Old Man Emu: Questions, Answers & Pictures

I'll kill you last Airman Jamie

 

I thought we both agreed on that

I'm only saying I don't think I'll be putting my truck in any places where I'll achieve the aforementioned negative arch, especially as I seem to have no time ever to get out and go wheeling. By the time my son is old enough to stay out all day and come with me I'll have front and rear lockers done, then I'll add in the extended bumps.

 

OK, time to clear the air on some of this stuff...

1) Eliminate the guesswork. Get the specs from OME on what the collapsed and extended shock lengths are. Take 'em off your vehicle. Flex it out, and measure the distances mount to mount on both sides, in both stuff and droop.

Depending on how a suspension is set up, changing what limits travel in one or both directions may be a good idea. What you DON'T want is your shocks limiting suspension travel. If that's what's happening, you have a preventable problem waiting to happen.

2) Negative arch. This is everyone's boogieman and, according to my Mat Eng buddies I've talked with, is way overblown. Here's the thing: Leaf springs are designed with the elastic properties of the metal, such as they are, in mind. It is expected that the metal will flex. This, regardless of direction, does not hurt the metal. Simply going into negative arch is not immediately harmful (more on the non-immediate consequences in a minute).

What CAN be harmful is enough arch positive or negative to deform or break the metal. If travel is not limited correctly, this can happen.

Re: non-immediate effects of negative arch: Elastically bending metal repeatedly causes fatigue in most alloys. Think of a paper clip. If you bend it once really far, it's still fine. If you bend it back to normal once, it's still fine. However, if you repeatedly bend it back and forth those distances many times at the same point, the metal will break in short order.

So with negative arch, you can certainly hasten how quickly your springs crap out and start sagging or breaking under normal use. Exactly how much of a problem this is is a calculated risk. Daily driven vehicles will probably want to avoid that issue for cost control reasons.

Myself, I drive a Corolla most of the time, the truck is a toy, and if I break something it can sit until I repair it at my convenience without interrupting my life. The fact that I have a touch (really just a tiny bit) of negative arch at full stuff does not worry me in the least. I recognize that is not the situation for most.

If your vehicle is street-only or street-95%, negative arch potential likely doesn't matter because you will only use that portion of suspension travel twice a year when driving through a ditch around a fender bender or hauling a load of mulch home from home depot or whatever. You will want to make sure your shocks are protected to keep from blowing or ripping them out.

Bottom line: Wheeling is hard on trucks. No matter what you do, if you wheel it, you're gonna replace stuff at a faster clip. If you don't, you won't.

 

Thanks Jan

 

Me and Jan are good

Me and you Airman Jamie , that's another story

 

I tried to +1...

 

Assuming most here are running Dakars. That said, I want to know what shocks most of you are running. I picked up a set of Billy 5160's and found they are about 2"+ to short. I was very suprised to find this as the extended measurement of the 5160(13.83"x23.23")is very close to the OME(13.85"x23.93") which leads me to believe the OME's are to short for my application as well. THOUGHTS???

 

I picked up nitrocharger 9000 shocks, 885 springs, toytec spacers, and a trim packer.

The shocks didn't come with a bottom cup for the spring and I'm wondering if I'm missing something. If not, do I reuse the cup on the stock bilsteins? The bilsteins seem a bit narrower than the nitrochargers and I'm not sure the cup will work.

 

OME springs and OME nitrochargers. Came as a set so I knew they were paired up to work together.

 

Custom 15in travel Icons on relocated mounts.

Not exactly bolt on, but really the only way to maximize a SOA leaf spring rear suspension on these trucks.

 

You need the OME spring perch

 

my brake system light is on and when i take hard right turns my truck beeps which i read is a warning for brake system issues. The only thing i did when i put the lift on was move the back brake brackets. Did not have to fool with anything else

 

When the truck beeps do you feel a brake pulsation similar to ABS ? Does the VSC ( car with squiggly lines ) light illuminate ?

 

Yes they were in negative arch.
No they weren't near bottoming out the shocks.
Wheels have been stuffed into wheel wells much farther with a lot lighter load (shell + around 100 lbs to 150 lbs trail gear) in back flexing on trails. I'm not doing high speed or jumping. Usually all four wheels are on the ground. The only time I've been on two wheels they were opposite corners.

 

Thanks for the info! I was encountering this issue when pushing the truck through sharp curves.

 

no pulsations and no other light has came on just the light that looks like a exclamation point. ( ! ) It flashes when i first start driving and then stays on and quits flashing

 

Does it look like this?

That's the TPMS. Tire Pressure Monitoring System.
Aftermarket wheels without TPMS? If not check your tire pressure.