Elka 2.5DC / Halo stage 3

[southerntremor]

What’s your settings for your high and low speed? With my fox 2.5’s I’m running 9 clicks on the high speed and 1 click on the low speed up front. I spent weeks of running different combinations up front to finally end up with this. This combo gives a really comfy around town ride but soaks up pot holes and rough/chattery stuff. I know the elkas are a bit different but if your trying different combos to see what works maybe try something like that.

At the moment I have 5 clicks on low speed and 2 on high speed. The hood will almost not even move when hitting a speed bump at 15 mph. This was for testing only… the low speed I dialed out all the body roll I am liking where I have it at the moment. I plan on hitting some forestry roads tomorrow to see how these handle wash boards and potholes and such.

 

[southerntremor]

I was curious on the Icon coilover spring so gave them a ring, they stated 550.

I would like to do a side by side comparison between the icon, fox, and ELKA with the same springs to see the difference in how they valve their shocks.

 

[southerntremor]

Took the tremor off road this morning to test the stage 3 Elkas with the 550 springs. These performed flawlessly. The trails here in East Tennessee are mostly wash outs with exposed rocks and boulders the size of basketballs, there were a few drop offs greater than 12’ and the suspension did a great job handling it all. There were a few sections of the trail that had no boulders so I opened it up a bit. Super smooth ride around 40 mph. I think this is really where this setup shines.

 

[GHawk16]

Update: Got the struts installed. The 8 threads healed a 2” rake I added 2 full turns on the preload and I am now sitting at the 1.75 rake that I was hoping for. Also a much better ride quality with these lighter springs.

I know you said you were at a 2" rake, but did you measure how much lift it got you at those 8 threads from your original stock settings? I'm assuming you took those measurements before you put in your last suspension that was swapped out for these. With what you said above, it seems I need to add a couple of turns as well. I want some slight rake, but I also have a topper/line-x/tools in the back. So maybe leaving it right where it's at due to the extra weight might be good. But just curious what lift that will give me from stock.

I saw your other post yesterday about going off road. Did you adjust the settings on them before or did you stick with the 5-Low, 2-High? Great to hear you like the ride quality better!

 

[southerntremor]

I know you said you were at a 2" rake, but did you measure how much lift it got you at those 8 threads from your original stock settings? I'm assuming you took those measurements before you put in your last suspension that was swapped out for these. With what you said above, it seems I need to add a couple of turns as well. I want some slight rake, but I also have a topper/line-x/tools in the back. So maybe leaving it right where it's at due to the extra weight might be good. But just curious what lift that will give me from stock.

I saw your other post yesterday about going off road. Did you adjust the settings on them before or did you stick with the 5-Low, 2-High? Great to hear you like the ride quality better!

The way they came out of the box netted 1.5" lift before we made any adjustments. I wanted the 1.75" of rake so with the 2 complete turns to add preload on the front struts it gave me 1.75 inches of lift. I plan on running this for a month and see where every thing settles out and will adjust from there. I may add the raptor rear blocks and raise the front to my desired 2" of lift. As far as the setting I had not adjusted them from my initial tune and it worked well. The trail was pretty rough on the way in due to the elevation increase and going up the low side of the boulders. the bash plate did not even come close to hitting any of the boulders on the compression of the suspension so I am very pleased with their performance. These #550 coil springs seem to be perfect for the terrain out here. I could see the #650 coils doing better at the high speeds that the desert would allow. One note to add. The Recon Grappler are a disappointment I believe I had much better traction with the stock Generals over rounded rocks and boulders. One positive is that the mud cleaned out easily which was nice.

 

[Aliass24]

At the moment I have 5 clicks on low speed and 2 on high speed. The hood will almost not even move when hitting a speed bump at 15 mph. This was for testing only… the low speed I dialed out all the body roll I am liking where I have it at the moment. I plan on hitting some forestry roads tomorrow to see how these handle wash boards and potholes and such.

After about a 1k miles or so when they fully settle and break in you’ll be able to dial them in even better. When I first installed my Fox’s I ran the high speed setting fully open and the low speed at 4-5 because anything else was just a bit to stiff and now with around 3k on them I’m at 8 high speed and 2 low. They eat up the pot holes and the jittery stuff. I know it’s not a direct comparison but just to give you an idea.

