OME is a bust :-(

[2manycruisers]

Wow, what a colossal disappointment. I just replaced the stock springs on my '84 troopy with OME springs. I bought heavys but installed them as light/mediums as this truck currently is bone stock--no winch, nothing in back, etc. I measured before and after, changing only the springs--retained stock shackles at the moment. I got almost 2" of rear lift and less than 1/2" of front lift. And the ride is noticeably rougher than stock on road. I think I'd have been better off to just put extended shackles and leave the stock springs. Would have saved a bunch of $$

Maybe I'll keep my Deaver plans in place after I finish my mods and dump these things.

 

[Kief]

TTIWWP's

 

[Rix 45]

Sorry to hear of your plight. Are you referring to Deaver Spring in Santa Ana, CA.? I f so I'd like to chime in. I have used their work on several builds and rebuilds as I am local to them. I have not been pleased with the last two and not pleased with the attention to my order. I decided to have a set of Alcans done for my '64 FJ45 LBP. About a 2.5 inch lift and good attention paid to the specifics of winch and anticipated lode. A rather good spring that is holding the arc and good ride. All said and done cost comparable, far superior spring.

Eric Lint

 

[LC_Hamma]

Were you more disappointed in the mismatched heights or the ride quality? Basically there aren't any magical leafs out there that provide a *decent ride no matter if it's SUA or SOA. Get yourself some suspension seats w/ coils or dump the crappy leafs for a front coil conversion I ain't that *hard to do.

 

[Chamba]

That's a pity David. I got about 2" of lift on Patches with mine, but my springs were pretty flat. On my FJ40 I got about 2" lift as well...but I forgot to measure before and after, so it is only a guess.

Maybe it's time to do that 80 series axle and suspension swap idea after all...

Cheers,

Josh

 

[2manycruisers]

Mostly disappointed in the front lift, but a bit in the ride as well. My OME fj-60 rode way better than this, and I've ridden in a custom leaf sprung flattie that would crawl, dirt track, and fly. It's possible to get a well-performing leaf suspension, I just didn't get it here. I'd love to go to coils, but I don't have time, money, space, or skills at the moment. I agree it's not that hard to do, but I do think it's hard to do *right*.

Glad to hear some feedback on Deaver. The magazines always give them good reviews. They actually tried to steer me to Alcan when I first called because they don't do much with Toys. I don't have any personal experience with Alcan, but I have several friends with Alcan experience and none of them were satisfied for long--wrong lift, short life, etc. That's been many years, now, though. Got similar feedback from a shop last year, too, so I was trying to avoid them. I was also planning for about 4" springs when I first started planning for Deavers, but my rig has changed so I figured 2-3" from OME would be plenty. Unfortunately I didn't come close to that in the front.

Were you more disappointed in the mismatched heights or the ride quality? Basically there aren't any magical leafs out there that provide a *decent ride no matter if it's SUA or SOA. Get yourself some suspension seats w/ coils or dump the crappy leafs for a front coil conversion I ain't that *hard to do.

 

[65-fj45]

I have had great luck with my Alcans, they have great customer service and will build the springs any way you want them. I have been running them for 4 years now on my 45 and they have worked great. Mark (65swb45) also has a set built the same way mine were built.

 

[2manycruisers]

some pics

 

[2manycruisers]

2 more

 

[dieseldude]

Were you more disappointed in the mismatched heights or the ride quality? Basically there aren't any magical leafs out there that provide a *decent ride no matter if it's SUA or SOA. Get yourself some suspension seats w/ coils or dump the crappy leafs for a front coil conversion I ain't that *hard to do.

Hey I like this train of thought . . . . what coils would you use for the front? Would you use coils for the back? One of my 40's rides on coils and it is stupidly smooth, so you are preaching to the converted. I just would like to know what coils as best suited. It'll save me a lot of dickin' around.

BTW - it's for my '67 FJ45 pick up.

Thanks

 

[Kief]

The overall picture looks like a healthy stance. The real measurement that is significant is the distance between the axle and the bump stop vs. a stock spring or previous spring. You may have had some healthy springs that weren't necessarily bad or had previous been replaced or re-arched. I have seen OME 45 lpb springs before and they were super-overkill-beefy. I wasn't too stoked on what I saw for what they cost. I am very happy with my 60 series OME's vs. stock FWIW..

 

[2manycruisers]

This rig only has 90k miles, so I think the stock springs were still healthy. The extra 1/2" to the bumps made some difference, but the higher spring rate I'm sure made more difference in not bottoming out. I'd like to get a bit more height up front, and a lower spring rate all around. This does not need to be a 1-ton rig as designed--just needs to carry some camping gear and kids/dogs.

The OME springs themselves are fairly reasonably priced, considering there aren't many other options for 45/47 rear springs or '81-later 40-series front springs. It's all the extras that make it so expensive. They were comparable to Alcan and considerably less than Deaver, IIRC, plus I got them with no shipping or tax. I didn't really look at SOR or MAF, I can only imagine the crappy ride those springs have.

I agree with you on the 60-series OME, they are hard to beat.

The overall picture looks like a healthy stance. The real measurement that is significant is the distance between the axle and the bump stop vs. a stock spring or previous spring. You may have had some healthy springs that weren't necessarily bad or had previous been replaced or re-arched. I have seen OME 45 lpb springs before and they were super-overkill-beefy. I wasn't too stoked on what I saw for what they cost. I am very happy with my 60 series OME's vs. stock FWIW..