FJ62 - Old Man Emu Installation - Detailed Steps (2 Viewers)

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Joined
May 14, 2017
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Location
Cypress, California
Disclaimer: I'm not responsible for your rig, injury and/or possible death. Continue at your own risk, this isn't for everyone and you could get really hurt. If you're not mechanically inclined or equipped, just pay a shop to do this.

After reading numerous threads (thanks to all the gear heads on here), posts and tips. I felt comfortable tackling this installation myself. I can say however, there wasn't any, one good post that compiled all the necessary information with visuals I could find. (Yes I read the FAQ one) but it left a lot to be desired. This thread may be helpful to someone, as I know it helped me get through this task. Here's what you need to know:

Tools & Tips for the job that will certainly make this easier:
  1. Penetrating oil spray (Soak your bolts a week before starting) my rig was all OEM and has 0 rust. My parts came off with ease, but I still soaked to be safe to avoid breaking anything, including my ego and/or hands in the process.
  2. Deep socket (Metric) set (I have two, one for my pneumatic impact and one for my standard hand ratchet)
  3. Breaker bar (Medium Length) not too long or you'll have no room under the truck to get a good angle
  4. Floor Jack (3-ton for safety)
  5. 4 Jack Stands (3-ton for safety)
  6. Rubber Mallet
  7. Hand-held Sledge Hammer
  8. Strap wrench
  9. Steel, solid Metal Punch
  10. Angle Grinder (You'll need to cut down the rear u-bolts as they are tad longer after installation
  11. Heat Torch (I used a small braising one and it worked just fine) goal is to heat bolts as needed to "un-seize" them (cherry red) w. some impact & you're good
  12. Grease gun with correct automotive grade moly-grease
  13. Safety Glasses, Gloves, Shop Towels (Wear glasses people, you only get two eyes and there is a lot of road crud on these bits)
  14. Someone to help or at least call 911 if your truck falls on you. At a minimum have your phone nearby so you can say "hey Siri call 911"
Verify you have everything you need for the job before starting, layout all your components in a manageable orientation of assembly. Kurt & Bryce @cruiseroutfit will get you what you need and are a wealth of knowledge. In my case, I ran their "Budget" Kit with Heavy Fronts and Medium rears. The kit includes literally everything you need to do a complete install (including new hardware, shackles, sway-extensions, bushings etc.) but keep your OEM items organized as you remove them, just in case you're missing something. I found an old "paint roller" tray works great to keep things from rolling away.

My kit from Cruiser Outfitters included:
OME Heavy Front Leafs
OME Medium Rear Leafs
Bushings (F/R)
Anti-inversion Shackles Front/Rear
Hardware Kit
Rear Leaf Bolt Spacer Collars (85-90MY Only)
OME Nitro Soft Valved Shocks
OME Steering Stabilizer
Sway Bar Extensions (F/R)
U-bolts (F/R)
The best guide for this job is the member posted OEM Chassis & Body Toyota repair manual. Section FA-31 & RA-39 will not only walk you through this with illustrations it will also provide you the proper OE Torque Values so you don't over/under torque your hardware during reinstallation.

Tip: For those who didn't find & save this awesome .pdf, here it is -> Toyota FJ62 Chassis & Body Repair Manual

Front Disassembly time: (remember, you soaked your hardware with penetrating oil a week ago so those bolts should come right off)

Step 1:

a) Chock the back wheels, engage your e-brake (don't want it rolling away)
b) Loosen your lug-nuts for the front wheels while on the ground
c) Jack up the truck (see guide below)
d) Jack stand proper areas for support and safety
d) Remove your front wheels

Do you know where to jack up your truck?


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Refer to this Diagram for reference below throughout the next steps. Or refer to the complete guide as noted above.

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Step 2: Your truck is jacked up, and the body/frame is properly supported with jack stands. Lower the axle housing until the leaf spring tension is free, and keep it as this position with your floor jack. I opted to use two stands on the frame, and two on the axle housing to keep the pinion angle the same.

Step 3: Remove Shock Absorbers (If OEM Shock, use a strap wrench to hold the tube from spinning) if like mine, Rancho - there is an allen-head on the top you can use to keep the strut from spinning during removal of the nut.

