13" vs 14" coils

[bluecollarjock]

Hi,
Been MONTHS since a Sway Away coil of mine snapped pulling out of parking spot. They kept saying they would take care of me, but did not have the 650lb 13" coils in stock, despite me calling Eibach who said they do have tons of them and could ship right away (but not to me, only Sway Away)....so Sway Away has been stalling that they cannot order the 13" until they have a certain #......so finally they said they will send me 14" coils at cost...

What is the difference between 13 and 14" coils? If I change from a 13" 650lb coil to a 14" 650lb coil, does it change the lift on my vehicle, or will I need to adjust the shocks? I am totally clueless, a newbie to Yota and IFS lifts.

Pros, Cons, advantages or disadvantages....this took them freaking months, if their at cost price was not so much cheaper than what Camburg quoted me, I would just buy them elsewhere but money is crazy tight.

thanks

 

[NateMob]

Dude, I still have the 13“ 650s if you want them. I explained all this to you back in November. I need to sell them and can save you some money.

 

[snivilous]

A 14" coil is longer than a 13" coil so it'll lift you an inch unless you have a height adjuster (perch on 5100s, adjustable nuts on fancy shocks, etc.) to bring it back down.

 

[steezemcqueen]

A 14" coil is longer than a 13" coil so it'll lift you an inch unless you have a height adjuster (perch on 5100s, adjustable nuts on fancy shocks, etc.) to bring it back down.

It would actually be closer to 2 inches of lift due to the shock being mounted about halfway between the wheel and the LCA pivot point.

As long as you reduce the coilover preload by the increase amount of the coil length, it should perform the same.

 

[Kraze]

Since we're already talking about 13" vs 14" coils, would there be any benefit to running a 14" coil at the same ride height (that would take less coilover preload to achieve) as a 13" coil? I thought I remember reading something a long time ago about preload, that you lose some travel when you really crank the adjustment collar down? I can't remember where I saw that, and have no idea if it's true or not.

 

[snivilous]

It would actually be closer to 2 inches of lift due to the shock being mounted about halfway between the wheel and the LCA pivot point.

As long as you reduce the coilover preload by the increase amount of the coil length, it should perform the same.

That's a good point.

Since we're already talking about 13" vs 14" coils, would there be any benefit to running a 14" coil at the same ride height (that would take less coilover preload to achieve) as a 13" coil? I thought I remember reading something a long time ago about preload, that you lose some travel when you really crank the adjustment collar down? I can't remember where I saw that, and have no idea if it's true or not.

A shock obviously have limited travel, anytime you lift it you are decreasing available down travel and gaining ride height (you are not however losing overall suspension travel, since bump travel increases as droop decreases).

As I understand it (though I haven't done much research on choosing spring rates and lengths): since the coil should never fully compress (the bump stops or rate slider will prevent that) you just pick a coil with the spring rate you want then the length is based on a combination of preload at full droop you want and ride height. Since you can adjust the ride height to some extent with the collar, it's more of choosing a coil length that fits in the shock nicely (or getting a longer coil because the adjustment collar won't move far enough to give you the ride height you want which I don't think is usually the case). Someone correct me if I'm wrong on those assumptions...

 

[4x4runner2002]

Dude, I still have the 13“ 650s if you want them. I explained all this to you back in November. I need to sell them and can save you some money.

what coils are they? miles?
how much?
i may be interested.

 

[Kraze]

Ah, maybe that's what I remember seeing. As you crank down the collar to gain ride height, down travel decreases, but up travel increases.

 

[NateMob]

Since we're already talking about 13" vs 14" coils, would there be any benefit to running a 14" coil at the same ride height (that would take less coilover preload to achieve) as a 13" coil? I thought I remember reading something a long time ago about preload, that you lose some travel when you really crank the adjustment collar down? I can't remember where I saw that, and have no idea if it's true or not.

I swapped out my original Icon 13" coils for a 14" King so i could reduce the amount of preload i ran on my COs. I didn't like how far they had to be turned down to compensate for the full skids, sliders, front bumper, and winch. I talk about it in my build thread more in depth.

 

[sn0wrunner]

As you crank down the collar to gain ride height, down travel decreases, but up travel increases.

Yep. The overall travel does not change, that is determined by the length of the shock. Just the up-travel/down-travel will change.

Just to clarify for others that might be reading this thread, this is for coilovers in which the adjustment ring is on the top of the springs such as the sway away's, icon's etc.. Coilovers that adjust at the bottom (toytec, all-pro, etc) are the opposite. As you crank up the collar to gain ride height, down travel decreases, but up travel increases.

 

[bluecollarjock]

Thanks everyone...sorry Nate things have been bad, I have court next week for my old police dept wanting to terminate my medical retirement and doctors because despite nearly being dead 4 years ago, I got off all medications, got back into my normal SWAT shape, and went to grad school. Now they terminated everything saying I cannot be disabled, despite me still having permanent intestinal damage that creates a lot of daily problems I will live with forever. So past 6 months I have had no money, no car, and tons of legal homework proving all kinds of false charges against me to be wrong....so the more I proved them wrong, the more technicalities they filed against me....

Sooooo with no money, and Sway Away saying they would give me the broke one free replacement, and the other one at cost ($80), I held on hoping that would save me a ton of cash in current crisis....BUT they have been so lacking in prompt customer service, and offered me 600lb coils first (but I have a Shrockworks bumper and may do a winch in future if my life gets back on track), now all sudden these 14".....

So I just was holding out for them for money reasons....but looks like it may never happen because skimming this it seems it would be simplest for me to stick with 13"

I got a really stressful medical exam today and court next week, if you still have them when I return I may just buy them...because I might be homeless and need to pack the 4runner up and head to the mountains to live off the land for a while in the back of the thing!