[Romer]

When evaluating OME lifts the springs with the appropriate wight giving a 2.5" to 3" lift utilize the standard OME shock. With spacers and other crap, at what ligt height do you need to use the OME L shock?

[Elijah]

I think when you move to J springs is when you need the L shocks. I think.

[Romer]

Originally Posted by boekppl

I think when you move to J springs is when you need the L shocks. I think.

But if your weighted down the J springs are like heavies. So, are you saying the 3.5" lift when J springs are unloaded?

[Tools R Us]

The L shocks will allow more suspension droop, recommended with 3.5"+ lift. I ran Ls in the rear with 863s, liked the extra flex with that setup. On my unloaded truck Js netted almost 5" over stock in the rear and 3.5" in the front.

[T Y L E R]

Search

[Romer]

Originally Posted by T Y L E R

Search

If you weren't so lazy, you would have searched and helped me with the new FAQ at the top.

Thanks Kevin

[T Y L E R]

chat// I know .. I saw that one Ken. I'm still packing for the trip .. maybe when I return.


Now pick up the phone, talk to Ben and go 4 inches ya





TY //chat

[Romer]

Originally Posted by T Y L E R

chat// I know .. I saw that one Ken. I'm still packing for the trip .. maybe when I return.


Now pick up the phone, talk to Ben and go 4 inches ya





TY //chat

Actually, I am going to upgrade my springs. In talking with Christo, most likely to 850J/863 and that should put me at about 2.5 to 3" based on my load. I have a set of Cory's spacer's on the way and I am going to hold those for a while. In the meantime, I may slowley switch to L shocks, replace the brake lines. Then I will ponder the move to 35's. That move will be big $$$ because I will need to re-gear, move bump stops, replace the control arm's, put the spacers on the 850J's and swap the 863's for 863J's, or do Slee springs.

I likely will just stick with the 33's for a while. I am thinking of doing the upgrades to the 40 to go to 35's (Currently 33's).

The point of this thread was to answer one of the open questions in the FAQ.

[semlin]

ask Dan, he runs ome regulars with 864s on the back and Js ont he front if memory serves. that was enough to sell me on the same with js and 863s with all my new weight. I am sure I lose some droop not using Ls but the purpose of my lift is to get back to where I was with a medium lift before a winch, sliders and rear bumper got added.

[T Y L E R]

Originally Posted by Romer

The point of this thread was to answer one of the open questions in the FAQ.

Actually, I immediately saw thru it's thin vail ... and I don't even frequent 'tech'..

[Romer]

Originally Posted by semlin

ask Dan, he runs ome regulars with 864s on the back and Js ont he front if memory serves. that was enough to sell me on the same with js and 863s with all my new weight. I am sure I lose some droop not using Ls but the purpose of my lift is to get back to where I was with a medium lift before a winch, sliders and rear bumper got added.

Thanks Simon - Dan and I had several converstaions on this subject over many a beer. I also am trying to get back to where I was before I loaded up my rig. I won't need L Shock's in my configuration unless I want to make the move to 35's.

I got a lot more response here. Hmmm maybe I should ask the open question on bump stops. Unless someone wants to help us Mods out and contribute to the oME draft FAQ stickied at the top

[FirstToy]

I thought you couldn't use L shocks w/ Heavies unless you drop the bumpstops (?)

Conversely, if you use J's w/ regular OME shocks will you overextend the shock?

I'm sure this is rehash but in the right spirit of the thread!

[reffug]

Originally Posted by Romer

Dan and I had several converstaions on this subject over many a beer.

Well there is part of the problem

[Romer]

Originally Posted by FirstToy

I thought you couldn't use L shocks w/ Heavies unless you drop the bumpstops (?)

Conversely, if you use J's w/ regular OME shocks will you overextend the shock?

I'm sure this is rehash but in the right spirit of the thread!

Thanks James-

I was under the impression it's all about the lift hight. An unloaded J spring setup would need L Shocks.

Lots of people are using the 850J/863 (non J in rear) when loaded with an ARB, Heavey winch without L Shocks. I think Kevin's post above about it being when the lift crosses 3.5" inches is a probably pretty good.

But, what I am trying to do is getting some discussion so we can enhance this point in the FAQ thread, so feel free to correct me if I am wrong or you have another viewpoint.

[landtank]

for me shock length has nothing to do with lift height. It has to do with spring extension. Ideally for me I wanted a situation where when the spring was fully extended it would still be captured by the shock but with little tension. With Slee's 4" springs that is exactly the case both front and rear.

