One more time... OME 2.5 (2 Viewers)

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Joined
May 1, 2003
Threads
34
Messages
221
Location
Santa Cruz, California
So I just spent the last 2 hours reading some odd 8 threads regarding OME lifts and using NON-winch ARB bumpers. What everyone seems to suggest is heavy front, medium rear, yet if I remember correctly, I read (in a tech page) that unless you run the winch type bumper, you don't need the heavy springs in front. I definitely don't want a "stink bug" and am planning on a Slee purchase of the 2.5 lift. Now I'm a bit confused in what to get. Med/Med, or Heavy/Medium? I suppose I could just ask Christo at purchase, but seems that you guys have first hand experience with your rigs and installs.

I promise this is the last one I post regarding the OME lift, as I'm sure you're all a little tired of answering similar questions.

THANKS!
 
Go with the 2.5. Try to keep the front light - a tube (prerunner) bumper setup would accomplish this. If you need to level it out, a 10mm coil spacer will do the trick.

No need to overthink this - you can always adjust with spacers and the 2.5" will give you the best chance to stay out of trouble with driveline issues.

I'd only be looking at the other combos if you want more lift.

Nay
 
I like my Heavy front and Med rear. I have an ARB but no winch and mine has a slight rake comparable to the factory rake. The heavy front will ride the same as the med front but just be taller. They are the same spring rates.
 
I run mediums front and back. I then added the ARB Winch bumper and then added a Warn M12 winch. At this point, I added the 1" spacers from Mr. Gasket.

The heavies don't provide additional load capacity, just height. So, I chose to add the height when I needed it rather than up front. There is a thread in the FAQ about this. I think it is in the modifications section
 
XXXR said:
Any resources for that prerunner style bumper? Sounds interesting... (1996 FJ80)

I use local 4x4 fab shops for this kind of stuff so I can build to my specs/design at relatively low cost. Not sure about mail order type sources. A good prerunner with winch mount should run about $450 from a local shop. It should obviously be less if you don't do the winch mount, and you can then engineer outstanding approach/departure angles.

Rockware in Colorado Springs is the kind of shop I'm talking about. They've done custom work for me for far less than off the shelf products.

http://www.rockware.net/custom/toy.shtml

Here's a bumper Rockware made for my old Jeep. It withstood offroad abuse far better than the winch bumper I had previously, and was about 1/3 of the weight at most. You can't see this in the pic, but the side wrap portion was tied back into the brackets mounted to the subframe. Maybe that will give you some ideas.

218065351pKceRl_ph.jpg


Nay
 
Nay said:
Go with the 2.5. Try to keep the front light - a tube (prerunner) bumper setup would accomplish this. If you need to level it out, a 10mm coil spacer will do the trick.

No need to overthink this - you can always adjust with spacers and the 2.5" will give you the best chance to stay out of trouble with driveline issues.

I'd only be looking at the other combos if you want more lift.

Nay
Which springs (ie. 850/863, 850/860, etc) are you referring to, "2.5" has been used to refer to the heavy and medium springs before...
 
XXXR- It would have been nice if you had just included this discussion in my existing "OME Time!" thread instead of having 2 threads on the same topic going, but oh well. Next time, newbie! And BTW- welcome! :flipoff2:
 
firetruck41 said:
Which springs (ie. 850/863, 850/860, etc) are you referring to, "2.5" has been used to refer to the heavy and medium springs before...

http://www.sleeoffroad.com/products/80_suspension.htm

Scroll to bottom. OME medium, 851/860. If you can restrain from spending thousands of dollars on hundreds and hundreds of lbs of extra weight, it works well. The back end will be a bit higher without family and gear, which is exactly as it should be.

Compressing a taller suspension by adding all that extra weight to get to the same 2.5" height is not a performance motivated (on or offroad) decision, IMHO. I intitally did all that stuff on the above pictured Jeep, and I swear to this day that my very best mod was taking all of that crap off and that I'll never do it again.

I don't have flares, so my rig is probably a good viewpoint for this lift. I'll try to take a pic in the morning sun tomorrow and post it up.

Nay
 
"XXXR- It would have been nice if you had just included this discussion in my existing "OME Time!" thread instead of having 2 threads on the same topic going, but oh well. Next time, newbie! And BTW- welcome!"

