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Carli 2.5" Coil-over suspension system??

12K views 55 replies 15 participants last post by  micky_blue 
#1 ·
I am so over my 8" Pro Junk suspension and now will be planning for a real world usable suspension.. I want some real articulation more suited for offroad play. I need to know before I spend another $5K is this the ultimate system for me??
Ford Super Duty 2.5 Coil Over Suspension System


What say u nation? DCSpecial?
 
#2 ·
I will also be ditching the over rated 20's with 37's for something far more practical like 17's with 35's. I want a real functioning truck not a damn street queen like I spent $12K building last year....lol In case you wonder why the change of heart I got my feelings hurt doing some moderate offroading. Function over form from now on buddy....
 
#4 ·
Carli makes a very nice setup. Can't really go wrong with it, IMO.

In that height range for what you are looking for an Icon 4-link with coilovers, Icon 4.5" coilovers w/ OUO adjustable radius arms and just the OUO 4.5" would all be other high quality options to look at as well.


We can sell Carli, Icon and of course OUO so let me know if there is anything you need any help with.
 
#5 ·
I will most def be purchasing through you guys...Did'nt know bout ya when I made my first mistake. THanks for the info and on that icon would you rate it as good as the carli. I would like a 4 link setup. Maybe carli with icon 4link upgrade? I am after a Raptor like performance as I plan to put this bitch to work after shes paid for and upgraded/ again....
 
#8 ·
IMO problem with Coilover's is packaging..you not going to get much travel out of a 2.5" lift coilover..

Full Traction is nice but I'd just swap out the axles to '05 up and put a 4 link lift kit on it. Bet it would cost nearly the same os less and have a better turn radius and depending on the year of axles larger brakes..
 
#11 ·
IMO problem with Coilover's is packaging..you not going to get much travel out of a 2.5" lift coilover..
Why do you say that? Is it because people run such a ridicuous spring rate that under compression you go into coil bind, or people run too low of a spring rate and put a ton of preload into it? You should have less then an 1" of preload, or you are running the wrong spring rate. I will be running 2.5's on my truck, but I am going to be running 14" stroke c/o's. It will pull around 18" of travel, maybe more if I can figure out a solution to the center u-joint problem.

Its nice to see someone going for something that can actually walk the walk instead of only looking the part. You rarely see 8-12" lifted trucks etc doing any serious off roading except maybe soft dunes.. The only issue with going down to low of tire size is you are loosing axle ground clearance. BUt you would have to be willing to work over some sheet metal ie cut outs /fiberglass fender/ cutting the wells and have a body shop turn the lip edges. But if you can not stomach cutting sheet metal smaller tires it must be.
Fiberglass is very easy to install, even if you don't know what you're doing. This tons of pictures on line in case someone forgets. About the tires being too large, that is why you run bump stops in the correct place. Whether they are polyurathane, or hydraulic, they will stop the suspension in time. Now thats providing you're not jumping it 10 feet in the air, because if you land funny you will have enough frame flex to destroy things.


My buddy just went from working for KING shocks, over to ICON, and he is liking it so far. He is also a pretty fast offroad racer, so for him to make that step over is saying a lot. I will see if I can get him on here to answer some questions for you guys.


Also you can get a set of 16.5 h1 rims with 37" military tires for about $1300 shipped with re-centered wheels to what ever back space you want, and what ever lug pattern ;).


Are you only looking for bolt on stuff? For the money you're talking about spending you could set up your truck pretty bad ass that would do very well in the dirt and on the street. C/O, hydo bump up front with shock hoops, and some kind of performance leafs with a nice 2.5" smooth body or bypass shock with a hydro bump out back. You will be able to haul, go fast in the dirt, and crawl no problem.
 
#9 ·
It's an 06 so and the Full Traction just dont look up to speed with the carli using 2.5" Coilovers. Over all lift is 4.5" and front end travel is 10" with rear being 12"! That's pretty damn good in my book. Pro Comp lifts are nice if you want a Street Queen but for some articulation it dont cut it...I could of damn near bought that Carli setup for what I got in my damn Pro Co!!
 
#10 ·
Its nice to see someone going for something that can actually walk the walk instead of only looking the part. You rarely see 8-12" lifted trucks etc doing any serious off roading except maybe soft dunes.. The only issue with going down to low of tire size is you are loosing axle ground clearance. BUt you would have to be willing to work over some sheet metal ie cut outs /fiberglass fender/ cutting the wells and have a body shop turn the lip edges. But if you can not stomach cutting sheet metal smaller tires it must be.
 
#12 ·
04yfzkid I have been looking into everything trying to actually learn how suspension works so as to not waste anymore money. I will be purchasing the best and most functional system I can for under and around the $10k mark. My 06 will be paid for in just shy of 2yrs so I will street queen it while I secretly build my dream truck. Cutting, welding whatever I will have it installed by real professionals this go round. The $3600 I have in this Pro Comp kit could have been put towards something wonderful but oh well Live and Learn! I dont know what spring rates are but I would love at least 10-12" of travel both front and rear.
 
