OME 2.5 spring install 65 FJ45 SWB

[DomSmith]

Well after a lot of research and talking with several people I decided to order an OME 2.5” lift kit for my 45. The original springs were quite beat and although they provided a marshmallow type drawn out bouncy Cadillac ride, they did not sit level and needed to be replaced. After talking to Kurt at Cruiser Outfitters, I knew he was the guy I wanted to buy from; https://forum.ih8mud.com/40-55-series-tech/256982-why-i-buy-mud-vendors.html.

I’m pretty much set on keeping this thing looking pretty close to stock and wasn’t sure how tall the setup would be with the OME shackles. So after talking with Kurt I decided to just use the stock shackles with the springs and then make adjustments from there. Here’s what I ordered:

2 Front Springs: CS001F
2 Rear Springs: CS003R
2 Front Shocks: OME N81
2 Rear Shocks: OME N42
4 Bushing Kits: OME SB30
1 Steering Damper: OME SD24 (EDIT: NEEDED THE SD-23! ONCE THE 24 WAS INSTALLED IT WAS OBVIOUS. KURT SENT ME THE CORRECT ONE AND PRE-PAID RETURN SHIPPING).
OME U-Bolt Kit: included 7-OME U59A’s & 1- OME U59B


The kit arrived exactly as stated and with the help of Adam, Brett, and Chris I stuffed it into the back of the garage until I could start on it the next day.

 

[DomSmith]

My first task was to remove the extra spring leaf that made these springs of the heavy duty variety. After speaking with Kurt the previous week he informed me I had to remove the third leaf from the pack for my medium to light duty application.

Front Springs:

Rear Springs:

This went quite smooth as I had recently added an Add-A-Leaf to my 40 and it was all still fresh in my mind. I used clamps to hold the packs together and unbolted the pins and removed the third leaf.

Again I lined them up and clamped again and snugged everything back up. You can see here the difference in the spring packs…

 

[DomSmith]

After that it was time to remove the rear springs. I knew it would be difficult getting all these old springs off but I honestly didn’t expect it to be so much trouble. I’d done this several times before but as it turns out, never on a rig this old and this stock.

I chocked the wheels, jacked up the truck and placed it on jack stands, and relieved all the pressure on the springs and shackles so I could remove the u-bolts. I removed the rear shackle nuts and beat on the pins a bit with a brass hammer (I was going to be reusing these after all). Despite my best efforts, the welded on shackles barely budged. I tried melting the rubber bushings with a torch with little success. I eventually had to use a BFH and a pickle fork to remove the first shackle.

This turned out to be the only way to get anything off of this rig. Did I mention it took 2 hours to get this far?

I looked at the pins holding the front of the rear springs to the frame and I had never seen those before. How the hell do those come off!!??


I decided to test out the bushings to be sure I knew what I was doing and it turned out to be a blessing. I had a spare front and rear shackle I had got from Mark and theSB30’s worked fine for the front but the rear pins turned out to be much larger (18mm) and I would need different bushings.

Front SB30's...

I called Kurt right away (Friday afternoon) and explained my situation. He assured me he had the other possible bushings (SB79’s) and would ship them right out. They’d be here Monday. Unfortunately for me, that wouldn’t work. I was half in and out of the garage with rain in the forecast and I was jonesing to get these done. I requested overnight shipment and he didn’t hesitate. He even insisted on paying for the shipping. After discussing the rear pin issue, I also had him send me the pins that were pressed in to hold the front of the rear springs because I was certain I would be clobbering the hell out of them to get them off...

 

[DomSmith]

At this point I decided to move to the front of the truck.

I repeated removing the front U-Bolts and shackles as well as the rear pins and springs. The front was much more cooperative, and came off with relative ease considering the previous struggles.

The shackles on the front were one 45 Dog Bone style and one from a 40 with the pins facing outward...

Rear:

Notice the bolts holding the pin in with the stock front springs. This will become an issue later on...

While I had the u-bolt plates off I cleaned them up and painted them as well as the rear bump stops.

Primer before paint...

After the springs were off I removed the front shocks...

 

[DomSmith]

After the first front spring was removed (drivers side) I got to work on installing the new OME springs. First I lubed up the bushings and installed them in the spring eyes...

Then the perches (I've already wiped away the excess grease)...

...slid in the shackle and hooked the front end of the spring on. This facilitated lining up the rear of the spring to make it easy to jack it up and slide it into place for the rear pins...

Once lined up I greased the inside of the rear perch to assist in the bushings sliding in...

Using a small screw driver I helped guide the bushings into the perch.

