Old Man Emu 2.5" Lift Kit - What the videos don't tell you...

Just finished installing the front half of the Old Man Emu 2.5" Heavy Duty lift kit with the MT64 struts/shocks, springs and control arms. The build quality of the components is very good, and I have no real complaints with the product(s) themselves.

But...

A few comments for anyone looking to install this, or similar, kit, or doing a lift in general.
My only real gripe with the shipping of the components is that the rear leaf springs were shipped with only the ends wrapped in bubble wrap, shipped as freight. There were a lot of scratches on the top and bottom leaves as well as the collars that I feel could have been prevented with just a little more care to the packing/shipping of them. The kit was purchased from a retailer and shipped directly from ARB.

The larger parts came in their own shipping boxes: front struts, rear shocks, coil springs and accessories. Leaf springs arrived naked with bubble wrap on ends.




Assembly / Installation:

The instruction videos out there from retailers and other are pretty straightforward and go over all the major steps to install the kit. Be warned that it probably will not be as seamless and most of the videos look. Th retailer demo trucks have parts going on and off all the time, so the hardware is either new or otherwise not old/rusted/corroded. I was putting this on and 2007 w/180K miles on it with almost all the suspension parts being factory original. I had to use a 1500ft.lb. impact wrench and a torch on more bolts than I would have liked, had to cut off a $20 bolt and replace it.

I'd say the biggest PITA removing old parts were the rear facing nuts on the top of the struts on the inside of the wheel wells and the upper control arm bolts. I ended up just cutting the right side UCA bolt off after beating the metal for a while trying to make room like most of the community suggestions recommended. I don't know if it's a chassis code thing or what, but I don't see how anyone could get it removed without cutting it off.





Installing the right side UCA from the rear is definitely the way to go, just make sure the washer is in front of the hard break line:



Strus & Coil Springs:

Note, the MT64 struts/shocks are beefy.
I had taken the struts and coil springs to three different local shops for assembly and none of them were able to do it. Either that, or the local "4x4" shops had a wait time of several weeks and quoted more $$ than I wanted to spend on just getting these put together. I wasn't even going to attempt the classic two clamps style compressors [Insert Sid the Sloth 'I choose life' meme here]. Tried using this 'clamshell' style compressor, which worked get compressing the spring, but left no room to actually insert the strut into the spring for assembly with the new top hat.





Necessity is the mother of invention...

I ended up buying a shop press from The Freight, since I wanted one anyway, and made my own template/jig thinger to get these assembled. Sketchy? Perhaps. But not as sketchy as the other style of springs compressors I either tried or was looking at.











In the end it worked. Started with the whole assembly upside-down after lining up the end of the coil with the rear-facing bolt on the top had per the OEM directions. Compressed the assembly until the threaded end of the strut poked out the bottom and I was able to put on the bushing, retaining plate, washer and nut. I then removed and flipped the whole this over to compress it from the top had in order to tighten down the nut to spec.-ish.

The New Hotness:

Installing all the new parts was actually pretty easy and went relatively quick once all the old stuff was off and mounting surfaces cleaned up. You reuse most of the OEM hardware, which I cleaned up with a CLR soak and a wire brush. Some brackets I painted with high-temp primer just cause for anything I didn't feel like just replacing with new. Used a pry bar and a jack to line up the struts with the lower control arms, mothing major. I replaced the sway bar end links as well as the boots on the OEM ones were blown out.


















The Rear:

Starting this afternoon...

 

Very nice write up, thanks for sharing

 

I installed my OME lift about 6 months ago and ran into many of the same problems you have. For me the rear leaves were the most challenging, dealing with rusted bolts that had to be heated or cut. Also lining the new leaves back up can be a pain. I used a ratchet strap to line everything up in place.

Let us know if you have any problems.

 

Fingers crossed. The frame and leaf springs were replaced under warranty at about 105k miles, so I'm hoping having that much less wear/tear on them it isn't too bad.

 

Where did the pictures go? I'll be doing mine shortly!

 

same here, makes me want to ask my mechanic to do it or a coworker mechanic for $600
my truck is clean underneath but i cant run into a bad broken bolt or some bs and cant get to work monday

also i am going to run the 2.5 (full armor and winch) with oem UCA
i ran 2" OME/5100 setup on my 4runner for 7.5 years and no issues with oem UCA,
id rather keep them in there

no ext brake lines, no diff drop, no carrier bearing drop, with my weight itll be a tad over 2" overall i think


also i am considering the ironman kit with nitro shocks as well

 

I’m doing the same setup. I hope it goes well.

 

good luck! it is just outside of my confidence level - hope it goes well for you

 

Thanks! Our WI off road Tacoma group has been very helpful in the pst and hopefully will be again for this ordeal!