#13 ·
well i just spent $4100 on a carli coilover lift. haven't got many miles on it yet, but the best thing i like about it so far is the bling factor. coilovers were damaged, lookes like it was done when they were assembled. some, not all the bushings in the coilovers and the swar bar end links were to small and had to b drilled out so the supplied bolts would fit through. no instructions for the rear suspension. and on top of all that there's a knock, klunk or whatever u wanna call it somewhere in the front suspension. i notice it only when i hit a real quick dip/crack in the road, and not a real big one either. checked everything over several times and everthing seems to b perfect.:confused::shrug:hopefully i can get this figured out.
 
#14 ·
there's a knock, klunk or whatever u wanna call it somewhere in the front suspension. i notice it only when i hit a real quick dip/crack in the road, and not a real big one either.
b

Make sure your trackbar is TIGHT!!! It needs to be torqued to like 400 ft/lbs. Alot of people just crank on it as good as they can and call it tight. It takes alot to get to the 400 mark. I have a 42" Matco 3/4" drive torque wrench, and I still have to lean on it pretty good to get to that mark.
 
#15 ·
i personally run an icon 7in lift on my 06, i ended up doing a block and spacer in the front (no coilovers) and i started with 20's (now 24's) and she is no road queen, take it from someone who has done everything from drag race, rock crawl, mud bog,Jump and just plain old trail grooming, as well as car shows in NYC, south jersey ect.....Icon 4-link is the way to go. This is the best set up and i love it. The ride is good both on and off the pavement. I do not have the coilovers yet, but they are in the works......i hope this info helped you out....
 
#21 ·
went to my local ford dealer and they gave me specs for both.
upper track bar nut (406 lb-ft)
lower track bar ball joint nut (184 lb-ft)
ill re-torque and get back to ya.

thanks
 
#24 ·
IMO..no difference in ride quality between a coil over and a separate coil and shock if both spring rates and shock valving are the same..now if different sure..
 
#26 ·
well the track bar isn't the culprit, noise still there. anyone know the torque spec for the radius arm bolts? the instructions says, torque radius arm bolts to factory spec. the touque spec for the supplied 3/4'' bolts for the radius drop brackets is 350 lb-ft.
thanks
 
#27 ·
Well you can bet ur ass the spring rate on this procomp setup aint gonna be matching.............lol Damn Venom i was just about hell bent on that carli setup.... It is just stiff as all hell even with shocks on softest adj and hell I even bought the new rear springs......Oh well live and learn so now I'm learning from those that have lived and learned with the kits I'm now interested with.....thanks for the input and keep it comming I need real world experience on hard southern clay, mudd, wash board roads from hell....

Maybe I need to get me an ole big girl to ride in it to loosen those spings up...........
 
#30 ·
u mean procrap, ha. i had that too but never again, like riding an I-beam. i think this carli kit has great potential for whatever your gonna b using it for. i've got a few more street miles on now and i can honestly say than there's a noticeable ride difference over my old kit. but as there should b, i paid 3 times as much for it. the bigest difference is in the rear, now the suspension just absorbes the bumps, no bounce/hope like before. once i get this noise figured out i'll b a lot happier, THEN i'll take it off road and c if i really got what i paid for. i will say this too, the customer support from carli is great.
 
#29 ·
Like I said I got it. No issue. Did not even think of it being the other. No need for me to click. :D
 
#32 ·
Bypass shocks are nice to be able to fully fine tune the suspension to your liking :D


One thing to remember in the whole coil spring and shock vs. coilover discussion.....is that in most cases the coil over is using a "race coil" while the coil spring and shock systems are not. The coilovers are able to handle more abuse and a faster cycling rate because of this. This isn't on all comparisons of coilover vs. coil.....but on the coilovers that use high quality coils it is.
 
#34 ·
i will.

after triple checking and retorquing everthing, i'm pretty sure the track bar is the problem after all, the upper heim joint itself is NFG. but i won't know for sure til carli ships me a new 1. i had the wife move the steering wheel back and forth while i had a look. i could see some play in the heim joint, not much but i think it's enough to make a noise when ya it a quick bump. so far the customer support from carli as been top notch, and they seem to take pride in their product. i'm gonna send the heim joint back to them so they can have a look at it, and so someone else don't end up with this issue.
 
#38 ·
but i must say the king coilovers look pretty awesome.
 

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#42 ·
I do believe that the spacers come right from king themselves. Their a pretty soft metal. At first I thought they were alluminum, but it was just the coating on them.
 
#43 ·
So other than the issue with the trac bar hemi ends much of the other issues seem to all come form King. bushing that have to be drilled out soft spacers etc..... King is basically the most $$ you can spend sounds like they are growing faster than they should be and quality is control is slipping.
 
#44 ·
Yep, that's what I was told. The good thing about all of this is the excellent customer support from carli. Shawn seems to b a stand up guy, explained the issues I encountered and without question parts a shipped my way.
 
#46 ·
well still no parts.:mad: according to ups it was supposed to b delivered last wed. talked to 3 different ups customer service people today, which were in some other country other than usa or canada and got 3 different stories. yes stories not answers. the first guy said it is somewhere in the usa, the next lady tells me it's in vancouver and the last person says its somewhere in alberta. not 1 of them actually knows where it is.:confused: I NEED A DRINK
 
#53 ·
like i said, i'm liking mine a lot more now, but in winter its a different story. your gonna like the deaver mini pack.
 
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