OME lift question (1 Viewer)

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OME lift question--Battle of Robbie and John

The wife loves her 80 but I want it lifted. I came across a 2mo set of J springs and shocks for what seems like a great price so here are my questions:

This is the set up for sale:
2x OME 850J front coil springs
2x OME 863J rear coil springs
2x N73L shocks for front
2x N74L shocks for rear


No caster correction bushing or stabilizer in the deal.

So can you run this on a 97 80 with good results. I noticed on Slees site that this is the set up being used with the 5 inch lift using spacers. Will this give an unsteady (unsafe) ride to an 80 that still has stock front and rear bumpers. What is the difference between the J springs and normal springs and does the L stand for long travel?

Thanks :beer:
 
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$700 will get you about any OME set up you want with the stabilizer and caster kit.

A caster correction bushing kit isn't enough for that much lift, I previously thought it was but I've since learned that my "good steering and driveablilty" was due to worn out knuckle bearings. It steers very quick now that I have new bearings.

I've heard that some folks end up having to go to the CV u joint in the later models with Js. I can't confirm this because my J spring'd 80 is a 91.

It rides OK with the Js, I think the 2.5" mediums are a much better choice especially if a wife is involved. When I get around to doing the 94 it will be with 2.5" mediums. Js are overkill for 33s.

Really one should look at the suspension as just a start. If you go to Js you've started a snowball. A BIG snowball. 35s will follow, then you need to regear, etc... A good deal on springs could be very expensive. Then after you've run the 35s you start thinking about 37s and then new arms, etc.... and pretty soon you are thinking about swapping those Js for Christo's 6" springs.
 
So the Js are stiffer and provide more lift? The guy wants $350 wich seems like quite a deal. I can get the caster correction from Christo for $60 and stabilizer down the road.

How much lift would be resulted from this set up? There will be no snowball on this one, money is the limiting factor so It will stay on the stock tires another 20K miles before I up-size. I am really curious if this is something that will make the truck drive like crap. Its going to be my truck in about 2 years anyway (wifey gets the new one). Thanks
 
Chances are, if you put those springs on without any additional weight, the truck will be yours sooner than 2 years. It won't ride extremely rough, but there will be a big change from stock. If you were to add a bullbar, winch, rear bumper/tire carrier, and drawers, the ride would be somewhat comfortable.

Some extras you'll need to consider with J springs:
Sway bar drop brackets
Extended brake lines
Possibly a new front drive shaft to correct for increased angle

All the above can be found on Slee's site.
 
drohweder said:
So the Js are stiffer and provide more lift? The guy wants $350 wich seems like quite a deal. I can get the caster correction from Christo for $60 and stabilizer down the road.

How much lift would be resulted from this set up? There will be no snowball on this one, money is the limiting factor so It will stay on the stock tires another 20K miles before I up-size. I am really curious if this is something that will make the truck drive like crap. Its going to be my truck in about 2 years anyway (wifey gets the new one). Thanks

Basically, the J springs are the same spring rate as the "heavy" regular OME springs, but provide an additional 1" of lift, or about 3.5"
 
It is going to look really silly if you keep stock size tires on it. Without caster correction (you need more than just the bushings for this much lift) it will handle like crap. I feel that mine wallows quite a bit more than the regular 2.5" OME lift but that could be tires etc... too. It is a 3.5" lift. Really you need to add the caster correction and stabilizer into your price and then it seems to me you aren't that far from new price. $350 plus $65 stabilizer plus $66 caster = $580 plus you still have a caster problem. New is right at $700. Personally, since your wife is driving it and you're not planning on tires I'd leave it alone.
 
I bought the 850 and 863 springs about 6 months ago and I wish I would have got the J springs. Just not enought lift to clear the rocks. I will trade you mine for you J if you want.

Tim
 
Thanks guys. Again the forum saves my a#@. :beer: The lift will have to wait and when I do it I'll just go straight to the 6 inch with 35s :D :cheers:
 
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>> The lift will have to wait ... <<

In your case this was a good choice.
-B-
 
By the way, if anyone is looking that is all listed on Pirate board under the misc. parts for sale for $350. Its quite a savings compared to what they would be brand new (525). Thanks again y'all!
 
You need not wait and go for a 5-6 inch lift on an 80. At 5-6 inches lift plus big tires the 80 gets tippy. The truck's limits without massive modifiactions results in about a 3.5 (or so) inch lift. Beyond that, MANY things have to change including your wallet, and reliability.

