[jono165]

How about get some decent springs EFS/OME etc and some gabriel shocks to get you by for now. They are so cheap on special they are practically disposable. Then later down the track you can get some better shocks when the gabriel ones flog out or if they aren't quite what you were after.

I have always followed the saying "poor man buys twice", try and do it right the first time

[Sleepy Samoan]

also another good point... just save mate.... really depends on how hard you wanna go.....while im here does anyone know about scintex snorkels?

[Trypt]

Blupac springs are made by lovells. well atleast the coils are
there was a guy on offroad 80's that installed two of the same kit into two different cars.
the springs came in lovells boxes and had lovells tags on them.

but then again i have also heard that king make them and ive also heard that the shocks are made by ultima.

[Fatzook]

Trypt wrote:

Blupac springs are made by lovells. well atleast the coils are
there was a guy on offroad 80's that installed two of the same kit into two different cars.
the springs came in lovells boxes and had lovells tags on them.

but then again i have also heard that king make them and ive also heard that the shocks are made by ultima.

So more internet rumour then

[jimbo_jones]

Daves4wd wrote:

But if you saves up say another few weeks you can get yourself self at kit that will last 5 years or more instead spending $500 and then 2 years down the track spend another large amount of money just dosent make a whole lot of sence to me

I agree dave if you are intending on buy a cheap kit then upgrading later to a better kit seems a waste of cash abclarke said he paid a extra $150 for a good kit that's not that much more and you could easily spend that amount on the piss on a Saturday night I say put up with your old suspension till you can buy a good kit you can't skimp on suspension you will pay for it in the long run and your back will thank you for it.
Aaron what kit did you buy for your zook and how much was it?

[Macca52]

After apologizing to Blupac I found out my sagged springs are Bluemax which are the same spring apparently. Onlineautoparts are standing by their warranty and are supplying me with EFS which I hope are better

[KEENSY85]

This may be a matter of opinion based on some facts ,but I know for a fact that blue pac and online auto parts both used king springs until recently when online auto started using efs brand springs and I think that's because they are just a cheaper leaf springs I had king coils and they saged up pretty young to but it was the cheapest stuff I could get so I wasn't to suprised. Oops ranting at an old post ..... Damn beer

[Gwagensteve]

primejo07 wrote:

I've got a Blupac 2" kit and in my opinion, you cant really go wrong. I mean, its $500 and you get everything you need. Even if they do only last you a few years, its still a cheap alternative untill you can save up some cash and get some more expensive suspension to break

primejo07 wrote:

my parents bought me a blupac kit for my sierra for my birthday last year as a suprise. i was super excited at the time but now wish i went and got efs or ome springs and commo/hiace shocks. my springs have sagged so much that i have had to put a body lift in to continue clearing my tires :/ spend the extra $100 or so and do it right the first time.

Steve.

[KEENSY85]

Gwagensteve wrote:

primejo07 wrote:

I've got a Blupac 2" kit and in my opinion, you cant really go wrong. I mean, its $500 and you get everything you need. Even if they do only last you a few years, its still a cheap alternative untill you can save up some cash and get some more expensive suspension to break

primejo07 wrote:

my parents bought me a blupac kit for my sierra for my birthday last year as a suprise. i was super excited at the time but now wish i went and got efs or ome springs and commo/hiace shocks. my springs have sagged so much that i have had to put a body lift in to continue clearing my tires :/ spend the extra $100 or so and do it right the first time.

Steve.

LOL. And on another note bluepac kits are defently king springs they deal with king springs I know for a fact ,unless they have just changed to some China important recently ,blue pack is just a supplier not a manufacture if in doubt ask before u buy they will happily tell u if not don't buy also get prices and haggle I rarely pay full price of any new part suplier with in reason .

[2stroker]

Daves4wd wrote:

But if you saves up say another few weeks you can get yourself self at kit that will last 5 years or more instead spending $500 and then 2 years down the track spend another large amount of money just dosent make a whole lot of sence to me

So what kit that lasts 5 years or more, is that with you driving on them or me driving on them, too many vaiables to say how long a spring will last. In the end they will all sag, they can all be bend and damaged if abused, doesn't matter what brand you buy, it all comes down to personal preference and budget.

People saying his brand is best or that brand is crap is stupid because we all use our cars differently, usually a lot of the comments are from people who have read stuff not experienced it. As you see from the different comments some people get a good run from a cheap brand while others dont, it depends on your expectations, a noob may not expect as much as some one who has been through a few dozen springs over time, conversly a nood may expect too much because he isn't yet experienced.

