Old Man Emu setups on 1st gens

Dakars with AAL. JBA upper control arms. Nitrocharger shocks, 882's with 5mm driver's side trim packer. Plate front and rear bumpers, winch with synthetic rope, skids and gas tank skid all steel. Stance turned out right where I want it. I needed no axle shims but I did need a differential drop to make my CV boot fins not touch. 285/75's on 3.5" BS rims.




Same truck with 881's for reference.......they were not up to skids and bumper/winch and gave the truck a stink bug stance even with all the extra weight on the rear. Bed is loaded with weight here to simulate the camper top so I could tell where it would be and one picture with the camper top in place. I went with 881's originally per advice of the seller but they were great to work with and took them back for the 882's I wanted initially.

 

nice, I have the Dakars but getting ready to add an AAL to them this weekend....they sagged pretty bad without it. Did you install the AAL yourself or ordered the pack that way? Looks great

 

Appreciate it. I installed them it was very easy with a couple big C clamps. Be sure and order some spring isolation polyurethane to put under the AAL's which go on top of the pack. They don't have the isolation tabs on the other leafs inthe pack and squeek like hell wihout them. https://www.speedwaymotors.com/Leaf...7vQDelPWUuit-TdYkEz8Nq2IR1moIPEhoC0V8QAvD_BwE

It was a pain taking apart and rebuilding the struts but this time I went ahead and did lower ball joints and tie rod ends so the front end is about new. I forgot to add I also installed JBA upper control arms and the truck aligned great with them as they have built in caster....don't know if they were necessary but the set up works good with them.

 

Really making me wish I went with a bigger coil. I've got the stinkbug stance for sure. It's comical on the reg cab with a raised shell on the back. Thinking I'll swap my 880 to 881 soon.

 

What kind of rack are you running on your topper?

 

It came on the topper. I think its the Thule aero blades.

 

I didn’t know they made UCA’s for first gen. Got any pics?

 

Get you some tomorrow. They are nice, 3 grease fittings and use their own bolted in upper ball joint with extra travel.

 

Here are the UCA's before I finished rust treating/painting the surface rust on the front frame. Then one with paint done and new spash shields in place.

 

The camper + build out weighs in at around 700 pounds. The truck handles it really well, sometimes I forget that there is a huge camper on the back (except for when I am pulling up a grade )

 

So i have spend 2 days reeding tru this forum about OME set up for my 03 2wdv6trd looking for about 2.5 to 3 inch lift would 881 ' would give me this lift ? An would i need the top spacer ? Dont want to buy UCA's on the back an going with icon aal progresive 1.5 inch .

Thanks TW

 

Looked up their website this morning.

Those UCAs look great with the OME! Especially with that ball joint they include. Thanks for sharing the pics.

 

Sweet rig! What rear bumper are your running?? I am in the market for one.

 

The rear bumper is a Relentless Fabrication. More than I wanted to spend on one but it was the only one I could find that was set up like I wanted it. It's a nice piece and well made. Installs by pulling off the dinky rear frame pieces and bolting to the main part of the frame. Even with my thick layer of POF rust coating on the frame it slid right into place.

I was pleased with the JBA's......replacing an upper ball joint in the future will be very easy now. The only harder part of the install was taking out the air box and dangling inside the engine bay to loosen some mounts and hardware to allow the UCA bolt to slide out on the passenger side. I had it all apart anyway to clean my throttle body so it worked out good and my splash guards were removed for replacement and replacing the windshield washer reservoir making access not so bad.

 

You won't get 3" with 881's on the V6. From my experience if you run a stock front bumper they will give a max of about 2" brand new and they will settle some. Any top spacer or trim packer will give you about 2x that amount in lift. 5mm trim packer 10mm more lift...1/4" top spacer 1/2" more lift. If you run 881's and 10mm trim packers you should be about 2.8" or so of total lift and probably settle to 2.5" or slightly less. Stay in the 2.5" range if you dont want to run a differential drop and new upper UCA's for alignment. That said it seems every truck is a little different. From my previous post you can see a picture with 881's and 5mm trim packers on each strut with a bumper and winch.....gave me pretty close to a stock height front. 882's will give you too much lift with no extra front weight so 881's with a combination of packers or top spacers should get you where you want to be.......packers won't require longer top hat studs though and that is nice.

 

Thanks @ggmanning for the info so if i go 881's with 10mm packers that would give me 2.8 lift ? That's about what aim looking for . How about the back would the icon aal would be level my rig out ?

Thanks again for the respond

 

That's when I found on my truck before bumpers and winch. I am sure others would more experience will chime in. The rear is a little more tricky it depends on how tired you are springs are currently. The add a Leafs should have a spec on how much they will increase over where it is right now.

 

Installed 883's & dakars w/5100 & 5125 last night. My spring were worse than i thought. I got almost 4 inches front and rear. I was at 35.5 front and rear before. After almost 39.5 front and rear. I'm sure the will break in some. Stock bumper, no winch , 02 prerunner. that's about the same height my 03 4x4 was after lift worth the same setup. It was half an inch lower up front and it started out closer to 37 inches

 

What size tires are your after measurements taken with?