height ?'s trying to figure which would be shortest.

[mofoco1]

Got a Coil height ? guys. I traded out a few unused parts for these pair of coils. Maker is unknown me thinks the black ones are WH due to thinner wire and the Blues are large diameter and look to maybe be Duffs. They both seem to be progressives. The Black are at 19.5" tall and the Blue at 18". This is of course unladen. My 74 with unknown coils is sitting on 15.25" coils, which are std no progressive rate and laden with an additional 150lbs winch/bumper combo and a 302. I have 31" tires more like 29" now and 9.50" space between the tire and the lip of the fender and there is a 3" bodylift. There is 7" between the bottom of the frame and the top of the bumpstop/wo the bumpstop. So before I spend the time blasting these and painting them up. Is there a way of knowing what the actual riding or advertised height is? I have no other info on these. I am trying to get the shortest of the coils mounted. So the ones on there now are only a little over 15", could these be the ones or any clue if these others would compress to a shorter height? Probably no way around having to take them off and mount, but I thought I would ask. Trying to save some time here as I have a mess of things all going at the same time and I just hate seeing these things sit if they could be on there instead Thanks....Mo

 

[DirtDonk]

If you measure between the bottom of the frame and the top of the axle tube, at least that way we'll be on consistent ground as far as known ride-heights are concerned.
Stock is 7" from those two points.

The only WH coil that I'm aware of that would come in at 19.5" free-height would have a .687 wire diameter. Can you measure that?
If it matches, then it looks like a set of our 3.5" Pre-Runner coils. Not the current "Rock Crawler" series, which are a few pounds softer.

Paul

 

[mofoco1]

Hey Paul, Thanks for chiming in looks like .652ish on the black and .693 on the blue ones, the ones that are on .695 non progressive. Height from axle top to bottom of frame 9.5" so I am thinking these might be 3.5" with the winch it looks like +2.5" over stock, am I adding thing up right? What is WH's 2.5" come in at and is that without a winch?

 

[DirtDonk]

That .656 puts it pretty close to our Rock Crawler 3.5" springs, but the shorter height (should be 20.125") might just indicate older and sagged a bit.

Without a winch? You mean installed height then? Hmm, if they were the slightly stiffer Pre-Runner, I'd say that would hold true. But with the softer Rock Crawler that they're looking like, then I would say that a winch would drop it just a bit. Not a whole lot, but it will depend on the winch and mount. How much do they weigh?

Most winches these days fall into the 85 to 95 lb range, with steel rope. With synthetic you can lop off probably 15 lbs or more. Bumpers and plate mounts vary, so you'll have to estimate.

What is on the vehicle now? Anything? If so, you can stand on the front end and pretend you're a winch and bumper(!) to see how far down the current ones sag and then just guesstimate what you'll get with older, unknown springs.
But as you likely figured already, pretty much everything is just a guess at this point.

Paul

 

[mofoco1]

150lbs(w/o rope right now) 8274 a subframe and the stock bumper.

 

[mofoco1]

Anyone else care to chime in?:?

 

[broncnaz]

Having multipule sets of springs can help out. As you can swap to see what you like best. Biggest issue is unless yopu know the actual P/N for the springs you have there really is no way of knowing what lift or what kind of ride it will give.
There are some basics but even then there are a lot of varibles. thicker springs usually means higher spring rate which equals taller height and stiffer ride. but theres no garrentee to that. a shorter, thinner spring with tighter coils could still give hieght and rougher ride. Id just swap them in and see for yourself what you lke best.

 

[DirtDonk]

Yeah, and by the time you've done one or two, you can pretty much swap a coil pair in less time than it takes to put it up on jackstands.

Paul