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Front Coil Springs

Discussion in 'General Truck Info' started by greg0187, Apr 29, 2008.

  1. Limestone

    Limestone Well-Known Member

    Tech,
    No. I am completely satisfied. Jigs and fixtures, did the same thing, and he was also happy. He is the one who gave me, the original info, that I forwarded to you!
    Limestone
     
  2. Limestone

    Limestone Well-Known Member

    Tech,
    Go to "new struts? heavier springs? Or replace both?" On the forum. Very help full info! FYI, It was challenging, getting the new springs installed, on the new strits, and bolted in place with the nut on the top of the strut, shock, stud! Not impossible at all. Just get creative with your spring compression tool. I used a couple hardwood, oak wedges, to aid in help, removing the tool, after completion, of installing the springs. I am very happy with the results! Good luck!
    Limestone
     
  3. MyFirstMini1990s83p

    MyFirstMini1990s83p New Member

    Hello from Ohio. So I skipped the intro page and jumped to this one. Purchased my first mini in the form of a Daihatsu Hijet S83P dump. Many thanks to David at Duncan Imports in PA. Great selection and you can view the private collection if you are lucky while they process your purchase.

    On with the ramble, sorry.

    My truck bottoms out at every bump and just as bad would also top out at times. Literally a pogo-stick ride in a tin can. I weigh in at 225 and often have passengers of the same. Plus I plan to add a Jeep off-road bumber and winch combo of some sorts later. So the weight up front is only getting heavier.

    For my truck I initially purchased and installed progressive springs, QA1-12HT17530, coilover springs, 175-350 lbs.in. rate in a 12 in. length and 2.5 in. inner diameter. I hesitated to purchase the struts as they too are expensive and I hoped I was reading the ride wrong. Well during the install of the 12 in. spring (stock removed was 10 in. uncompressed), I found the right strut could almost effortlessly be plunged and pulled. No resistance and no assistance to the shock. The left was far better and may even be good. I will replace both soon and maybe sell the left on ebay as well as the 12 in. spring.

    WELL FOR ME THE 12 IN. WAS A HASSLE TO COMPRESS AND THE RIDE HARSH. At rest with myselft and a passenger in the truck the truck did not settle at all from being topped out. The front bumper is not installed yet but I could barely get the truck to settle even bouncing while hanging out the side with the door open. The ride of course produced no bottoming out, however that bang from topping out is not good either and a limiting strap would do nothing as the truck stays topped out. Only positive is the camber is not all that bad, slight \ - / and I gained 2.25 inches of height on the front.

    The plan, I purchased today struts on Ebay from G&R Imports for $150 each and from Summit Racing QA1 10HT250 high travel coilover springs. 10 in. 250 lbs./in. rate and 2.5 in. inner diameter. Between the struts and the 250 lbs springs, I trust my setup will be much better for my purpose and easily handle the bumper and winch. My use will be primarily off road/gravel with minimal paved street. I am running supper digger 828 and they go where I go without the humming you get with dedicated off-road tires.

    I will update once I receive and install the new setup
     
  4. Kirk B

    Kirk B Member

    Have to give my two cents in, first you can not get more height (lifted truck) from struts alone. struts are confine to only give what the lengh of the strut piston rod stroke is mine is 8" total. stock springs are about 10" giving a PRELOAD of 2 ". more spring length or heaver spring weight will give a harsh ride. 250lbs/in 2"preload = about 500lbs weight needed to move strut stroke. taller springs/heaver lb rate give more preload on the struts. i am not planning to put a plow on ( live southern az), or heavy front bumper. best to figure how much weight will be on the front and get correct springs. less wear on the front suspension assy. nicer ride too.
    mine are 10"/225lb springs on new struts.
     
  5. MyFirstMini1990s83p

    MyFirstMini1990s83p New Member

    Absolutely Kirk B, well said. Knowing your trucks purpose and more importantly the weight on the suspension is critical to choosing the right combo of equipment. Additionally the importance of working struts cannot be over stated. I received and installed the new high travel springs 10-250 from summit along with new struts and the truck rides so well. With the new struts I really think I could have gone with 10-225 as mentioned previously by Kirk. But my bumper is heavy and the skid plate and winch is going to add some more weight.
     
