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Elka 2.5DC / Halo stage 3

Aliass24 said:
To tell you the truth, the only thing better is the exhaust note and mpg is similar but the 3.5 kills it every other way.
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Shhh, the five'o crowd will be up in arms over your assessment.
 
Aliass24 said:
To tell you the truth, the only thing better is the exhaust note and mpg is similar but the 3.5 kills it every other way.
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That is good to hear about the 3.5. Do you think that a 650 spring would be the sweet spot for these trucks?
 
southerntremor said:
That is good to hear about the 3.5. Do you think that a 650 spring would be the sweet spot for these trucks?
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That’s hard to say, you can have a 550 spring but if the shock valving is on the stiff side it will still ride like shit. That’s the reason I went with the 2.5’s from accutune, my setup is actually valved a bit lighter than the fox 2.0’s but with the high and low speed settings your able to adjust to your liking. I’m not to sure how the elka 2.5’s come setup out of the box but if the valving is were it needs to be than the 650 spring should be ok.
 
Well, the shocks I have I believe are 700 spings since they have C11.6x406 on them. I'm going to confirm when I talk with Elka. I'm going to ask if the new shocks being sent out indeed have the 650 on them. I really don't want the 700 springs as I feel that would be too stiff. Guess we will see that they say. Been playing phone tag with them this morning.
 
I know the ones on their website state that they come with the 650lbs spring. let me know what they have to say, I may exchange mine as well.
 
I just filled out the warranty card provided in the email. We will see when they contact me this upcoming week. I wonder if they set out the wrong build on these coilovers ie wrong valving and spring rates.
 
southerntremor said:
I just filled out the warranty card provided in the email. We will see when they contact me this upcoming week. I wonder if they set out the wrong build on these coilovers ie wrong valving and spring rates.
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I spoke to Jerome (450-655-4855 Ext 237) in sales/warranty today. I didn't have the utmost confidence in him. I feel someone in sales should know the product. He had no clue on what the spring rate was on the "extended" shocks. I also asked him if I could run the collar all the way up so I would only get 2" of lift. Supposedly they set them at 2.5". I asked if they could set them at 2-2.125" as I want a little rake as I have a topper on and if I tow I don't want to be nose high. He said if they are all the way up there won't be any preload (duh), but will it hurt it? No, it shouldn't. But he is going to try and have them set at that before they ship them to me. He said the spring rate on what will be shipped to me is 550#. What is the stock spring rate? I did a search here and on Google and couldn't find an answer. Maybe I just suck at searching. But honestly, I'd talk to engineering if you have any technical questions. I have my PDF's to print to send my shocks back. He said that once I show a tracking from UPS they should be able to ship the new ones out.
 
550# is the factory rate spring if I remember right. I wonder if that will be a little soft now my curiosity is peaked. I have driven on the 700# springs since last week and they are starting to settle in. They are a little stiff still and I am thinking that the 650# might be the sweet spot. I still can’t believe that the Tacoma crowd runs the 700’s
 
southerntremor said:
550# is the factory rate spring if I remember right. I wonder if that will be a little soft now my curiosity is peaked. I have driven on the 700# springs since last week and they are starting to settle in. They are a little stiff still and I am thinking that the 650# might be the sweet spot. I still can’t believe that the Tacoma crowd runs the 700’s
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I think the 550# would be just about perfect with the proper valving/adjustments. That's what's wrong with the stock Tremor. The shocks are GARBAGE. Front spring rate seems fine. Rear leafs could have a little more "oomph" to them, but is what it is. But yeah, 600-650# wouldn't be too bad. I had 700# springs on my 06 V8 4Runner with Icon CDCV. But I also had a steel Demello front bumper, front to rear RCI steel skids, and RCI sliders to add to that weight. I'm almost 50 so at this point I prefer a little bit softer ride. I'm sure when I upgrade to Falken's, those will stiffen up the ride a little as well.
 
I know when I went to load range E tires that made a huge change in the ride quality. So you may be correct that the #550 springs and the E load range tires would be the perfect match for these trucks. If the valving is correct it will still prevent the front end from slamming into rocks while off roading.
 
Spoke with the team at Elka today they are going to send me the replacement struts and they will be built and valves for the 550# springs like the ones @GHawk16 Mentioned. I was surprised that they did not request a credit card since mine are already on the truck. They just asked me to send them back once the new ones get installed. I am looking at a 6 week turn around time on the build of these struts so I am guessing late November.
 
southerntremor said:
Spoke with the team at Elka today they are going to send me the replacement struts and they will be built and valves for the 550# springs like the ones @GHawk16 Mentioned. I was surprised that they did not request a credit card since mine are already on the truck. They just asked me to send them back once the new ones get installed. I am looking at a 6 week turn around time on the build of these struts so I am guessing late November.
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Interesting that they have to build them. I never bothered to ask when mine would be shipped. Jerome at Elka made it sound like they would use some of the parts from the shocks I return. Only different would probably be the shock body, internals and spring which are probably longer. Guess I'll get a hold of them Mon-Tues next week and ask. Was hoping to have them by Thanksgiving so I could put them on that week. Kind of sucks to be honest. Also, having to deal with this myself...no knock on Halo Lifts, but I should be able to give them back and say "you deal with it". I get it's a side business and all, but I'm busy too and I'm the one taking time out of my days to box back up, drive to UPS, try and get a hold of Elka, etc. Oh well, just glad I found out before I put them on or I would not be going with them. Feel for ya that you have to swap them out and pay for a new alignment.
 
