Old Man Emu: Questions, Answers & Pictures

I thought that seemed really low given what's going on.

Anyone happen to know what size socket fits on the top nut on the LR UCAs?

I know I don't have one so I'm going to have to bum one from work for the weekend.

 

The LR nut I am 95% sure it is a 32mm….I had to go buy one in the middle of the install PITA.

Tighten down those u bolts for sure. 2 of my bolts fell off when I got under to check them about a week later. I tighten them down good too (not sure of the torque cause I didn't use that on the u bolts)

you will also need a 19mm and a 22mm socket for something too (I also had to go buy those, deep sockets)

 

I have everything else I should need. Deep well impacts sockets up to 25mm. I may end up just taking the nut with me to the hardware store, I doubt we have metric that big at work.

 

U bolts should be 80 ftlbs

 

Thanks man! I don't have any vibrations thankfully, with the drive shaft carrier bearing spacers included with the kit the angles are correct. I don't have shims on the leafs. Also, ABS hasn't activated on me yet except for one time, but I was accelerating on sandy pavement into traffic so I believe that is why.

 

Installed 885 coils (with full OME lift) on my access cab, is it normal for it to be a much louder thud/clunk sound when going over a speed bump or sudden drop. I'm guessing this is because the coils decompress so much faster than what my stocks would have done!? I do not get the same sound when I first hit the speed bumps just on the drop.

 

Over Speed Bump Goes Clank

 

LOL

 

No , seriously , that's what it's called

You can search it

It's a pretty common noise from the OME set up especially on the back side of a sharp drop as you describe

 

I know you were, that's why I gave you a thumbs up! Much appreciated

 

I found that a 1 1/4" socket fit the top nut on the LR UCAs top nut nice and tight, giving me confidence that I wouldn't round corners when torquing to 150 ft-lbs. I just happened to have that size in the box too, so no new socket to buy! But I imagine the "official" size is in mm, but 1 1/4" is damn near 32mm...

The OEM ball joint nut is 19mm, the LR ball joint nut is 22mm. I found that I couldn't use 1/2" drive deep well sockets on the ball joint nut, not enough clearance. I needed a 3/8" drive 19mm and 22mm standard socket to get to them. I might have been OK with 1/2" drive standard sockets, but it would have been tight.

Dakar rear ubolt torque spec is 93 ft-lbs according to ARB for the OMEU53A ubolts. I took mine to 89 ft-lbs and called it good.

 

Luckily I didn't get that issue. I did pick up the bad needle bearing issue pretty quickly though, still need to get the parts and plan a weekend and change that out. Not looking forward to it. Need to put new EPDM strips in too, Dakars are starting to squeak again.

 

I just done this fix with the ECGS bushing this monday. Thanks to the videos on their website, it was a breeze to do. The only part I struggled with was the removal of the CV axle. I snapped 2 band clamps before it came out. So far I no longer have any noise coming from the front.

I still believe their removal tool is WAY overpriced at $60, considering that only 1 piece out of 4 is machined. The rest of it is only a threaded rod length, a nut and a piece of thick flatbar stock.

 

ARB Locker ;-). Thats my path if/when I develop the needle bearing issue.

 

His UCA may be striking the coil as it extends downward. I was having that issue after I installed the 1/2" TP spacers. The new LR UCAs don't strike, and that god-awful "thunk" went away.

 

Mine does the same thing as his, I noticed it this weekend when I went through a set of "whoops". I have LR upper control arms and sway bar relocators.

 

True

I put on the sway bar relocate

 

I have LR UCA's installed with the sway bar relocation kit.

 

I meant to post this a while ago but forgot. Some have asked about the bushings in the main eyes on the Dakars and replacing them pressed in bushing with poly ones.

Well here a few pics from when I replaced my eye bushings a few weeks ago. The rubber bushings that came in the Dakars was shot and not doing it's job any longer. I chose to replace them with Toyota factory sleeved bushings (these are the same ones that are used in the Dakars when new).





So some people want to replace these sleeved bushings with poly ones because a) they don't think the rubber will hold up as long, b) the sleeves can seize up on the spring eye as well as the inner sleeve can seize to the hanger bolt.

Here's the problem with poly bushings here. If you look at how the Dakars main eye fits in the spring hanger you'll see there is not a lot of room between the spring and the sides of the hanger. Most poly bushings OME or otherwise will have a shoulder that is too wide to fit in the tight space. If you do find a bushing that will fit, the flex of the spring will tear through the shoulder on the poly bushings extremely quickly and you'll be forced to replace them again.

The Factory sleeved bushings really is the best option. The Rubber will flex better than poly, you won't have to worry about the shoulders tearing off. The rubber will outlast the shoulder on poly bushings so you'll be replacing them less often than poly bushings. The trick is to LOAD the outer sleeve and inner sleeve with anti-seize so when the time comes to replace them, you can press them out relatively easily.

Good luck.

 

I'm going to ask again because I never got a clear answer.

What alignment specs do you guys recommend running? I aligned mine close to factory specs (according to my alignment machine) -.6* camber, 2.3* caster and I think 0* toe.

Reason I ask: My front tires (285/70-17) are rubbing my body mount bracket when I turn. I'm wondering if I increase caster this will go away? I hope so anyway, I hate rubbing an only went with these tires because I thought they were the biggest you could run without rubbing. I can't wait untill they wear out so I can get 1 size smaller and never rub.