Old Man Emu: Questions, Answers & Pictures

The trim packer goes under the front driver's side coil

 

Nope. Definitely didn't have that. I was there for the installation and never saw a piece like that. I don't think it is part of the package when ordering from TRDParts. The lean isn't that great. Probably better now with working suspension. With my future bed plans there will be less weight over the drivers side anyway.

 

That's too bad , it's an OME part , easy to install initially

 

What side is the lean on? I'll install the packer when I do the 13mm spacers.

 

It goes on the driver's side , on the coil seat of the shock

 

Hey everyone.

I just bought my OME kit with 886/9000 Nitrochargers up front, N182 and ToyTec AAL in the back.

Is this something I can install myself? I haven't had much experience wrenching vehicles outside of changing tires, oil and a few minor mods here and there. Or should I seek the advice of a professional?

I don't currently have new UCAs. Should I hold off on installing it until I get those, or can I run it as-is for a while and then upgrade the UCAs when I have a little more jingle in my pocket? (bathroom renovation gets in the way of everything)

Thanks for the advice.

EDIT: The coils are already assembled as I bought them off a guy on here.

 

There is enough info on this site that pretty much anyone can install this lift by themselves or at least with a hand from a buddy. It gets more difficult if the shocks and springs are not pre-assemblemed. There are a few good stickies in the suspension section, read those if you haven't already and that should give you an idea. IMO i would do UCAs at the same time, just because you will have everything apart anyway, and it is easy to get the coilover in place if the UCA is out, that is how i did it and i didn't have to mess with the LCA or tie rod. If you run into a problem just ask on the forum and you should be able to figure it out.

 

Awesome. Thanks!

I guess I'll hold off a month or so and find some UCAs. Gonna be hard with those pretty yellow things sitting in the basement.

In the meantime I'll start educating myself on the ins-and-outs of swapping them myself. I appreciate the advice.

 

The money you save by doing it yourself should buy you a nice set of UCAs you just need the tools. Floor jack, jack stands, torque wrench, maybe a breaker bar and socket set and thats about it. Plus if you do it now you will need an alignment, then another one when you do UCAs

 

After doing the front lift job 5 times on 3 Tacomas, its my opinion that doing the UCA at the same time makes the job a lot easier. 2/5 times we hurt the tie rod end bushing. Not to say it couldn't have been done better, but shit happens and its a tight fit. There is enough info for you to determine for yourself if you are capable. No one here knows your mechanical competence.

 

Good to know. And yeah, I thought about the alignment issue.

It's pretty limited as far as automobiles goes, but I'm not afraid of new opportunities - especially if it gives me further insight which could help down the line -- or on a FS road. But it definitely seems as if getting the UCAs is the way to go, whether I determine I can do it myself or take it to the local wrench.

Thanks again, guys.

 

^^^ You can do it, especially after you've read up on the boards. Get a buddy who you know wrenches for work/fun to help out. There's nothing terribly complicated about it.

 

That's going to be a stiff front end until you get some extra weight on it.
Check for a local BS thread, local Mod Day, local members that lifted theirs. A lot of members are willing to help another. I helped two other members do a lift and in the proscess learned how to do mine when the time came. I also learned a few things on here that made it a lot easier to pull my fronts out to add the 1/4" spacer. Put your bottle jack upside down between the wheel well and your UCA to push the LCA down far enough to get the shock in the lower mount.

 

Wrong, the Toytec spacers for 3/4" lift are 1/2" thick. I have them on my truck.

 

Do you have additional weight like an aftermarket bumper and winch? The 886 coils are designed for over 200 lbs additional weight on the front end without that weight the ride will be awful stiff and you could damage front end components from too much lift. You will not be able to set your front alignment either which will wear tires too.

 

I put 886s in mine with no weight for over a year. Slightly stiff (corner like a race car) but otherwise rode fine. They don't make the lift higher without the extra weight, it's still right about 2". The difference is that they are harder to compress in order to take the extra weight. It's not at all like a coilover where the spring is pre compressed in the strut to make lift.

He won't have a hard time getting an alignment unless he adds the spacers and pushes over 2". Again, I put in 886 and not a problem getting aligned.

As far as the spacers go: read back a couple of pages. We just had this discussion.

 

886s should yield a little more lift compared to 885s, even disregarding spring rate 886s are 6mm longer IIRC. Which means without extra weight they should yield 1/4-1/2" more lift than 885s. Its suprising you only got about 2" of lift with 886s, i ended up at or a little over 2.5" of lift with 885s no top plate spacers.

 

Yes

 

Ok, half an inch, maybe 3/4 if we want to be safe. Didn't encounter any ride, vibes, or alignment issues. And now nowhere near those numbers all armored up.

 

Nice, you are one of the lucky ones. Now with full armor 2" sounds about right. Just wanted to clarify in my previuos post, there is alot of misinformation on OME lifts, not necessarily on this site, but alot of vendors still refer to a OME lift as a 2" lift, even with 886s.