Old Man Emu setups on 1st gens

Thanks for the link and info. I don't think the J59's will work near as well with the OME which is a stiffer load carrying shock as they would with say, a King, because they are not a load carrying spring and more a racing spring but I'll find out. Someone like me may be very happy with this set up even if it isn't optimal. I never carry weight except once in a while and I doubt it's ever over 2 or 300 lbs. I'm going to get some Timbrens for the once in a blue moon 800lb load which may never happen. I've seen video of ICONs and Kings as well as OME's and the Kings and ICON's really seem to "follow the ground" much faster than the OME. I'm sure that is where all the extra money comes in. For what I do I may never even notice it although I do run at pretty high speeds (65-85mph) on rough pavement regularly. I won't know until I get this stuff on the truck.

 

Well, I installed everything the day before yesterday. The Deavers in the back are nice, real nice. The Nitrochargers are fairly stiff which I knew they would be but not objectionably so. It just rides like a real truck now. The front with the 880's and Nitrocharger Sports seem a little stiffer than the rear with the Deavers although I left my toolbox and the old leaves and struts in the back for some extra weight. In addition to that we just got socked with some massive snow so I'm sure I'm sporting at least 100lbs of snow and ice as well. I would guess with what is in the bed and the shell along with the ice and snow there is probably an extra 500lbs on the truck.
The ride is stiff and very controllable at freeway speed up to 80mph. No more hopping around. It rides very nice at 75 or 80mph over rough road and bridges. I put almost 300 highway miles on it after the installation on all types of roads. I went out and found some washboard and the rear end stays right where it's supposed to even under acceleration. Deep driveways and fire roads I couldn't hit at more than about 10 to 15 mph with the old stock suspension just seem to disappear.
The ride is a little on the harsh side at very slow speeds when it comes to hitting sharp indentations in the pavement like some driveways but it's not a big deal. I wouldn't be surprised if when the weather warms up they work better. I can't even see the shocks right now. They are just a long ice cube. Everything seems to work quite well at city and highway speed. The faster I go the smoother it is. I'm actually kind of happy I went with the OME Nitrocharger Sports if for no other reason than the fact that they sand the roads around here and the OME have that protective "boot" over the shaft although ICON has some similar accessories. The OME's are probably a better choice for someone like me that doesn't want to "maintain" the shocks as often. They are more of a put-'em-on and forget 'em shock, I think. I suspect this being a regular cab with a 4 cylinder I could even put a front and rear bumper on it and the 880's and the Deaver's would handle the weight with no problem. Or some skids. I have no inclination to do any of that though.
I didn't measure the height before I did the install but I'm sitting at "about" 38" all the way around right now. No Brolean that I see and the truck sits level. It does sit quite a bit higher and I suspect I picked up a good 2 inches of height in addition to what was lost from the stock height with the worn out factory stuff. I'll measure for Brolean once the springs settle and I take all the weight out of the back. It may be there but I don't see it and everything is covered with so much ice I doubt I'd get a good measurement anyway.
I did have to get an alignment. The toe in was visibly off. No drive shaft vibes and the CV's seem to be OK but I won't know for sure until all the ice and snow are gone. As a matter of fact there were some other on and off vibrations I had that seem to have disappeared. I figured it was just the worn out factory shocks and springs.

 

I have 880s on an extended cab 4cyl. They are on 5100s and it amounted to about 2.5-3" of lift initially. I almost got the Nitrochargers but knew I'd get a bumper/winch later. The best googling I could do showed the 5vz weighing 135# +/- more than the 3rz.

 

I'd say the lift you got initially is probably what I've got. that extra 135# would probably make my front end feel exactly like the rear does with the Deavers although they are really close now.

 

I've since added a plate bumper and winch. Then moved the 5100s up to the middle notch to level it back out. Winch and bumper are about 200# together.

 

What is the largest top plate spacer you can use on 882s and 5100 combo

 

5100 are on bottom setting

 

I got a lot more rake with 882 and Dakar with no stock shackles. I'm thinking about going with a spacer in the front. I'm looking at the 1/2" toytec spacer that gives you up to 3/4" lift. Or is that too much?

