OME LTR's, What to do??? (1 Viewer)

[Imagery]

I just recently purchased a new set of OME LTR's from MAF, thinking they were longer travel than my OME N74 and N73's. Well I was wrong about that obviously and now I am getting ready to install new 4" Slee springs with the various other components related to the lift, and I am wondering if there is any chance that I can still use the LTR's or will I need to get the N73L and N74L's and try to sell the LTR's. I really do like these shocks with my 2.5+1" 850/863 setup with the new BFG 315/75/R16 M/T's. How do I actually check to see how much up and down travel requires with the new 4" springs, to determine just how the LTR's lack in allowing that distance of travel? And is there anything that I can do as far as shock mounting extensions and or bump stop adjustments to limit travel to within the specs of the LTR's? I guess if I am continually topping out and bottoming out the LTR's they will eventually be damaged and worth nothing to anyone. Wish I had realized this before I purchased these shocks and I would have either gone with the L's or possibly Bilsteen or Fox. I still might consider the remote canister setup but first I guess I should measure my suspension at full stretch and full compression to be able to match that up with the shocks. Its not like I was opposed to investing the $200.00 each for the LTR's so I probably would try to sell these at half that and go ahead and invest again in something comparable.

 

[Waggoner5]

My OME book does not show extended and colapsed measurements for the LTR so I don't know about comparable lengths vs the L's. I think 10" travel in the front and 12" in the rear is very acceptable for a 4" lifted truck, but it will all depend on how you wheel it.

 

[Trunk Monkey]

I had the LTRs, they are the same length as the std. OME shocks (so much for the "long travel" designation eh?). I swapped springs from 2.5" OMEs to J's and kept the LTRs on since I did not want to remove them if I didn't have to (cost). After I got the J's on, I checked the droop and compression. The shock would bottom out on extension, acting as a limiter on the axle. Rather than damage the shocks, I got rid of them and went with the L shocks.

 

[Imagery]

You are right about that, It depends on how you wheel and I am not into hard core rocking but more of a stump jumper since we don't have rocky terrain down here in SE Texas. I know that the LTR's are the same extension as the N73/N74's. I found listed at Slee site that the N73 Firm (front) are 24.2" extended and 13.9" compressed. The N74E Firm (rear) is 24.4" and 14.6". The L's are 73L Firm (front) 26.2" and 14.9" and the N74L Firm (rear) is 26.4" and 15.6". Now I don't understand how to determine how that corresponds to the actual suspensions travel requirements but I know it is determined by the resting height of the vehicle sitting on its springs. I just am not sure where to actually take measurements from.... Well I guess it doesn't matter as long as you take the measurements from the same places. Like I can see how to get the full down distance from rest by I guess measuring from some point on the frame to some point on the axle, then lift the vehicle at the frame and let the wheels and axle drop until it stops, and I guess it is done with the shocks unmounted. But how would you measure the full up or compressed distance or it that preset by the bumpstops? I guess it would be measured by what ever the distance from the bottom of the stops at rest on the ground, to the top of the axle where they would contact at full compression. Anyway, I would need to have access to a full lift rack to make it easier.

 

[Trunk Monkey]

Take measurements from shock mount to shock mount. If you can find somewhere that has a loading dock with a ramp, you can kind of ghetto it. Drive up the ramp like an RTI ramp, stop just before your truck tips over.

Measure droop on the front tire, compression on the rear. Turn the truck around, back up the ramp - compression on the front, droop on the rear.

Oh, and driving around without shocks on is a BLAST.

 

[cruiserdan]

Oh, and driving around without shocks on is a BLAST.

What kept you from losing springs?..........

 

[alkaline747trio]

The front end wont loose a spring unless you go 3-link (even poor man's 3-link wont let the spring fall out). But I could see the rears falling right out...

You could use some pin extensions from ats4x4 to space the travel down (up-travel IS wasted on OME shocks no matter what the shock/spring selection is).

 

[CreeperSleeper]

What kept you from losing springs?..........

Tack weld...

Or a really good spotter.

 

[Trunk Monkey]

What kept you from losing springs?..........

Just around a parking lot, no speed. Extra bouncy.

 

[Imagery]

Take measurements from shock mount to shock mount. If you can find somewhere that has a loading dock with a ramp, you can kind of ghetto it. Drive up the ramp like an RTI ramp, stop just before your truck tips over.

Measure droop on the front tire, compression on the rear. Turn the truck around, back up the ramp - compression on the front, droop on the rear.

Oh, and driving around without shocks on is a BLAST.

So measure between shock mounts both up and down. Will that full droop measurement be more if you ramp it verses lifting entire vehicle on frame and letting axles drop. I might be more on the ramp since the compressed side of the axle would be pushing the other side further down. I don't know.... Is that correct??

 

[Trunk Monkey]

I don't know that I'd put it on a lift, but that's just me. On the ramp I had at least 3 tires on the ground kind of keeping things in place.

 

[Darwood]

The shock would bottom out on extension, acting as a limiter on the axle. Rather than damage the shocks, I got rid of them and went with the L shocks.

