Old Man Emu setups on 1st gens

Whoops, somehow I put my response to the quote right under the quote. Hope it still makes sense.

 

I pulled the trigger. Got the kit from wheelers with 2883's and purchased the diff drop kit and had them assemble the front struts. Shipped was $1400. Ordered Saturday night after I took the wife shooting, out to dinner, and a trip to Macy's, and everything showed up the next Friday.
One box with the struts, shocks and hardware. The leafs came like pictured.

The next 8 photos are the measurements from the ground to the fender. I even adjusted, leveled and tightened the fender flares so they were as close to identical as possible. Someone on here was talking about that potential measurement bias, so BOOM!
Like that carbon fiber vinyl wrapped gas tank lid?

So,
FP=±35"
FD=±35"
RD=±35 1/2"
RP=±35 3/4"

Now the stock CV angles.

About as straight as they get.


This is a bad shot of the CV angle after the front struts were installed but before the diff drop was installed. Both inner and outer boots had ribs touching. One on the inners and two on the outers.

Here's a couple of the cv's after the diff drop was installed.

Its hard to see, but there's space between every rib. Not much, but enough to not rub. Hopefully they don't crack. The diff drop most definitely reduces the CV angle. If you do this kit, do the diff drop.

The front took about 45 minutes per side. I saw a YouTube video of a guy that used a long bar and wedged it between the frame and the disc brake, with a wood block protecting the disc, and using that to lower the front end enough to get the bottom strut bolt in. That's what I did and it worked like a charm. That's a 2 man job though. One to sit on the bar and one to get the bolt in. Other then that, it was 3 bolts on the top and one on the bottom. The old strut slipped right out without disassembling anything else and same deal with the install of the OME struts. Did not drop the bottom a-arms.

This is a shot of the assembled rear end.

This took a little longer. A week before I started is project I sprayed pb blaster on every bolt I was going to be touching, every day for 5 days. The drivers side front leaf spring bolt was still seized up and had to be cut out. I put a 6 foot braker bar on it and every lb I had (230lbs) on the end of it and could get it to slip a quarter turn but the bushing was slipping with it. The leaf spring was twisting all crazy like before it'd pop the quarter turn. That shit was on there. The majority of the time on the rear was getting the axle moved around, lifting and lowering, tweaking the angle, and moving it forwards. I used a good floor jack and a couple jack stands to get it dialed in and sitting on the leafs properly.

The extended brake line was a little tricky because the C clip on the top end, where it connects near the frame, was difficult to get off. I did loosen the bolts holding the brake lines on the axle and removed the ebrake bracket so it wasn't getting pulled on.

The drivers side shock was cake. The passenger side had obstacles near the top bolt so you gotta use a 12" extension to get to that one off.

The extended exhaust hanger was also cake to install.

Here's the front measurements after the install.

FP=±39 1/2"
FD=±39 3/4"

That 4 1/2" in the front! I knew the old struts were bad because my 265x75R16s tires were rubbing, but they were sagging about 1.5 inches from stock ride height!

I didn't take pictures of the back but both sides were just under 39". The front definitely looks higher then the back but that's kinda what I expected with the 2883s. I chose those springs because some of you talked about the 2881s and 2882s dropping about a half inches after braking them in. And I plan to install a front winch bumper at some point. I wanted the option at least.

I will post pics tomorrow of the final product after I get it aligned and my procomp polished aluminum wheels installed.

Pretty stoked about it!

 

Good choice with the 883's, same set up i went with. As for the carrbon fiber gas lid, i would remove it. Why would you want to draw the eyes attention to a gas cap?

 

Cause vinyl wrap is the bees knees. I love that stuff. Honestly, it's left over from when I made a switch panel.

I was thinking about doing part of the hood too. If it looks lame, ya just peal it off.

Don't hate bro

 

Fed and Emu today, kind of applicable to the thread.

 

But was he an old man, emu?

 

Lmaoooo!!!!

 

OK. I got the wheels on and all dialed in. Here's the after shots. One of before and a couple of afters.

Enjoy!

 

@Danloes hows the rideon the 883 's? I've never had 883 but hear they are stiff Just changed my 880's on the second notch for a set of Eibach and they are way stiff. Traded my 880 for 881 and gonna get 3/8 trim packer and go back to OME springs. Ride is way to stiff for me. Nice rig !!!

 

It's hard to say because the stock setup was so blown that I don't really have a good comparison point. They are stiffer than what I had, but not brake your back stiff. I was actually surprised at how soft the whole truck felt. The rear leafs are damn near flat which was a surprise.

When I first dropped the front down so it was supporting itself it looked like the ome 883s didn't move at all. I thought it's be super stiff but it's not. I'd say go with the 883s. They're said to drop about a half inch after you brake them in and they're 590lb springs so you have the option to put a fatty bumper on it or a winch or a couple fat chicks.

To each their own.

 

OME 2881's with Bilstein 5100 and Deavers 2" AAL.



Before:After:

 

Looks good, clean truck

 

What brand window visors do you have? Truck looks great with the new lift!

 

They're AVS in-channels and thanks man!

 

Awesome thx! I ordered some cheap no name ebay ones for like $20. They got sent back cuz they were garbage. Learned my lesson there. How much were they?

 

Ebay ones really that bad?

 

lift looks great.

any issues with axles/cv boots or other parts of the truck being strained at that lift?

 

With the proper spacers and drop kits everything should be lined up nicely