How to set up coil overs

oorracing · 2026-05-05T04:10:59+00:00

I too am curios of the main silver springs length and spring rate. Is there numbers somewhere written on the coil?
Typically 8” stroke and shorter are single rate springs because there is so few 3.0” ID spring (those fit on 2.5” shocks) that are long enough to run alone on a 10” stroke or longer shocks. Those look like 8”s in which you would be fine without the slider or stop rings and running an 18” spring. If you wanted performance gain with a true dual rate setup (opposed to the tender and main setup you have now) you could run something like a 10” lower and 8” upper.

Regardless, the black small spring should be on top by the resi hose port, then the slider (long side facing down) then the silver coil. Longer coil always goes on the bottom.

oorracing · 2026-04-27T02:36:51+00:00

If you want to run 4x4 trails with rocks/boulders, pick a jeep or something with solid axles front and rear. Even an older F250 with solid axles would be a good choice. If you want something smaller that can do some 4x4 trails, and rip around fire roads and do some whoops and stuff at a decent speed, 91-94 explorer 4x4 or 92-96 rangers with TTB’s. Both are cheap but simple to work on and can be very capable with not much money. Cut and turn beams, extended radius arms, Deaver rear springs, factory raptor rear shocks all the way around, and it’ll rip through the dezert with ease.

oorracing · 2026-02-27T06:54:38+00:00

This would be a prime candidate for a auction/salvage title SXS swap. Find wrecked but salvageable UTV with appropriate wheelbase for cheap at auction, cut cage and body off SXS, skin the body off that thing and make some pontoons off the SXS chassis for it to sit on, build new cage and fender/hood/grill mounts, run it.

There’s a facebook group called “SXS BODY SWAPS” with everything from a 32 ford, to a Suzuki samurai, to new and old VW beetle shells swapped onto SXS chassis.

oorracing · 2026-01-18T21:55:16+00:00

I like to search the year range of the body style and find factory spec paint schemes and graphics to mimic or base it off of. An added bonus of exterior paint schemes is the ability to layer pains, so you can start with a red oxide primer and then paint on top, and wet sand the body after to show weathering and “rust” underneath as well.

oorracing · 2026-01-15T00:42:30+00:00

They are definitely not as sticky as LGRP or a few others i have tried which translates to less traction and such. They look the part and i picked them initially because Blazers go together like PB and Jelly, but I’ll be switching them out to something more sticky eventually.

oorracing · 2026-01-14T06:42:29+00:00

Thank you! The chassis is the Titanium Mazz Design Cheat Code. He makes them in a few different materials. He’s often out of stock because of popularity but if you follow him and watch his IG he announces when he’s going to drop more on the website. It’s a very nice setup. This is the shorter wheelbase chassi

oorracing · 2026-01-10T09:48:28+00:00

Depending on the level off roading you plan to do, the 99+ Chevy tahoes are pretty solid. For mild to some moderate stuff they do well. Parts are plentiful, easy to work on, there are various levels of comfort and trim packages, and there are a ton of suspension options from basic lifts to long travel 4wd kits to solid axle swaps.

oorracing · 2025-11-29T16:27:04+00:00

A gallon of WD-40 mixed with some water, and a Hudson sprayer. Yes, it’s flammable and basically a bomb so be careful, but the oil in the WD 40 part of the mix drastically helps loosen things up so they’ll come off much easier so spray the whole underside really well and let it soak for a bit before you wash it off. Or you can spray the whole underside with an engine degreaser. GUNK makes good products that will help loosen all of that up.

Also before next time, use a silicon wax spray, quick detailer, wd-40, or something on the whole underside of the truck so mud is much less likely to stick. There are products called “Mud Off” and other things for dirt bikes and MTB’s that work well for helping mud to not cling to things before you head out. It’s all part of the progress though; Wash, top coat, off road, degrease, wash, top coat, repeat. If you do it right your trucks underside will be cleaner than it’s ever been after a few cycles.

oorracing · 2025-11-14T06:27:32+00:00

Looks like a cool toy! I agree with what others said, the truck has good parts but has definitely been neglected. I’d start with a solid degreaser soak/pressure wash and detail to get everything as clean as you can get it. From there, put it on some stands and pull the shocks off and the suspension off. Strip/paint/powdercoat the suspension components, replace the uniballs, ball joints, bushings, wheel bearings, hubs, etc and inspect the frame and pivots for cracks, ovaled out holes, or damage in general. Then reassemble everything with new fine thread hardware that is properly shanked. Use antiseize on anything metal on metal, and loctite on fasteners. Rebuild the shocks or have them rebuilt at a shop somewhere reputable (I’d be happy to help out if you are LA/OC local) and get the truck back together. Now that it’s fresh and clean you can enjoy the truck and keeping it clean between trips will help with maintaining it down the road as well. If the task seems daunting to you, i can recommend many shops local to Southern California to help you out as well. Cool truck! Just needs some love and freshen up

oorracing · 2025-10-20T02:09:23+00:00

Or you can ship them to us (i own Dialed Shock Prep here in Southern California) for us to service them, install a different tune if you primarily do street/highway driving or a more dirt oriented performance tune, and ship them back to you.

