OME Rear Suspension Woes (Again)

[PVCsnorkel]

About 4 and a half years ago I replaced all the suspension in my 60 with an OME Heavy lift, Anti-inversion shackles and a U-bolt flip kit. I was under it last weekend power washing it and I discovered that the rear spring packs have come lose and are out of place. From what I saw, the center bolt has come lose so the leaf's are moving around. Consequently this is a similar issue to what caused me to replace the old springs 4.5 years ago.

I consulted with a friend about the issue and said that OME springs only last about 4-5 Years. Is that true?
I wheel my 60 relatively hard, but that seems like a short amount of time for a lift kit, as the shocks aren't even worn out yet.

I'm thinking of pulling the packs out, replacing the bolts and resetting the leaf's. But if I am going that far and they're shot I might as well replace it all.

 

[CruiserTrash]

About 4 and a half years ago I replaced all the suspension in my 60 with an OME Heavy lift, Anti-inversion shackles and a U-bolt flip kit. I was under it last weekend power washing it and I discovered that the rear spring packs have come lose and are out of place. From what I saw, the center bolt has come lose so the leaf's are moving around. Consequently this is a similar issue to what caused me to replace the old springs 4.5 years ago.

I consulted with a friend about the issue and said that OME springs only last about 4-5 Years. Is that true?
I wheel my 60 relatively hard, but that seems like a short amount of time for a lift kit, as the shocks aren't even worn out yet.

I'm thinking of pulling the packs out, replacing the bolts and resetting the leaf's. But if I am going that far and they're shot I might as well replace it all.

Just put some loctite on the pin nuts. You don't have to pull the spring packs, just use a couple of clamps and loosen the u-bolts to get the u-bolt flip plates out of the way. Pull the nut off the center pin, loctite, retighten it. Ask me how I know...

If the springs are broken, losing arch, or are bent near the eyes then yeah, maybe time to replace ... but 4 years seems like an awfully short time. The OME springs I pulled off Matilda in 2023 still had arch but were starting to flatten out where the lower plates were. They were probably still usable. They had the older Emu cartoon logo, so at least 20 years old.

 

[PVCsnorkel]

Just put some Loctite on the pin nuts. You don't have to pull the spring packs, just use a couple of clamps and loosen the U-bolts to get the U-bolt flip plates out of the way. Pull the nut off the center pin, Loctite, retighten it. Ask me how I know...

I was thinking I could do an operation like this to fix the issue. The driver's side front eyelet pin is out of position and needs to be reset too since I'll be in there, so I at least have to drop that side in the front. I'm hoping the center pin isn't screwed up so I can just tighten it with Loctite.

If the springs are broken, losing arch, or are bent near the eyes then yeah, maybe time to replace ... but 4 years seems like an awfully short time. The OME springs I pulled off Matilda in 2023 still had arch but were starting to flatten out where the lower plates were. They were probably still usable. They had the older Emu cartoon logo, so at least 20 years old.

Nothing looks broken, just shifted around and out of place. The very old Rough Country springs that were on the truck when I got it was falling apart like this set but not flat or cracked so I figured this set still had a lot of life left.

 

[DrRock]

Be aware the torque on the U bolts is quite high (105 ft/lbs) so make sure you are torquing all the u bolt nuts to this spec

 

[PVCsnorkel]

Be aware the torque on the U bolts is quite high (105 ft/lbs) so make sure you are torquing all the u bolt nuts to this spec

Good thing I have a 3 foot long 3/4" drive torque wrench hahaha