    Last edited: Jan 14, 2021
  6. Limestone

    Limestone Well-Known Member

    Good points guys!
    Limestone
     
  7. Jigs-n-fixtures

    Jigs-n-fixtures Well-Known Member

    You can get the struts for the S80 series trucks out of England on eBay for less. Search for: kyb (633117, 633118), and set the search location to worldwide. They would probably work on the S100 series Hijets, if you are handy enough to figure out how to remount the brake lines. Going price with shipping for the pair is around $200, varies with vendor, and the the exchange rate.
     
  8. ttc

    ttc Active Member

    I have a set and they are not 100 percent the same. The bolt holes for the bolts to the steering knuckle are smaller. Not a problem if you have a big drill bit. But the body of the strut if I recall is smaller also.
     
  9. Jigs-n-fixtures

    Jigs-n-fixtures Well-Known Member

    There was a guy on YouTube, who is a professional fabricator did a build on a Hijet a few years back. He added a shock from the lower control arm to just in front of the mount for the strut, and double shocked it. My plan is to do something similar when the dampening fails on my struts. They should be in good enough shape to continue functioning as a linear guide in the suspension.
     
  10. Jigs-n-fixtures

    Jigs-n-fixtures Well-Known Member

    I watch a guy on YouTube, who is a professional fabricator. He did a build on a Hijet a few years back. He added a shock from the lower control arm to just in front of the mount for the strut, and double shocked it. My plan is to do something similar when the dampening fails on my struts. They should be in good enough shape to continue functioning as a linear guide in the supension
     
  11. Adam C Spry

    Adam C Spry Member Supporting Member

    @Jigs-n-fixtures - What's the YouTuber's name/channel?
     
  12. Jigs-n-fixtures

    Jigs-n-fixtures Well-Known Member

    Ai2 is the channel. Ashford Industries.

    At 1:47 you can see the shock. Not much detail but there it is. he had another video that went into more detail, but it doesn’t seem to be on there anymore.
     
    Adam C Spry likes this.
  13. MyFirstMini1990s83p

    MyFirstMini1990s83p New Member

    Ok......, so as I previously posted, “ I installed the new high travel springs 10-250 from summit along with new struts and the truck rides well”. However, as all of you may know who have replaced your springs, the strut assembly is made to receive tangential ended springs vs square ended. My concern is a bow I have in both my springs about middle spring. At first I was not worried. But I can see where the springs are rubbing one side of my strut cap where the piston rod comes out. Overtime this may become issue and cause failure of the strut or the spring etc. After installing square ended springs has anyone else seen this bow? Should I trim the springs top and bottom to try and fix this. Worried trimming will take away some of the travel, but I am no engineer lol.

    Thoughts?
    Jesse
     
  14. MyFirstMini1990s83p

    MyFirstMini1990s83p New Member

    To solve the problem I ordered some isolators from 5x Racing. Ultimately to prevent the issue I would suggest buying the larger diameter coils with a larger than 2.5” inside diameter so they fit into the seats better. But if you buy the 2.5 then you need to know your coils are not going to center in the seats and you may end up with rubbing.

    Item information:
    5X Racing Urethane 2.5" Coilover Spring Isolator (21034982 - FCM-ISOL-40250)

    These isolators are not cheap, but cheaper than ordering more shocks. I did need to trim down the outside diameter just a bit but they did the trick. I used a grinder wheel and as long as you continue to move you can keep the heat down. The isolators are 1/4 inch thick so it adds 1/2 inch to the spring height, but I don’t think it will be an issue. The coils do not come close to rubbing now.
     
  15. DAN CANAAN

    DAN CANAAN New Member

    Application: 94 Honda Acty HA4
    Coil Springs: 300 pound rated,
    AFCO Racing 23300CR - AFCO Racing AFCOIL Coilover Springs
    Summit Racing: https://www.summitracing.com/parts/AFC-23300CR
    Price at time of Posting: $64.99 / each

    Like most of our kei trucks, I had trouble with the suspension bottoming out and banging away on any road conditions. Adding a steel bumper and other items didn't help. I needed stronger springs and no doubt about it. Searched here, online, decided on the Summit offering. Seems most people have regretted getting the 275 pound springs and had wished to go with 300, so I just went with that initially.

    Removal and installation of the strut assembly has been covered here in detail, so I won't do a repeat.

