Old Man Emu setups on 1st gens

How in the heck did a sagging suspension cause frame rub??

 

I put these tires on last year. Maybe the tread was a little too aggressive? My front strut bushings were completely blown and had an inch of play in them, and my wheels had lateral movement before the new suspension. That's all I could figure is that it was the old suspension causing the rub. Though maybe the marks are from when the tires were brand new? Not sure ... I was surprised to see them. Why else would a stock tire size rub?

 

Great looking truck there. What shocks are you running?

 

OME nitro sports front and rear.

 

Anyone and Everyone:

What other general maintenance, replacements, or upgrades did you do while installing your full OME set up? I'll be putting mine on soon and want to be sure I clean, grease, replace, upgrade anything and everything while I have it all apart.

 

Replace the little quarter sized bushings on top of the struts, may as well do some new steering rack bushings, if you do the leaf springs be prepared for a fight getting the bolts out. You may need to cut them, so be ready to replace them.

 

How is it feeling now? Most of the ones I have installed have settled within 2 weeks, more or less depending on load and weight..looks really good and thanks for using me to help you out. And yeah your front struts were the worst I have seen as far as the lower bushings are concerned on the stock coilover.

I just did one on Sunday that had the front leaf bolts completely rusted in, I had to cut them out and replace them, there was no way they were going to come out. But this particular truck was extremely rusted and fought every bit of the way, had to cut off the U-bolts too!

 

I’ve had my finger on the trigger to purchase an OME suspension kit from Wheelers for 3 years now. Looking at the ’98-04 complete OME suspension system-$1180.

’04 DC V6 TRD 4x4

Stopping me is:

1. Too much talk of noisy Dakar leaf packs.
   
   
2. Concerned that new leaf pack will hit my Magnaflow SS cat back exhaust system.
   
   
3. Concerned that new leaf pack will interfere with my Firestone Airbags.
   

Thoughts?

 

The few trucks with Dakar's I have ridden in didn't have any noise issues, at least that I could hear or my friends have complained about.

As far as the other two, I would give Kurt a call at Cruiser Outfitters, he has answered all my questions and been my go to guy for OME stuff.

 

I appreciate the feedback. I guess I will see where I can find OEM replacements.

List of check, touch up, or replace items:

-bolts for the the leafs
-bushings for the top of struts
-new U-bolts
-new longer rear brake line hose
-steering rack bushings
-clean and rattle can lower control arms and any worn areas of frame throughout


I did get new greaseable bushings with OME shackles.

I also went ahead and got the SPC Light Racing Upper control arms to be able to get a good alignment.



Anything else to add to the list?

 

Lots and lots of very nice Tacoma's in this thread. I've been going through it all for a few days now.

I had a quick question, though. I'm stuck on choosing an OME coil for the front. I was leaning towards the 881's or the 882's, but I also plan on adding an aftermarket bumper on the front. What I've read, is that the 882 coils are probably better for weight up front. One concern is that I also don't want to be eating up my CV boots all the time. I did that to my '96 and it got old, quick. So, i'm not sure if the 882's would produce too much of an angle on the boots- with or without the weight.

Another question, is what size of tire to run. I was thinking a 33x10.50 on 15x8 wheels, but not sure if they would fit.

 

I went with the safer option, 881's. The 880's and 881's were designed for the 98-04 Tacomas. I too was tempted to get the 882's but after researching on here, I think I made the best decision for my use of the truck.

882's will run risk of wearing out cv's. Some people do diff drops to help but you're basically back to where you started for ground clearance.

 

I've had my Dakars for almost 4 years now, and they are not squeaky at all. Never have been.

OME 881s w/ Emu Dakar leaf springs & NitroCharger Sport shocks (f/r)
265/75/16 Falken Rocky Mountain ATs

 

Fellas I have a question regarding full droop and shock length.

When I installed my Dakars and nitrochargers in the rear, I had to jack up the rear axel to mount the shock absorbers. So I suppose that full droop for the leaf springs is longer than the shocks.

Am I going to need limiting straps? Or need to relocate he mounts?

I don't really do any hardcore off roadong. Just hauling camping gear and a small popup down dirt roads. Occasionally I'll drive out to the state forest but it's nothing crazy, just big puddles and rocks.

 

I wouldn't worry about topping out the shocks unless you do any jumping. You may want to jack up one side and see where the shock bottoms out at in relation to the bump stop. If you do any heavy hauling and it rides on the shock for a while, it'll blow them.

 

On my '99 I used to have, I installed 882's up front with no extra weight and loved it. I didn't have any CV boot issues, and as far as i know, the guy i sold it to 5 years ago hasn't either. I was very happy with the ride and the stance on it. I used wheelers 5 leafs in the back with them.

 

There are mixed experiences but it's good to know that the 882's have worked out for some. Pending how my experience actually goes with the 881's, I might end up trading for 882's... Who knows...

Was this a 6 cylinder or 4 using 882's?

 

Feels great! Very noticeable difference in ride quality. It's quite a treat when I hit larger bumps and my suspension doesn't squeak anymore!

For anyone worried about squeaky Dakars, I'm not sure if they've improved the design from older leaf packs or not, but I was looking at my leafs and noticed there are little round pads in-between each leaf on both ends of the spring. I assume this is to combat squeaks. I was looking at a few posts where guys had taken apart their leaf packs and stuffed pieces of vinyl in between the leafs to fight the squeaks. Maybe OME has modified the design to help us out.

 

6 cylinder 4wd. I definitely think it'd be a difference between 2.7 and 3.4.

I did however pull my icons off my last 3.4 4wd and put them on my current 2.7 4wd and got the same amount of lift on both trucks at the same setting