Hypothesis... OME suspension should have top plate spacers

So in looking closer at my OME front shock lengths it appears pretty obvious they are designed to be run with top plate spacers to give longer collapsed and compressed length. They are short enough to severely limit droop and have enough room to run a 1/2" top plate without blinking.

Thoughts?

 

If that were the case then OME would offer top plate spacers , which they do not

 

Then why are OME shocks so short? With a 1/2" top plate spacer they appear to still be shorter than stock, fully extended. Seems like they have been selling the wrong shock to 2nd gen Tacoma owners for years.

The collapsed length is over an inch shorter than stock. But we cant collapse that last inch due to bump stops.

The extended length is .8" shorter than stock.

So even a 1/2" top plate spacer does not give back all our lost trvel.

I feel like I have been cheated.

My OME rears give more down travel by 1" and collapse .1" more. That is a good shock. It looks like any Tacoma with an OME front shock is a short travel truck... a truck with less wheel travel because our down travel is shock limited... by like an inch and a half.

 

won't a 1/2" spacer give you 1" more and then actually be .2" longer then stock? ................................ LT baby



Maybe that's why I always thought they were a very jolting ride in trails with whoops and pot holes. hmmmmmm I'm guessing you have ARB's stated travel #'s?

 

You are comparing fully assembled strut units right? Do you have the N140S or the 90000 shocks?

 

Got a side by side photo? Like this:

 

A top plate spacer won't give the shock any more travel. The fact that you hit the bump stops before the shock is bottomed out is a good thing. If you bottomed out the shock before you hit the bumps, you'd break the shock.

You're right about the downtravel thing, that seems kind of silly.

 

If they have an extended 1" up travel and he put on 1/2" spacer it would be the same as stock while getting back the down travel......no?

 

I agree. I was just talking about the shock itself just in case someone was reading this and took it out of context. I see what DevL is saying about the bump stops robbing you of travel because of the shock's geometry.

 

could always go aftermarket bump stops. there are about a zillion to choose from.




I wanna see links to real numbers dam it

 

x2. I want to see full droop numbers from hub to fender from someone with an OME lift vs. stock vs. 5100's all without top plates.

 

Riddle me this :

If the OME shocks were " designed " to be used with 1/2" top plate spacers , where are the OME top plate spacers ?

 

That's why it's a hypothesis...

 

Just want to make sure this is an apples-to-apples comparison. The length is not from the threaded tip of the shock shaft I hope?

 

sub'd, since I'm planning on these in the next 4-12 months.

 

I have N140S I have started a shock info thread halfway down the suspension page with shock info from the famnufacturers. Please add to it and correct any mistakes. My OME data is from OME's pdf on shock data on the arb website.

Also the doubling of height vs length does not change the fact the 1/2" spacer essentially lengthens the collapsed and extended LENGTH of the assembled unit. Ride height changes by double but I dont see how a 1/2" spacer chages the shock length more than 1/2"

If my factory specs are wrong then my hypothesis is wrong. Please go look at my other thread.

 

How about a link to the ARB shock info pdf ?