Yeah, sorry Alaska, I did not mean to highjack your thread. I'm convinced that instead of running the different combos, I'll go medium 2.5 and use spacers later on. Hope it's not a mistake. Anyone in Santa Cruz by the way?
 
OME Heavy-Heavy spacers up front, winch bumper but no winch. Empety unfortuenely

I didnt buy the stuff, but if i did, Id go higher. However, if I wanted this hight i would do it exactly like this.
80 1.JPG
 
OME 2.5 using 851/860. Completely unloaded including spare tire.

FZJJ80 Side View.jpg

Rear tire view:

FZJ80 Rear Tire.jpg

Front tire view:

FJZ80 Front Tire.jpg

Now go back and look at my old Jeep tube bumper, and you can see how much front and rear clearance is potentially achievable even on a 2.5" lift. You'll probably be getting friendly with Mr. Sawzall in the process - and this is good 'cause once you are willing to cut you can throw the rule books out the window. Trimming is ultimately the way you keep lift moderate while maximizing tire size on any grocery getter, and at least for rock crawlers, diff clearance is an enormous issue that is only addressed by tire size (or axle swaps or housing trimming).

Those are 33" trxus. 34's would fill the wheel wells better, maybe alongside a 3/4" wheel spacer. A typical load for this rig includes 4 small kids and gear, plus the spare, so the rear gets compressed maybe 1/2" - 3/4".

It's nowhere near enough lift to get really serious, and that's the point :D. You can do the great majority of the trails out there with a setup like this...the next level up tends to be unkind to large rigs with this much pretty glass and sheet metal... :beer:

Nay
FZJJ80 Side View.jpg
FZJ80 Rear Tire.jpg
FJZ80 Front Tire.jpg
 
Nay - wht do you think of those Trexus MT's. I've been thinking about getting some 35's. Spec's say the 33's are actually 33.5" diameter, would your truck clear anything larger?
 
spartan said:
Nay - wht do you think of those Trexus MT's. I've been thinking about getting some 35's. Spec's say the 33's are actually 33.5" diameter, would your truck clear anything larger?

I love the trxus MT's, but I buy them because they are such an amazing snow tire for both packed and deep while having good, quiet, road manners (at least until you put a few hundred miles in the rocks on 'em). This tire is good at everything.

I almost went with the 34's (that is the size on the Jeep pictured above with a 15" rim). I'd have done it from a clearance perspective because I don't have flares and I think they would fit, especially with a small wheel spacer to keep them properly tucked at full compression. I was more concerned with the gearing, and the 33's are quite a bit less expensive. Not sure about Interco 35's...it would be tight, and I think you'd have no chance with flares unless you really adjusted the shock travel. I love the 34" size...they are such a great middle ground.

Had I known at the time that the 80 has an overdrive lockout button (I just figured that out :doh: ) I'd have done the 34's. 60-65 mph with 33's and OD locked out runs just a bit high in the RPM's, but that is the speed I tend to run in the high country (OD on a lifted 80 is useless anyway @ 9K to 12K feet unless you are going downhill). That is not your typical environment, but matching tires to 3rd gear actually makes a great deal of sense for me, because you have to gear way, way low to have an effective overdrive here.

Nay
 
OME med with 1" spacers in Front Fully loaded with front and rear bumper,s WARN Winch and sliders. The heavies would have given me a little more height.

attachment.php
 
Is there any downside to getting the heavies and running a stock or unloaded truck.

If the spring rates are the same the ride should be similar right, aside from the higher cod from the height gains.

Basically is there any reason not to run heavies on a stock rig, wont you just get more height without a overly stiff ride, plus the lack of worries if you want to really load the truck or install some heavy armor.

2.5 in heavies=3in lift on stock truck?

Can the caster correction compensate for that much lift and the angles involved?
 
Mountain_Dewd said:
Is there any downside to getting the heavies and running a stock or unloaded truck.

If the spring rates are the same the ride should be similar right, aside from the higher cod from the height gains.

Basically is there any reason not to run heavies on a stock rig, wont you just get more height without a overly stiff ride, plus the lack of worries if you want to really load the truck or install some heavy armor.

2.5 in heavies=3in lift on stock truck?

Can the caster correction compensate for that much lift and the angles involved?

The caster will not be fully corrected to factory specs and the ride will be firm. Lots of Cruiser run this setup.
 

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