Now since the 850J springs from OME are the same length unsprung as Slee's 4" springs then the J shock would be a perfect fit. As far as the 863s I don't know.

[FJBen]

I'm running the 4" Slee springs front, J rears and in the rears when flexed out the spring is ever so slightly loose. This seems like a really good fit. The front...well it won't max out the shock due to flex issues...

[FirstToy]

Originally Posted by Romer

Thanks James-

I was under the impression it's all about the lift hight. An unloaded J spring setup would need L Shocks.

Lots of people are using the 850J/863 (non J in rear) when loaded with an ARB, Heavey winch without L Shocks. I think Kevin's post above about it being when the lift crosses 3.5" inches is a probably pretty good.

But, what I am trying to do is getting some discussion so we can enhance this point in the FAQ thread, so feel free to correct me if I am wrong or you have another viewpoint.

Romer, I'm not sure but just throwing the questions out there. I like the 'directness' of this thread. These are the questions that come to mind:

80 w/ bumpers/winch--->If you have OME Hvy and want to just slap in J springs w/ no other mods.

**W/ 850J front/OME Hvy shocks**----->Will you pull the shock apart at full droop?In other words, does the shock become the limit strap? (Or as Ben says, not enough flex in the front to do this)

**J rear/OME Hvy shocks**----> same question, won't the shocks become the limit strap at full droop?

My assumption was that when moving to J springs-----> you must get J shocks, lower bumpstops (so you dont use the J shocks as a bumpstop)


Also, Romer, I dont understand how your moving to 35's will affect the shock choice. I am missing a piece of the puzzle here, if you could elaborate it would help me out.

[cruiserdan]

I have a set of Cory's spacers (very nicely made I might add) on the bench and just yester day I was playing around with possibly putting them in. I did not but I did do a test to see how much upward travel I have currently. I have J's up front, Slee front bumper, 8000 lb Warn (not real heavy), and a blower. The blower probably makes up the difference between my winch and a 12K.
I wrapped masking tape around the lower shock tube at the point where the upper tube stopped. I then jacked the front of the truck up untill I had the shocks at full extention. With standard OME shocks I have 3 inches of upward travel when I am at ride height. If I stick the spacers in I will only have 1.5 inches left. I'm not sure that's enough. I do not want to go to L shocks at this time.

L shocks do not provide more "range", they are longer both extended and compressed.

D-

[Trunk Monkey]

Originally Posted by cruiserdan

I have a set of Cory's spacers (very nicely made I might add)

Thank you. Nice benefit of those spacers is that they lower the bumpstop also.

For comparison in all this, I had the 850/863 springs on my truck and OME LTR shocks (same extension lengths as the std. shocks). I replaced the springs with the J springs and noticed immediately that the shocks were going to be a problem. They were fully extended out with just the spring in place. I took off the lower shock bolt and the truck lifted about an inch.

I swapped over to the L shocks and haven't had any problems.

[Romer]

Originally Posted by FirstToy

Also, Romer, I dont understand how your moving to 35's will affect the shock choice. I am missing a piece of the puzzle here, if you could elaborate it would help me out.

For now, I will go with 850J's on the front and 863's. My front is heavy with Bumper, 12K Warn and Dual Batt's so I expect it to be between 2.5" to 3.0" lift.

If (not when - haven't decided) I go to 35s, I will add Cory's spacer to make my lift 4"'s and replace the rear spring to have a 4" lift. I agreed with Kevin's estimate above that 3.5"'s is probably the dividing line.

The difference James is that if I go 35's, I will Jack the lift up higher to accomodate. I know some do 35's with a less than 3" lift, but I would prefer a 4" lift for that.

However, I have no technical basis to back that up other than all the people I have talked to about their set-ups. I looked at a lot of them in Moab.

I hope that helps. I am hoping someone has some technical info to provide a clear dividing line or requirement.

This is a good thread lots of great discussion.

Cdan - don't L Shocks provide more range extended but not compressed?

[Romer]

Originally Posted by FZJFillmore

Thank you. Nice benefit of those spacers is that they lower the bumpstop also.

For comparison in all this, I had the 850/863 springs on my truck and OME LTR shocks (same extension lengths as the std. shocks). I replaced the springs with the J springs and noticed immediately that the shocks were going to be a problem. They were fully extended out with just the spring in place. I took off the lower shock bolt and the truck lifted about an inch.

I swapped over to the L shocks and haven't had any problems.

