mcgaughys lowering kit issues?

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15ramrt

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well, that just tells me I got a 3-5 drop and would explain my issues more. I bet the previous owner probably did do something to do the springs. thanks for you help. I knew something was off.

definitely sounds like your springs are cut to make a 3/5 drop. ive been on the fence about cutting my springs to lower mine even more but after reading about your situation, im against it now. have you had any results with any remedies? (bags, sway bars)
 
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spblack

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definitely sounds like your springs are cut to make a 3/5 drop. ive been on the fence about cutting my springs to lower mine even more but after reading about your situation, im against it now. have you had any results with any remedies? (bags, sway bars)

soo....heres what I got... I received my airlift 5k helper bags, front and rear hellswig sway bar kit, and my 2" drop springs and shock kit from SD springs. I attempted to install my airlift 5k kit with my mcgaughys drop kit and well...there just isn't enough room with this kit so hopefully I can get a refund or otherwise, I will have a some bags for sale on here soon. I installed the rear sway bar and installed the 2" drop springs from SD springs and it just sits a bit to high in the rear for my taste. it definitely rides better at higher speeds but not 100 percent. I left the panhard bar setup from mcgaughys on and that might be the cause. I will be removing the 2" drop springs and returning as well and I thinking about the airlift 1000 kit. has anyone had any bad reviews of these? they seem simple but they also look really cheap. especially if im hauling a trailer. my best bet is just to buy some firestone bags and fab up some mounts specific for my setup. Below is how my truck looks with 2" drop spindles up front with 2" drop springs in rear. mcgaughys springs on the left and SD drop springs on the right.
 

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spblack

spblack

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I forgot to mention I talked with mcgaughys directly. they specifically said that their kits aren't meant for performance. I don't think I will be purchasing any mcgaughy products or recommending them to anyone.
 

15ramrt

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soo....heres what I got... I received my airlift 5k helper bags, front and rear hellswig sway bar kit, and my 2" drop springs and shock kit from SD springs. I attempted to install my airlift 5k kit with my mcgaughys drop kit and well...there just isn't enough room with this kit so hopefully I can get a refund or otherwise, I will have a some bags for sale on here soon. I installed the rear sway bar and installed the 2" drop springs from SD springs and it just sits a bit to high in the rear for my taste. it definitely rides better at higher speeds but not 100 percent. I left the panhard bar setup from mcgaughys on and that might be the cause. I will be removing the 2" drop springs and returning as well and I thinking about the airlift 1000 kit. has anyone had any bad reviews of these? they seem simple but they also look really cheap. especially if im hauling a trailer. my best bet is just to buy some firestone bags and fab up some mounts specific for my setup. Below is how my truck looks with 2" drop spindles up front with 2" drop springs in rear. mcgaughys springs on the left and SD drop springs on the right.


so ive had the airlift 1000's on my other single cam ram and they worked out great. i regularly towed 8000+lbs. definitely worth the money, plus they make bags specifically for lowering springs.

i feel like with all the piecing together that youre doing, you might as well just buy and all new kit and start over. just my 2 cents.
 

charonblk07

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Well, I'll add my $0.02 since you guys are going through the same issues that came up over a year ago. I'm running a 4.5/6.5 drop on my 4wd and it's currently built for top speed and handling so I should be able to help you out a bit in that department. I run the front GF springs because that's the only drop spring for the 4wd available but I am NOT running GF rear springs, I'm running a cut down set of the McGaughy's 4" drop springs. The springs need to be matched to a set of shocks and that's the biggest problem with them, they are poorly matched to both the stock and Belltech shocks. Upgrading to the adjustable QA1 shocks will give you a night and day difference and you will be amazed at the performance difference. I did not like the Belltech springs compared to the McG's ones at this height and since the GF springs are not progressive you drastically change their ride characteristics when the springs are cut, especially when compared to the McG's springs and that's why I kept my McG's springs and sold all the others.