Step 4: Remove U-Bolts.
a) Remove the U-bolt mounting nuts (breaker bar, or air-wrench)
b) Remove the spring lower seat (wiggles off, down)
c) Remove the U-bolts (wiggles up, off)

Step 5: Remove Front Leaf Springs (I start with shackle end first)
Tip: work from the side, not directly under. These are springs after all and could slam down.
a) Remove the hanger pin mounting nut
b) Remove the shackle pin mounting nuts
c) Remove the hanger pin
d) Remove the leaf spring and old bushings ( spray-lube, metal punch, and a hammer will pop them out if stuck) my kit came with new bushings and anti-inversion shackles so I'm not reusing these.
Tip: The one, fixed nut on the back of the leaf (non-shackle side) is on the inner portion of your frame. It's an odd angle, so having a compact air-wrench or medium length breaker really helps here.

Reinstall your new front components:

Step 1: My kit came with greasable, anti-inversion shackles. So this refers to that setup.
a) Assemble the shackles to your leaf springs. Use this as a guide:

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Step 2: Start installing the leafs back onto your truck. I reattach the fixed side first and worked backward from the disassembly. Tip: Military wrap end goes on fixed end. Orientation matters- (remember this for the rears too)
a) Pull your leaf up and install on the fixed mount with appropriate hardware supplied. Snug tight the bolt, and hangar pin. Don't torque yet.
b) Install bushing in the front mount with a nice coating of grease, Align your leaf center bolt with the axle, and push up to have the top of the shackle bolt slip through the mount. Now snug tight the hardware and your leaf is attached to its mounts.
c) Reinstall the spring lower seat using the new u-bolts and hardware. Snug tight for now.
d) Now do the same on the opposite side.

Step 3: Install your shocks, snug tight the hardware

Step 4: Torque all hardware to proper spec. The OME bits have their own respective torque see on the above document. The OEM components have there own as well. Don't mix them up, o.r you'll likely damage your hardware. OEM specs are found on FA33 & A34 etc within the chassis repair guide.
OEM QR: Hanger Pin Nut = 9 ft-lbs / U-bolt Nuts = 90 ft-lbs (Length of the exposed thread should be the same for all) Shock Absorber Top Nut = 19 ft-lb / Bottom mounting bolt = 70 ft-lbs / Hanger Pin & Shackle Pin Hardware 67 ft-lbs. Sway bar info below on step 5.

Step 5: Install your sway-bar extensions if supplied. @cruiseroutfit supplies them, many do not! This part is pretty self-explanatory, but if you want a visual check out page FA-35 in the OEM Manual. Torque the bolts as follows; 13 ft-lbs. They are specific front and rear, you'll see.

Repeat these steps on the other side.

Your front is down for now. Re-check everything. I use a paint pen on all the hardware I torque, so I know I didn't miss anything. Grease your components via the zerk fittings using the correct automotive grade moly grease, don't overfill, however. You don't want the bushings to bulge out, and you definitely don't want excess grease everywhere. Amsoil or Mobil 1 has a good Moly Grease, sourced from NAPA.

Step 6: Re-install your wheels, remove jack-stands and lower the truck. Torque your wheels to 116 ft-lbs (star pattern).

Tip: Now hop in your truck, release the e-brake and rock it a little. Get things kind of settled before starting the rear. It'll help get back to square.

Rear Dissasembly time: Tip: Chock the front tires, lock your hubs and engage 4WL. This will help keep the truck from rolling when you jack up the rear. Once the rear is up, there isn't anything to keep it from rolling. (E-brake is only on the rear drums)

Diagram for reference;


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Step 1: Noted above, properly chock the front wheels before jacking the rig up.
a) Use the designated jacking points and start getting the rear end up
b) Loosen your wheel lugs while they are on the ground
c) Jack up the rig, and properly secure the body/from with jack-stands. It's also wise to place two jack stand under the rear axle after you allow the axle to full droop away from the body
d) Remove your wheels

Step 2: Remove the Shock Absorbers
a) Straight forward, top and bottom bolts/washers come over and allow you to wiggle the shock free from its location. Mine were shot, didn't even spring up after being compressed by hand.

Step 3: Remove the leaf springs
a) Similar to the front, remove the shackle side first. Be careful, these are under tension and could come off fast. Mine was flat, so it wasn't dramatic. Tip: Keep a bottle jack and/or floor jack on the leaf spring, this will allow you to control it coming down after removal.
b) Remove the old bushings from the mount, if stuck use a punch and tap them out with a hammer
c) Now remove the U-bolts, and Spring seat to free the leaf from the axles
d) Now remove the fixed end nut, spring bracket and hanger pin nut
e) Remove the leave spring from the truck and set-aside. Admire how ugly, worn and flat it is compared to your new OME unit

Reinstallation of new components:

