Skyjacker lift
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In general, there are three approaches to suspension building/buying:
1) Just get the lift. This is typically simply a moderate quality spring that has no special design parameter other than a higher than stock spring rate and desired lift amount. It may just be springs and may be offered with a standard cheap shock ("nitro" or "hydro" shock). You will not get the benefit of a spring and shock suspension that was designed as a system specific to your vehicle.
2) A "kit". Here you get a spring and shock combination specifically designed for the vehicle. OME fits directly in this category. FOR and Slee kits also fall in this category. Part of the discussion in this category focuses on the variances between the kits based on their designs. A common mistake in this class is focusing on lift height as the primary factor.
While OME may have reasonably well designed kits, OME is not a rock crawling company and their suspensions are more designed for "overland" use. It is known in multiple markets that OME suspensions are prone to premature spring failure if purchased with the intent of a high volume of hardcore rock crawling use.
You might also imply that a suspension designed for rock crawling might not be the best for high speed overland use, although usage bias could be seen as a venn diagram where you want the heart of your bias to fit well with the design premise of the suspension, leaving the "exceptions" to low volume use. When you look at suspensions that cost more than OME, what you may be getting is a broader "sweet spot" in cross functional use, because the suspension was designed specifically to accomplish that using more costly components.
The point is that a system will produce what it was designed to produce, and understanding the design intention is a lot more important than labels like "extreme, competition, expedition, etc".
Generally speaking, kits are more expensive than the budget lift, and if you are new to the sport and/or vehicle and want to assess a lift before settling in on a long term approach, going with Category 1 over Category 2 may make sense. You might say "an OME 2.5" lift is better than a Skyjacker 2.5" lift", and it probably is in the sense of one being a "kit" and the other just being a "lift", but neither may be what you need from a design perspective.
3) The "Kit Plus". Here you are typically taking the spring you want and working shock travel around that spring both for performance and tire fitment. A "kit" may do this for you for a target range of performance, but if you find that you are spending excess time in the "exceptions" usage, you might want to tweak it or have custom springs designed as well as making suspension linkage modifications.
People who play in this 3rd category typically live in a world of severely diminishing returns because it is difficult to take any "dual purpose" vehicle well beyond it's original design premise without radical modifications such as body/frame cutting. However, you can take a standard spring like a Slee 6" and effectively design a radically different suspension than the Slee 6" kit.
In my opinion, this forum is continuing to struggle with the embedded mix of ideas in the first and second categories when they are very distinct approaches. None of these suspensions are automatically the best. I personally think OME is an absolute waste of money independent of resale value for somebody who is dedicated to rock crawling on 35's (or bigger) - you can only look at it as value if you don't assign value to your time and spring longevity.
I think OME is an excellent value for the "camping plus" set who may crawl from time to time, and that Skyjacker/Downey are perfectly fine for trial lift evaluations for the budget minded who are trying to get a feel for their needs.
And I think you go FOR/Slee for kits specifically designed for 35" tires if that is your goal, choosing between them based on your usage. They have very different underlying designs and accordingly different outputs.
It is best to first pick your category between 1 and 3. Once you have settled on a category, then look to the design premise (and cost) of each so you make the right choice for your usage. It doesn't matter how "good" a kit is if that kit was not designed to support your usage bias.
1) Just get the lift. This is typically simply a moderate quality spring that has no special design parameter other than a higher than stock spring rate and desired lift amount. It may just be springs and may be offered with a standard cheap shock ("nitro" or "hydro" shock). You will not get the benefit of a spring and shock suspension that was designed as a system specific to your vehicle.
2) A "kit". Here you get a spring and shock combination specifically designed for the vehicle. OME fits directly in this category. FOR and Slee kits also fall in this category. Part of the discussion in this category focuses on the variances between the kits based on their designs. A common mistake in this class is focusing on lift height as the primary factor.
While OME may have reasonably well designed kits, OME is not a rock crawling company and their suspensions are more designed for "overland" use. It is known in multiple markets that OME suspensions are prone to premature spring failure if purchased with the intent of a high volume of hardcore rock crawling use.
You might also imply that a suspension designed for rock crawling might not be the best for high speed overland use, although usage bias could be seen as a venn diagram where you want the heart of your bias to fit well with the design premise of the suspension, leaving the "exceptions" to low volume use. When you look at suspensions that cost more than OME, what you may be getting is a broader "sweet spot" in cross functional use, because the suspension was designed specifically to accomplish that using more costly components.
The point is that a system will produce what it was designed to produce, and understanding the design intention is a lot more important than labels like "extreme, competition, expedition, etc".
Generally speaking, kits are more expensive than the budget lift, and if you are new to the sport and/or vehicle and want to assess a lift before settling in on a long term approach, going with Category 1 over Category 2 may make sense. You might say "an OME 2.5" lift is better than a Skyjacker 2.5" lift", and it probably is in the sense of one being a "kit" and the other just being a "lift", but neither may be what you need from a design perspective.