As for the speed shake, have a look at your line of thrust, pinion angle, and rear control arm angles. A full set of adjustable control arms and pan hard bar will get the line of thrust back inline with the body and will allow you to reset the wheelbase and pinion angle. If properly aligned the length of the panhard bar is more than sufficient to give you a good ride and the difference between our panhard bar and a watts link is less than 1/16" lateral deflection at full travel and I'm sorry but until you have had a perfectly solid ride in your truck at 170mph you won't learn that the panhard bar isn't the issue, but it does need to be aligned properly and the McGaughy's or Belltech brackets don't do that. You can install the bracket but then get under the truck and drill the frame bracket to get the panhardbar horizontal at ride height and then you'll be much happier; the adjustable panhard bar will align the axle with the trans and you'll be in much better shape for both the vertical and lateral pinion angles.


Nobody has put together a package that's built for performance which is why I had to put my own together using parts from pretty much every kit out there. Front: 2" drop McG's spindles, 2" GF springs, JTSVP bumpsteer kit, w/ Kore high angle CV joints and soon will be RS9000XL adjustable shocks. Rear: McG's 4" springs cut down 1" (4wd sit higher in the rear), Spohn adjustable delsphere and delrin bushing control arms, hellwig sway bar, QA1 dual adjustable shocks, and most importantly a complete axle custom control arm and sway bar mounts for proper alignment. I also have a set of the Durango A1000 bags in the shortened springs.


I attempted an air spring kit for a few months but as you found out, there isn't enough compression in the kit to fit properly and I was running on the spring's internal bumpstop when I went through even a 1" suspension compression. I've been on a bronco that had less rear end kick than my truck did hitting a bump at 120km/h. A new frame mount would be required to get the required clearance to do a set of bags on the lowered trucks.
 
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spblack

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thanks for the help. I replaced the mcgaughys kit back into the truck today after work and installed the front hellswig front sway bar. Ill find out in the morning how well the sway bars help out the mcgaughys kit. after checking out the airlift 1000 bags, i just cant bring myself to do it. last thing i want is clip coming off an air line while pulling a truck down the road. I am off for the next two weeks so I will fabricating up a helper bag mount for my truck. my buddy has a CNC machine so I should be able to come up with something cool. ill keep you guys posted. thanks again for all yalls input.
 

6speed4.7

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I agree with you, spblack, the Airlift bags look very flimsy. However they've been incredibly trouble free for the two years I've had them on my truck. No issues with them, other than a loose schrader valve. I use my truck like a truck, for 1/2 a year it's always full with 5-600lbs of tools, once threw on a yard of sand...they're a lot more rugged than they look. I'd really be surprised if they didn't work out for you.
 

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DERJ

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I have a 2014 R/T and I just replaced my Belltech 2/4 kit with the McGaughy's economy spring kit and added the Air Lift 1000 kit (shorter kit used for the Durango) without issue.

The springs in the Belltech kit were OK, but I didn't feel like the springs were consistent - my passenger side always sat lower and it was a little bouncy. I eventually trimmed the Belltech springs to get it even, but the bounce was still there and when I installed my Spohn adjustable control arms and panhard bar, the bounce got worse.

I went with the McGaughy kit on a whim to get more consistency, although their 2/4 drop is actually more like 2/3.25 - I may have to trim the rear springs in the future, but for now, it feels all dialed in.

Keep in mind that I was already running QA1 shocks with both Hellwig bars so there's not much else that I can do.

After all of the upgrades, I can say I'm pretty happy - corners are firm, acceleration is smoother (from better pinion angle) and I can still occasionally tow while being lowered.
 
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spblack

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update:
back to original configuration with mcgaughys kit, just upgraded sway bars from hellswig. drove it and went up to 90mph and it is 90% better. very happy with the sway bar upgrade. I also noticed the rear end is up a little higher. I am beginning to think whomever installed the kit might have messed something up in the rear some how but its now fixed. after looking long and hard under my truck with this setup, there just isn't enough room for me to make some helper bag mounts unless I get out the plasma cutter and start cutting. I am not in the mood for that right now. ill try out the air lift 1000 for the ram, not the Durango. based on what I have seen and read online with other users.
 

charonblk07

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update:
back to original configuration with mcgaughys kit, just upgraded sway bars from hellswig. drove it and went up to 90mph and it is 90% better. very happy with the sway bar upgrade. I also noticed the rear end is up a little higher. I am beginning to think whomever installed the kit might have messed something up in the rear some how but its now fixed. after looking long and hard under my truck with this setup, there just isn't enough room for me to make some helper bag mounts unless I get out the plasma cutter and start cutting. I am not in the mood for that right now. ill try out the air lift 1000 for the ram, not the Durango. based on what I have seen and read online with other users.



