Builds 93 80 Beater. (2 Viewers)

[darwink1]

^^^ Thats why I went with the ome stuff. I got the lift and the skid, to my door (Northern Ontario Canada), for 100 bucks less than the FOR lift. If I had gone w FOR It would have been at least 2000$ to my door....... and no skid. Cant really justify spending that much since theres all kinds of other crap the van needs.

Ive also had the ome stuff on my tacoma for 4 years now without any problems. I did snap an eye off of one of the rear shocks but that was my fault for running bump stops that were too short.

When I was shopping for said taco lift all the "cool kids" were running adjustable coil overs but again I couldnt justify spending a grand on just the front of the truck. Besides the fact that they would get destroyed by the salt up here, I could have gotten 3 sets of ome coils/shocks for that price.... If they only were to last 4 yrs Id still be ahead.

Overall Ive been satisfied with their products/price point. Maybe thats cause Ive never tried anything else but so be it.



Green truck, I was concerned about being able to fit the van into my garage after the lift as well. Actually I just said f it and put the lift on in the garage without knowing for sure if i would be able to get it out.... lol.

Took some quick measurements for you today.

Van (center of hub to fender)

front ds was 19.5" now 23.5"
front ps was 20.5" now 23"
rear ds now 24.5"
rear ps now 23.5"

Note: I neglected to measure the rear pre-lift and measured the van in the driveway that isnt perfectly level.

My garage door measures 6' 5.5" from the slab to the bottom lip of the outer door seal. The bottom of the door seal, when open, sits roughly 2" lower. The garage door spring bracket (in the middle of the garage ceiling) is 6'6".

To get it out we aired down the rear tires to about 8-10 psi which was perfect and the roof rack ribs just grazed the garage door seal. I dont think Ill ever be backing it in again due to the slope of my driveway but I was amazed that it still fit in there. Airing down the tires isnt really that big of a deal especially if you have a compressor. Winter might be a different story though... Mine is parked outside 99.9% of the time anyways.

Hope this helps.

D

 

[sleeoffroad]

Something does not add up. We have done hundreds of these lifts and I have never seen a OME860 give that much lift. Either the truck is gutted, or those are OME863's. Check the tags on the springs. (Edit: I see you found a tag.)

Despite what Nay says, OME's quality control is good and I can assure you that I have never seen that. Does that truck have a body lift?

 

[darwink1]

I found one of the stickers and it read OME 860 X B. When they arrived both stickers were the same....

The rear end is missing the following: oe rearmost xmember, oe spare tire xmember, a good chunk of 1/4 panel, 3rd row seats/seat belts, and oe bumperettes. Pretty sure thats it.

I have added/relocated the factory tow hitch, the tube bumperettes, the swing down, tool set, folding chair, and a 285 spare on a factory alloy.




Im thinking part of the reason it looks so high in the pics is that the 14/'s are chopped and the lowest part that is visible is the bottom of the frame. The ds slider was also welded on a little lower in the front than in the back (intentionally lol yeah). That combined with the way my kickouts flare.......

Heres a couple pics with it sitting on the flattest spot I could find.

Ground to fender measurements as it sits in the pics:

Front ds 38" ps 38 1/4"
Rear ds 39" ps 39.5"


D

 

[KYLandCruiser]

Darwink1 - First of all, I love this thread and am completely jealous of all the work you have done on your 80. I have only had my 80 for a few months and sadly am about to have the engine worked on due to a yet undetermined rod issue.

This may seem very minor, but I really liked the paint you used on your rims. I have tried to find threads that give details on how to strip, prep and paint aluminum rims without any luck. Would you be willing to write up a little more detail on what you used and how you did your rims?

 

[darwink1]

Well I was supposed to help lift a taco today but buddy needed some front leaf bolts so that was nixed. Instead I finally got to put the IPOR skid on.

Having broken 2 bolts on the first attempt (one on the flange beside the frame, one inside the frame) I had some new bolts and a tap set on hand. We broke 4 of the 8 bolts that attach the x member to the frame, 3 on the ps and one on the ds. We drilled and tapped the 2 bolts that broke in the frame (one/side) and drilled holes right through the welded on nuts that broke on the flanges then used a longer bolt and nylok nut. All the bolts I bought were gr 8 and I used the IPOR supplied hardware for the 4 that came out. Every nut/bolt was anti-seized.

Surprisingly, the tranny mount nuts came right off...

Besides the drilling, which was a huge pain in the ass, the rest of the install went fairly smoothly. I had to notch the front ps edge of the skid to fit around my homebrew sliders but that was no big deal.

This frickin skid is massive and every hole lined up nicely, even the xfer bracket that some have had problems with. Id buy this thing again in a heartbeat.

D

 

[UCBerzerkeley]

now that you are officially used to your cruiser, how's the taco feeling? I don't know if you noticed, but we are not really in winter anymore lol

 

[darwink1]

Hahaha,

The taco feels a little neglected as of late. It still does its wheeling/pick up truck duties but I usually dd the cruiser.