I had struggled in the past without using the screw driver method. This way it just pops right in as you jack up the spring.

 

[DomSmith]

Once the rear of the front spring was in I slid the rear pin in and tried to line it up. I found it much easier to drop the front of the spring off the shackle and line it up with a lot of wiggle room in the front. Once everything was lined up I placed the two set bolts in to tighten the rear pin. Here's where I ran into a problem. The set bolts were reasonably long and cleared the inner stock eyelet easily, but the OME eye was wider and the bolts hit. I quickly scoured my bolt stash and found original Toyota bolts that were just a bit shorter.


Old Spring...

Old bolts with OME spring (sorry for the opposite side pics)...

New spring with shorter bolts fit perfectly...

New bolts (left) compared to old bolts...

I placed the front of the spring back on the shackle and tightened the rear pin set bolts and then the pin bolt. After that I added the other side of the front shackle and tightened it all up.

Here's a pic of the front shackle. (Strictly strict these are from the passenger side and before the rear pin was installed).

 

[DomSmith]

Once the spring was on I lined up the axle and attached the U-Bolt plate and the OME U-Bolts. There are 7 shorter ones and one long one for the front inner passenger side...

Here they are installed. They are a little long so I'm trying to figure out if I should shorten them or not...

Here's the axle to spring fit...

I put the "+" spring on the drivers side as suggested by Kurt and the "-" spring on the passenger side.

Once the spring was on it was time to move to the other side. The second spring removal and install went easier than the first for obvious reasons and I finished up my day having removed one rear shackle and having added the two front springs.

The replacement parts from Kurt were scheduled to arrive the next day before noon.

 

[DomSmith]

At 9am the parts arrived as promised...

Ok so it was too early for beer... well not really but I held off for a short time anyway.

Now I could get to work on the stubborn rear of the truck.

With the rear of the passenger side spring already removed from the rear perch and the new greasable pins from Kurt on hand I got to beating the living piss out of the stock pins. Not much luck. I used an even bigger hammer. Nothing. I decided it was time to try the torch again (did I mention how much I hate the smell of MAPP gas?). After burning the old bushings to a crisp and heating up the outer edges of the pins they finally came loose with the BFH...

I didn't expect the entire fitting to come out with the pin but it did...

I again had to use the trusty tie rod end fork to get the pin all the way out...

Then I pounded the pin out of the collar...

Here's the two pins compared...

I tried to pound the new pins in the collar using a vice and long socket but that didn't work. So the easy thing to do was attach it to the perch and just tighten it thus pressing the pin in...

That didn't work either. I was afraid I was going to break the pin or bend the perch as it got super tight. I was tired of pounding on stuff so I called Shane to see if I could use his press. Sure enough a short drive and about 2 minutes later I was dialed. Thanks Shane!

 

[DomSmith]

Now that I was certain I could get one of the rear springs back on I turned my attention to the axle placement. As mentioned I am trying to make this truck work well but with very few modifications from stock and hopefully none that can't be easily returned to normal. Moving the rear axle back to clear the bed is one of those.

With Mark's encouragement and a confidence building talk with Poser (Thanks Steve!) I decided it would be a simple and beneficial adjustment. I chose to stick with the stock perches and just drill another hole in the perch 1" farther forward than the stock hole. This would push the rear axle back about an inch and would help with the clearance of the front of the rear tires. I marked the perches and drilled away. I had measured the spring pins and I used about 1/32" larger bit to assure a snug fit...

The mark and pilot hole on the passenger side can be seen here (it really is lined up nicely, the camera angle doesn't do it justice):

This was a 4 bit process as I slowly progressed with hole width until I was happy with the results. Then I hit it with a quick splash of paint to help protect the fresh metal...

I repeated this on the other side as I had removed both springs before installing either side. Now it was time to test it out. I had both springs off at once and had to support the axle while putting it all back together...

Then I started to assemble the rear spring. I used the same method as the front springs by attaching the shackles and hanging the rear of the spring to assist in placing the front of the rear spring. I used the screwdriver and jack method along with the perch pins and the rear spring was on in no time...

I did initially forget to line up the flat spot on the collar to the flat spot on the perch but that was an easy fix...

As I tightened the rear greasable pin it seemed to push out of the collar a little as it got tight. It's not going anywhere for sure but I think the new pin is just a tad longer than the original which prevents it from seating all the way when tightened completely. There's plenty of the burr pressed into the collar so I'm not sweating it...

You can see the difference here:

I completed the drivers side first and gathered the parts I had removed, cleaned up and painted, along with the rear U-Bolts...