3) The "Kit Plus". Here you are typically taking the spring you want and working shock travel around that spring both for performance and tire fitment. A "kit" may do this for you for a target range of performance, but if you find that you are spending excess time in the "exceptions" usage, you might want to tweak it or have custom springs designed as well as making suspension linkage modifications.
People who play in this 3rd category typically live in a world of severely diminishing returns because it is difficult to take any "dual purpose" vehicle well beyond it's original design premise without radical modifications such as body/frame cutting. However, you can take a standard spring like a Slee 6" and effectively design a radically different suspension than the Slee 6" kit.
In my opinion, this forum is continuing to struggle with the embedded mix of ideas in the first and second categories when they are very distinct approaches. None of these suspensions are automatically the best. I personally think OME is an absolute waste of money independent of resale value for somebody who is dedicated to rock crawling on 35's (or bigger) - you can only look at it as value if you don't assign value to your time and spring longevity.
I think OME is an excellent value for the "camping plus" set who may crawl from time to time, and that Skyjacker/Downey are perfectly fine for trial lift evaluations for the budget minded who are trying to get a feel for their needs.
And I think you go FOR/Slee for kits specifically designed for 35" tires if that is your goal, choosing between them based on your usage. They have very different underlying designs and accordingly different outputs.
It is best to first pick your category between 1 and 3. Once you have settled on a category, then look to the design premise (and cost) of each so you make the right choice for your usage. It doesn't matter how "good" a kit is if that kit was not designed to support your usage bias.
Wow, what a great response Nay. 
There have been pages of debates / arguments over OME & Skyjacker (all lifts in general) and this is the first intelligent, reasonable , non-confrontational response I have seen...yet it seems so logical. OME is built in mass for the masses. They arent a specialty company, indicated by the fact that you can buy their kits just about anywhere but Wal-mart...
Just like anything else, unless you have money to burn, purchasing a lift within your budget by the 80/20 rule sounds reasonable to me!
There have been pages of debates / arguments over OME & Skyjacker (all lifts in general) and this is the first intelligent, reasonable , non-confrontational response I have seen...yet it seems so logical. OME is built in mass for the masses. They arent a specialty company, indicated by the fact that you can buy their kits just about anywhere but Wal-mart...
Just like anything else, unless you have money to burn, purchasing a lift within your budget by the 80/20 rule sounds reasonable to me!
Resonable is so BORING!!!
I might be misunderstanding what you mean with speciality company, but I would not say that OME is not a speciality system when every suspension they design are application specific. The fact that you can buy it everywhere hasn't got anything to do with how it was developed.
The springs raised your truck and the ride is VERY GOOD. You even got a free pair of rear shocks. You are unhappy because it is going to cost you extra if you want heavier springs for bumpers and a winch. Why didn't you get heavier springs to begin with if you were going to get heavy bumpers?
I'm very happy with my skyjacker lift springs. They worked well with my arb front bumper and without. I like the fact that they come with a lifetime warranty and I won't ever have to worry about spending money replacing ome springs that have sagged.
What he is saying is that if he had gotten an OME setup when he added weight there would be a clear path to the next spring to carry the additional weight. Since he has these springs it will be a crap shoot as far as where to go next once he adds the extra weight.
Generally people want to setup their trucks properly. Part of this is to install a spring of the correct rate for the weight of the vehicle. If adding bumpers and such is a ways down the road then installing a higher rate spring will adversely effect the ride quality and handling until that extra weight is added. I myself have gone through 3 sets of springs during my build up.
The fact that OME has more springs available for the 80 series, than probably all other 80 series springs available in the US, combined, says you aren't quite right on this point.
I wish Wal-mart sold OME, then I could have afforded them. I have had Skyjackers on for 2 weeks now (+1 inch body lift). Still have not changed the shocks or even had time to align the front end. And it rides as good as it did before I started. I just drove round trip from Chandler AZ to the Grand Canyon. Handled fine on the interstate at 80mph and even better on the Broke Arrow Trail in Sedona. Can't wait to see how good these springs are with new longer shocks and castor correction!
I should caveat my experiance was with the 40 setup. The skyjacker springs were great. The shocks were not and the eyelet broke off the shock after about 2000 miles. I know someone else it happend to as well.
I agree with you on the Skyjacker shocks. I had them on a Heep Cherokee and the they were extremely rough. I only bought the springs from Skyjacker. The reason I have not swapped the shocks yet is because I have not decided what I want yet. Am am sure Toyota shocks would be OK but mine have 175,000 mile on them.
You can do new Toyota or buy the OME. Some use Bilstiens, but that requires a modification. If it where me and I was buying new shocks anyways, I would get the OME to go with your skyjacker springs based on we know they can take the beating offroad and still provide great onroad performance. Cdan is still running Toyota shocks so you could talk to him as well.