I really do love the cruiser but the taco is a different animal. When I get in it and drive down a bumpy road with the unswaybarred ifs its like rattle free marshmallow floating. Not that the lc rattles much but its old and the taco just.... doesnt rattle.

Also, that 3.4/5spd combo feels like a sports car compared to the van even w the 33's.

That being said, Id really like to put both of em away next winter but Id just end up getting a 4runner or something and then feel the need to mess with it.... The same vicious cycle. Maybe a Hayundayii or something.



D

 

[greentruck]

D,
Been hitting writing the diss pretty hard, working on the M101, and missed your post with measurements until now. She is sitting pretty now, I see. Good thing you didn't end up having to temporarily swap on some short tires!

Thanks for the data points,!

Maybe the IPOR skid will pull you down a little, but probably not enough to skip the 8 psi trick?

Your garage door sounds very near mine. My slope is downward once out the door, but similar issues, just occur when headed in the opposite direction.

There's a lot more "junk in the trunk" on our 80 and never was a roof rack, so it's gonna be close, but you've given me hope I may be able to work out both 2.5" and 33s.

I was looking at OME part #s and it appears there are no rear overload coils in the stock height flavor. Maybe I'm still confused about that. Looks like the way to go here is to get the new suspension stuff on for a 2.5" lift, then measure to see which tires fit. I've been going back and forth between sticking with the 33" plan and only stepping up to 32" (265/75R16) instead. We shall see.

 

[darwink1]

Only a couple ppl showed for this sundays run so I invited them to my secret testing grounds since I wanted to take the cruiser on its "maiden voyage".

It worked damn good but needs the front diff guard I started glued on since Im not used to the sfa thing yet lol. Hit the front pumpkin once and landed on the drivers front control arm mount once. May have tested the sliders and skid at one point but I have to wash it and look for scratches.

The high clearance bumpers did their job and that was cool to see.

Final verdict, I like it even more now.....

Heres a couple of the better ones. To see the rest follow the link below, hopefully it works.

SudburyJeep - Login

D

 

[KYLandCruiser]

Great pics and vid. The link didn't work, but the ones you have posted are nice. Can't wait to see more.

 

[Squash]

Ha!
Look for tracks up there from the winter...the old diesel busted sugar snow drifts and ice to beat you to the top.

Do you still want to check my nuts??? or an I checking yours?

 

[96r50]

Looking good! The IPOR skid is a thing of beauty. There are a bunch of scrapes and gouges in mine now and I can definitely say it does its job well.

How did the Duratracs do on the run?

 

[darwink1]

Thanks for inspecting my nuts with me today mike and thanks for the pts too. My van's been there last winter too. Didnt go too far but the snow was hard and it was like driving on styro foam.

The duracracks were frickin great. They chugged through some clay ruts nicely and stuck to the rock like glue (the rock is like sandpaper).

The ipor stayed on and may or may not have been used. Still have to trim the trans mount studs before I mash em.

D

 

[greentruck]

It's good to get stuff out and exercise it after finishing the build. Looks like it's a good truck to have on such rugged terrain when you're not that far out of town! I can still see the stacks of Sudbury, but as tall as they are, maybe you're halfway to Toronto right there?

 

[Squash]

Darwink,

Ripped into new rotors,calipers and pads yesterday under the hot sun.
Gotta say it's always eaiser the second time.

Of course the supplier only shipped three front pads, but luckily I had an extra set of bigger, thicker bad boys...

Have to love the tin snips, made a few cuts and 15" dust shields fix 16" rotors.


Later

 

[darwink1]

Nice! They feel better?

D

 

[JackZilla]

This is awesome. Officially the first thread I have read all the way through. Nice build. Hope to be on this level one day. Congrats on an awesome rig.

 

[darwink1]

Well, I beat the crap out of the old girl today and she took it without complaints.

We hit the "Cul de Sac" trail with roughly 14 rigs. Lots of heaps as per usual but there was also a 90's mini toy, a dub cab taco, Sams fullsize gmc, and a freaking suzuki x90....... remember those??

Got hung up once on the rear diff due to my shoddy line picking skills but was able to drive out. The van was crawling up stuff that double locked rubis on 35's had trouble with which was pretty cool.

Tested the sliders several times as well with positive results. Some nice gashes but no bending.

Had a harrowing moment on a downhill that had a washout with a big drop on the ps side and boulders on the other. Was a little off camber and on 3 wheels already with the front ds still climbing when my ps rear slid off of the rock it was on and I got the "crap your pants" feeling. A second later, with some awesome spotting, the ds started to go down and all was well. I was gettin ready for the worst though....

And yeah, I do want bigger tires now lol.

Waiting for the pics and vids to download now. Also have to wait for the 3 wheel pics some of the others got of the van, man.

D

 

[darwink1]

Heres a bad line vid for you.

Warning: Theres ppl on my sliders and they shouldnt be there cause its dangerous.



D

 

[darwink1]

Dammit, it never looks as bad in the pictures. This was my crap pants moment. Even though it looks like level ground we were heading down a decently steep hill with a drop off on the ps..

D