Step 1: Similar to front leaf packs, assemble shackles to leaf. Apply some moly grease to the bushings before inserting.
a) Use above-mentioned ARB reference for orientation and install
b) Install fixed end first, then wrap up under the axle, keeping the center bolt in-mind for alignment on the axle housing. My kit came with two small metal rings that made up the difference of the bolt to the axle (considering on some, the rear leafs have a rubber isolator pad that lessens road vibration and fits in the hole. When you remove this, the bolt is too small and the hole is too large. These little rings make up the difference.
c) Snug the bolt, and now get that rear shackle to the mount. It's not super easy, and take some leverage or a helping hand. My floor jack helped a lot.
d) Snug the hardware
e) Install the U-Bolts onto the Spring Seat now, snug the bolts

Repeat these steps on the other side.

Step 2: Torque your components. Specs are the same, with the exception of the rear shock values: Top Nut = 47 ft-lbs / Bottom 27 ft-lbs.

Step 3: Install your sway-bar extensions if supplied. @cruiseroutfit supplies them many do not! This part is pretty self-explanatory, but if you want a visual check out page FA-35 in the OEM Manual. Torque the bolts as follows; 13 ft-lbs. They are specific front and rear, you'll see.

Step 4: Check everything, make sure you didn't miss any bolts, paint pen comes in handy if you're scatterbrained.

Step 5: Install wheels, snug hardware, remove jack stands and lower vehicle. Torque lug nuts to spec, Hop in, remove the e-brake, bounce the truck a little so things settle.

Step 6: Grease - Grease your zerk fittings with appropriate Moly Lube. Don't get wild, you don't need to overdo it as a little goes a long way.

Step 7: Unlock front hubs, put the vehicle in 2H and back out of the garage or driveway.

Take it for a spin, see how things feel. Pull back in and do a visual check to ensure nothing is out of the ordinary. You're going to need an alignment, so get that scheduled or if you're a pro do it yourself. I'll likely recheck the torque on all hardware removed/reinstalled within 100 miles to be extra cautious.

Congrats! You're truck thanks you, and I'm sure you'll notice a vast improvement of on-road or off-road handling on your next adventure.

Moderators, Legendary FJ Dudes - please send me a message if I missed anything? Happy to adjust.

*I'll add in my own pictures for color references shortly. Need to figure out how to upload more than 5-attachments.
 
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Killer write-up. I had found previous accounts a little lacking in the finer details needed for someone (myself) not super experienced and this one hits the spot and clears up some questions I knew I'd eventually have. One thing you may want to consider, and I'm not sure if this is just on my browser, some of the text is black and against the dark theme, it's quite hard to read.
 
Killer write-up. I had found previous accounts a little lacking in the finer details needed for someone (myself) not super experienced and this one hits the spot and clears up some questions I knew I'd eventually have. One thing you may want to consider, and I'm not sure if this is just on my browser, some of the text is black and against the dark theme, it's quite hard to read.
Glad you like it! I use the light theme so totally didn’t realize the dark text. I’ll revert to dark and adjust accordingly. Thanks!
 
You make it look easy. Thanks for the blow by blow. Also answered a question bugging me as I plan to redo entire brake system: are the stock brake hoses long enough for a OME lift. I would use longer hoses now if they were necessary later. Sounds like that is not an issue.
 
You make it look easy. Thanks for the blow by blow. Also answered a question bugging me as I plan to redo entire brake system: are the stock brake hoses long enough for a OME lift. I would use longer hoses now if they were necessary later. Sounds like that is not an issue.
It’s a faily straight forward task, as long as you take your time and understand what your removing and putting back on. Stock Brake lines are fine, but it never hurts to upgrade to a braided set that are a little longer. You’ll be much happier with the outcome, and get peace of mind on those dicey full articulation moments in the dirt.
 
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Great write up. I'm hoping I can go OME some time this summer. Question though, do the anti inversion shackles have the same pin diameter as the stock shackles? I have polygraphite spring bushings all around and would like to keep those when I go OME.
 
Great write up. I'm hoping I can go OME some time this summer. Question though, do the anti inversion shackles have the same pin diameter as the stock shackles? I have polygraphite spring bushings all around and would like to keep those when I go OME.

Thank you! They do have the same OD of 114mm so you should be good to use your Poly Bushings.
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Any initial lean?

It did for a brief moment, after a quick drive around the block and a few speed bumps she’s sitting just about level on all 4 corners! My particular setup has about 3/4” more height in the rear but it’s hardly noticeable from a side profile.
 
Thanks for the write-up! How long does the whole project take? Mine comes in today :bounce:
 

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