GHawk16 said:
Interesting that they have to build them. I never bothered to ask when mine would be shipped. Jerome at Elka made it sound like they would use some of the parts from the shocks I return. Only different would probably be the shock body, internals and spring which are probably longer. Guess I'll get a hold of them Mon-Tues next week and ask. Was hoping to have them by Thanksgiving so I could put them on that week. Kind of sucks to be honest. Also, having to deal with this myself...no knock on Halo Lifts, but I should be able to give them back and say "you deal with it". I get it's a side business and all, but I'm busy too and I'm the one taking time out of my days to box back up, drive to UPS, try and get a hold of Elka, etc. Oh well, just glad I found out before I put them on or I would not be going with them. Feel for ya that you have to swap them out and pay for a new alignment.
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Yeah I know it is a bit of a hassle but all I can say is make sure you find a competent alignment guy. I lost 2.5 mpg because of my alignment being off. The only thing that is in spec is toe. Mind you I work at this dealer. I have been put off all week because end of month is this Thursday. I’m sure the truck will be much better after the alignment is corrected.
When I spoke with the guys at elka they said that I would be put in the order cue to build me a set since mine will stay on my truck till the new ones arrive. If you are sending yours in they will most likely replace the valving and the springs and turn them around pretty quickly. Good luck I will update you as this progresses with me. I will watch for your progress on this as well.
 
southerntremor said:
Yeah I know it is a bit of a hassle but all I can say is make sure you find a competent alignment guy. I lost 2.5 mpg because of my alignment being off. The only thing that is in spec is toe. Mind you I work at this dealer. I have been put off all week because end of month is this Thursday. I’m sure the truck will be much better after the alignment is corrected.
When I spoke with the guys at elka they said that I would be put in the order cue to build me a set since mine will stay on my truck till the new ones arrive. If you are sending yours in they will most likely replace the valving and the springs and turn them around pretty quickly. Good luck I will update you as this progresses with me. I will watch for your progress on this as well.
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So they received my shocks on Tuesday. They have me in the que to start mine being built next Thursday and will take 3-5 days. I told them I wanted them before Thanksgiving break, which for me is the 22nd. He said it shouldn't be an issue. I also asked them to throw in some bearing rebuild kits for my "inconvenience". He said he would see what he could do. I also have them setting them at 2in height as they usually preset them to 2.5in. Overall they have been pretty good to deal with.

As for the alignment, there is an offroad shop near me that specializes in lifted trucks so I'm going to go talk to them first, especially since my alignment came off from the dealer. I waited too long and the dealer won't fix it under warranty past 12K miles. Oh well. The steering wheel is just a little off so when I straighten it, the truck goes left. But I'll have them fix that and make sure they can adjust SPC UCA's since I'll be trying those. Hopefully if I have ball joint issues with those, which seem common, my warranty will be from install date and not purchase date since I've had to wait to install the whole suspension. Guess we will see how good Halo's customer service will be then with SPC. Never had an issue with SPC's on my 4Runner WAY back when but I've heard SPC quality has gone down hill a little. But that's with any company these days it seems.
 
I would definitely advise going to the 4x4 shop. My dealer that installed my front coil overs had broken my right front axle. I am not sure how this had happened during reassembly but the inner joint came apart yesterday on my way to lunch. So the truck is in the shop again. I am wondering if this had something to do with my loss in fuel economy.
 
Oh wow. I won't let the dealer touch my truck going forward unless it's something warranty related. They already messed up my truck finding my "clunk" they thought was leaf springs, but was the drive shaft. Dented my rear quarter panel swapping out leaf springs. Shocks and UCA's are pretty easy to do so I'll do them myself. I'll just need the alignment. I guess Halo sends theirs to Les Schwab near their shop and does a great job since they sell SPC UCA's. I'm only 40min from them, but figured I'd do it somewhere close. Since mine is already out of alignment, I want to take it somewhere (not the dealer) that can get it right. Especially if it's a 4x4 shop that deals with the BIG lifts you see on the brodozer trucks. They gotta have competent guys there and the CO offroad group has good things to say...so...we shall see!
 
I received my replacement shocks from Elka yesterday and I learned a few different things that I was wrong on prior. the first number on the spring "11.3 x 408" is going to be Kg per MM and the second number is the length of the spring in MM. So I did call Elka once they arrived since I have to pay to install them again to make sure that they are the correct ones. The new ones have a different valving curve to where they are set up to run with the high speed set at full open for the road. Since the springs are #550 instead of a #700 I was told that there is more of an adjustment on the stiffer side of the HSC to give better bottom out control off road. We will see how this set up works. Since leaving Utah for Tennessee the most off roading I get to do now are driving the forestry roads. I will let you guy know the outcome and difference in ride quality. I know Fox uses #550 in there pro race 2.5 coilovers so I am thinking that these may be close.
 
southerntremor said:
I received my replacement shocks from Elka yesterday and I learned a few different things that I was wrong on prior. the first number on the spring "11.3 x 408" is going to be Kg per MM and the second number is the length of the spring in MM. So I did call Elka once they arrived since I have to pay to install them again to make sure that they are the correct ones. The new ones have a different valving curve to where they are set up to run with the high speed set at full open for the road. Since the springs are #550 instead of a #700 I was told that there is more of an adjustment on the stiffer side of the HSC to give better bottom out control off road. We will see how this set up works. Since leaving Utah for Tennessee the most off roading I get to do now are driving the forestry roads. I will let you guy know the outcome and difference in ride quality. I know Fox uses #550 in there pro race 2.5 coilovers so I am thinking that these may be close.
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Any pics?
 
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