OME J/L Combo vs 2.5" Heavy Lift

[Tools R Us]

Christo, have you heard about the tall (J height?) progressive springs that they are making? Is there a possibility of getting them here? What are the specs, spring rate and height, on them?

 

[Hayes]

On a stock truck the J's will give about 3.5" in the front and 5" in the rear, a set of heavys about 2.5" and 4", mediums 2" and 3". Pick your springs by how you want the truck to sit and the weight you plan on adding. The spring rates range about 220-250 pounds per inch per spring, if you plan on adding a bunch of weight to one end you will want more spring on that end. You can add spacers, but it's easier to get it close with springs.

http://www.cruiseroutfitters.com/tech_OME_coils.html

For what it's worth, when I mounted my 850/863 heavy springs on my truck in its stock form, I got about +3 inches up front and about +4 inches in the back.
When I mounted the Slee front bumper and Warn winch, the front end dropped to +2.5 inches.

I'm pretty certain that you will get more than +2.5 inches of lift in front with the "heavies" on a stock truck.

Hayes

 

[Little Boss]

Tools R Us,


Stop with the diesel fuel jokes you know that the motors are heavier. Also not having CC for the springs is another reson they were not sold in the US as a 3.5" kit

Thanks for the pics. I would like to point out that I didn't see any full axle drop. As I said that almost never happens on a trail or bad road. I did see badly eroeed trail with some cool side to side flex. Pics as you know are hard don't always tell the story well. At first when I looked at these I said to myself thats nothing that I haven't done or seen with my 2.5" until I see the one pic of the rear axle. Wow ..... It looks like it works ......still do see how if you have a lower bump stop stoping the axle. Seems to me that you could push all you want on the down side and not get much more travel ot flex.

Do you like your set up?

 

[Tools R Us]

Tools R Us,

Stop with the diesel fuel jokes you know that the motors are heavier.

Diesel jokes are so yesterday! Yes diesels are slightly heaver, but add a few accesories and your rig will be as heavy or heavier than a deisel, fuel dosen't matter it's about the weight and the spring rate on the Js is not signifacantly more than heavies, so they aren't wrong for a gasser.

Thanks for the pics. I would like to point out that I didn't see any full axle drop. As I said that almost never happens on a trail or bad road. I did see badly eroeed trail with some cool side to side flex. Pics as you know are hard don't always tell the story well. At first when I looked at these I said to myself thats nothing that I haven't done or seen with my 2.5" until I see the one pic of the rear axle. Wow ..... It looks like it works ......still do see how if you have a lower bump stop stoping the axle. Seems to me that you could push all you want on the down side and not get much more travel ot flex.

Do you like your set up?

I don't agree that it's "hard" to get full flex on the trail, you just have to be a good poser and plan your parking job correctly!

The green truck is brother Rob's old truck, it has Nitto 315s, Js, Ls and 1.25" front spacers, in that picture he is climbing so more weight is on the rear probably close to full flex. The black one is Phil's with 37" Swampers, J front, heavy rears, a bunch of spring spacer on both ends and Bilsteins. It flexes very well, I don’t remember if it was on the bump stop in that picture, but it is on the rear one in this one.

My truck is somewhat hobbled by the small 295 tires, but I like the J setup with 1.5” front spacer, rides well on the road and flexes easily on the trail. For springs I am not looking for anything stiffer, if anything I would like a progressive spring that is slightly softer in the first bit of travel. The front OME shocks work well, getting more travel out of the front requires more drastic work than just shocks. On the rear I may replace the Ls with Bilsteins on custom mounts, with the top mount as high as possible to reduce the amount of bump stop needed.

 

[Nay]

That's not much flex in the front for an 11" travel shock.

Nay

 

[ShottsUZJ100]

That's not much flex in the front for an 11" travel shock.

Nay

I can't view the pic? What 80 has good front flex any how?

 

[sleeoffroad]

Christo, have you heard about the tall (J height?) progressive springs that they are making? Is there a possibility of getting them here? What are the specs, spring rate and height, on them?

Nope, never seen that.

 

[Tools R Us]

That's not much flex in the front for an 11" travel shock.

Nay

That's Phil's truck with Bilstein 7100s, IIRC 12" in the front. In that picture he is climbing a steeper hill than it looks, so more of the weight is on the rear axle. He also has Outback wristed front arms and sway bar disconnects, his truck flexes about as well an 80 can without changes to the suspension configuration. The shocks are not the limiting factor in the front, suspension bind is.

 

[ShottsUZJ100]

That's Phil's truck with Bilstein 7100s, IIRC 12" in the front. In that picture he is climbing a steeper hill than it looks, so more of the weight is on the rear axle. He also has Outback wristed front arms and sway bar disconnects, his truck flexes about as well an 80 can without changes to the suspension configuration. The shocks are not the limiting factor in the front, suspension bind is.

Yes. Now Phil's truck is an 80 that flexes.