 

[GHawk16]

The way they came out of the box netted 1.5" lift before we made any adjustments. I wanted the 1.75" of rake so with the 2 complete turns to add preload on the front struts it gave me 1.75 inches of lift. I plan on running this for a month and see where every thing settles out and will adjust from there. I may add the raptor rear blocks and raise the front to my desired 2" of lift. As far as the setting I had not adjusted them from my initial tune and it worked well. The trail was pretty rough on the way in due to the elevation increase and going up the low side of the boulders. the bash plate did not even come close to hitting any of the boulders on the compression of the suspension so I am very pleased with their performance. These #550 coil springs seem to be perfect for the terrain out here. I could see the #650 coils doing better at the high speeds that the desert would allow. One note to add. The Recon Grappler are a disappointment I believe I had much better traction with the stock Generals over rounded rocks and boulders. One positive is that the mud cleaned out easily which was nice.

Good info...again! Thank you! Got any side pics of where you're at with the 1.75"?

 

[southerntremor]

Good info...again! Thank you! Got any side pics of where you're at with the 1.75"?

Will get some more picks for you guys today. This is the closest I have at the moment

 

[southerntremor]

Good info...again! Thank you! Got any side pics of where you're at with the 1.75"?

I am thinking that I am going to raise it just a little to get the 2” of lift

 

[GHawk16]

I am thinking that I am going to raise it just a little to get the 2” of lift

Yeah, looks like you have some left to go and still have some rake. But it could be angle of pic and if it's parked on a slight slope. I always find that can deceive the eyes. I'm thinking with a topper/line-x/tools in my bed I may go 3 turns to start. I believe someone in a post above said 2 turns equals 1/4" and that is what you're getting as well. I may even may go extra turn on the drivers side to account for driver and fuel tank weight.

 

[southerntremor]

@GHawk16 Have you installed you Stage 3 ?

 

[GHawk16]

@GHawk16 Have you installed you Stage 3 ?

I have not. I'm picking up my truck today that's been at the body shop since Oct 24th. I leave Friday for a two week trip. So I won't get it in till probably January IF we have warm enough temps here in CO to get it in. How's yours riding? Make any adjustments now that it's settled in?

 

[southerntremor]

I have not. I'm picking up my truck today that's been at the body shop since Oct 24th. I leave Friday for a two week trip. So I won't get it in till probably January IF we have warm enough temps here in CO to get it in. How's yours riding? Make any adjustments now that it's settled in?

The ride is great Wish the truck came like this factory. I am going to add two more turns on the preload and call it good. I have a 12 hour ride to Florida for the holidays this weekend So this will be a good on road test for these. I am sure they will do just fine.

 

[southerntremor]

@GHawk16 Did you get your truck back from the body shop and find a warm day to get these installed?

 

[halo.f150]

So here is the deal, at least what I was told this morning by Eve and Kevin. There are two different type of shocks for this Stage 3. One that goes from 0-2" (which you probably have) that is based off stock shock dimensions and one that goes from 2-3" that I'm guessing is an "extended" length (Kind of what Icon calls some of their systems). Supposedly, when Elka was designing these they were measuring off a truck that already had a spacer lift on it, NOT a stock truck. So they undervalued the lift. I was going to install mine this weekend, but i was going to have them set to 1.5" of lift which meant driving up there today to have them change it as I assumed they were set at 2-2.5" of lift. Which...for the shocks I have would work at 1.5". But, that would also mean more preload and THE most lift I would get is 2". So if the collar is all the way up to the top cap that is 0 lift. With the OTHER ones Elka is to swap out, those START at 2" of lift with the collar all the way up. Which also means, no preload. And I, or whoever, could "level" there truck. The shocks that were sent out to customers already will not level the truck. Most they can go is 2".

I get some of the other trucks that had these early on were modified, but this seems weird this wasn't caught earlier. I'm lucky that I haven't put mine on yet. Those who have and paid for labor and alignment MIGHT be SOL. I don't know. But sounds like Elka is going to swap out all those shocks. It's still VERY early for me and I'm going to swap mine out and go with a 2" lift instead. My rears are installed and already love them. But guess it'll be November till I get mine in since my truck goes into the body shop next Thursday for 3 weeks, no thanks to Ford...and me hitting trees. Ooops!

But the email from Jerome Castilloux at Elka says they'll swap them out, but no labor included. So, sucks for a lot of people.

Hey everyone this is Kevin from HaloLifts. Sorry I haven't been on here very much, hopefully that will change in 2025. No need to rewrite everything mentioned above from @GHawk16. After we figured it out, Elka immediately got to work to get it fixed. I know some have expressed their frustrations to us and how we didn't catch this mistake with mine and TJ's trucks. Well, we ordered ours with the 700lb springs because of all the extra weight we have with our bumpers. TJ did notice some difference with the height when we installed it but we did adjusted them pretty close to the height he had before the install. I did notice more rubbing when I was in Moab with TJ but I just chocked it up that I needed to get a realignment done. Well it turns out that him and I still have the old 0-2 inches shocks installed. We are trying to take care of all of our customers before we take our new "correct" 2-3 coilovers. I just wanted to provide an update to everyone.

