Old Man Emu: Questions, Answers & Pictures

is it the lighting or do you have some bro lean?

 

Its the lightning. I had just dropped the front end onto the tires I think. It shows 3" of lift but they will settle

 

What are you running in rear?.

 

Personally, if I was going to go with the more serious setup of a steel bumper, winch and 886's ... I would go ahead and upgrade the UCAs as well.

This is primarily due to my personal mindset of "Why put all that sexy/useful shit on the truck but leave the factory UCA's which are decidedly not sexy and certainly do not match the rest of the bad ass stuff I'm putting on the truck."

Secondarily: You're going to be approaching the 2.5-3" limit of the factory UCA's anyway, and your alignment tech would much rather have the added camber of the non-factory UCAs. This makes his job easier, thus increasing the likelihood of him doing his job correctly.

Can you stick with your factory UCAs? Yes.

Should you? That's a matter of opinion, and mine is that you should replace them.

 

Thanks^

Rear is dakar pack with nitro chargers. Hc rear, rtt , and bed bars

 

Did a fair amount of research on the whole AAL v. Dakar conundrum but I still have a situational specific question. If, since I have under 700 miles on my truck, would an AAL make sense (everything else being equal, except for costs) and then going with a new pack once the original gets more ware on it? I have my qualms about getting rid of brand new parts unnecessarily (may be the answer to my own question) but I have also read a fair number of posts from those that regret not doing a pack from the onset.

Also, in case it makes a difference, I am leaning towards the OME kit from toytec (90021 front shocks, 885 coils, no top plate spacers, and the rest that comes with this kit http://toyteclifts.3dcartstores.com/OME-Tacoma-Suspension-lift-kit_p_231.html).

Thanks in advance for any advice and suggestions that may be provided.

 

I would get the Dakar pack off the hop, especially if your planning on it later. Why install twice, and spend money twice? Plus you could sell your stock leaf pack now to offset the cost before it gets worn which if you load your truck won't take long.

 

Personally, I've read enough about Axle Wrap on these forums and experienced it myself... so replacing the stock leaf pack was a no-brainer for me. I replaced mine at 1000 miles with Dakars.

 

98 TRD 881s and Dakars in rear (not that it matters for this question)


Yesterday I greased my rear shackles. On some of the zerks the new grease would just instantly start oozing out the space between the bushing and shackle in the seam closest to the zerk.

On other zerks I could pump a boatload (relatively speaking) grease in it before I'd even see any grease start too ooze out. On those it almost seemed like the bushing was bulging out before grease would ooze. As soon as I took the gun off the zerk grease would rapidly ooze out the zerk.

My questions are

1. Am I alright with the bushings that seemingly oozed new stuff out the seam closest to the zerk? Meaning do you think enough grease got down those channels and into that little hole(s) in the bushing?

2. Did I over pack the bushings that took a lot more grease and seemed to bulge out a bit? Seems like once I drive it and the bushings move, any excess grease will get pushed out.

3. How much grease should these bushings accept? How should I be packing them with grease? I thought it's just "pump new stuff in until you see old/new stuff come out"

 

I ran into a similar problem the first time I greased up the bushes. I finally figured out that due to the shackle pins being cross-drilled for the grease to exit, the amount of grease allowed to enter/exit is limited by their orientation (the weight of the truck closes them off). So...
1- Spin the bolts if they are blocked 90 degrees for better coverage.
2- Nope, grease away.
3- I normally pump 2-3 shots of grease into each zerk after driving on dusty trails, sometime grease oozes out, sometimes it doesn't.
Also, when a zerk leaks, it means that there are particles in the fitting surrounding the ball bearing and it's time to replace it (don't blast more grease in an attempt to clear it out, the particles will just become sandpaper in your bushes).

 

I'm buying my lift kit from Wheeler's
Having a local shop install the lift
Same local shop will mount and balance tires that I'm buying online
After they install lift and tires, they will align.

Should the order of operations be:
-install lift
-mount and balance tires
-align
??

Or does it not matter?

 

This is the most common way to do it. You can flip flop installing the lift and mounting and balancing the tires to some extent just as long as you align in the end.

 

Thanks for the helpful info.

When you say, "Also, when a zerk leaks, it means that there are particles in the fitting surrounding the ball bearing and it's time to replace it" are you talking about if the zerk leaks on its own or if grease oozes out of it after packing the bushing with grease?

 

Zerks are one-way valves, anything coming out of one is a slight against the universe, plus they are super cheap

 

They're brand new as of July and only used twice. Once when the install happened and just yesterday.

 

ok so here a question for you all( sorry I did not Look through the 310 pages on post)

I have a 08 DCSB trd off road custom front bumper what would work better? 885 or 886? I really just want to Level it out to sit flat until I can get a lift in a couple years.

thanks for your time

 

Sounds about right, mine were shot the first time I loaded them too. Still, super

110 Pc Hydraulic Grease (Zerk) Fittings Assortment.

cheap and the only down fall I've found so far in my OME set up. Buy a few and some plugs for your lower pins so they don't get smashed off when you're out wheeling and you will be good to go. My glove box has at least 10 zerks in it at all times, no sandpaper in my bush .

 

I still need to post my results. Bf plate bumpers,885s,5100s, but havent installed rear pack yet.

 

If its a steel plate bumper you'll be better off with 886s in the long run. Your statement about getting a lift in a couple years confuses me though. You know that by putting on 885s or 886s you're lifting your truck right?

 

Yep I understand that, just mean a couple years looking for long travel or 6 inch or something to that effect. right now just more or less want to be sitting level not nose down, that's why I ask about springs or would stock springs and bilstien 5100s be better? Oh and it is a plate bumper and spot for a winch in future