 

[Nay]

That's Phil's truck with Bilstein 7100s, IIRC 12" in the front. In that picture he is climbing a steeper hill than it looks, so more of the weight is on the rear axle. He also has Outback wristed front arms and sway bar disconnects, his truck flexes about as well an 80 can without changes to the suspension configuration. The shocks are not the limiting factor in the front, suspension bind is.

Out of curiosity, what is still binding? Full usage of a 12" travel shock is huge flex...that pic is showing half of that. Weight on the rear really doesn't matter, the tire alone is heavy enough to drop the axle unless you have a lot of bind.

There is a coil spring suspension, wristed setup to remove the radius arm bind due to small bushings, and no swaybar...what is left to bind?

I'm not picking on it...I'm interested in whether you can get full flex out of the front without a custom front end design, such as a 3 link with independent upper arm.

Are the tiny radius arm bushings still a factor here?

Nay

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

Out of curiosity, what is still binding? There is a coil spring suspension, wristed setup to remove the radius arm bind due to small bushings, and no swaybar...what is left to bind?

I'm not picking on it...I'm interested in whether you can get full flex out of the front without a custom front end design, such as a 3 link with independent upper arm.

Are the tiny radius arm bushings still a factor here?

Nay

The swaybars are not disconnected in the picture FWIW. Swaybars disconnected will yield more travel but it will not yield the 14" of shock travel available. The bind on my 80 (you know they are all different) is the pressure on the foward arms bushings from the panhard.

With the panhard and springs removed the front will cycle the 14" available. With that said I can get more travel by lowering the panhard. Plans to do so are in the future. Even with the panhard lowered I do not believe I will get to use the 14" available with the current design but it will be there if I ever change it.

 

[PDoyle]

OK, running through all the posts here ( by the way thanks much you guys, the information is great, still a little confusing.
Am I reading this right- the easier lift to install is the OME heavy lift including front and rear (non-j's) in addition, installing the CC bushings.
Because there is no brake line extending? Right? Why?

If I use this set up, should I add Billy shocks?

Also, I 'm pretty sold on the Revo 285/70's using the stock rims. So, I'll get them after the lift install.
And I'm not going to see much mud with this 80.
Next, I plan on bringing out the front bumper about 4" and cutting a hole and weld a plate and trailer hitch for a removable winch.

 

[FJBen]

OK, running through all the posts here ( by the way thanks much you guys, the information is great, still a little confusing.
Am I reading this right- the easier lift to install is the OME heavy lift including front and rear (non-j's) in addition, installing the CC bushings.
Because there is no brake line extending? Right? Why?

If I use this set up, should I add Billy shocks?

Also, I 'm pretty sold on the Revo 285/70's using the stock rims. So, I'll get them after the lift install.
And I'm not going to see much mud with this 80.
Next, I plan on bringing out the front bumper about 4" and cutting a hole and weld a plate and trailer hitch for a removable winch.

Any of these lifts are pretty easy to install. The Med/heavy are considered easy because you don't have to change arms or brakelines. The Caster Correction bushings should get you back to driving stock.

Now are you planning on carrying a bunch of weight in the back? A lot of people go with the Heavy/med so they don't have the "stinkbug" look. You can use whatever shocks you want as long as you get the adapters for the pin/pin style.

 

[PDoyle]

My biggest worry, as with a many looking to lift their 80's, is time in the shop after the install. I'm ok with driving to an alignment shop for a new alignment
but I don't want to keep adding stuff to get a good, clean, non body roll, highway ride.
Is this too much to ask?
also, shocks and pin/pin style? This is a first time mentioned How do you go about setting that up?

 

[FJBen]

My biggest worry, as with a many looking to lift their 80's, is time in the shop after the install. I'm ok with driving to an alignment shop for a new alignment
but I don't want to keep adding stuff to get a good, clean, non body roll, highway ride.
Is this too much to ask?
also, shocks and pin/pin style? This is a first time mentioned How do you go about setting that up?

if you want a simple bolt on setup with better than stock performance...make it easy...

OME Heavy fronts
OME MEdium rears
OME shocks for the lift
CC bushings...


around ~700ish and you are golden. Good ride, firm, lifted. The shock style for an 80 series is pin/pin front, pin/eye on the rear. You just have to order the right ones for lift application...otherwise go with OME...which most people are happy with.

Lift it, put the caster correction bushings in, allign it and your are good to go. Half day easy with a friend helping.

 

[tech_dog]

They said that they were looking at the possibility of having a few other bushings that altered the caster at various angles (I think the currently available OME ones are +2 degrees?), like +1, +3 etc.

This would be a sweet option for folks who are having a tough time getting their caster within spec.

Hayes

I'd think that anything much more than the +2 OME would have the mounting bolts touching the metal in the arms.

 

[PDoyle]

FJBen, seems like the right thing to do. I just can't get around the shock choice though. Bill's or Nitro's? How do I get the cc bushings? CDan?
Anyone know where I can get the least expensive price for the OME kits?

 

[PDoyle]

Also, are there any other bushings I can replace besides the CC's while lifting?