HOSS 3.0 Lift options?

[NJNMDoc]

I am glad you're on the mend. Sure hope you feel better soon. Keep us posted.

Will do! What I CAN say is that my collars arrived last week and they are very well machined and the Fox orange color is gonna look real nice. Shipping was very quick and the guys at RPG have been very patient and informative through my process of making by his decision.

I still haven’t figured out tires so we’re gonna see the unadulterated impact of the collars on the ride.

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[Rblissjr]

Will do! What I CAN say is that my collars arrived last week and they are very well machined and the Fox orange color is gonna look real nice. Shipping was very quick and the guys at RPG have been very patient and informative through my process of making by his decision.

I still haven’t figured out tires so we’re gonna see the unadulterated impact of the collars on the ride.

Fingers tapping..... can't wait to hear your review. I will pull the trigger and order the collars the second you say its a good solution!

 

[NJNMDoc]

OK everyone... I'm back. And with a field report.

As a reminder I went full bore RPG 3.0/2.25.

I was recovering from being sick for a while and got frustrated with these collars starring at me from their box... I finally broke and said 'the hell with it'.

I put my sorry self in the Bronco and spun over to Harbor Freight to pick up a set of death compressors. I got home and got the Skinny Raptor up on jack stands and began the surgery...

Although it wasn't that bad getting everything undone and gaining access to the coils the death compressors freaked me out. I have done a number of full suspensions on the floor of my garage, including a full Carli pintop on my Ram 2500 CD, as well as everything from spacers pucks to full coil overs on my FJ and Tundra. But I have never had to use a death compressor.

And let me just say, if you haven't watched the screws literally bend as you tighten them then you have not had the full experience of serious suspension pucker... ya... it was legit.

I would strongly suggest having this done professionally unless you know what you're doing. I would also suggest to those ready to DIY it that you should plan on either getting a DAMN good spring compressor (floor/wall mounted) or removing the spring altogether.

There is no other way if you are going with the largest RPG collars. It's just too hard to get the springs compressed enough to stuff the larger front collars without killing yourself. That is ENTIRELY my own opinion, but I'm sure some badass cowboy on here is gonna say you don't have to remove the coil.

About 2/3 of the way through compression and having not cleared nearly enough room on the fronts I watched those HF specials literally start to bend out and twist and I paused and thought to myself... fuck. this.

I ultimately had the springs compressed at a local shop by some dudes who know their shit and had a SERIOUS wall-mounted compressor. That was just butter... I was so glad I didn't keep going with the HF specials. YMMV... as may your value of personal safety. Like I say, I have no doubt someone else may have kept pushin it, but I thought, nah, not today...

So, really well machined product. IMHO a more involved install than I wanted to tackle on the garage floor. I will say that I wondered the whole time if there was a difference in coil length between the bilstiens and the fox shocks that might have made them easier to compress and fit the collars under the perches... really not sure. I could definitely have of removed the coils and disassembled the shock, and I strongly recommend you plan on that if you're going to attempt this at home in the garage.

 

[NJNMDoc]

 

[NJNMDoc]

Pre-lift measurments from tire to fender were...

Front about 38 1/2” (camera angle is odd)
Rear about 39 1/4”

I have measured approximately 3/4-1” of rake historically.

 

[NJNMDoc]

Post lift both front and rear are very level and sitting at right about 41”.

 

[NJNMDoc]

And yes- I confirmed my order on the invoice, but the change in height is somewhat less than expected at around 2.5" up front and 1.75" at the rear. So about 1/2" less than anticipated all the way around.

 

[NJNMDoc]

One piece of data that I think would be interesting to get for this thread would be the oft-discussed droop/sag delta.

Unfortunately I did not remember to measure this when I had it on jacks.

Can one of you get a jack under your unit at and get that measurement?

I will do the same tomorrow and we can compare notes on that while I'm still on stock tires.

I am going to 37s next week, after that we won't be able to make that comparison (well we could but not as easily).

