Another 850/860 (DEALER INSTALLED)

[wfd175]

I was going to have Straatman Toyota just install the bushings for me, but I ended up having them do everything. I was like screw it. I was apprehensive about the claims posted claims of 2-4 hours on the ome install posts, and I thought that with their equipment, they could do it much safer than I could do at the farm. Plus it's so crappy outside.

They charged me for 3 hours of labor, it took 2 mechanics all day to install everything (the shop was slow and were kind of in training mode) and another 1.5 hours to do the alignment. Evidently the caster bushings do what they are supposed to do BUT the toe is also negatively affected in a manner that took them a while to get it re-aligned.

My experience was very positive. The shop manager Greg is a old time dirt track race car driver and a few guys in the shop have downey lifted 4-runners, so their interest in lifts gave the project special attention. The total bill was 259.00.
It was money well spent, and they have all of the tools and gadgets to get it done correctly. I really am a little conservative with the safety aspect of messing things directly attached to the steering wheel (except the tires), because of my tendency to drive aggressively to firecalls, so I'm left with peace of mind that it was installed and returned to OEM spec. The truck drives great.

Immediatley after pickup up the LC from the dealer we (Washington F.D.) had a building collapse downtown with people trapped that I responded to. I was back to driving like a maniac. There was actually a factory Toyota represenative in the shop that day who was doing an evaluation on servicing Toyota's. Mainly parts availablilty and how to make the service shops run more efficiently. He was familiar with the OME suspensions and parts and he commented that they were all top knotch. I guess he has ran into Old Man Emu in his travels across the country.

I think that I'm fortunate to have such a great, small town Toyota dealer in Washington. According to the Factory Rep. our local dealer has one of the best reputations for service in the midwest, that is why he was there seeing how they do things so he could pass it on to the other dealers.

I'll take pictures eventually, but I think there are plenly of posts out there for photo reference. I just wanted to pass on the positive experience at the dealer, because I know that they are sometimes referred on MUD to as stealers etc..

I would encourage any members out there who still have the CC sitting in the garage to go ahead and have a dealer or other shop do it right. They are sitting there because they are a pain in the ass to install. I don't know if they make an improvement over just springs because I had everything done at once. If you live in the big city, and do wan't any run around from a large sales driven type dealer service shop, go to a small town dealer, see that they say. You may be pleasantly suprised at the difference.

I've been to stealers before in St. Louis, I have retreated back to my home town numerous times for personal automotive service. That is one of the many reasons I moved back here after college.

 

[Romer]

Great story and welcome. There are a few other fire fighters here

 

[firetruck41]

AFAIK, toe in is not affected by the lift, it is never touched at all, and if the bushings returned your caster to normal limits, your toe in would have been exactly as before.

 

[Biff]

That is a resonable price to pay for installing an ome setup. I wish I had the same kind of dealer next to me.

 

[firetruck41]

Oh yeah, congrats on your lift!

 

[wfd175]

Greg told me that because the steering linkage is pulled out of the original configuration/angles when the lift is put on that the toe needs to be reset to compensate for the shift.

I did just have it aligned 2 months ago after the inattentive driver took off my running boards for me. So everything still should have been ok when they started the install. But at that time the post accident re-alignment was done with ARB/Warn Stinkbug on the front end. Maybe that has something to do with the toe adjustment necessity. Possibly going through both ends of the toe spectrum.

 

[Ivan80]

I too cannot see how toe-in would be affected, because the relationship between the two front tires remains intact, but...

Does the tie rod (from pitman arm to PS TRE) need to be adjusted out to straighten the steering wheel after the lift? You are moving the TRE away from the pitman arm, which would seem to put the steering wheel to the right of center when tracking straight.

I'm not lifted, so I'm speculating here.

 

[Adam B]

Caster angle and toe-in are related. If you throw your caster out of whack by more than a few degrees then you will notice that your toe-in measures ever-so-slightly different than it did before because you are effectively measuring it in a different location on the tire. (This, of course, assumes that you are running with some toe-in. If you have 0 toe-in and you dramatically change your caster angle then you will still have 0 toe-in.) By correcting your caster angle so that it is the same as it was before the lift then your toe-in will also measure exactly what it did before the lift. The fact is, most people end up with a slightly different caster angle after lifting their vehicle, even with caster correction of some sort. It's worth checking the toe-in because it only takes a few seconds and, in my opinion, it is the primary cause of shimmy and death-wobble.

But you guys are correct - assuming that your caster angle remains constant, the only thing that changes your toe-in measurement is the tie rod length, which is not affected by the lift.

Either way, that's a fair price for a lift installation. If you're happy with the way it drives then we're all happy!

 

[e9999]

good deal!