Cutting coils down?

[u0061914]

Yesterday, I finished up my 3.5" Duff's lift in my 75. It had an old school 2.5" lift in from the previous owner that I removed. Anyway, after the lift it sits VERY nose up. I ended up with exactly 3.5" of lift in the rear, but 4.5+ inched in the front. Actually its odd, as I am running a 351C and protofab bumpers ( no winch). I expected possibly the other issue. I am going to drive it a week or so and see if the coils settle in at all. I doubt they will that much but maybe....

I could add a 1" block to the rear and that would correct the stance, but then I am looking at a whole bunch of other issues to deal with like drive shaft length and caster due to the added lift height.

One thought I had was to cut the coil down a bit. I did this quite successfully when I built a 67 Mustang a few years ago. It sat very nose up, so I cut 1/4 of a coil off at a time until I got the right height. Anyone do this on a bronco?

My other option is to pull the Wild Horses coils out of my trail Bronco and see how they sit. I can always sell the Duff's coils.

Thoughts?

 

[broncosbybart]

The lower spring retainers on the EB pretty much set the position of the end of the coil. You can't cut it anywhere along the circumference and get the retainer plate to hold it. You're pretty much stuck with cutting off 1 coil at a time in its entirety. No idea how much that would change your ride height. Only 1 way to find out- feeling lucky?

It is odd that it sits so much higher in the front. Do you have a lot of weight in the back of your truck?

 

[u0061914]

I have a Protofab bumper and a spare, but no hard top, no parts/tools/nothing. The rear is right at 3.5" of lift, measuring from the frame to the axle tubes, but the front is 4.5+. I am a bit baffled too.....

 

[DirtDonk]

Well I'm sure Duff's would like to hear about it and get the chance to swap them out if you wanted. Assuming you bought it from them that is, and not second hand or such.

More common to have the new rear leaves sit high than the front coils (at least when using our stuff) but it's not unheard of either. Sometimes when that's happened to us it's either a mis-made coil, or a mis-labeled coil from the manufacturer.
Simple to send another one out though, so maybe you have that option with Duff too.

I agree it sounds like a better option in your case to do the front instead of making the rear match. The good news is that the coils are so easy to remove and replace compared to the leaves.
So yours measured out at 9.5" in the rear and 11.5" in the front then? Were the measurements right on the money, or slightly off of those numbers? Wondering if you just got a 4.5" set of coils?

It would be pretty interesting to see what cutting one coil at a time does to the ride height, but that might be your last resort.

Good luck.

Paul

 

[Broncobowsher]

With the way the retainers are set up, you are going to be cutting full coils. That's going to be more than an inch. Get different coils.

 

[u0061914]

Yep, 9.5" at the rear and 11.5" at the front, give or take and 1/8" of so. Interestingly enough when I 1st ordered the lift from Duff's, they recommended the heavy duty rear springs. It gave me 5.5" of lift! They swapped them out for the mediums and they are right where they should be now.

This winter when I built another 76 ( trail truck), I got my lift from you ( WH) minus the rear leafs which I got from Jeff's since you didn't have any in stock. Bolted it all on and it sits absolutely perfect. One shot. Simple!

 

[broncosbybart]

I was going to ask which rear springs you went with. I have a set of the HD models on my the truck I'm building now. Had to remove a couple of leaves from them.

I've got a set of Duffs 3.5" coils here. I can measure the free length to compare to yours if you want.

 

[u0061914]

Originally I went with the heavy duty ones, but I ended up with over 5" of lift in the rear. Way too much for my application. I am not running a hard top, nor do I carry a ton of tools or spare parts. I swapped them for the medium duty ones and they are sitting exactly at 3.5" of lift over stock.

The front, not so much...

 

[u0061914]

I should add that I scrapped the idea of cutting down the coils. After looking at it, cutting an entire coil would have removed too much.

Short term, I was able to find a set of 1" lift blocks in my parts stash, so I threw them in the rear. It sits perfect now. I'm a bit concerned with drive shaft length, caster, etc. with essentially 4.5" of lift. I also can't clear my garage door now with the soft top up, although if the springs settle at all, that should resolve itself.

Long term, I need to just order a set of different coils and pull the rear blocks out.

 

[bbow]

You mentioned " old school lift". I would check to see if the coil buckets were not lowered by the PO.

 

[u0061914]

Funny you should mention that. The previous owner in fact did that! I replaced them and put them back at the factory position. When I 1st installed the coils, I got 6.5" of lift . LOL. It did not don on me until I put the Duffs shock hoop on and the tab that is supposed to mount to the top of the upper coil mount was 2" away.

What I really need is a measurement from someone with a 3.5" lift installed, of the coil length. Mine measures 17". I want to compare that to someone else's setup.

 

[Scoop]

I cut 1 coil off stock springs and I got about about a 1 inch drop or slightly less. Not that the stock springs would compare to the 3 1/2" lift springs, but it can be done!

 

[Digger556]

It may not be a concern for you, but cutting the coil changes the spring rate, making the coil stiffer.

You would be better off swapping them for the correct coils.

 

[bbow]

Funny you should mention that. The previous owner in fact did that! I replaced them and put them back at the factory position. When I 1st installed the coils, I got 6.5" of lift . LOL. It did not don on me until I put the Duffs shock hoop on and the tab that is supposed to mount to the top of the upper coil mount was 2" away.

What I really need is a measurement from someone with a 3.5" lift installed, of the coil length. Mine measures 17". I want to compare that to someone else's setup.

Here is some Wild Horses Information.

 

[u0061914]

Thanks Bbow. Good info. Mine actually measure at 17" which lines up pretty well with this, considering I netted a bit over 4.5" of lift. I actually took it out and drove it last night and with the exception of some minor bump steer which I will remedy, with a drop pitman arm, it drives really well!. I'm going to hold off on doing anything and see if it settles a bit over the next month or so. If it drops a half inch, I will be able to clear my garage door and all will be good.

 

[DirtDonk]

Good idea to add the pitman arm with that much lift. Even a good idea with just the 2.5 frankly.
Just make sure that, for your '75 at least, you use the arm in conjunction WITH a dropped trackbar bracket too. Or a riser if you're a hard-charging off-road beater kind of guy. But the bracket is less expensive, easier and more "correct" in aligning the steering linkage sometimes as well.
With TRO, the riser is the way to go for even a light-duty Bronco.

Should steer a lot more precisely with those items installed.
And don't forget to weld on the drop bracket after bolting it.

Paul

 

[u0061914]

Drop bracket is on there and welded.