If you have the 4" drop springs then you need the kit from the Durango, they are a shorter bag. The Ram specific kit will barely fit into the springs and there's a very good chance you'll be hitting the top of the bag on the upper spring perch, which is why you run the Durango kit which is 2" shorter.
 
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spblack

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that's what I heard, but ive also seen a few guys online run the ram bag and it still working with 4" drop spring. the downside to Durango bag is less tow capacity since its not covering the full spring. im going with the ram bag, if it doesn't fit, ill swap to the Durango bag. the one that convinced me was this thread
http://www.ramforumz.com/showthread.php?t=89214

I don't really like the "t" connection so I will be isolating the bags to their own valve stem. anyone run their 1000s this way?
 

charonblk07

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I run 2 separate lines as well so I can adjust the side to side loading for when I have uneven loads in the bed. The problem with the ram bags in the lowering springs is yes they fit perfectly, fully extended, but once they compress to ride height you've already compressed the bags ~2" so they're already pushing on the springs when you inflate them to their minimum level, they also bulge out between the springs more when this happens and pinched bag sides is the most common source of failure of the A1000 bag.


You can do whatever you want but I'm telling you the downside of the idea. They could last 1000 miles or they could last 100,000 miles, it will all depend on how often you load it and the kind of terrain you drive on.
 

Milt IV

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You know what confuses the hell out of me? So many on here have issues with drop kits i.e. not functioning properly, not getting enough drop, etc. But I look at all these RAMs on instagram all day that are ******* slammed so low your balls drag and none of those guys seem to have any problems. 95% of those guys are static, not bagged. So what components are they using to get so damn low and not have any problems. I can see custom coil overs coming into play but surely they are using the same SPOHN arms and hellwig **** that the rest of us have access to. So what gives???
 

15ramrt

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You know what confuses the hell out of me? So many on here have issues with drop kits i.e. not functioning properly, not getting enough drop, etc. But I look at all these RAMs on instagram all day that are ******* slammed so low your balls drag and none of those guys seem to have any problems. 95% of those guys are static, not bagged. So what components are they using to get so damn low and not have any problems. I can see custom coil overs coming into play but surely they are using the same SPOHN arms and hellwig **** that the rest of us have access to. So what gives???

most of the "slammed" rams that you see on social media are built strictly for looks. most are back yard builds that dont perform correctly built by inexperienced individuals that have wallets that exceed their knowledge. you can lower these truck farther than whats available to us in the aftermarket but it takes some engineering and fabrication to make it work correctly. you can see the difference in person.
 

charonblk07

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You know what confuses the hell out of me? So many on here have issues with drop kits i.e. not functioning properly, not getting enough drop, etc. But I look at all these RAMs on instagram all day that are ******* slammed so low your balls drag and none of those guys seem to have any problems. 95% of those guys are static, not bagged. So what components are they using to get so damn low and not have any problems. I can see custom coil overs coming into play but surely they are using the same SPOHN arms and hellwig **** that the rest of us have access to. So what gives???



Custom fabrication, that's what they have. I've barely touched the surface of the custom fabrication with mine since I can't weld for **** and have to pay for it but even my axle mount relocations made a huge difference to how it performed compared to just living with the poor control arm angles. Most of the slammed ones get hacked together with no thought about proper geometry, and the ones that do cost a pretty penny and if you've ever had a ride in one you will know why the guys with real horsepower don't go that low unless they're willing to spend a bunch of cash on a proper system. I love the idea of laying frame and think it looks amazing but I also want to be able to take onramps at 120 and not have to worry about things flying apart.