    What I did find is that while people have trouble with compressing the spring properly both old and new with conventional spring compressors, they end up using external blade type clamps which are not cheap, though can be rented/borrowed from many auto parts stores. They are big, clunky, and can do the job, but they cause some bulging of the spring coils if you're not careful.

    THERE IS AN EASIER WAY.

    Endless ratchet straps. Simple nylon ratchet straps that are attached to the ratchet on one end and just have a length of strap sewn to the other end of the ratchet- no hooks at all. This allows you to slip the strap inside the coils easily and back through to the rachet mechanism. You can pull down the full coil length. Using three or preferably four, you can compress the spring with ease, no real stress as the force is being taken up by four straps, all easily in the low end of their rating.

    The old spring took nearly no effort to compress. The new one was very much stronger, but again, the straps did the job without any challenge. I was much more confident using this than bulky compressors.

    This is an old trick from ATV/UTV spring swaps. It works well on our short springs as well.

    Results? I had added a 2" lift kit, but only saw about 1/2" added clearance. Stock springs were just too soft. After the new springs were added, I gained the full 2" I had wanted and now the truck sits at 29" to the bottom of the wheel well on 13" tires. There's zero tire rub, no suspension issues, and the truck rides much more stable in curves where body roll was becoming an issue. Little "Joey" is no longer so little!

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
    Redgap likes this.
  16. MyFirstMini1990s83p

    MyFirstMini1990s83p New Member

    I too used the endless ratchet straps and it was the way to go. I used nice cheap ones from harbor freight. WARNING TO ALL, do at your down risk Lol. Obviously not the proper way, but the diameter of these springs makes borrowing a pair from the local auto store worthless. I tried and they are too big both because of the diameter of the springs, spacing between each loop of the spring and clearance between the spring and the inner strut.
    Nothing can beat just using the endless ratchet straps. I used two per spring.

    you can look for smaller cheap ATV/UTV shock compressors from Amazon but they too are just as dangerous and a waste of money in my opinion.
     
  17. Jigs-n-fixtures

    Jigs-n-fixtures Well-Known Member

     
  18. SteveBW

    SteveBW New Member

  19. Adam C Spry

    Adam C Spry Member Supporting Member

  20. Tym

    Tym New Member

    Anyone have pics, thoughts, impressions on the Harley Rose spring and shock set up?
     
  21. Adam C Spry

    Adam C Spry Member Supporting Member

    These are the only pics I took while I was installing you do have to do some grinding to get the springs to seat properly, but it wasn’t bad D569C4AD-6FFD-489D-B039-3D55230803EB.jpeg 34392A32-5BB2-47BC-BD40-B5AA16760517.jpeg
     
    SteveBW and Tym like this.
  22. Tym

    Tym New Member

    Thanks Adam. Any thoughts on appearance, or ride quality? Do they perform as advertised?
     
  23. Adam C Spry

    Adam C Spry Member Supporting Member

    Yes. they perform as advertised. The ride is pretty firm, though. When I installed the set up, my old suspension was way too soft, and I was bottoming out all the time, so they are 100x better. I am a pretty small guy, and when I have a passenger, or a load in the back, they perform perfectly. When it is just me, with an empty truck, they are pretty stiff. I bet they are perfect for a HiJet or Suzuki with the engine more forward. As far as appearance is concerned, they aren't really visible with my wheel and tire set up. They are just silver painted...
     

    Attached Files:

  24. KCCats

    KCCats Active Member

    My Summit 2.5 x 10" 300# springs broke a bottom coil off!
    Has anyone come up with anything better?
     
  25. Jigs-n-fixtures

    Jigs-n-fixtures Well-Known Member

    Guessing here, but I would say they weren’t seated correctly, and it point loaded.

    Please go into your profile, and add some information on your truck, in your signature, so we know what your rig is. It helps folks give a good reply if we know what your truck is.

    Some of the trucks, have flat spring seats, some are made for the non flat springs. If you are installing a flat based spring into a perch made for the helix, you might have to cut the ends with a grinder to get the spring to properly seat. If you have the seat that wants an open ended spring, you might be better off buying a 12-inch long spring so you can cut the flats off, and still have the ten inch length.
     
    Drain and Limestone like this.
  26. KCCats

    KCCats Active Member

    I will
    At this point I am about to put a DD51 front suspension under my DB51
    I have to cut the cross member that the Pitman arm is attached to
    Then make some adapter plates to bolt it on
     

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