One can add the OME lift (DO NOT LEAVE OUT THE CC KIT, ETC) then add 15mm front spacers and 20mm rear spacers (under $100 for the trim packs) and have a rig that can slam the Rubicon or blow people away in Moab. This results in almost 4" lift and the truck tracks and runs perfect. Make sure you get L-series shocks, and front sway-bar drop-brackets) and then 33-inch tires. If you want everything, get 35-inchers and your set (though you'll want to lower your rear bump stops by 2-inches to cut down on rubbing...EASY). DON'T WAIT! You don't need these multi-thousand $ lift kits in an 80.

http://www.expeditionswest.com/vehicles/adventurepartners/john80.html
 
Well john if you currently run or have run the 5-6 inch lift then you can comment about the bigger lifts. After seeing you bio you are currently running a 3 inch kit. Where is your experence with a 6 inch kit on a 80?
I love the 6 inch lift I currently have in my 93 truck. I ran a OME 2.5 with 1.5 spacers for a few years. This was the 864 in the rear and the 850 in the front. The J springs did not have the carring capacity the 864 do. I ran 35 inch tires with this set up and did alot of fun trails. Witn the 6 inch lift I have currently I have done several trails that I have done in the past with less draging on the under side of the truck.With a ease that was not there before all while caring a lot of weight. The truck does feel like it sways more, but does not feel tippy. My trail tires are 36 inch swampers on ten inch rims and this stablizes the truck real well. My DD tires are 35 MTR's and at no time to I feel like the truck does unwanted things. I do feel that my previous lift is better for expeditions as it got better fuel ecomony being lower to the ground. This is only draw back I see. So really do not knock it until you have tried it. We all do fun stuff and to each there own on the design of there rigs.
Where is the loss of reliability? What is this comment about?
Most componets on a 80 series will handle up to a 35-37 inch tire with out too much comprimise. Even though I like the size of a 37 I may never go that big on my 80 except for long range travel and moderate wheeling. After this size tire I feel that the birifelds may not be strong enough for hard core work in the real bad stuff. Seeing christo's experences with the short bus.
any how jsut my c omments. later robbie
 
Robbie: You're a different guy. So am I. This thread, and my note responds to a guy with a stock 80 who is looking for upgrades and needs advice. He even mentions his wife in the questions....and you know what that could mean? Judging by the notes I believed the dude thinks he needs 5 or 6-inches lift in order to run 35's. Because that's simply not true, I supplied my 2-cents worth. It has nothing to do with knocking lifts. For under $1000 in suspension mods one can run 99% of the trails you can. For the above average aggressive 4-wheeler, an 80 with a lift such as mine makes more sense, costs less, and is easier on the truck. BTW: The actual lift on my 8 is just shy of 4-inches. Since the main components are the 3-inch OME, I list that on my mod list.

Heck, if someone wants to hand me the 6-inch kit I'll slam it on my 80 in a heartbeat despite my buddies who have seen them occasionally in trouble off-camber compared to lower 80's. Bottom line is though that for under a $1000 I can do almost everything a 6-incher can do. The 80's are amazing.

Bottom line #2: Double-heck....my 100 equipped as is can do anything my 80 can except where its larger size won't fit. I've proven this over and over again to the doubtful anti-IFS advocates.
 
ShottsUZJ100 said:
For the above average aggressive 4-wheeler, an 80 with a lift such as mine makes more sense, costs less, and is easier on the truck. BTW: The actual lift on my 8 is just shy of 4-inches. Since the main components are the 3-inch OME, I list that on my mod list.

I would not give a truck with anything more than 2.5" and caster correction to anyone to drive unless they are aware of the handling without proper caster and with the axles re-centered under the truck. It is not a safe situation. I think people that pointed out that he should rather run regular OME is spot on.

John, have you had your caster on your truck measured? We repeatedly hear from people that did not have caster correction and then added it how it improved handling. Lately Mark Brodis did the cut and slot method to correct for OME + 1" spacer in the front and commented on that as well.

It is not all about tire clearance and amount of lift. A lot of it is about driveability as well.

ShottsUZJ100 said:
Bottom line #2: Double-heck....my 100 equipped as is can do anything my 80 can except where its larger size won't fit. I've proven this over and over again to the doubtful anti-IFS advocates.

Uhm, yes and no. Amando did great on Golden Spike with the 100, but I bet if we took him into Pritchett Canyon it would have been a different story. I do like the 100 for a lot of reasons but I still think the 80 has the edge in hard core off-road situations, but the 100 beats it hands down in a lot of other departments.
 
Oh and one more thing. Most people look at lift first when fitting 35's but do not address gearing. Just as important if not more. Not having the control off road since you are going to fast with large tires due to incorrect gearing is just as bad. Add to that a tall truck and you get into sketchy situations.

Lower is always better, but sometimes you need the extra frame and body clearance. In those cases where people wheel with tall trucks, very few go wider since they try to stop the rubbing and have the tires tuck into the wheelwells.

Once you have wheeled a tall 80 with wide wheels and more offset you will not go back to skinny and tall.
 
