Debating on going coilover or regular coils.
What is the main advantage of coilovers?, is it control?, length of travel?

On the front of my rig I may run leafs with coils/coilovers? out back. Would it be worth my money to buy the King shocks to mount with the leafs on the front or just go single/double? Rancho 9000's up front? I will have an unsprung weight of about 1000lbs up front and 1000lbs out back. It is a Chevy with a 454 and it will have a flatbed and a wheelbase of about 125"

What should I do?
Thanks
Don Henry

good question
I'de like to know that too
been thinking about coils and I know coil over shocks are cool looking, but what is the real benefit?

Boy there are alot of variables there. Having built vehicles with both seperate coil/shock and coilover, the biggest advantage of a coilover is light weight and compactness. also. having pivoting mounts reduces binding during suspension movement. The downside of coilovers is higher cost both initially and maintenece wise, and longevity. the heim ball ends found on most coilovers tend to wear out quickly, as do the small diameter coil springs.
Personally,for a daily driver I would go with leaf springs all around. If you are willing to suck up the cost, coilovers are definately just way too cool.

Hell yes they are worth it ...!!!!!

Yea they are worth it! You will be lucky if you nail it right the first time unless you have help from someone with experience. Getting the right spring rates takes trial and error, or experience... I've got coilovers in the front with 3/4 ellipticals and coilovers in the rear. I love it!:beer: :beer: :beer:

Originally posted by 1988YJ
Yea they are worth it! You will be lucky if you nail it right the first time unless you have help from someone with experience. Getting the right spring rates takes trial and error, or experience... I've got coilovers in the front with 3/4 ellipticals and coilovers in the rear. I love it!:beer: :beer: :beer:

You've got 3/4 elip and coilovers in the rear??????
What's the point in that:confused:

there is nothing magic about coilovers the coilover part of it is just packaging. The benefit is a quality shock, you could run some sway away shocks and some regular coil springs and have equally good performance, as long as the coil springs could be built in the spring rate and travel that you wanted without risk of buckling. To prevent long coils from buckling they have to be fairly large diameter and become dificult to package. With 1000 lbs of unsprung weight at each end a good shock is worth the money if you want to drive hard. If you have already bought a quality shock it is probably cost effective to go with coilovers especially if you think there is a chance you will guess wrong with the first springrate you select, since the coilover springs are relatively cheap.

Thanks for input, especially Gordon and Zags, I think I will go coilover then. Any other info would be appreciated.
Thanks
Don Henry