As for tires, I will leave that for next week to discuss rub (if any) and general fitment, but I can say that weight was one of my primary considerations.

 

[NJNMDoc]

As for ride- it's now trash. I cannot recommend destroying your Fox suspension like this.

HAHAHAHAHAH!!! I kid, everyone drink.

OK- that's probably not funny... I wanted to first say thanks to those that reported in other/previous threads who had the balls to do these collars before I did. It was tough because they were trying to give their honest impressions of what is a very subjective thing (ride quality).

So what I personally think is that:

1) those that said that there was little to no change in stock ride quality were entirely correct. I would rate the "diminished" quality as a 2/10 at MOST. It's nearly imperceptible on road. As some have stated, I will actually say I like the slightly stiffer suspension BETTER. I would say I agree with others that have said they felt it improved on-road handling.

2) I'm very happy with my decision to opt for the larger collars (thanks Sancho!). Given that I got a little less lift than I was expecting I would be concerned about clearing the 37s with the smaller size, but clearly others have done it without much of an issue.

3) I cannot really say much about off road performance at this point. I can say that pretty much the first thing I did was find a dirt road with some mild wash boards, tossed it in sport, and ripped it at about 50. Was it a little stiffer than previous? Yes. Was it an issue? 100% NO. It reminded me of my old Icon coil overs on my FJ, which is not a bad thing.

This weekend I will hit a wilderness area that has significant articulation points and I will flex it out with the stock tires to see what it does before I go BIG BEEF.

I leave you with this- my thought as I pulled into the garage was, "maybe I won't be going Carli as soon as I thought"...

I will reserve final judgement until I see if it can truly handle the 37s, evaluate the delta on full suspension droop, and determine the impact (if any) on articulation in mild-to-moderate off road scenarios.

Bottom line thus far: What I can definitively say is that the RPG collars are NOT going to result in the clunking over every imperfection in the road that you classically get with a shitty spacer lift. Not only is the on-Rod ride quality essentially unchanged, I would argue it’s slightly improved. Off-road I would say the jury is still out for now. Aesthetically, it looks great- I’m holding off on full body pics until it’s rollin the beef.

I hope this will help SOMEONE else stop the analysis-paralysis.

I will do my best to answer questions.

 

[ronnyek]

Can we see pics of the bronco zoomed outcheck out that tire/fender gap?

 

[NJNMDoc]

Can we see pics of the bronco zoomed outcheck out that tire/fender gap?

Ya I’ll take some tomorrow.

 

[CatMonkey]

I'd be curious to know the actual height of the 3" and 2.25" collars. Certainly there's is some multiplication once installed on the suspension, but what I'm trying to determine is how much is that factor.

 

[Figmo]

Pro Tip: Buy/Rent two spring compressors.

Instead of having one compressor on each side of the shock like you see in all the videos, I like to use three compressors spaced equally around the shock. Much safer and reduces the pucker factor by orders of magnitude.

 

[NJNMDoc]

Pro Tip: Buy/Rent two spring compressors.

Instead of having one compressor on each side of the shock like you see in all the videos, I like to use three compressors spaced equally around the shock. Much safer and reduces the pucker factor by orders of magnitude.

Ya that's actually a good pro tip. I’m glad to have had them pressed by the shop but I can imagine this helping. You need to weigh out whether that’s worth it of course. If you’re never pressing springs again you may not care about saving a few hundred bucks.

I think if you can borrow an extra set or don’t have to buy them at all for sure this would be worth a shot.

 

[NJNMDoc]

I'd be curious to know the actual height of the 3" and 2.25" collars. Certainly there's is some multiplication once installed on the suspension, but what I'm trying to determine is how much is that factor.

I can try to measure the exposed out profile of the collars this weekend. I did not do that beforehand.

As I said, I will be reporting back with details regarding the 37s fitment next week. If previous forum member’s experience holds they will be fine.

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