Cory, what kind of weight did you have on the front? Unweighted, J springs are about 3.5 to 4" of lift (right?), I am expecting to get about 2.5" to 3" of weight with what I have.

[Trunk Monkey]

And something else to throw into this. At SEMA one of the ARB reps mentioned that they had 3,4, and 5" OME "competition" springs available. He said you'd use the L shocks with any of them.

I looked in the FAQ you're compiling on lifts Ken and saw Beowulf's list of OME shock length. When I was asking ARB about continuing to use the LTR shocks with my J springs, I swear they said the L shocks were 200mm longer. Looking on B's info, it looks like they're 50mm longer, which seems like such a negligible amount (~2 inches).

[FirstToy]

Originally Posted by FZJFillmore

I replaced the springs with the J springs and noticed immediately that the shocks were going to be a problem. They were fully extended out with just the spring in place. I took off the lower shock bolt and the truck lifted about an inch.

I swapped over to the L shocks and haven't had any problems.

That answers my questions, thanks

Romer, thanks. You are saying you want to go taller springs (by using spacer) w/ 35's. Thus the need for L shocks at that time. (added lift not neccesary to fit 35's but your preference)

Right now, you plan J/863 w/ no change to shocks.

If what FZJFillmore says is true, won't the J spring front now be limited by your (now) too short shocks? At full droop, won't you pull the shock apart?

[Trunk Monkey]

Originally Posted by Romer

Cory, what kind of weight did you have on the front?

ARB, 9k winch, supercharger, dual batts. I had about 2" of lift with the std. springs, 3" with the J's. To get the truck to sit level I had to add the 1.5" spacers in the front.

I've since added a 12k winch and would need a 2" spacer to sit level.

[cruiserdan]

Originally Posted by Romer

Cdan - don't L Shocks provide more range extended but not compressed?

The L shock extends 2 inces farther than the "standard" OME shock which is about 1.5 inches longer than a factory shock. The L shock is about 1.5 inches longer than the Standard OME shock when it is fully compressed. That is why you must lower the bump stops when using L shocks. Lowering prevents the shocks from being damaged when you stuff a tire.

L shocks do not give you any more travel to speak of, they allow a taller stance.

[Trunk Monkey]

Originally Posted by FirstToy

If what FZJFillmore says is true, won't the J spring front now be limited by your (now) too short shocks? At full droop, won't you pull the shock apart?

Keep in mind, in my case this was with LTR shocks. I was told by ARB that they have the same compression/extension as the std. Nitrochargers. Which was a whole 'nuther beef I had. Why the hell are they called Long Travel shocks if they're the same travel as the normal shocks.

[cruiserdan]

In a recent conversation with Christo he indicated that he would like to see around 5 inches of upward travel to be available on a solid axle truck so that you do not "lift" a tire when you corner on the hiway. It is easy to imagine that much body roll with an 80. I want to find a stock truck with factory shocks and do the "lift test" to see how much travel they have.

[Cruiserhead05]

Ken,

Correct me if I'm wrong but last I read/heard was you were running OME mediums up front to keep driveline noises down. I know you had some good luck with replacing U-joints but do you have any fear of more noises and caster issues when jumping to J's up front?

I currently am running heavies all the way around and have a full set of 1.5" coil spacers front and rear sitting in my garage. The only reason i havent put them in is b/c I'm afraid of getting more issues with caster and dealing with my lack of L shocks.

FWIW though, i think beno is running heavies and coil spacers(1.25 or 1.5) with std. shocks without any issue.

[FJBen]

*IF* you are possibly maybe someday planning on going to 35's... I would seriously look into Christo's 4" spring. Better spring rate than the J's and those that have converted said they ride much better than the J's did.

I'm running the 4" springs but can't directly compare 4" vs J's as I never had the J's...I can say I do LOVE the ride ride now. Firm but how it should be. Not soft and squishy in corners.

[Beowulf]

Originally Posted by FirstToy

If what FZJFillmore says is true, won't the J spring front now be limited by your (now) too short shocks? At full droop, won't you pull the shock apart?

You won't pull the shock apart and the suspension droop is primarily (by design) limited by the length of the shocks. The sway bars will also tend to limit droop but the shocks are there to limit the axle travel.

More likely, you could stuff an L-shock and damage it if the axle bump stops are not lowered. As Dan mentioned, the OME L-shocks are also longer when compressed.

200mm would be 8" longer than a standard OME shock. You would have some serious droop problems with that long of a shock including springs falling out, not to mention brake lines, diff breathers, ABS sensors, and other dangling bits.

-B-