New to me 1999 Cruiser - Before & After 1.5 OME Lift

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

J

John Paradise

10 Year 15 Year
Joined
Jul 16, 2006
Threads
7
Messages
33
Just wanted to thank you guys for draining my wallet, but helping me make the Cruiser look a little more respectable. Special thanks to Josh at Baertrax in Dallas for the work on the lift.

New stuff:
1.5 OME Lift
18 inch Tundra Wheels
Nitto Terra Grapplers
Removed gold pin stripe
Removed wood interior
Removed grill & steps
Mr. Lou lifters (the hood almost took my head off)

If anyone local wants the old wheels & tires, grill, steps, gold pin stripe flakes, I'll trade them all for various amounts of beer, or you can have the grill for free.

Fender flares are staying for now because the paint looks pretty bad where they touch. Might have to remove the roof rack due to a 6'8" garage at work, but haven't tried yet.


Before
before.JPG


After
after.JPG
 
Very much improved!

Toyotas have always looked best in white.
 
Man the rims and tires make a big difference and the lift is perfect. I think the grill would have looked pretty good if you left it on but can get a good look at it so it might have been a cheap one?
 
Congrats. Almost identical to mine!! Looks so much better with the lift and tires. I kept my fender flares on about a year, then decided to remove them. I had some paint issues, but not enough to worry with at this point.
 
You might clear that garage. My garage is 6'4" but im at stock height on 33's and no rack. I got about 3" clearance.
 
NO RAKE!

Your truck looks really high in the front. Well, it doesn't actually... it looks level, which I really, REALLY like, but I'm curious how it rides. Does it ride like $#!it now?
Every other Hundy I've seen has a rake to it (the front is lower than the rear). Did your mechanic really crank those torsion bars?

Aj
 
John Paradise said:
Just wanted to thank you guys for draining my wallet, but helping me make the Cruiser look a little more respectable. Special thanks to Josh at Baertrax in Dallas for the work on the lift.

New stuff:
1.5 OME Lift
18 inch Tundra Wheels
Nitto Terra Grapplers
Removed gold pin stripe
Removed wood interior
Removed grill & steps
Mr. Lou lifters (the hood almost took my head off)

If anyone local wants the old wheels & tires, grill, steps, gold pin stripe flakes, I'll trade them all for various amounts of beer, or you can have the grill for free.

Fender flares are staying for now because the paint looks pretty bad where they touch. Might have to remove the roof rack due to a 6'8" garage at work, but haven't tried yet.


Before
before.JPG


After
after.JPG
Click to expand...

Looks great! You have the same truck as I do sans lift. I'm in Dallas too (just moved from Houston) and have been looking for a mechanic here in Dallas to help with some projects. Sounds like you liked Baertrax...I'll have to check them out.
 
Questions answered

Thanks for all the kind words, I’m pretty happy with it so far.

TwiceWithHair – See pic below

Artwerks – I initially thought the same thing, it does look a little high in the front and it kinda rides like crap. I hit a speed bump straight on, not going fast, and it felt like the front end almost fell off. When I go back (while this happened we also discovered the rack & pinion is effed) I’ll see if I can get him to crank it down a little bit. I don’t know how much it’ll help, but it does look a tad bit too high in the front.

Gtfour43 – I did clear the 6’8”, but just by a hair. I’ve only done it once, and it’s almost too close for comfort.

TXBeachCruiser612 - 275/70R18 NTGs

drmwvr – Go talk to Josh at Baertrax, he’s a solid human, has a great shop, and knows what he’s talking about.

When I go back to a new rack & pinion (eff my wallet $$$) I’m also getting 1.5’ spidertrax spacers installed to stretch out the tires a little bit.

tire+gap.JPG
 
Dropping the front end 1" is going to be the difference between the ride of a broken Geo Metro and a brand new Cruiser. Not having ample droop will cause the front end to bounce, topout, bump steer, torque steer, unstable at high speed, twitchy at high speed and funky tire wear. That 1" is going to be a massive improvement. I'd bring it down 1.5" honestly. If you plan to run 1.5" spacers and large tires you may contact the fenders during while on compression.
 
Josh is a great guy. I get the impression he has done a few OME installs on 100's now. I took mine over to him after I put mine in ( about a year and a half ago ). He wanted to drive it as he had a few people interested in having him do them.

Take it back to him, he'll sort it out in a flash. It only takes a few minutes to make that adjustment.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom