So, I installed a set of Rocky Mountain's parabolics on my 88" (two-leaf front and rear), and was pleased with the result. I probably got a 2 to 3 inch lift over the stock bagged out leafs I had, but I have a couple questions:
1) My truck used to have a lean to the passenger side. Now, sometimes, it seems to lean to the drivers' side. I plan to undo everything, jiggle the truck around, and then do it back up to see if everything just needed to settle, but is there anything else that could cause that?
2) The ride, I hate to say it, is just about the same as it used to be. From what I'd been told, the Parabolics should offer a sufficiently improved ride. Is there anything I can do to soften up the ride, like break-in procedures?
3) I took the truck down a trail a couple days ago, and introduced the suspension to dirt for the first time with the new springs installed. When I got back on the pavement, I noticed that the springs have developed a creak. Not a quiet little squeak that I could live with, but a full on dusty-door-in-a-haunted-mansion creeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaak. Is this normal? If it is, it adds character. If it's not, it'll drive me nuts to know something's wrong.
4) I know parabolic leafs are not supposed to touch. On four of my springs, they don't; you can clearly see daylight through the leafs. However, on my left rear, it looks like the lower leaf has flattened out, and is now in contact with the upper leaf in two places: slightly in front of the axle, and slightly to the rear. I have trouble believing this is normal, but I don't want to waste Rocky Mountain's time with a bad spring if it is indeed normal to have some contact between the leafs.
Thanks guys!
Parabolic Questions
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ANDYD
- Defender of the World
- Posts: 3075
- Joined: Tue Mar 09, 2004 10:45 pm
- Location: Sunny Steveston BC
Springs...
Hi,
Congrats on your new springs, how did you find the install? (time and effort).
I always thought the RM springs were marked for Drivers side or passenger side? Was there any marking on yours?
In my opinion if the truck is weight loaded evenly then the gaps and spacing should all be uniform.
Ear piercing creaks.. :shock: doesn't sound good. i would double check if something has loosened or is moving on the mounts. Can you have a heavy friend jump up and down in the truck while you lay underneath with a light? (make sure you chock the wheels first).
Andy
Congrats on your new springs, how did you find the install? (time and effort).
I always thought the RM springs were marked for Drivers side or passenger side? Was there any marking on yours?
In my opinion if the truck is weight loaded evenly then the gaps and spacing should all be uniform.
Ear piercing creaks.. :shock: doesn't sound good. i would double check if something has loosened or is moving on the mounts. Can you have a heavy friend jump up and down in the truck while you lay underneath with a light? (make sure you chock the wheels first).
Andy
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dfritter
Well, I would have found the install a lot easier if I'd restocked on reciprocating saw blades prior to starting the job... two of the shackle bolts had seized inside the old spring eye bushings, so just hacksawing through them was probably the least enjoyable part. Otherwise, I had little trouble; the old u-bolts came out nicely after hitting them with an impact gun, and after borrowing my neighbors nice 2' breaker bar (after cracking my own... thank god Proto's are warrantied!) undoing 35 year old bolts went alright. If I had to do it again, I'd lift the truck up a little higher so I could get more swing out of the breaker bar while I was laying underneath the truck. Oh, and I'd replace the shackles too, just because it's cheap insurance against binding. I'll probably do this shortly. Otherwise, if you've got air and a decent impact gun, everything comes unstuck pretty easily actually.
Oh, but one of the supplied U-bolts (the semi-squared one for the front passenger side) cracked in half while torquing it to spec.
As for the ride, it seems improved today; I think bumping everything around yesterday on the trail did help some, not counting the newfound creaks. I'm going to slide underneath today any check everything/loosen/bounce the truck around/retighten everything, and coat the shackle bushings in WD40 again just to make sure everything's nice and lubed up.
And no, my springs weren't marked at all; no sides indicated or even direction of installation (ie; front of spring).
PS: Interestingly, the gain in height has exposed a noisy U-joint in the front thanks to the added driveshaft angle, and I've also got to reinstall my steering wheel since the change in height also changed the steering component geometry and my steering wheel's now 30 degrees off center... but it still tracks straight hahaha.
Oh, but one of the supplied U-bolts (the semi-squared one for the front passenger side) cracked in half while torquing it to spec.
As for the ride, it seems improved today; I think bumping everything around yesterday on the trail did help some, not counting the newfound creaks. I'm going to slide underneath today any check everything/loosen/bounce the truck around/retighten everything, and coat the shackle bushings in WD40 again just to make sure everything's nice and lubed up.
And no, my springs weren't marked at all; no sides indicated or even direction of installation (ie; front of spring).
PS: Interestingly, the gain in height has exposed a noisy U-joint in the front thanks to the added driveshaft angle, and I've also got to reinstall my steering wheel since the change in height also changed the steering component geometry and my steering wheel's now 30 degrees off center... but it still tracks straight hahaha.