Look at Zook Fan, he is realitively new to Suzuki's and 4x4ing but I am sure he wont buy one particular leading brands ever again because they were expensive, they sagged dramaticlly after a couple of months of road driving with no load and he bent a main leaf after one moderate outing, this coupled by poor service and no back up with warranty left a bad taste in his mouth. Now that could have happened with a less touted brand as well but in this instance it didn't. Does that mean every spring made by this company is crap, no not at all, lots of people love them and have excellent results with them. I will let him tell you which brand.

[ZookFan]

True Kas...maybe I got a bad batch? who knows

But I won't be buying OME springs for a zook ever again

They might be more heavy duty and strong on LC and Patrols..but no such case with mine

You could not believe it when I told you it was lifted

[sideways]

Basically, if you expect your springs not to sag or bend in a year or 2 of proper abuse, you're going to have a bad time.

I agree that ZookFan's is a serious case of not good enough, though I've heard a lot of negative things about OME springs (aside from the ride, which is why I want some). When I talked to them about 2 months ago they said they were waiting on a prosecution run for the rears, maybe those will turn out different..... I somewhat doubt it though.

In my experience, stock springs are pretty darn awesome and with some re-cambering and slipper pads, I'd be inclined to use those. The H/D trayback spec King springs in the LJ are about 3" taller than standard (despite being "standard" height) and make for the worst riding vehicle in the world... This is coming from a farmer. You'l never bend one, because they don't actually bend in ways they're meant to.

I'd be interested to see how parabolic springs go, not that they're really available.

[Highway-Star]

ZookFan wrote:

But I won't be buying OME springs for a zook ever again

I have been saying for ages that OME springs are total utter shit. Every set I have seen is total utter shit (they bend in your hands, they barely even rate as spring steel), but when I say this I get told off..... oohh, you can't upset the internet status quo, because every one else is a bloody expert, and I am a totally idiotic noob.... And you definitely can't can't tell the morons who sell you the crap either!

Wait it for ZookFan, someone's going to say you are wrong, that you don't know what you are talking about, and that OME are the best, because THEY are blind moronic sheep!!!

sideways wrote:

I'd be interested to see how parabolic springs go, not that they're really available.

I have been told Mighty boy rears are parabolic. Not sure on length though...

[JrZook]

Highway-Star wrote:

ZookFan wrote:

But I won't be buying OME springs for a zook ever again

I have been saying for ages that OME springs are total utter shit. Every set I have seen is total utter shit (they bend in your hands, they barely even rate as spring steel), but when I say this I get told off..... oohh, you can't upset the internet status quo, because every one else is a bloody expert, and I am a totally idiotic noob.... And you definitely can't can't tell the morons who sell you the crap either!

Wait it for ZookFan, someone's going to say you are wrong, that you don't know what you are talking about, and that OME are the best, because THEY are blind moronic sheep!!!

Is that me?

Remember that my first set of springs in lil foot were 4 year old OME's that came from my old hardtop. Had a good run with them!

I ended up not getting what I wanted from an off the shelf manufacturer ie length, descent ride as well as descent load carrying capability so I went custom. Even tho I run thin 6mm mains made by Mayne spring works I haven't bent one yet. Fingers crossed!

[Tyron]

Can only comment on the EFS springs that I've had with 2inch lift and shocks.
I'm happy with them. Bit harder than the standard springs. Looking at taking a leaf out of each of the packs.
Other than that I've abused them pretty hard and they're still going well

[2stroker]

I was surprised by zookfans OME's because they were so new yet had sagged to flat with little use, apart from the fact that the springs were nice and clean and still new to look at they had about as much lift as a 20 year old stock springs. About 8-10 years ago I had ome's in one of my LJ's and I had a set in my daily drive hilux they worked well and lasted well so I always thought they were ok.

I know lots of people bag king springs, the first time we used them was in Matty's racer because he was just starting out off road racing, he was still an apprentice at the time so had limited funds, we envisaged that he would have some suspension carnage along the way and he could get the kings through his work cheap. Surprisingly he never bent or damaged a spring in any event, Jacob has a modified spring pack made up of King and WT leaves in his LJ and it rides better than Zookfans.

I have had a set of lovels as well and I didn't think they were to bad, in my own LJ I run custom spring packs made from WT rears in the back and LJ ute rears in the front. They were reset at Mayne spring works.

I have not had any bad experiences with springs and I have had OME, EFS, Lovels, Kings and made up packs as well over the years.

