Hello. I am interested in running a custom radius arm/coil spring combo on my first gen I am building. I am using a 78 Ford HP 60, and it appears I will have enough room to run coils up front. I want coils for a better ride than stock. My wife hates the bounciness of leaf springs in my truck I have now, and said if this rig doesn't ride better, she won't ride in it. (Sometimes, that's not a bad thing) My questions to those that are running the carli 3" hemi coils on their trucks:
What is the compressed length of the spring? Approximate end to end length, so I can fab my buckets at the right location on my frame.
What is the outside diameter of the spring?
Thank you for your help.

 

I cannot answer the Carli question but am curious have you considered air bags?

 

I will do air bag helpers on the rear, but there was a person that did airbags with a parallel 4 link on the front of a Ramcharger on ramchargercentral. He had the 440 on it first and hated the way it handled. They just weren't enough by themselves. He went back to softer leaves before he dropped the Cummins in it. I see airbags as more of a "helper" spring than the main support. I already have coil buckets on the existing frame (it's a 2wd) and may be able to use them without any mods. Just wanting the compressed Carli spring length beneath a Cummins to see about where that would put the rig height-wise so I can see if the existing buckets would suffice, and then I could plan the radius arms.

 

bump. Anyone?

 

Post some specific measurement points and I'll get them. Right now I'm running 35" general red letter tires and have plenty of room. I have the 3rd gen carli coils due to the replacement bumper weight...if you run the 2nd gen, you'll have a little more spring compression/settlement.

 

I am looking for the compressed length of the coil (top to bottom length, under normal truck weight) as well as diameter of the coil.
Carli offered two sets for the second gen crowd. Both were 3rd gen springs. one was a hemi spring that was recommended for diesels for their softer ride characteristics. The other one was a diesel spring. Stiffer than the hemi spring, but still better than stock. If you have the latter, I can still use that measurement to approximate the compressed hemi spring length since the hemi spring supposedly sits 1" lower in stance. Thanks