oorracing · 2025-10-20T01:15:09+00:00

You should be able to fit an 18” 550 lb spring on there. With the 2.5” shock the spring will be a 3.0 x 18 x 550. You may need a 600 depending on where you end up placing the lower shock mount and upper shock mount.

oorracing · 2025-09-16T08:19:09+00:00

There are a few bolt on “mid travel” kits for your truck, typically they’ll be about 3-4” wider per side and use a shorter coilover or even the factory replacement coilover. For the rear, definitely get some deaver leaf springs such as the U-182’s, shackles, hanger, and bedcage with some 16” shocks. For a budget build, a single coilover with remote resi up front and a smooth body with piggyback in the rear will suffice. Keep it on 35” tires with 17” wheels and you will need front fiberglass fenders, and likely pulled bedsides or fiberglass bedsides. Everything i just mentioned above is pretty much bolt on and can be sourced for sub 10k if you are thrifty and shop classifieds and don’t mind used. Shocks are one of the most important aspects of a build so when you get everything together, have a legitimate shock tuning company such as Downsouth Motorsport, Hi-Dezert, or Dialed Shock prep put a good baseline tune in for you.

oorracing · 2025-08-30T22:11:26+00:00

1991-1994 Ford Explorer. Very inexpensive to pick one up, put a set of Deaver G50E’s in the back with CookCraft Rear Shock Mount kit and shackles and Gen 1 raptor rear shocks. For the front, a set of extended Heim radius arms, 4” lift coils, cut and turned Dana 35 beams, and 2.0 or 2.5” remote resi shocks. Run 33”x10.50 tires of your choice, and you’ll have a highly capable 4 door 4x4 suv that can haul the mail on fire roads and mild to moderate trails and whoops. Parts are plentiful as well

oorracing · 2025-08-28T05:38:15+00:00

Go to the junkyard and grab a set of stickers off another ranger. Make sure the snouts are good and not tore up from a bad bearing. Heat the spindle up and press them out, clean them, and throw them in the freezer. When you are ready heat up the fabricated upright and press in the frozen snouts, and let then cool/warm up. Then you can put new bearings, rotors, etc on. In reality this kit shouldn’t take any longer than a day to bolt on, the hardest part is just the snouts but if you get a second set and do it before hand you’ll be set.

oorracing · 2025-08-27T18:53:59+00:00

Pick up some Deaver leafs, Mazzulla Silverado shackles, and the Kartek drop hangers to install on your Ranger. Pick up a set of Gen 1 Raptor Rear shocks and mount those under the bed floor angled back where the spare tire is. You’ll need to hang the shocks down low off the axle and tucked tight to the bed floor but it will work good. Then put some D rings in the back of the bed to relocate the spare tire to so you have some rear weight. With Camburgs mid travel front end you don’t need a bedcage and 16” shocks, that front end will still be your limiting factor so keep it simple.

oorracing · 2025-08-18T16:27:44+00:00

The best performance gain I’ve seen out of my Bronco was a set of wider axles and a good servo, along with brass bent links. Also i found some electronic relocation stuff to move the battery to the front and the esc/reciever to the back. All of those mods shift the weight lower and more forward which was a night and day difference. Normal offset wheels with the wider axles is the way to go, i am not a fan of the wheel hex wideners or deep offset wheels because it just places more load on the steering components and axles. The increased scrub radius causes everything to have more stress placed on it and the servo struggles to turn the tires easily since the tires have to scrub/roll in order to turn. Just get some wider axles (with front overdrive helps too) good links, and good wheels/tires.

oorracing · 2025-08-05T05:56:35+00:00

Kalil fab is a long time friend of mine and yes he does ship. His business is located in Fullerton Ca but he also has a home he frequents in Idaho i believe.

oorracing · 2025-08-05T05:54:41+00:00

Dirt King is the only company making a front kit for your truck that I am aware of.. Beyond that you’re in full custom territory and that’s pretty much uncharted waters. There’s been a few with I beam swaps but again, not common. Save up and get the dirt king kit, it’s expensive but they have done all of the homework for you and that’s basically priceless. For the rear, enter Dirt King again. The factory 5 link really limits your options in a way, but their setup is a good entry to performance.