The L shocks act as a limiter as well, it's just that they allow about an inch more or so of droop before they limit.

 

[Trunk Monkey]

Unless you're going with a different brand of shock and need to spec out the length from Bilstein or Rancho, you know the OME L's will work with 4" springs as a lot of people are running that setup. If you've already got the LTRs and never plan on atriculating the suspension much, use them, you'll take a bath selling them.

 

[Imagery]

Unless you're going with a different brand of shock and need to spec out the length from Bilstein or Rancho, you know the OME L's will work with 4" springs as a lot of people are running that setup. If you've already got the LTRs and never plan on atriculating the suspension much, use them, you'll take a bath selling them.

Your right about bathing with them... I figured I would not have much luck selling them so perhaps I should just mount them on the wall for conversation sake. I'll probably play around with them on the truck until I get tired of them and then decide what I want to replace them with. I think that if I were to decide to go with Bilsyeen or Fox, I would have to use the Eye to Eye adaptors in order to make them fit.

I guess you could be right about not wanting to use a lift to check full droop because if the shocks are removed, then what would be keeping the axle from dropping to the floor? Well I guess the control arms would still hold it up but who knowes. In a real world situation this would never occur since you would have shocks of some length installed so the droop will be limited by that in itself. I guess you just have to look at it as for every action there is an equal or greater than reaction. When one wheel is down, the other goes up,

 

[Nay]

Let me see if I can make this easier for you. First, a 10" travel suspension is plenty even for a 4.5" lift as long as you are using all of the travel, i.e. shocks are properly mounted in order to take advantage of the full 10" travel that your suspension can achieve for a given tire size. I run Bilsteins on about an inch less lift with eye adapaters, and they are 10" travel running 35's - I use every bit of that travel with 5" up and 5" down (well, the front probably doesn't use it all because of arm design). L shocks accomplish the same thing, but if you needed the features of LTR's does a basic OME L shock meet your needs?

Your problem is that on a 4.5" lift, the LTR's are going to be about 2" of down travel and 8" up. Plus with 35's you are dropping bumpstops about 2" to prevent body contact, so you lose 2" of the up travel and now have an 8" travel suspension with really expensive shocks with no suspension down travel. All you need to do is space the shocks down 2", adding 2" to total available travel and creating better balance of up/down travel.

One way to do this is pin extenders, which cost a few bucks. I don't much care for the leverage you'd get on that upper pin in terms of bushing wear, but it would certainly work. The other way is raising or lowering a shock mount. You don't need a lift or ramp or anything else for this - just change a mount so the shock compresses 2" more at static ride height if you want to keep them. A simple 2" block on the pad up front would do this - the rear upper mount could easily be lowered as well. If you want to get really creative, raise the rear lower mounts and gain the advantage of pulling them away from the rocks.

That will take you back to the same travel ratios as running these shocks on OME medium (about 6" up and 4" down) while retaining 10" of travel for 35" tires, and you don't have to lose a ton of money.

Bottom line: you don't need longer shocks. You need shocks mounted to the lift height and usable travel you are creating.

Here is a sloppy drawing to illustrate what I am talking about.

Nay

 

[Waggoner5]

The front end wont loose a spring unless you go 3-link (even poor man's 3-link wont let the spring fall out). But I could see the rears falling right out...

You could use some pin extensions from ats4x4 to space the travel down (up-travel IS wasted on OME shocks no matter what the shock/spring selection is).

With 12 inch travel shocks on the front my partner in crime managed to eject one of the fronts at pismo. I didn't think that would happen either, but it did.

 

[Nay]

With 12 inch travel shocks on the front my partner in crime managed to eject one of the fronts at pismo. I didn't think that would happen either, but it did.

That all depends on the springs - they should not unload at full shock extension unless properly retained. Slapping 12" travel shocks on say OME heavy springs would probably not be a good idea without retension.

 

[cruiserdan]

The front end wont loose a spring unless you go 3-link (even poor man's 3-link wont let the spring fall out). But I could see the rears falling right out...

You could use some pin extensions from ats4x4 to space the travel down (up-travel IS wasted on OME shocks no matter what the shock/spring selection is).

You bet you will with the shocks removed. Cory said no shocks installed. No shocks, no downward travel limit.

 

[Waggoner5]

That all depends on the springs - they should not unload at full shock extension unless properly retained. Slapping 12" travel shocks on say OME heavy springs would probably not be a good idea without retension.

12" shocks on 6" Slee springs

 

[Nay]

12" shocks on 6" Slee springs

Right, what I meant is that shock and spring travel are harmonized. You have to be very careful mixing and matching kit parts without very solid spring retention. Slee's 6" kit uses an 11" travel shock mounted in the stock position. By going to a 12" travel setup with eye mount adapters you have added ~4" of down travel to the available travel. Unless the springs are designed for this (lower spring rate/longer coil or progressive rate), they can unload entirely if the whole front end drops out (unloads) as radius suspensions are prone to do on steep climbs.