Got mine two weeks ago from Neil at Downsouth Motorsports. Great fellow to deal with via email and telephone. Quick service and shipping, they were shipped the same day that we hit the GO button. Everything was exactly as described via email and telephone.
Shocks were well packed, with lots of foam peanuts. All hardware was there, bushings and washers, and 'piggyback' mounting clamps and spacers.
Ordered 10" travel remote-reservoir bolt-in solution for 2-3" lift.
fronts: pin top/pin bottom 65/80-200psi
rears: pin top/eye bottom 65/90-200psi
These have a shock body that's barely longer than the stock ones, so I can get away with bolting them in without lift springs for a few days of testing. The extended length is longer so I'll get some extra down travel with the stock springs.
My rig is fairly lightweight.
97 LX450 with 315-75-16 BFG KM/2 tires on stock rims 35-40psi. 3rd row removed. fullsize spare in stock spot. M8000 inside stock front bumper, with synth rope. Minimal weight on the nose (guessing 80 lbs with winch plate). Cruisin' Offroad slider-steps. 67k miles, original springs and shocks. Not hauling any junk around during testing.
I did my install in stages, because I wanted to feel each change, one thing at a time. Started with rear shocks on stock springs. For me, the telltale of perfectly tuned suspension is how the rear feels over the backside of large traffic calming speed bumps. One of my routes for my daily commute can go over a bunch of these at various speeds. Stock Lexus shocks with stock springs can go about 25mph before it feels like somethings gonna break
On a street-tuned ae86 corolla on Koni shocks, we can hit those at ~35mph with our 23" tires. Any faster and we're jumping, which is stressful on the chassis.
First, I installed the rear shocks, with the reservoirs piggybacked on the shock body with the supplied clamps and poly spacers. Not ideal, because the reservoir needs to be in the EXACT position to not hit the rear caliper or the control arms. Will look into making reservoir brackets when I've got everything together.
On my normal city commute, which includes a street with large traffic-calming speedbumps, some unpaved alleys, and a few 30mph curves, I noticed that the rear of the truck had more traction (from the increased understeer) in sweeping turns. This was confirmed by a short drive on the sea-to-sky which is bunch of 40-50mph curves when it's dry. Felt very good on the twisty highway. Felt good on gravel roads (aired down). We went and did some snow-wheeling, and I completely forgot that they were there. Kids had fun, and we had a new christmas tree to bring home.
On my commute, when going over those big speed bumps, the rear was a bit harsh when the tires hit pavement on the back side of the bumps, when compared to the stock Lexus shocks. Had to dial back my speed to 20mph over those bumps. My old shocks were definitely more plush over those bumps, and able to go faster. Rear of the truck looked about 1/2" taller. Didn't measure, but don't think I was seeing things.
Next, I installed the front shocks, again with stock springs. Reservoirs were mounted with hose clamps onto a bracket mounted to the top of the front spring perch. I used a 7" long piece of 1"x1/8" band iron, drilled a single 5/16" hole, and made a few bends to keep the bolt from pressing up against the middle of the reservoir. Hmmm, I'm gonna make some quick reservoir mounts for the rear this weekend.
Front shocks felt very similar to the stock shocks, but small bumps were more obvious. The stockers had really good small-bump sensitivity. Over those large speed bumps, I didn't notice harshness in the front like I did with the rear shocks. These felt fine! Same with potholes, especially at freeway speeds. The increased rebound damping felt GOOD. Truck was more stable on bumpy curves. Ride height also looked about 1/2" higher in the front. Vehicle felt good at highway speeds.
OME springs finally arrived at the local shop, picked them up on saturday morning and slipped them into the car. Stance looks good! Not too much stinkbug with the heavy/medium 850/860 combo. About 1" rake when measured at the ends of my rock sliders. Good thing I went with the heavy fronts.
Initial impressions are good! Front damping feels spot-on. Excellent match to the OME heavy springs.
Rears still feel a bit harsh on compression, but less than before, due to the increased spring rate. Still looking to re-valve the rears in future, after a bit more seat time. First I have to do some caster correction and make the rear reservoir mounts. Then I'll look into revalving the rears in the new year. I'd send them in to DS Motorsports for re-valving, but crossing the border is a royal PITA for shipping. Will be collecting tools and parts to do this myself.
Went snow-wheeling and had fun. Noticeably more belly clearance than before with the small lift. Now I might have room for tire chains. Won't play on the rocks til the snow clears in the spring, so have nothing to say about the offroad prowness of the Fox shox, but I expect good things. Buddies are all jealous, these shocks look good and perform good!
Bottom line, I like them. The rears could use a revalve, but I'm quite picky about that. Thumbs up to DS Motorsports, and thanks to everyone with their advise! I'm going to try the rears at 45/85 and see how they feel.
FWIW, caster with stock suspension was +2 deg. With the OME heavy front/med rear I now have -2 deg. Will need 4-6 deg of caster correction. Gonna slot the holes and weld on the 'washer mod.' Will redo a caster sweep next week. By my calculations, 5 deg over 7"bolt spacing is 5/8" total slotting. I'll likely move the holes backwards slightly (1/4") in the brackets to effectively lengthen my control arms and restore the shrunk wheelbase a bit. For now, I'm driving around with negative caster, and the truck is much more squirrely than before. Not quite dangerously so, but noticeably so. Will make time to play with the caster correction tomorrow.
.