It was time to put one side back together. I supported the axle and dropped it into the front perch hole and tagged it with a bit more paint...

Then I bolted it all up and placed the bump stop the way I thought it would MAYBE hit the perch as the axle rotated back if I ever pushed it that high and started on the other side...

It sure seemed hard to line up those damn bolts on the other side and now that I was looking at it from the side I figured out my oversight...

 

[DomSmith]

After looking at the U-Bolt plate I realized I didn't offset the plate with an additional hole as well to match the spring pack.

So I went to work on the passenger side knowing I would have to take apart the other side and add another hole in the plate. The first thing I did was measure an inch (away from the spring perch) from the previous hole and drill a new hole in the plate...


(These photos are of the drivers side plate).

Then I needed to repair the spring pin on the U-Bolt plate as the cotter pin was broken and rusted off inside the hole. I drilled out the hole and made sure it was wide enough to accept the new cotter pin...

I mounted it all up and tightened the shackles, pins and U-bolts.

During this time I did notice that one of the rear shackles had rounded edges and the other was square. I took the time to change it out so they were both rounded...

 

[DomSmith]

Now that all the springs were on I turned my attention to the shocks. The shocks come boxed without the bushings installed so I had to press them in prior to installation. I used a little grease on the eye and the bushing and pressed them in with a vice. Then I greased each post and slid them on...

Front:

Tightened up the castle nuts, added new cotter pins and they're good to go. I'm planning on pulling these and painting them either black or white soon.

Here's a pic of the final rear axle fit.

All the parts I removed were tagged and will be stored...

 

[Ghetto Fireman]

Lift

Hey Dom:

I think I will order the exact same kit. I wonder if my stock PTO winch will make a difference up front. I guess I need to ask "Mark". My 65 will like yours remain as stock as possible. What did you do with your stock brake master? Did you relace with a later MC?


Mike

 

[DomSmith]

There is a bit of a slight rake to the front that I will address after I drive it for awhile and let things settle (thanks Mark). I suppose I'll have to add a small shackle lift to the front or remove one more leaf in the rear but we'll see. Here are some final pics. The one inch setback for the rear axle helped a ton. It's been raining here so these are all I have...

Comparison 1:

Before...

After...

Comparison 2:

Before...

After...

Front:

Rear:

 

[DomSmith]

Hey Dom:

My 65 will like yours remain as stock as possible. What did you do with your stock brake master? Did you replace with a later MC?


Mike

Picked it up from Mark yesterday.

 

[24HOURSOFNEVADA]

How's the ride?

 

[65-fj45]

I really like the way the lift turned out, looks great with the stock rims.

 

[Grease Cruiser]

Dom,
Looks great! I was thinking of doing the same suspension setup on my SWB and going with 33's as well. I've definitely made up my mind after seeing your pictures.

I'm curious to know how much higher mine will sit with the OME lift and the 33's.
Can you get me a few measurements off of yours? I'd like to see a measurement from the ground to the bottom lip of the front fender (above the tire), ground to bottom lip of cab (just behind running board), and from ground to lip on fender well above the rear tire.

Thanks,
John

 

[DomSmith]

How's the ride?

So far it's definitely a little stiffer in the rear than my worn out marshmallow ride. I'm going to add a little temporary weight and give it some time but may pull one more leaf out of the rear. I'm also going to drop my air down to the mid 20's range.

I really like the way the lift turned out, looks great with the stock rims.

Thanks I'm pretty happy with it.

Dom,

Can you get me a few measurements off of yours? I'd like to see a measurement from the ground to the bottom lip of the front fender (above the tire), ground to bottom lip of cab (just behind running board), and from ground to lip on fender well above the rear tire.

John-

I'll get some measurements for you, but if it's ok with you I'll use the frame. My front fenders are a little tweaked and I think it may be a waste of time to send you those. After 40+ years I bet no two fenders match on any of these rigs!

Let me know if that works for you.

 

[Ironmanfj45]

Looking good Dom,

I better get on mine our your going to have yours done before me.

I like all the pictures keep it up and have a Merry Christmas.

Cheers,

Jim

 

[a.greenspan]

Originally Posted by 24HOURSOFNEVADA
How's the ride?

So far it's definitely a little stiffer in the rear than my worn out marshmallow ride. I'm going to add a little temporary weight and give it some time but may pull one more leaf out of the rear. I'm also going to drop my air down to the mid 20's range.

bring grease between your leaves, it helps
do it one time a year.
Your ride will be softer.
Cheers
Peter