Old Man Emu: Questions, Answers & Pictures

Hey Dirtboy. Reputable sources caution against reusing u-bolts. They stretch when you torque them down, and then when you reinstall them there's no stretch left and they are weakened. Guys on TW will say "I reused mine with no problems at all". Well...maybe they just haven't broken yet. I played it safe and installed new ones from Wheelers. They're not very expensive, and gave me peace of mind.

 

If you're down there dicking with it, get a flip kit and install that.

 

Really?

 

What's your setup?

 

That's when I was running 884s, 5100s, and TSB pack.

 

I had 884s with 90021s up front, N182s in the rear with an AAL, I was wanting 2" all around but made a mistake when ordering my coils because I was ignorant as to which ones I needed. Mine sat nose down a lot. I don't have any good pictures of it because the rake annoyed me so much. Yours may be different but that's how mine was

 

It could depend on the leafs or the coils. If you have a 1.5" AAL in the back at first then you'd need different shocks and coils to bring the front up too. I was wanting 2" or so all around, I should have done 885s up front.

 

Unless you plan to drag your rear all over rocks doing some serious rock crawling action flip kits are an absolute waste of money. The amount of clearance you gain from a flip kit as apposed the factory ubolts/bottom plates is minimal. Also unless you plan to relocate the lower shock tabs, because those are prone to damage too, this mod is really pointless. Oh and once you flip now you have to worry about new bumps since the factory ones can't be used anymore, this just adds to the cost of doing this trendy mod.

Honestly the money people spend on these flip kits + bumps could be put to a lot better use.

 

They're not expensive.

 

I honestly can't recall ever hearing someone say their ubolts broke from being reused, can you?

Personally I have taken my rear end apart more times than I can remember and each time I reused the same ubolts. The thread on them is always in good shape, very little rust if any at all (thanks zinc coating), and the nuts didn't seem to struggle to much going on (the thread would be my biggest worry).

Could it be that some places are just trying to sell you on buying more.... here buy these lower grade china made ubolts and nuts that we make a profit on to replace the ubolts you have.

Just saying!

But yeah if you can afford to replace each nut and bolt you torque on that would be idea, of course only providing the replacement is of the same or better quality.

 

They work for me since I am one of those that drags my ass. Not the greatest pic of it but you can see the metal missing from the lower shock mount. If my bolts were still there I would have been hung up on that shit too. I'm cool with one less thing to drag. I don't know what type of wheeling that guy is doing so thought I would suggest them.

 

Hey if you want to spend $200 + (flip + bumps) on something you will never need, knock yourself out.

Now its possible you do some serious off-roading and actually benefit from having them, but for most its a waste of money and they gain nothing from them. In fact a lot of people just loose up travel running them, but hey it looks cool right

 

For those that want to do it, you can do it for around $100

$46 Daystar KU09037BK Front/Rear Bolt-In Extended Bump Stop

$28 for new bumps, just need to drill a couple holes
$64 for the flip kit

 

Even though your shaft is scared, this pic proves my point. No scratches by the ubolts and even if there was those lower shock tabs would be beat to shit. And you actually do some off-roading too.

 

I would but I don't understand the point of it for my install and set up. I'm completely done with my setup besides the rear shocks going in. So I lighten me on the use and point of the flip kit? Sorry for the ignorance

 

I say its one less thing hanging down to get hung up on when your going over rocks. If you're only doing mild offroading I agree with what Salty said above.

 

Added my previous post down below for you, this should help explain things

Unless you plan to drag your rear all over rocks doing some serious rock crawling action flip kits are an absolute waste of money. The amount of clearance you gain from a flip kit as apposed to the factory ubolts/bottom plates is minimal. Also unless you plan to relocate the lower shock tabs, because those are prone to damage too, this mod is really pointless. Oh and once you flip now you have to worry about new bumps since the factory ones can't be used anymore, this just adds to the cost of doing this trendy mod.

Honestly the money people spend on these flip kits + bumps could be put to a lot better use.

 

Update to my lift after a month in ended up settling to about 2" of lift in the rear and 2" in the front(settled 1 inch in front and 1/2" in the rear). I didn't care for the rake I had and missed the 3 inches day of lift. And had the front diff vibrations caused by the needle bearing.

So I replaced the bearing for the bushing 2 days ago and installed a 3/8" spacer on the drivers side above the struts and a 1/4" soacer on the passenger side(due to 1/2 taco lean even after the Ome trim packer).
Verry happy with the results my current numbers are..
Front drivers 23 1/8
Front passenger 23 1/2
Rear drivers 24 1/8
Rear passenger 24 1/4

So about 2.5 front lift and 2.25 rear lift.

 

I have a 2010 DCLB 4x4. It currently has a ProComp lift on it. I bought it from a buddy that took great care of the truck from the time he purchased it new. I'm not happy with the Pro Comp lift, which is what was on it when I purchased.

I'm in the process of upfitting the truck for a 6 week trip from Las Vegas to Alaska. Further additions to the truck from the pictures which are currently attached are:

1. FabFours Rear Bumper
2. 10K winch in the FabFours front bumper
3. Snugtop Outback Topper
4. Roof Rack
5. LED bars
6. Lots of ancillary goodies on the interior

I've decided that for the use that I have for the truck that an OME with UCAs is the way to go. I think it will be a drastic improvement over what I have now for both road and off road. I'd like to end up somewhere around 3" of total lift when done. My question is this: Should I be looking at the 887's for the front? What's going to be the setup for the rear that will give me a level (or close to) stance?

Thx!

 

Thanks for the info.