Please let me know if you guys have any questions.

Thanks,
Kevin

 

[edubya32]

Hey everyone this is Kevin from HaloLifts. Sorry I haven't been on here very much, hopefully that will change in 2025. No need to rewrite everything mentioned above from @GHawk16. After we figured it out, Elka immediately got to work to get it fixed. I know some have expressed their frustrations to us and how we didn't catch this mistake with mine and TJ's trucks. Well, we ordered ours with the 700lb springs because of all the extra weight we have with our bumpers. TJ did notice some difference with the height when we installed it but we did adjusted them pretty close to the height he had before the install. I did notice more rubbing when I was in Moab with TJ but I just chocked it up that I needed to get a realignment done. Well it turns out that him and I still have the old 0-2 inches shocks installed. We are trying to take care of all of our customers before we take our new "correct" 2-3 coilovers. I just wanted to provide an update to everyone.

Please let me know if you guys have any questions.

Thanks,
Kevin

Kevin - Thank you for chiming in. I'm not even to the dummy-level for suspensions, but I have a question about this statement on your Tremor Kits:

These are adjustable while installed, for 1" to 2" of lift over stock Tremor height.

Does that mean they can be adjusted whenever, or does that mean the lift has to be decided and is set during the installation?​

 

[halo.f150]

Kevin - Thank you for chiming in. I'm not even to the dummy-level for suspensions, but I have a question about this statement on your Tremor Kits:

These are adjustable while installed, for 1" to 2" of lift over stock Tremor height.​

​

Does that mean they can be adjusted whenever, or does that mean the lift has to be decided and is set during the installation?​

Hello thank you for the question! The Tremor Stage 1 kit can be adjusted while it is installed on the truck. With the Stage 2 and Stage 3 kits, that has the external reservoir, they do need to be adjusted PRIOR to installation...or taken out, adjusted, and reinstalled. This is due to the reservoir hose, as it interferes with the adjustment of the collar.

If you would like to see it done, you can go to our HaloLifts YouTube channel, and we do have a video explaining how to adjust the coilovers.

Please let me know if you have any other questions!

Thank you,
Kevin

 

[Aliass24]

Hello thank you for the question! The Tremor Stage 1 kit can be adjusted while it is installed on the truck. With the Stage 2 and Stage 3 kits, that has the external reservoir, they do need to be adjusted PRIOR to installation...or taken out, adjusted, and reinstalled. This is due to the reservoir hose, as it interferes with the adjustment of the collar.

If you would like to see it done, you can go to our HaloLifts YouTube channel, and we do have a video explaining how to adjust the coilovers.

Please let me know if you have any other questions!

Thank you,
Kevin

What are the new springs rates on the new adjustable 2.5’s? Thanks

 

[GHawk16]

@GHawk16 Did you get your truck back from the body shop and find a warm day to get these installed?

Nope. STILL at the body shop. I got it back briefly over the Christmas holiday, but I went on a two week road trip then took it back to the shop the day after I got back. I was supposed to get it back today, but found more things. It's been a nightmare with this shop. I'll probably wait till March till we get some warmer weather in CO.

Have you made anymore adjustments? Did you raise it another 1/4" to 2" of lift? How about dialing in the high/low speed settings? Also, did you upgrade our UCA's? I'm thinking of leaving off the SPC's. Just don't have the biggest trust in them. May throw up a post on the suspension forum to see who has been running them for a while as a customer to see how they've been. They may be overkill for 1.5-2in of lift anyway, so I'd just end up selling them.

 

[southerntremor]

Nope. STILL at the body shop. I got it back briefly over the Christmas holiday, but I went on a two week road trip then took it back to the shop the day after I got back. I was supposed to get it back today, but found more things. It's been a nightmare with this shop. I'll probably wait till March till we get some warmer weather in CO.

Have you made anymore adjustments? Did you raise it another 1/4" to 2" of lift? How about dialing in the high/low speed settings? Also, did you upgrade our UCA's? I'm thinking of leaving off the SPC's. Just don't have the biggest trust in them. May throw up a post on the suspension forum to see who has been running them for a while as a customer to see how they've been. They may be overkill for 1.5-2in of lift anyway, so I'd just end up selling them.

I have not made anymore adjustments since the original install. I have gotten the compression dialed in. I will go ahead and post my adjustments this afternoon when I get home. I do have the SPC control arms and I think they are well worth it. They allow the adjustment of the tire in the wheel well on all three axis. Without them i think the tire would be to far in the wheel well also they allow more droop and room between the strut and uca.