OME vs Ironman vs HFS vs...

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Just chiming in here...

OME Medium spec on my 84 FJ60. Light loads on this truck. DD duty a majority of the time. Only additions that would effect the suspension are a 33" spare in the factory spot and an ARB front bumper. Ride is great.

Order from Kurt. He will tailor to your every need. There are many options on these kits. I wish I could say I got my suspension from him, but I hadn't heard of him at the time. I got some OME bushings from him a while back, and was more than pleased with his service!
 
OME Heavy / heavy / "A" springs on the rear. Never had any issues. See Kurt as noted.
 
Like it's been said already mate they're all made in China now, OME has gone to s***e and I wouldn't spend that money for a brand name that was traditionally great but now is mediocre at best. Nobody in Australia buys OME leaves these days unless you've got more cash than brains.

I'm running ironman for close to 5 years in a medium duty and I've got no complaints but like its been said I've got an a****** and That entitles me to an opinion of which I have many.

You've got to get the rest if the install right like shackles, bushes, u bolts, shocks etc and then the springs are just another part if the system. Consider the system not just the spring, new springs are worth s***e if you don't renew matching components.

Honestly you've listed a few well known highly used brands and they all offer some form of warranty so go for what is the best reasonable value and report back to add to the debate of who sells the best springs.
 
Not sure how I missed this when searching (sorry trapper50cal - googled this one lol) but found a little more info regarding ome vs ironman. Sounds like Mark's off-road carried ironman lifts a couple years ago. He's a couple miles from me so I may talk to him about ironman. He's just a little hard to get a hold of most of the time!

https://forum.ih8mud.com/60-series-wagons/528210-iron-man-vs-ome-dakar.html

I love the input from everyone here! Thanks Kurt for taking time to chime in. If things don't work out here with Mark locally I'll definitely be giving you a call.
 
As far as the OME fitment issues go, a friend of mine installed a complete OME kit w/ Dakar springs & Nitrocharger Sport shocks a week ago and he had absolutely no issues. The kit was bought from Man A Fre a few months back.

One thing that I found odd is that the kit was delivered with triangular shackles. Now, Ive seen very few 60/62s with OME suspension up close, but plenty of other vehicles and had never seen a kit with such shackles.

I'm not sure about EFS, but every single person i've met that had a Ironman lift on his vehicle (of any sort) complained about the quality of the bushings. Be it shock bushings or any other type, they all wore out extremely quickly. Performance wise, they're basically the same, or at least I havent felt a noticeable difference between the two..
 
I subscribe to the church of kurt. It's a lot of fun.

I got an ome lift from him that a customer traded in since he was going SOA. Kurt was patient and got me the bushings and other wear pieces I needed. Great fit and the ride is awesome. Just need to wheel it more
 
I would be very surprised if Ironman manufacture their own bushes and not get them from the same factory everyone else gets them from.

I would respond by suggesting that most of all bush failure is from poor installation. A lot of people over tighten bushes and some install rubber bushes on greaseable shackles also some install the wrong size bushes.....
 
Crick60 said:
I would be very surprised if Ironman manufacture their own bushes and not get them from the same factory everyone else gets them from.
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I can assure you Ironman does not get their bushings from the same place as OME, which doesn't get them from the same place as Dobinson, which doesn't get them from the same place as Energy Suspension, which doesn't get them from the same place as Daystat. You get the point, very different. On that note, OME springs are NOT made in China either ;)
 
......

cat.webp
 
Aren't they made in Malaysia? And the manufacturing processes are the EXACT same. Its not like OME made the Malaysian workers figure out how to make leaf springs. They're not dumb. In recent years the quality in products manufactured overseas has increased drastically to the point where it matches what we would expect from a wealthier country or even exceed it. Sure all manufactured goods will have discontinuities but I've never heard of an OME suspension system failing to perform as advertised.
 
I like my setup. OME

MicahMan said:
I subscribe to the church of kurt. It's a lot of fun.
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I got my OME DAKAR heavies from Kurt prolly 5 or so years ago now, after several conversations and emails he recommended an excellent setup aligned with my use. I like the setup a lot and suits me well. I've been doing weeklong "extreme tactical over landing" with a pretty heavy load on my 60 throughout CO, Utah, WY, Etc. I gots all the typical junk (bumpers, winch, fridge, rack, fuel, etc).