John:
You are right I am a different guy. And I was addressing your comments about how tippy the 5-6 inch lift is. I have driven several different lifts over the years from the stock to 2.5 OME lift to the true 4 inch lift(not including the tire size lifting the whole truck as you state). The tippy ness is just not true for off road stuff, unless the other guys are not increaseing the width when they go up as you should(rule of lifting the truck, increase width as you go up). So despite you not reccomending some thing you have not tried to others you also chose to make the statement about relieability. In my post I was asking about the problems you have had with parts failing on a lifted truck, you did not address this.
You may be able to follow a higher lifted truck but to what damage to the underneath will you accure?
I know from experence I have alot less dents in the fuel tanks, as well as less scrapes on my under carriage do to having the bigger lift. There are some folks around here that have seen the differece of the flex of the suspension and when they try the same lines they are not able to follow my lines(mostly due to the tires staying on the ground, flex of the taller springs).
Before you commented the gentleman decided to wait until he can go staight to a 6 inch lift any way, when his wife will get another truck and he can play with it. Hell my wife did not intially like the lifts I have installed but after going on some trips have come to like them. As my son has gotten bigger he loves to climb into the truck. Women are different also. not all would like a lifted cruiser either.
Yes 100 series can do a lot, I have respect for the Toyota design IFS and how well it works. This is mostly do to the rear axle working much better than most other full size american trucks. And the only reason I would own one is for the wife as a mall cruiser or mild wheeling. It is safer on the highway and in traffic.
 
Robbie: Start a new thread dude and the responses will change. You still don't get it. It's not about my opinion on 4 vs 6 inch lifts. It was simply another option for Droweder. That's it. I'd go for the big lift in my 80 if my focus and $$$z wasn't on the 100. The 80's my "beater" rig. I built it to trash on the more severe trails.

Oh, last thing about the 100: You said "Mall Cruising or Mild Wheeling" is the reason you'd own one? Well, do you have one? Is it modified? Don't think so. If you'd a spent the $70+ $$z like I did to equip a new 100 you never a made that demeaning statement. Any modified 100 owner knows that other than serious rock-ish crawling type of stuff a 100 will do any 3-4+ trail just like an 80 can but in far more comfort. In fact the power of the 100 allows for certain hills 80's just can't do. Been there done that too. In a way though your comment is correct.....when I'm driving my 100 through Poughkeepsie Gulch and driving up the Wall, it does feel like I'm Mall Cruising and doing Mild Wheeling....because it's a 100.
 
This all started out John by your coments about a suspension you have not run. Same with the 4 inch lift you say you run. 2.5 inch OME plus a couple of packers do not add up to 4 inches. Also about the coments about the bigger lifts creating problem with parts. It almost sounds like you do not really know what you are writing about.
As for the 100 series it was not ment as demeaning. It was a statement of my opinion about what I would use a 100 series for. I do believe it is a fine vechicle and I would put my wife in one if I had the do ray me. But it will have to wait for a while.
The wall on the right at poughkeepise is the easier of the two walls. not really a hard line there, at least for a 80. easiest way up is the far left in the gravel.
Not all 80's are created equal, I think maybe my 1FZfe could keep up with you in its current form. later robbie
 
Christo: Right on on the CC Kit. Yes I have it (I mentioned it in my first reply though I abbreviated it. Sorry.). Yes, my 80 runs right on and is in alignment. My buddy Walt though who does have the CC Kit complained in Colorado about the drifiting, etc. and we all told him to get it on and ASAP.

As for hard core wheeling the 100, of course not compared to the 80 and I've always said that. Heck, I own both. As you know it's bigger and therefore won't fit places like Pritchett. Where it will fit it can follow an 80 or just about anything else out there.

If the thread was "what's the differences between the lifts for an 80" I'd a never piped up. The thread though was from a lift rookie (no offense...we all were rookies once) asking about lift and tire size. It happens that for under a grand (all bought from you) I successfully run 35's and with great success. With the knowledge of this to this dude in the thread, he might order stuff now rather than waiting months (or years) for the dough for a 5 or 6-inch lift. It was info for him to use not big lift owners to get ticked about.

As for the current comparo (bigger lifts), sure, tall and wide sure beats tall and thin. My only point is that a tad less tall 80 (like my 80, especially with the far improved approach and deprture angles) is more than capable of Pritchett Canyon or about any trail out there. Heck, I remember Joe Chott running all those Moab trails in his stock 91 80 (before he got his 93). I know he did Hell's Revenge and I think he even did Pritchett (?).
 
Robbie: No weight on my 80 other than sliders. No rear seats, no accessories, nothing. It's a beater. Don't even have leather or all the gadgets. Maybe that lessens weight aome more. Who knows. I guess that gets me the added 1/4 or 3/8" lift (??). Don't know. Going by before and after measurements back when i did it. Works for me though.
 

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