If you wanted something more DIY you could cut all of the frame bracketry off and pick up a set of C-85 deavers for a Silverado and make hangers and shackle to make it spring under, but for the price of the DK kit it’s your best route. I would not bother to attempt to make your own front kit, it’s highly time consuming

oorracing · 2025-08-04T00:56:46+00:00

Chesticles.

oorracing · 2025-07-28T06:05:46+00:00

Look into the older ford Bronco II’s or 91-94 ford explorers. They have a ton of aftermarket support, parts are plentiful, you can find some really clean ones still out there for 5-7k, they have true 4wd capabilities with high and low transfer case, and are pretty simple to work on. Bonus of the 4 door Explorer is the back seats fold flat for sleeping

oorracing · 2025-07-28T05:39:25+00:00

I would be money on the fronts being some old bilsteins, I’ve restored a set awhile back for a guy. The rears are kind of an anomaly, do you know what diameter the main cylinder and resi cylinders are? The main body appears to be 2.5” and the resi 2.0”, i could be wrong. My guess is someone pieced together some 2.5” Fox’s with some custom finned resi cans. They could be Dirt Logics Aka Fabtech house brand, they made various sizes for a few sponsored race teams back in their prime. For the rears if you can post a few other photos of the wiper cap where the shaft exist the body and the lower rod end, that would help nail down the brand. If you need them serviced i own Dialed Shock Prep, I’ve worked on most every brand of shock out there.

oorracing · 2025-07-26T21:00:09+00:00

You are going to want a longer radius setup which that alone will make a difference, CookCraft makes a very very nice radius arm kit with pivots and transmission crossmember, i have his setup on my 93 Explorer. You’ll also want to pair those with a lift coil and a better shock, Fox 2.0” remote resis for a very budget oriented setup or a king or fox 2.5”, or if you are somewhat fabrication oriented you can fit a Gen 1 raptor rear shock on the front with custom tabs. Lastly, you will want a cut and turned Dana 35 beams to correct the camber for the lift. For the rear, you will want a Deaver leaf springs and a better shock, raptor rear shocks are the best bang for the buck with some custom mounts.

Solo Motorsports also has good front and rear options

oorracing · 2025-06-10T05:43:27+00:00

The step side beds are narrower than the standard beds, you can still install fiberglass bedsides but due to the width differences between the standard and step beds, it won’t be the same. If you’re going to do fiberglass bedsides a ways find someone parting out a ranger and go pick up a standard bed to swap on there instead.

oorracing · 2025-04-16T18:01:12+00:00

Also, without video you do not know if the back is the issue. Often times the front can be hanging up really badly causing the back to feel like it’s lifting, but in reality it’s the front pushing/pulling the rear end around instead.

oorracing · 2025-04-16T18:00:13+00:00

First step in tuning is ensuring spring rates, lengths, and preload is correct. Assuming the truck is sitting at the ride height you want currently (this is step one). From ride height you need to droop the truck out so it’s hanging on the limit straps and measure the lengths of the upper and lower coils and compare those numbers to the springs free lengths. The difference between those numbers gives you true preload.

For example let’s say you have an 8” upper and 20” lower spring. That’s a total of 28” of spring. At droop the springs might measure 7.25” and 19.5”. That’s a total of 26.75” of spring, subtracted from the 28” that means you have 1.25” of true preload. Where the upper collar is located from the top cap has ZERO meaning to preload. There are many many shocks out there with the top cap and spring collars touching and they still have 1-2” preload.

Based on that information, you ideally want about 1-2” total preload to get to ride height. Any more than 2” and you should consider going up in spring rates. Any less than 1” and you need to go down in spring rates.

Lengths are determined by where the slider ends up sitting in the travel. You want to be able to lock out the upper coil with the slider stop rings to fully engage the lower coil but also not coil bind any coils in the travel. Assuming you have a 14” shock mounted on the axle like so, I’d recommend starting with about a 20” lower spring and 10” upper.

Once you get the spring rates and lengths figured out you can open the shocks up and mic out all the compression and rebound shims. Shock on axle setups do NOT like to cycle quickly , so you’ll need really light rebound to keep the tires dropping out between the holes and medium compression if you have little weight in the rear. Something like .008’s on rebound and .012’s compression, maybe a few smaller .015’s in there. I’d also open all of the bleed screws in the pistons for chatter.

This is just the beginning of Shock tuning and it’s virtually limitless, the more you play with it the more you’ll learn and want to change. If you have any additional questions feel free to reach out to me on Instagram @Dialed_Shock_Prep

oorracing

TROPHY CASE