Hammer40k
Well-Known Member
Given the cost of the BP-51’s it would be 6-9 months of riding on the 2.0’s probably before I could purchase, even with Awesome Franks stage3 discount
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Randy2400h
Well-Known Member
Hey stag, any ride reports now that the rear leaf springs have broken in and you’ve put some miles on them? I have fox 2.0‘s in the front and rear and will be adding the OME 1.7” leaf pack on my ranger. I decided to go ahead and purchase the Bilstein 5160 rear shocks with the remote reservoirs because they allow up to 2 inches of lift versus the 1.5 allowed by my fox 2.0 shocks. also, they are supposed to be a significant upgrade for towing. I will be using this in conjunction with the Timbren SES rubber helper springs. I’m hoping for a significantly better ride on road, for light off road, and significantly better support for towing.
Edit: Also out of curiosity did you align the axle using an old-school string method or were there any alignment tabs on that bump-stop plate to get you close?
Edit: Also out of curiosity did you align the axle using an old-school string method or were there any alignment tabs on that bump-stop plate to get you close?
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Randy2400h
Well-Known Member
Just for further clarification on this. Here’s the same explanation, worded slightly different. I received two “+” leaf springs and I wanted to make sure I didn’t need a “+” for the DS and a ”-“ for the PS.
I reached out to Frank at Stage3, he got this info from ARB:
Here is the response from ARB, essentially those markings are just put on the springs to identify their measurements in quality control and not meant to be sold or paired together any specific way as the tolerance is “tight”
“Hi Frank,
Thanks for reaching out about this!
All Leaf Springs are marked either "0", "+" or "-"
There is a very tight tolerance for our leaf springs. Each leaf spring is 100% vehicle weight tested. After that, we test the height to ensure it is still correct taking the vehicle's weight into account.
The tolerance is up to 3mm (.07 inches).
The + means it will be a little taller, but still within the tolerance.
The - means it will be a little shorter, but still within the tolerance.
The 0 means it tested perfectly.
Any leaf spring that is outside of this tolerance does not go into the market.
This is actually a major advantage of OME Leaf Springs.
If you ever had a + and a -, you would ideally put the + on the side with more weight, even if it's just the steering column.”
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Stagg Jr.
Well-Known Member
- Thread starter
- #53
Seat of the pants tells me it rides a tick stiffer. I expected this. Don't haul much in the bed these days so I can't comment on that, yet. I really like the springs.
Good to hear you went with the upgraded shocks. If I didn't already buy the Eibachs (happy with) I might have done the same as you. If you can swing the cost, smart move!
No alignment need, IMO. The springs have studs that set into the axle perch. You may want to go back through this thread and see what's in store for you regarding this topic.
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Randy2400h
Well-Known Member
Well, all things considered I’m very happy with the springs, they are performing phenomenally. Much softer than OEM around town and it can more suitabley handle a bigger load. This is fantastic for the 7x14 enclosed trailer I’ll be pulling. The Bilsteins are great, no doubt, but I think the majority of my improvement lies in the leaf springs.
The bad part the delivery of the leaf springs. I’m going to talk with Frank again at Stage3 (he seems like a nice guy and has been helpful). The leaf springs came via UPS with a massive amount of shipping labels attached to them, which were beat to shreds and made the process of getting them off over an hour long process. And the epoxy of the springs took a huge hit too. I don’t need the springs to pretty pretty princess pink and look untouched but this is my personal truck, not a farm truck. This was absolutely effin ridiculous; so I had to re-coat the entire set with epoxy.
More impressions to come, as you can see from the pic, I didn’t reuse the factory bump stops. This is because the gap between my Timbren rubber helper springs and the leaf spring pack is exactly what I wanted at unloaded ride height. And the rubber springs should mate up nicely with the leaf springs under a heavy load. I also ran into the same issue with the locator pin and reusing the factory shim. I opted to leave the shim out and the left side sits 3/16” lower than right; which isn’t visible to the naked eye. I have a Diamondback cover and internal toolbox that rides in the back of my truck and adds about 250lbs full-time weight to the bed, and the leaf springs put the rear end about 1.4” higher than the front end (w/ 2” lift from Ford Perf Fox 2.0s). I now have a set of perfectly good low-mile FOX 2.0 rear shocks which kinda irks me but I wasn’t willing to experiment given another member’s experience popping those shocks through their 1.5” lift limit with the same 1.7” lift leaf spring setup. The Bilstein’s should do well both for off-roading and controlling any kind of porpoising from the trailer.
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Stagg Jr.
Well-Known Member
- Thread starter
- #55
Well, all things considered I’m very happy with the springs, they are performing phenomenally. Much softer than OEM around town and it can more suitabley handle a bigger load. This is fantastic for the 7x14 enclosed trailer I’ll be pulling. The Bilsteins are great, no doubt, but I think the majority of my improvement lies in the leaf springs.
The bad part the delivery of the leaf springs. I’m going to talk with Frank again at Stage3 (he seems like a nice guy and has been helpful). The leaf springs came via UPS with a massive amount of shipping labels attached to them, which were beat to shreds and made the process of getting them off over an hour long process. And the epoxy of the springs took a huge hit too. I don’t need the springs to pretty pretty princess pink and look untouched but this is my personal truck, not a farm truck. This was absolutely effin ridiculous; so I had to re-coat the entire set with epoxy.
More impressions to come, as you can see from the pic, I didn’t reuse the factory bump stops. This is because the gap between my Timbren rubber helper springs and the leaf spring pack is exactly what I wanted at unloaded ride height. And the rubber springs should mate up nicely with the leaf springs under a heavy load. I also ran into the same issue with the locator pin and reusing the factory shim. I opted to leave the shim out and the left side sits 3/16” lower than right; which isn’t visible to the naked eye. I have a Diamondback cover and internal toolbox that rides in the back of my truck and adds about 250lbs full-time weight to the bed, and the leaf springs put the rear end about 1.4” higher than the front end (w/ 2” lift from Ford Perf Fox 2.0s). I now have a set of perfectly good low-mile FOX 2.0 rear shocks which kinda irks me but I wasn’t willing to experiment given another member’s experience popping those shocks through their 1.5” lift limit with the same 1.7” lift leaf spring setup. The Bilstein’s should do well both for off-roading and controlling any kind of porpoising from the trailer.
Good lord. I some how forgot to mention the stickers. Yeah pretty bad, took me about a hour also. I used goo-gone and WD-40.
Your install looks great!
AZRanger
Well-Known Member
Completely adjustable, remote reservoir, internal bypass, large diameter shock. That’s what your money gets you. I have them and they are the best shocks I’ve owned thus far. I can maintain 50mph on a rough corrugated rutted road without ever feeling unstable. Rides good too
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