Old Man Emu setups on 1st gens

Oh, it'll be the same on those other points too. Whatever info youve got on that '99 will be the same for your truck. There was no change in the suspension components so you're got to go with the '99 specs. Oh and it'll be the same with an aftermarket leaf pack, same as the OEM that is.

 

Nice pics! Boy that poor taco has seen lots of hot hot summers in the heat hu? Also looks to be gettin pretty deep in the sand there...haha you were already needin that winch hu!?
With those pics you posted i see you do have a good lil front rake goin on. I still dont think you will see enough "settling" with a winch in there to bring you dead nuts level front to rear. You'll prolly need to bring the rear up a tad... since you got the Dakars that'll be perfect to utilize the matching AAL's to bring you to level!

 

Haha ya it got deep and stuck... All my fault though, was inching along and for some reason thought it'd be a good idea to try to reverse out of it... Live and learn, stupid hit me. I've got a quote to get the hood and roof repainted but doing some fun mods first. I bought this truck for the sole purpose of using it to commute and get around our 2500 acre deer lease, so the paint doesn't bother me to much

Here she is taking it easy on the sandbar. At least it convinced my wife that we "need" a winch now.

 

Lol yip i bet she was sold on the winch after this incident!haha. I wouldnt be bothered by the paint much myself either, was more in awe of the heat and UV that it took to do so.

Hey what was the quote you got to do the hood and roof?

 

I just bought the truck 2 months ago but before that it spent most of its 16 years living in El Paso Tx, so I am sure it has seen its share of 100+ degree days. I've only got one quote and it was $700, and $300 for repowder coating the front bumper. That is the cost of my winch and offroad lights, so... it will have to wait. Plus I am still debating on weather i am going to wrap it for "Company" advertising.

 

Great pictures, thank you for posting. I really love my 2.7L even though its slow. It gets the job done and I can get it to sip gas when I need it to. I'm looking forward to the lift soon. Just need to be patient while fulfilling the honey-do's...

 

Good morning, wow this is a huge thread. I attempts to read it through but collapsed at page 20.

I'm ordering a full kit with 881's and nitro chargers all around in the current group buy. I'm hoping for some feedback regarding springs.

The kit I'm ordering comes with Dakars that fit a 98-04, but I have a 95.5. Those springs are too long to fit my truck and I'm thinking to buy either General HD springs or Dakars for late model pickups (I've read that they fit, maybe you have to take out a leaf)

I'm keen to the HDs because I originally was just going to buy the HDs to replace my shot springs. So I'm leaning towards the HDs. Another reason I'm thinking HDs is because I'd like to just bolt them on and I'm not completely sure how plug and play the pickup Dakars are for me.

I use this truck as my DD and camping rig. Sometimes I tow our small pop up camper. It's a v6 extra cab with a leer shell.

Is anyone running 881s with General HDs or pickup Dakars?

James

 

Im not running either set of leafs, but you're gunna wanna go with the hd's. The ome springs you would have to take atleast one leaf out cause the give like 4" of lift. But now your capacity is dropped pretty good. With the hd's youll need to still find a way to lift the rear since they offer no lift, not a big deal to figure that out though. But they are going to have a good load capacity youre looking for...

 

Thanks @bry838

I gotta tell you that I did go with OME all around, 881s up front and CS019R in the back. I saw that @EastWaTaco has a 95 and running them too. I said the hell with it and pulled the trigger.

I'll post some pics in a month when the kit arrives!

 

Here is my 98, day after purchase used and somewhat abused



New ARB bull bar, and 883 OME coils with Bilstein 5100s



Full rear Dakar pack with AAL, and Bilstein 5125s.
Coming along

 

Hey guys, I just bought a used OME lift for my 99 4x4 xtracab v6. It came with the 883 coils and dakars with AAL. Should I try running this setup (I don't have a heavy bumper or weight in the back), or should I try and find some 881's and remove the AAL from the back? I'm just worried that without the extra weight pushing down on the 883's I will have limited down travel.

 

Quick question. How thick of a trim packer do I need at the front to level out the truck? 5mm or 10mm? - Springs are 881, standard OME kit for gen 1, V6, Extra Cab. Truck has a Leer camper at the back and will have a winch at the front.

 

Cant say, some trucks dont need it at all and some need a thick one. Gettin the 5 is a good bet though, middle of the road...

 

^^^ Thanks. OK, going to do a 5mm. Apparently there is a different kind of spacer that can be added to the shock mount later in case 5mm worth of packer is not enough. That way you don't have to take the shock apart all over again to add another 5mm. But knowing me and my OCD, a spacer at the top mount is going to feel half-assed and I'll end up taking the shock apart to add another packer. Lol.

 

Na its perfectly fine to add a top hat spacer, dont sweat it if its needed.

 

Thanks for the info. GO BLUE

 

Sooooo...one year ago today, I installed my OME lift on my 2003 DC 4x4.

883's up front with Nitrocharger shocks, and Dakar HD's in the rear with NC shocks there too.



Have put approximately 12,000 miles on the lift, and been very happy with its on and off road performance.

The truck has been to Zion NP, Anza Borrego 3X, Death Valley for 5 days, and a host of other road/off road trips.

Impressions...

Once I got the proper weight for the 883's onto the front end, I stopped chewing half axles like oxies....which is nice.



No vibes in the rear...so no issue there.

The 3" of lift in front without the bumper and winch took about 2 months to tear the CV's, and 6 months to destroy the actual inner CV's (cause I couldn't "afford" the bumper and winch all at once) My mistake...which facilitated this trail repair during our DV trip in November of 2015...



Moral of the story...respect your 3" lifted half axles.

Also, installing a BudBuilt front skid set the ride height to perfection.

(ARB Bumper + WARN M8000 winch)BudBuilt skid
OME 883's + Dakar HD's = forumula for ride height bliss


As she sits today...

 

What was your lift ride height without the armor, and what is it now that you feel like is "height perfection"?

Just curious b/c if you're still at 3", then why does it matter if you've got the armor or not, for the CVs, etc.?

 

Well, truth be told, I never really measured anything before or after.

Irresponsible forum behavior...I get it.

Another irresponsible move was using the word "perfection" in a forum thread...polarizing term there, especially when I didn't take the time to measure "before and after."

I suppose height perfection is defined as what Wheeler's Off Road recommended when I bought the 883 coils (which I understood would give me about 3" of lift), which was to install a steel bumper and winch to offset the extra lift which "might" affect the performance of my CV's...which it did.

Also, visually, my truck sits level to my untrained eye.

Not perfect March of 2015:


Almost perfect, March of 2016:


Hope that helps to clarify...

 

Yep, thanks. I was mostly interested because I recently installed a set of Toytec coilovers with 650lb springs in anticipation of a relentless bumper and winch that are going on later this fall. (So a similar situation a you.)

When I got the Toytecs installed, I ended up way higher than the 2" that Toytec suggests (since I have no weight in the front) so I cranked them way down until I get the armor installed. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something you discovered.

Sound like not, so thanks! Truck is looking great.