 

Not much of a visal difference but she feels great!
1996 v6 5100 front and rear. 880 in the front, stock rear. Gave me 3/4 inch lift in the front.

 

Wheelers told me that the OME's shocks are more for a load carrying application and they were right. I like the 880's up front, my Deaver's in the rear and the Nitrocharger Sports. They are stiff at low speeds though. The only area where I can voice anything negative about them is at slow speeds on very rough dirt roads where there is a lot of sharp edged rocks sticking up out of the dirt. In other words minor "shelf" type terrain down around 5-20 mph. In other words, the Nitrocharger Sports do seem to require weight to work properly. Out on the interstate where I do 95% of my driving this set up is absolutely fantastic on really rough pavement. At 75 mph when I hit a rough bridge joint, expansion joints or just rough pavement in general the truck is very well planted and controllable. Rough pavement just seems to disappear. The effects of washboard roads with this set up compared to the old worn out original stuff it huge. The truck doesn't want to swap ends anymore but the ride is harsh over washboard. I have no doubt it would be much better with the weight the Sports are designed to carry. The Nitrocharger sports do very well with loads and I love the Deaver J59's even if they aren't a perfect match for the Nitrochargers. I am still planning on Kings or ICON's down the road as they are far more "tuneable" but for the time being I am very happy with the OME and the Deaver's. 400 lbs in the back shows the weight carrying prowess of the Nitrochargers. They seem to like it. I have a 2.7 in a regular cab so the front end is a little harsher than it would be with a V6 and extended cab but it's not bad at all. A front bumper would probably add enough weight to be just right. Or maybe skid plates. I added 240lbs of "sand tubes" over the rear wheels today because of the ice and snow on the roads and the rear end is nicer than it was. I also have a shell and probably another 150lbs of stuff in the bed with a tool box and other "stuff". I figure that will probably help "set" the Deaver's a little quicker. The Nitrochargers sure do like the extra weight.

 

OME 883 with Dakars 255/85 tires

 

Hey TW, First post after longtime lurking.
Finally installed an OME setup that I bought off a member here about 6 months ago.
883 front coils with Nitrocharger.
Rear Nitrocharger.
The kit came with an AAL and extended shackles but I didn't have long enouth Ubolts so tried to even it out with the shackles. Still have some reverse rake going on. I have some OEM leafs that I was planning on making some hybrids out of, I'll have to get on that soon now.

Have 2002 4x4 Dblcab if it doesn't show up yet. No weight up front and my CV's don't look happy at all, hopefully an alignment and some settling will help.

I'll try to get pictures tomorrow when it is light out, this is with just the front coils.

 

Sweet! The front will settle and your cv angles will come down and be ok. Took mine a year for them to show signs of seeping grease but it hasn't happened since.

 

Sway bar still on?

 

Yes sway bar is still on.

 

I noticed my cv's seemed a little less stressed after I removed my sway bar. That's also right about when I tore the inner boots on both...
FWIW, my 883s didn't settle much, if at all, until I put some weight on the front i.e. steel plate bumper.

 

Boot 'mod' is a must for anything over stock height on a Tacoma. I pulled my swaybar off also. I fabbed some drop brackets with 1" square tubing but the swaybar hit the tie rod ends and pinched a hole in both of those boots.

 

I've read other people say their boots tore right after removing sway bar, might try it after a while. I am planning a plate front bumper but it might be 6-12 months.

I do have the 1" diff drop if that's what you're referring to about the drop bracket. There are two methods to the 'boot mod' one uses a cut off old boot end and the other just slides the existing boot down and reclamps stretching out the fins. Which did you do and how long has it held up?

Pictures after rear shackle added and of the CV's. Looks like drivers side is already seeping some out the end. I'm more worried about them tearing though.

 

The easiest boot mod is to take off the factory band, pull/stretch the boot out, burp so air into it to expand the ribs back out, and zip tie it down as tight as possible.

 

Here's the brackets I attempted to use that didn't work. They were to lower the sway bar.