Greetings from Portland, Oregon!
This is the 1990 FJ62 with 202k miles that I've owned for the last 2 years. According to carfax, my FJ62 was originally purchased in the Boise area where it spent most of it's life until it finally made its way to Oregon and was eventually sold to me.
I've been eagerly looking forward to installing the Old Man Emu suspension kit ever since I got high centered in a mild snow bank one day and needed to be pulled out by a rubicon driven by a friend (who smugly won't let me forget about it.) The stock suspension has been giving my otherwise formidable Land Cruiser a distinctly stationwagon appearance. For scale, these tires are 31x10.5/r15 Toyo Open Country M/Ts.
Now that my OME lift kit has arrived after a long boat ride from Australia, it's time to start breaking apart some 27 year old suspension components...
The OME steering stabilizer is an absolute monster compared to the original. Those tie rod ends were totally impervious to the 3 different pickle forks in my garage but the tie rod end puller shown below popped it off with no problem. Best $35 I've ever spent.
Comparing the old springs to the new ones.
Here's the first spring getting installed.
4Runner calipers and performance rotors are still looking nice.
All of the original shackles looked like this. After 27 years of service, it's amazing to see how pitted and corroded the pins have become!
All of my fixed spring pins looked like this. Getting these bastards out was definitely the hardest part of the install. Despite going full caveman mode with a 5# sledge, I couldn't get any of them to come out on their own. The only thing that did the trick was cooking the bushing with a MAP gas torch and using my largest prybar to force the pins out.
Check out these sweet rubber center pin spacers on the rears. I ended up reusing them since the OME center pin has a substantially smaller diameter than the u-bolt center plate.
More crusty goodness!
Not surprisingly, the original rear springs have dramatically less arch compared the OME heavy duty rears.
On closer inspection, it looks like the original rear springs have practically fused together.
This was the only shackle that required liberal treatment from the MAP gas torch. The proximity of the tail pipe really limited my ability to take it out caveman style.
And here's the reason why that shackle was so difficult to remove. Definitely a recipe for disaster out in the field.
And this is what the cruiser looks like after the OME install. I was expecting the stinkbug look to be much more pronounced, but the rear end is only 3/4" higher than the front.
Time to get some bigger tires!
This is the 1990 FJ62 with 202k miles that I've owned for the last 2 years. According to carfax, my FJ62 was originally purchased in the Boise area where it spent most of it's life until it finally made its way to Oregon and was eventually sold to me.
I've been eagerly looking forward to installing the Old Man Emu suspension kit ever since I got high centered in a mild snow bank one day and needed to be pulled out by a rubicon driven by a friend (who smugly won't let me forget about it.) The stock suspension has been giving my otherwise formidable Land Cruiser a distinctly stationwagon appearance. For scale, these tires are 31x10.5/r15 Toyo Open Country M/Ts.
Now that my OME lift kit has arrived after a long boat ride from Australia, it's time to start breaking apart some 27 year old suspension components...
The OME steering stabilizer is an absolute monster compared to the original. Those tie rod ends were totally impervious to the 3 different pickle forks in my garage but the tie rod end puller shown below popped it off with no problem. Best $35 I've ever spent.
Comparing the old springs to the new ones.
Here's the first spring getting installed.
4Runner calipers and performance rotors are still looking nice.
All of the original shackles looked like this. After 27 years of service, it's amazing to see how pitted and corroded the pins have become!
All of my fixed spring pins looked like this. Getting these bastards out was definitely the hardest part of the install. Despite going full caveman mode with a 5# sledge, I couldn't get any of them to come out on their own. The only thing that did the trick was cooking the bushing with a MAP gas torch and using my largest prybar to force the pins out.
Check out these sweet rubber center pin spacers on the rears. I ended up reusing them since the OME center pin has a substantially smaller diameter than the u-bolt center plate.
More crusty goodness!
Not surprisingly, the original rear springs have dramatically less arch compared the OME heavy duty rears.
On closer inspection, it looks like the original rear springs have practically fused together.
This was the only shackle that required liberal treatment from the MAP gas torch. The proximity of the tail pipe really limited my ability to take it out caveman style.
And here's the reason why that shackle was so difficult to remove. Definitely a recipe for disaster out in the field.
And this is what the cruiser looks like after the OME install. I was expecting the stinkbug look to be much more pronounced, but the rear end is only 3/4" higher than the front.
Time to get some bigger tires!
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