Orange County CAF's: up to no good

I got the Bilstein performance kit (6112/5150) with Dakars from Headstrong, paired it with my Maxtrac spindles...and it's awesome. But that's for 2nd gen.

 

Ya I was thinking about 5100s at first talking to @eccracer104 but I know I'm going to want to upgrade in the future so I just want to go big now. I don't know much about suspension so hoping when everyone wakes up and gets on here they'll point me in the right direction.

 

Good deal

 

@uhplifted I actually think @icetreye is flying a similar OME setup on his rig, that was the blue 2nd gen parked next to you last night.

 

I actually just sent a PM to Marie at Headstrong. I like the price point of the OME kit, but idk how they compare to ICONS or Fox or Kings.

 

Definitely better than a Bilstein, and I'm pretty sure they aren't quite as.... Robust as a King or comparable "big 5" suspension around here. They have a great reputation, at a minimum it helps you get into the area where you want your truck. You never know, could end up changing gears later, yknow?

 

In my opinion ome is the all around best bang for your buck. There's the kings, fox, and icons a of course but no one can deny that ARB makes a fantastic line. I've done so much reading on OME vs Billstein it made me insane. I was literally dreaming of the two. I nearly went ome until Sara gave me the go for kings last second. Don't get me wrong, Billsteins are a great set up as well. However, if you can hold back and save a bit more OME is worth it. The nitrocharger sport struts are great. If you plan on going with steel armor soon I would suggest the 886 coil. 885's if you're not going to have armor anytime soon. Coils are easy, relatively inexpensive swaps so no need to over think them. However, OME kinda made their coil model numbers a smidge bit confusing. The 885's and 887's are the same except the 887's are a bit taller. The 886's are what you want if you're armoring up. OME Dakars for me have been fantastic. I've had them since april and they've broken in nicely. So far no squeaking but I know which routes to take should they begin to squeak which is a whole other conversation. With my armor installed my Dakars havent budged - yet. Lucille is a fat pig now and still I'm maintaining a clear rake.

Four things I'll suggest with your new suspension:

1. The ome carrier bearing drop kit. Keeps your driveshaft level at ride height. It's inexpensive, and takes 1 minute to slap in. Save that bearing, man.

2. DOT approved rear extended steel braided brake lines. Why not upgrade your fronts as well. Steel is real.

3. Since you'll have your tires, shocks and UCA's out of the way during install, consider taking the garbage CV boot axel needle bearing on the driver side that Toyota sticks in there and replace it with the ECGS clamshell bushing. Stop the vibration before it starts. I won't say it happens to everyone and that the needle bearing is the only cause of vibration, but it is a rather common problem after time passes by once installing a lift.

4. Speaking of UCA's. It's something you don't want to overlook. LR, TC, Camburg, Icon. Anything is better than factory.

Edit: Headstrong is a great outfit. You might try PM'ing or calling Downsouth Motorsports and speak with Micah. They offer TW members a decent discount. Save some coin where you can, brotha!

 

Great info, thanks Greg! I messaged Marie at Headstrong so we'll see what she says as well, and what the pricing for everything would be. I think that will be my deciding factor. I've got the OME + Dakar leaf kit and the ICON stage 2 kit pulled up in front of me. I'm leaning towards the ICONS right now, like I said I'm willing to drop money now so I don't have to upgrade later. So I'll see what kind of pricing I can get for them, and then I'm waiting for Mike @eccracer104 to get back to me when he's got the final details for the Kings stuff when they get them in.

 

I have no complaints with the 5100 setup other than I can't haul ass like @Mike likes Tacos or @digitaLbraVo can, but that's a luxury one cannot afford on a basic 5100 or OME budget (unless you just haul ass anyway like @MADSTEEZE does and somehow not blow out your 5100s lol). Only thing I would change about mine from a practical standpoint is a taller/heavier OME coil like the 886. The 881s aren't quite enough lift and I will likely have to swap them out when the time comes to add a bumper.

 

Cool. Smart guy. Give DS a call, too. As my pops always said "always get three quotes."

DS was awesome. They built my shocks to my specs instead of just pulling them off the shelf and sending them out. That's just my personal experience with DS. Money talks. Business is business. That's the bottom line

 

Ya that's what I'm trying to avoid. I'm not sure how much lift I really want on it, but I definitely need to get off the ground some more so I'm sitting higher up than you and I'll at the very least be getting a front/rear bumper down the line and probably a t-case skid so might as well get what I need now then pay the lesser amount for 5100s and then pay again down the line

 

An OME setup will go second hand easier and for a better value as well. OME has a rep for being great for big heavy rigs so if plate bumpers and a winch are in your future you'll be very happy

 

lol yeah, it's funny how a bigger truck looks so much lower when it's sitting at the same height as a smaller one. I mean really, your truck isn't "low" at all but being in between mine (smaller but same height) and Denny's (same size and taller) definitely puts an optical bias on the situation.

height-wise most OME coils will put you right around 2-2.5" unless you do the 880s or 881s which are 1.5" or less. I think a whole Dakar leaf pack will give you 3" in the rear but don't quote me on that. You don't want to go over 3" anyway since that's the magic number for avoiding lift headaches with Tacos it seems.

 

All of those are definitely in my future. The winch probably pretty far down the line and the bumpers, well, I said I was going to wait at least a year for suspension and look where I'm at now...
Are you saying tha the Icons won't handle as well with a bunch of armor? I'm never going to really do any crazy off roading. I would like to haul ass though from time to time

 

Ya 3 is definitely my limit. Not sure if I really even want 3, but if that's what it comes out to being with everything installed then I won't be mad about it. As long as I'm level or have a slight rake I'm good.

 

Levelling is for mall crawlers

For real though, if you plan on carrying any significant amount of weight in your truck bed or towing anything in the future, some rake is a good thing to have.

 

That's why I said level or rake I'd prefer rake though for sure, espcially when I load the bike and all the other camping gear up, I don't want mad bro-lean going on.

 

Ditto, go-fast isn't my goal with my truck off road (on the freeway with the supercharger is another story), I prefer the rock crawl...not gonna lie though, being in @Mike likes Tacos truck that one time he was flying like a bat out of hell in Rowher sure was fun

 

@eon_blue so I got a photo gig at a wedding. Basically just work a photo booth, however it's the company's 1st gig and as he trying to explain his equipment to me I'm laughing in my head because I know more about his equipment then he does

 

I know, I was just being facetious since I know plenty of serious wheelers that have leveled trucks