They are also not using the same Spohn arms and sway bar in most cases, they'll be using a custom 4-link in the rear and most that I have seen do away with the sway bar. The front needs to be Zee'd with modified upper and lower frame mounts for the custom control arms if they want to lay rockers.
 

Milt IV

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most of the "slammed" rams that you see on social media are built strictly for looks. most are back yard builds that dont perform correctly built by inexperienced individuals that have wallets that exceed their knowledge. you can lower these truck farther than whats available to us in the aftermarket but it takes some engineering and fabrication to make it work correctly. you can see the difference in person.
See those are the ones that confuse me the most and the ones I see the most of on instagram. I don't think all of those guys are spending big bucks to get everything done "right" but they obviously have them built well enough to get around because I see rolling shots and pics from their meets and cruises. These are not show trucks, they are drivers from people in truck clubs. Most of them probably do ride like hammered **** though.
Custom fabrication, that's what they have. I've barely touched the surface of the custom fabrication with mine since I can't weld for **** and have to pay for it but even my axle mount relocations made a huge difference to how it performed compared to just living with the poor control arm angles. Most of the slammed ones get hacked together with no thought about proper geometry, and the ones that do cost a pretty penny and if you've ever had a ride in one you will know why the guys with real horsepower don't go that low unless they're willing to spend a bunch of cash on a proper system. I love the idea of laying frame and think it looks amazing but I also want to be able to take onramps at 120 and not have to worry about things flying apart.


They are also not using the same Spohn arms and sway bar in most cases, they'll be using a custom 4-link in the rear and most that I have seen do away with the sway bar. The front needs to be Zee'd with modified upper and lower frame mounts for the custom control arms if they want to lay rockers.

Out of the 20+ slammed RAMs I see all the time on the web I'd be willing to bet the majority of them are not using custom four links and Z'd frames. I only know of 3 for sure that are quality built and fully custom with geometry taken into consideration. Not saying there aren't more, I'm just saying there are three I know of. Those 3 are all on air and all lay frame. Those three are also all crew cabs as well where as most of the ones I see on the web out in Cali and AZ are reg cabs.

I have had a good look at the one Little Shop built and I have to say it probably takes the cake. The design and craftsmanship that went into that thing is unreal. Everything is one off custom fabbed and done very well. They recently just had it back in the shop and put a nascar style front sway bar on it. The owner of the truck daily drives it and has put over 30K miles on it with literally no problems. It lays frame on 26" billets with the help of Accuair VU4 with e-level, custom upper and lower CAs, super trick bed floor and I can't remember for sure but I think this one has a 2 link.

Jimmy's Rod and Customs also built a very nice crew cab. I don't know much about it but from what I have seen it looks really nice. Again, tons of man hours in custom fab. Custom 4 link with watts, raised bed floor, Accuair, Custom CAs It is also a daily driver and I heard it might be up for sale soon.

The last is from Chassis Fab and all I know about that one is that it also lays frame on 26s and is a daily driver with over 40k miles on it. I think it has a 3 link out back and obviously custom CAs up front.
 

PassivAggressor

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There's one on Instagram that is so low that his rear wheels are almost touching the front of his rear fenders. Obviously he doesn't have anything to adjust the axle on there. Thats just some hack crap that will probably mess up the truck.
 

charonblk07

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You physically can't get the rear to lay rockers let alone frame with the stock rear control arm locations if the axle mounts are the same; they need to be relocated or the lower control arm will bind on the upper's frame mount at about an 8" drop in the rear. A set of J-bars might clear it but if it's on air you can drop it as low as you want with horrible geometry and it won't really matter since that's not the intended ride height. Static drops are of course a different story and they really do need to be done properly or it's a hack job for appearance only.


As for parts, Michigan Metal Works makes a weld-in kit for relocating the front mounts that will allow the front to come down 4-6" with all the stock parts and will get you about an ~8" front drop with their spindles and springs but it really is designed to be used with a bag setup. They claim it will lay out with 26" wheels, the kit comes with narrowed upper and lower control arms
 

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