GEN 2 Geiser springs and shock travel.

[Bu3askoor]

Hello everyone,

Truck:
Got myself a used screw 2020 raptor with stock wheels and tires.

Purpose:
I mainly drive the truck in the sandy desert dunes. Speed driving and dunes climbing.

Experience:
My first drive in the desert was awful. Bouncy , bucking, and front hits hard. Rear tires rubbing wheel well. Wheel hop even on sand lol. I was truly disappointed at the performance . I didn't expect much but didn't think it would be this bad.

Changes Made:
I decided to rebuild the shocks, Geiser 2.5 springs up front and Deavers 3+ HD in the back. Yes, I hated that I had to spend this much so soon. Since the shocks were the main decider between going 17-18 to 19-20. Now I feel I should have spent less on a slightly older model and spent the money on upgrading the shocks. Too late.

Experience On Road:
Like many have reported, truck feel planted, less nose dive while braking. I honestly would say maybe 20% - 30% firmer nothing annoying. I am used to slightly firm rides. Truck looked leveled even with aound .60 inch lower on the front.

Experience off road:
Definitely better over all. Soacks hits up front , not bouncy in the back. No rubbing in front or back on crazy articulations.

However, and this is the reason I wrote this post, the minute the nose lifts up, I get this thud noise in the front. In the desert or small spped bumps. Super annoying and feels something is wrong or loose. I looked up the forum with few similar experiences and without real solution. I took it back to the shop to ensure everything is tight and lower shock bolt is tightened as spec. Everything looked good.

I asked to check shock travel when the car lifted (fully extensed and when on the ground. He didn't give me exact measures but said the travel is 2 inches !! I was shocked that it made me forgot to ask exact numbers. So it seems with the lift of 2.5 up front , the front shocks are maxing out. Especially at the rate of the progressive shocks rebound speed. I couldn't find oem data on these shocks (extended, compressed length ans travel to calculate l)

The ask:
This forum has amazing people and thought of seeking help and advice (ie change front shocks only, change this one magical thing and you will get more droop lol ).

Thank you

 

[Bu3askoor]

Update:

I went offroading today and really pushed the truck. It seems the thud noise I was hearing got a lot less. It is no longer jerky like before. I still feel a bit of limitation. It also feels the front springs settled in.

But those 2 upgrades made a huge difference offroad.

I'm attaching few images of the UCA. Looks likes a stretch to me.

 

[Peterb]

Ok so you lost your droop travel with the springs and you have extension clunk, return to stock springs or get the foutz limit strap kit, get collars if you want the front higher

 

[BBR]

I bought my geiser springs used and didn’t experience any off the ill effects you mention, probably because they’d already settled. I put some more miles on before changing anything else. Maybe it’s a live valve thing, I’ve got a 2018.

 

[Bu3askoor]

Because of the amount of offroading I do, I went ahead and ordered the limit straps. I sure don't want to spend rebuilding the shocks. Let's see.

Geiser wrote back saying it should go with time. @BBR exactly what you said

 

[Desert Mac]

Gen2, I just upgraded to Geiser +2.5 from Stock. With RPG top hat. Noticed the topping out fairly quickly. Did 50 miles of dirt pushing it. The springs did settle a little, but when the wheel unloads it fully max's out shock length. Very noticeable over speed bumps, when all else is calm. Off road they are noticeably stiffer, and take bigger hits like you would expect. Everything seems to work fine in rough stuff at speed, until you fully unload the front. While the lift is definitely there, I am wondering about CV angles and increased problems in future. I will drive it some more then possibly look at Eibach. Edited to better explain what is happening by peterb

 

[Peterb]

top out is actually the term for the shock fully extending, extension clunck damages the shocks and possibly the shock tower (there’s other threads) besides the damage having only a few inches of droop isn’t really a good suspension setup, fox only recommends raising the truck an inch, imo any more than two inches reduces droop too much and like Desert Mac says changes axel and steering rod angles risking premature wear and bump steer

 

[Desert Mac]

Well its been awhile.
Finally put things thru a longterm test in Baja. The Geisers definitely take bigger hits better than stock. And after a deep thrashing they have settled a little and less topping out, but it's still there. But a new question has developed: the passenger front diff seal was leaking bad on return. After 1K plus miles in 4wd, the seal failed at housing interface, not seal ID at shaft. I am guessing from increased load from more severe CV axle angles in agressive 4wd over time. The seal was visibly lose and all the orange sealing interface was gone. I did a search on here for this seal in gen 2. Not much about it?

 

[TomDirt]

I just upgraded to Geiser +2.5 from Stock. With RPG top hat.

So you stacked a taller spring under a taller top hat?

Oy vey. This won't end well

 

[jwkhd1]

I have the same set up on my 2018 scab. I don't believe the RPG billet top hat increases the lift. I am pretty dure that is the SDi Elite Front leveling bucket assembly increases lift. Hard to keep these 3 letter companies straight. Please correct me if I am wrong .