I was one of those very rare situations where there was a spring out of spec and some other minor 60 series anomaly. he worked with ARB directly for quick resolution, been running it happily ever since.

"It's not whether or not issues come up, it's how professionally you deal with them when they do come up, and they will come up."

Kurt is the real deal and one of the best vendors. Period.
 
dbleon said:
Maybe if they were made in u.s, germany, aus, etc I'd be proud to make that statement... :confused:
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That was simply in reference to his comment "they're all made in China now". Don't get me wrong, I wish they were still made in Aus, or better yet the US. But to stay competitive and yet maintain the same quality, ARB set up leaf spring manufacturing in Malaysia, just as they have done with bumper production in their own factory in Thailand. I was very hesitant about the Dakar shift in fact we purchased all of the remaining OME inventory at the tail end of the transition. While there were a few issues such as the spring inserts moving around, all of those have been remedied and we have an equal success rate with the Dakars as we did in the 10+ years before that with the OME.

NolanFJ60 said:
Aren't they made in Malaysia? And the manufacturing processes are the EXACT same. Its not like OME made the Malaysian workers figure out how to make leaf springs. They're not dumb. In recent years the quality in products manufactured overseas has increased drastically to the point where it matches what we would expect from a wealthier country or even exceed it. Sure all manufactured goods will have discontinuities but I've never heard of an OME suspension system failing to perform as advertised.
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Correct, starting in 2005 OME stared transitioning to the Dakar lineup. The more popular applications were first to sell through and go Dakar, more obsolete stuff like FJ45 rears lasted for a bit longer, at least here in the US.
 
CardinalFJ60 said:
...Kurt is the real deal and one of the best vendors. Period.
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Thanks Shawn, I really appreciate the kind words. I'm fortunate to deal with the best of breed in customers, Cruiserheads!
 
I think we're missing the point here, literally all leaf springs are made in the greater Asia area using Australian mined iron ore processed by China (who currently can not meet demand) and yes that can be both positive and negative.

What really matters is the quality control and there in lies the problem because where OME in its prime was manufactured in Australia using premium BHP steel they are now made in a factory in "Asia" (last time i checked a few years back it was Malaysia) with what seems to be poor quality control. A quick google search shows many instances with OME faults and failures where traditionally there simply was nothing wrong with them and yes they were the best.

I'm not picking specifically on OME here because each manufacturer has it's problems but it is beyond me how people put OME on a pedestal when clearly they are just as good or bad as every other manufacturer out there right now. The only difference is if you're willing to fork out twice as much for a brand that no longer is a premium product.

I mean it's your money so feel free to buy OME.

In regards to bushes if you're breaking bushes in less than 20,000km you either have purchased really bad bushes or you've done something wrong. My money would be on doing something wrong.
I've had rubber bushes in for at least 60,000km and they still look brand new.
 
I understand your interest in maintaining a good product reputation Kurt but honestly ARB is pandering specifically to the US market now and the more wealthy Australian retiring market towing caravans.

I worked as a fitter for ARB about 10 years ago and I loved their product then. Now a days I'm more into dirt rods but my mates own custom workshops and they rarely touch springs because they do mostly comp trucks but ARB don't even call on them anymore.

I appreciate your position and respect your opinion.
 
dbleon said:
Maybe if they were made in u.s, germany, aus, etc I'd be proud to make that statement... :confused:
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Just to be straight, they're not made in China...just a little south of there!
 
I'm not to concerned about where they're made because lets face, everything seems to be made somewhere under cheap labor but they do have to follow some grand scheme. Quality is probably not based on who makes them but more on how and what their made of. They could be made in the US but if you're using poor quality material and substandard manufacturing techniques then crap is crap.
OME sounds like a very good product and many people are satisfied but my only concern is if I fall in the category of those who have had to do several "tweaks" to get them dialed in right. I'll be having a shop put them on and would hate to go back and forth with a shop to get them dialed in. Unfortunately I don't have the time or space anymore to do it myself.
I have 2 small children (3 & 5) and am trying to get my fj60 road worthy for some camping trips this summer. So with that said...this leads me to the question of use - I'll be using it for partial DD, weekend camping trips, expedition and snowboarding trips. Nothing to heavy duty.
 
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