OME BP-51 Install Report and Height Adjustment

***See updates at bottom of post***

Hi All,

There's virtually no information out there about the BP-51 setup and height adjustment, so I thought I'd share my experience. I have installed this system (Old Man Emu (OME) BP-51 / Dakar w/o Add-A-Leaf) on my own truck and a friend's truck to date. The front coilovers come pre-set at 20mm height adjustment from OME/ARB. This setting is recommended for front bumper, winch, etc. I planned to add these items later, so I left the setting as it was to start with. I also installed BajaKits UCA's, knowing that I'd be slightly higher than the BP-51 claim since I didn't have much weight, and wanted to make sure my alignment was in spec.



As shown, I netted about 3" front and 2.75" rear gain. This was a perfect stance in my opinion for the 3rd Gen. The ride was unbelievable. Much stiffer than stock TRD OR, but the dampening is awesome. After an event, there is absolutely no aftermath, the suspension quickly recovers, and this is especially noticeable on continuous rough surfaces at high speeds. I was happy with the install. On the other hand, having no weight in the front, the ride height was too high in the front as the suspension continuously "topped out" due to having very limited up travel. I knew I had to make a change, either add weight or lower the front down via the height adjustment.

After adding a camper shell, some armor, a bunch of gear, the rear dakars sagged about an inch from the original lift height. The front was way to high for me since the back was sagging so I decided to go ahead and lower it down. After setting a friend's truck to 10mm, and him netting the full 3" in the front, I wanted to go to 5mm, assuming I would get about 2.5" out of the front with no weight, but I ended up with 2" front lift at the 5mm setting.


Please note I used the OME VM80020001 tool as shown. This is the correct orientation to adjust the coilovers on a wall mounted spring compressor, which mates perfectly with the tool.

Also, it's important to note I used the BajaKit's UCA's to keep the caster in spec with the lift, even though ARB/OME do not require/recommend/include UCA's in the full BP-51 kit.

These boxed arms are solid; they are uni-ball and have nice zerk fittings on both sides for easy lubrication/maintenance. The logo color can be customized; I went with the silver/gray to sort of match the truck.

I am also very pleased with the alignment using the BajaKits UCA's. I am getting my money's worth with Firestone's lifetime alignment

I was very particular about getting the Toe/Camber at 0 since I'm a tire guy, the caster fell out as follows:
Toe: 0deg
Camber: 0deg
Caster +2.5 / +2.9 Driver/Passenger

The ride is unbelievable now, no more "topping" out of the suspension, and the lighter pre-load as well as the weight on the back provide a happy medium of spring rate over my intial "stiff" impression. I couldn't be happier with this setup at 2" all the way around, although I do plan to install the add-a-leaf in the rear since I have the camper shell, a bed/drawer platform planned, and carry a lot of gear. I also plan to raise the front back up slightly to 10 or 15mm height adjustment measurement post-winch install to keep the truck level.

Hope this helps everyone. Will keep the forum posted.

***UPDATE*** MAY 5, 2017
-> Weight: The build is basically complete (if that is possible) now fully loaded with full Pelfrey Aluminum skid plates, Rocky Road sliders, ARE camper, BajaRack Utility racks, SSO Slimline Front bumper, Off-Grid / Optima dual battery setup, ARB twin compressor, Warn 10-S Winch, rear Yakima Bike Rack.

-> Rear Lift Mod: I added the OME

$81 D29XL Leaf Spring

D29XL rear add-a-leaf to the OME Dakar pack because i Was sagging so much on weekend trips with all of my mountain biking and camping gear, food, beer, etc... The rear now sits at ~24.5" (hub center to flare) versus the stock height of ~22.0", so a ~2.5" lift.

-> Front Lift Mod: I also added a 1/4" Top Plate spacer (Headstrong Off-Road) on top of the OME BP-51 coilovers because the OME BP-51 coilovers are about 550mm long and the OE TRD OR Bilstien coilovers are about 563mm long, so this 1/4" (6.35mm) spacer combined with the OME BP-51 at ~556mm would still be shorter than the stock coilovers. The addition of this spacer in my "engineering opinion" would allow me to get about 1/2" more lift at the wheels without compromising the ride quality or down-travel since i wan'st running the full ARB Bull-Bar etc that the OME system was designed to handle.

-> Front Lift Adjustment: After all of the weight and the addition of the front bumper, winch, and even with the 1/4" top plate spacer, I was sitting at 23" wheel center to flare, which is roughly a 2" lift over stock 21" at the 5mm setting. It was time to adjust the coilover pre-load back to the original location. I went all the way to ~25mm instead of the BP-51 original setting of 20mm. Actually I did 21mm Passenger Side and 26mm Driver Side in an effor to level the truck side to side as well as front to rear. This put the front at ~3.0in lift (24.0" hub center to flare vs the stock height of 21") and was basically successful (slightly high).

Passenger 21mm:

Driver 26mm:


-> Lift summary. Both sides of the Front are at 24" Hub Center to Flare, 3" Lift (including the 1/4" spacer which yields about a 1/2" lift). Rear is 24.5, about a 2.5" lift (including the D29XL leaf).

