Hi Guys, I have a Vr V8 Ute at the moment and am in the process of making it as practical as possible. It came with SSL or SL springs (unsure which) rendering it completely useless when carrying weight. I loaded up about 10 tins of paint and a couple of other small things in the tray resulting in the rear tyres scrubbing on the guards. I was wondering what the best bang for buck combination of springs / shocks that are available to turn the Ute into something more useful. I want it to be able to carry as much as it is possibly capable of. I am not worried about the looks etc as I am over lowered cars completely! Thanks in advance
well im pretty sure i have country pack springs in my vs ute and they are brilliant. although the only downside is that it sits up so high it isnt funny but seeing your over lowered cars it wont worry you. and the ground clearance can be useful, as one day i was on a freeway a truck tyre was in the middle of the road, i drove straight over it (it was 5:30am, so i couldnt see it til it was too late) ive had a fully ladden 7x4 trailer on the back with about 500kgs on it, and the top of the wheels were even under the guard. so country pack springs are great for carrying weight, but they are very rough at the same time.
Look at both the standard replacement and low King Springs. The standard ones will be slightly higher than standard GM springs, and the lows are about the same as FE2 height, but King Springs are heavy duty so they won't compress as much under load; meaning you should be able to have it looking ok and still carry decent weight. If the shocks are fine leave them, if they're screwed KYB Excel G's are good value for money but I'm not sure if they are suited to heavy loads.
Standard shockies or some crappy gabriels (there like $60 from supercheap) and grab some pedders "Heavy Duty" springs. They are a tough spring and wont sag much under load, I got rid of mine cause they wernt what i wanted in the wagon, but I have had the back of the wagon tarped and full of gravel, and had a trailer load of dirt on aswell and it still helds up.
what about airbag man coil right air bags, if your not to fussed about keeping it at the same height you can put the airbags inside your existing coils and it will carry more weight than a aftermarket coil, and when its unloaded it wont ride as harsh.
KYB Shocks and Heavy Duty King Springs, and if your regularly varying your weight, Poly air bags. I have the KYB/King spring combo in my ute and it handles quite nice, and with the extra weight it sits up nice and high still. Im about to redo the back with KYB/HD King Springs, and deciding on whacking polyair bags in as well. The poly airbags are about $220 from memory, add a little more if you want to run an onboard compressor.
Cheers for all the info guys, I have heaps to consider and research now! Will do some research on the above and let you all know how it go's.
