OME Heavy->Dobinson Variable (1 Viewer)

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Wanted to report some quick thoughts on some suspension changes I’ve made over the past few months.

I purchased this 80 with an arb bull bar and a 12k winch as well as dual batteries. It was kitted with the OME heavies all around and sat 39” to the rear wheel well and 38.5 to the front wheel well (on 285/75R16).

Back in August I changed the OME shocks (installed by the PO in 2004) to dobinson IMS shocks and found the on road manners significantly improved. Not sure if this was age or tech but I was really happy with the ride.

While the around town ride was now great it was still a little squirrelly at highway speeds. Especially laterally it was pretty unforgiving. Additionally, my lab hated jumping into the tailgate and that was annoying (lifting a 110 lb lab into your truck after a long hike was really frustrating).

I talked with Drake at Adventure Motors in KC and he suggested a Dobinson set up would clean some of that up and give me a slightly lower lift at the tailgate. We ended up swapping out the old OME 850/863 heavy coils with Dobinson 59-220v and 59-223v on Thursday.

As far as lift numbers- I’m rolling a slee short bus on the front with no winch, dual batteries, white knuckle sliders and a 4x4labs dual swing out bumper in back. Measurements are all with 6 boxes of dynamat in the back that will eventually be installed.

Before
Front OME 850 38.5”
Rear OME 863 39”
Tailgate 36.5”

After
Front Dob 59-220v 38.25”
Rear Dob 59-223v 37.5”
Tailgate 34” (not 100% if this makes sense due to the .5” rake or my before measurement was off)

If you’re on the fence about dobinson and DD your cruiser I’d advise you pull the trigger. My wife had a 13 4runner until a year ago and I’d say the Cruiser now rides the same as I remember the 5G 4runner (suspension-wise, even the underpowered v6 is quicker than the FZ). It’s not a BMW on the corners or anything but it’s vastly improved.

Also if you’re in KC and need a shop, I was thrilled with the expertise and service at Adventure. Drake in particular is an expert on 80s and I’ll be back for the next project that exceeds my wrench rating.

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I’d call it 22 in the back and 22 1/2 in the front- so 2” lift basically?

Forgot to mention there was a spacer with the OMEs in the front that we left on with the dobinsons. I’ll check with Drake, assume they were 1/2”. May actually remove the spacers next time it makes sense to risk death taking them off.
 
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Thanks for the comparison. I have a rusty set of OME heavies on my LX450 that I will be swapping out sooner than later and was looking at Dobinsons. Delta VS front and rear bumpers, roof top tent, cargo draws, LS Swap, 12K winch...all the weight basically. 😁
 

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