I've adjusted the front coilovers 3 times on my truck and one time on another truck. This is not an easy task but I have the torque specs memorized now for easy re-assembly!

-> Alignment.
Thanks to BajaKits nicely designed upper control arms, the alignment was spot on even at 3" lift in the front. Camber set to 0, then Toe set to 0, Caster fell out at 4deg. Perfecto.


From a ride quality perspective, the suspension is back to slightly "topping out" again on the front on large drop-off's, so i would probably go with a 15-20mm range setting on a fully loaded truck if I did this over-again. In fact I think I should have left the 20mm setting from ARB in the first place knowing I was going to add weight!

***UPDATE JUN-JUL 2017***
As I mentioned before, the suspension 'tops' out too much off-road as the suspension droops off bumps and ledges at the 20+mm setting on the even with the accessories I have on the front. I estimate between the extra Optima D35 battery (35lbs), ARB twin compressor and mount (20lbs), Southern Style Off-Road Slimline bumper (55lbs), Warn Platinum 10-s (75lbs), lighting and wiring (10lbs), that I probably have a total of 200lbs of additional weight on the front axle. In order to avoid damage to the shocks, I lowered to the 15mm setting. With the D29XL, and all of my accessories, I have netted 2.5in at all 4 corners. After beating the truck up for a few months at this setting, and the truck riding like a dream off-road, I've concluded this is the final adjustment for my build!

Note: actually I tweaked the 15mm setting from side to side to avoid the Taco Lean:

Loaded down in the back with all of my gear, she sits level.



Hopefully all of this helpful to the 3rd Gen / BP-51 owners!
Cheers.
-Drew

 

I see at 5mm setting the upper fitting/hose for the coilover looks to be in a bind , is that due to the suspension being unloaded in the picture or is that how it sits ? Thanks for your feedback, I have been following your posts.

 

Awesome right up! Your truck looks amazing!
Please keep us updated as you add more weight and what you do to mitigate its effects.
Thanks
Morgan

 

Great info! Subbed

 

Thanks for the info, this is the kit that I have been lusting over. I'm glad to hear about the good performance.

 

Awesome write up! This is exactly the information i was starting to research. subbed.

 

What size tire are you running in the initial pictures?

 

265/75/16, he is a rep for falken tire if i remember correctly.

 

Is it me or does that spring compressor look a little sketchy.. actually looks dangerous... I thought you could adjust the spring height on the truck with this tool:

 

Only comp and rebound with those.

 

@Clay7160 Yes LT265/75R26 Falken WILDPEAK AT3W.

@Juforrest You are correct. That tool supplied with the OME BP-51 kit is is for Compression and Rebound only. I have quite a bit of experience adjusting both the front and the rear to desired settings after running the kit mostly off road for about 10k miles. This is not my daily driver. I ended up speeding the rear Reb and Comp a few clicks from the factory setting so that it would recover quickly after multiple bumps in a row and slowing the Front Reb down a few clicks so that it wouldn't top out so violently, but I may re-adjust the front rebound now that I've lowered the ride height.

There are additional holes in the height adjustment collar which I used to help rotate the colar. Even with the springs unloaded, the collar loosened, threads cleaned, and WD-40, it still took some leverage to rotate the colar.

Everything in this Bp-51 kit and the BajaKits UCAs are toleranced extremely well making it no easy task to install. The coilovers adjustment collar as I've mentioned, the plastic shaft guards in the rear, the bypass reservoir mounting system, the shock eyelits, the BajaKits uniballs, etc. Having an engineering background I'm thoroughly impressed.

 

I will try adjusting the front rebound on mine. I will be installing 120# worth of sliders today. Maybe next weekend install 70# worth of skids. See how everything feels after all that weight.

 

Height adjust and rebound adjust are different?? I don't have these on my truck so excuse my ignorance. I do have them on a lowered V-dub but set at max lowered..installed & forgot.

 

On a side note, I love my Wildpeak AT3W's.

 

off topic here but, did the otr option make the topper cost more or less?

 

I pulled the trigger on BP-51 last year bc you answered some of my questions. Thanks again for the great info!
I definitely wanted to adjust my front pre-load, but its a lot of work. I'll have to get around to doing it after I get my dual battery and possibly more armor.

Are you affiliated with Wildpeak?

 

Are the shocks extended length to match what should be a mid travel setup. I thought I read somewhere the rear schools were to short for the range of travel the rear springs provide. I have no clue at all on the fronts

 

I recently installed the bp 51 and an spc uca (came with the purchase from the seller) seemed a straight forward install no issues but now the wheels are way out of alignment. I have lifetime alignments at firestone but they say I need aftermarket lower control arms to bring it into alignment. I did not think any aftermarket products were needed for this install. Does anyone have any ideas what may be wrong? Do I really need new lower control arms?

 

The upper control arms with this kit should have been more then enough to help correct angles on the truck. Lca is a joke... u could do it! But completely unnecassary.

Look at ops setup and his pics... no lca

 

This has me rethinking the icon stage 4. If I need some kind of crazy compression rig to adjust ride height, that might be a deal breaker.