[KEENSY85]

Just a noobi question but what does Reseting mean like it sounds I'm guessing

[2stroker]

Yeah mate in simple speak they heat each leaf up in a furnace, put bend back in them and then re-temper them through a process of heating and cooling at specific temperatures that actually changes the metal into spring steel. Now that is a very simple explaination of a much more complex process.

[KEENSY85]

How often do u do this when u make custom pack up ?

[2stroker]

Rarely, it is easier to buy new springs, I had the ones in my LJ done because from playing around with less and less leaves by the time i arrived at what i was happy with i had flattened them a bit so i sent them in for a reset because LJ ute rears are hard to find. There are so many different springs available that unless like me you had heaps laying around you wouldn't worry about it.

[Highway-Star]

JrZook wrote:

Highway-Star wrote:

ZookFan wrote:

But I won't be buying OME springs for a zook ever again

I have been saying for ages that OME springs are total utter shit. Every set I have seen is total utter shit (they bend in your hands, they barely even rate as spring steel), but when I say this I get told off..... oohh, you can't upset the internet status quo, because every one else is a bloody expert, and I am a totally idiotic noob.... And you definitely can't can't tell the morons who sell you the crap either!

Wait it for ZookFan, someone's going to say you are wrong, that you don't know what you are talking about, and that OME are the best, because THEY are blind moronic sheep!!!

Is that me?

Remember that my first set of springs in lil foot were 4 year old OME's that came from my old hardtop. Had a good run with them!

I ended up not getting what I wanted from an off the shelf manufacturer ie length, descent ride as well as descent load carrying capability so I went custom. Even tho I run thin 6mm mains made by Mayne spring works I haven't bent one yet. Fingers crossed!

Not you Dan. Your springs may not have failed completely like mine and a couple of other sets I know of did..... but I still argue they are a shit spring (the front ones particularly with there stupidly short length).

I would take almost any other brand name spring I've seen over a "non-defective" OME (EFS, Kings, Dobinson, Lovels, tough dog, trail gear, etc etc); and where possible to fit I'd take a factory spring over almost anything (Seriously the factory springs fitted to a WT Sierra are absolutely excellent quality IMO, and the earlier models are still quite good).

2stroker wrote:

I was surprised by zookfans OME's because they were so new yet had sagged to flat with little use, apart from the fact that the springs were nice and clean and still new to look at they had about as much lift as a 20 year old stock springs. About 8-10 years ago I had ome's in one of my LJ's and I had a set in my daily drive hilux they worked well and lasted well so I always thought they were ok.

ZookFan's issues is somewhat consistent with what I have seen. A mate killed a brand new rear one within 1 trip out. Mine lasted nearly 12 months, but they had to keep coming out to be bashed with a hammer and straightened (kept bending, which eventually led to shackle inversion on the front). I've seen brand new pairs of these things bought, 1 of the springs you can stick in a vice and pull on and it will try and kill you with the elastic reaction, whilst the other one of the pair will barely return from where you pull it too..... And naturally this is not the sellers fault, because they could never do wrong ......

Tyron wrote:

Can only comment on the EFS springs that I've had with 2inch lift and shocks.
I'm happy with them. Bit harder than the standard springs. Looking at taking a leaf out of each of the packs.
Other than that I've abused them pretty hard and they're still going well

I run EFS in the back of both my Sierra and LJ; and I run both with a leaf removed as they are definitely too stiff off the shelf unless you have an uber heavy Suzuki. Both sets have been in for years now without any issues.... OMG springs that don't die .
I always remove the shortest curved leaf. I leave the flat load leaf as its useful for when carrying a bit of a load, and can help with some amounts of axle wrap, yet rarely effects spring rate (note some cars will continuously wrap springs... thats when you need to either add more leaves, an antri-wrap bar, or links/coils). I have however shortened the length of the load leaf in my LJ (with a grinder), to reduce instances of it catching on rocks etc. I consider messing around with spring packs part and parcel to owning and modifying a leaf sprung car. I doubt most would be totally happy with anything completely off the shelf...

[2stroker]

That is well said highway-star, I think the reason I have not had problems and the reason I don't seem to get the Suzuki lean everyone complains about is because I play around with my springs so much that they never get to really wear out, like you said just part of the territory that comes with owning one.

[ZookFan]

I can't really afford to get new springs at the moment...so I am getting some King springs from Kas to mix with my OME front ones..also Might get them reset too..not sure if the rears need doing ..I am going to Talk to Kas about it on Sunday