Old Man Emu setups on 1st gens

Yeah I was looking at those as well. The guy at the truck shop claims the Built Rights are better. Looks like wheelers is having a 15% off sale too... so that takes these down to like $600.

 

Junk how? They're a well built UCA, they use a durable ball joint that has a greater range of motion and tbh I'd rather have my ball joint covered than exposed like the uni-ball. There's tons of positive reviews on them.

 

I'd have to do some measurements but currently I'm running 265/70/16 with no issues. I'd like to go a little larger but am not sure just how much I can go yet.

 

I'm sure they are fine.

I have personally read at least the same amount of negative reviews as positive reviews for the JBAs. Lots of people getting UCAs with defective bushings. I'm sure if you get a good set you're in good shape. I also think the guy wants to sell me his UCAs because he fabricates them and he believes they are great.

I don't really want to risk installation time, alignment charges, shipping hassles, etc. If the Built Rights are as good as advertised and as good as the reviews i'm going to go with them. If there are any issues at all they are local shop and fabricator so any defects can be addressed with minimal headaches.

 

Anyone have experience with this seller and this set-up? https://**********/products/ometac-9804-2med?_pos=1&_sid=5579e72a3&_ss=r I see the same kit on Wheelers but it is priced higher and doesn't look complete (that and the Wheeler site is struggling to load details).

 

I haven't heard of Built Right before, but I do have an opinion on James. Don't let him talk you into one thing if you'd prefer another. I've been hit or miss there on work. On one occasion he and his team were great, and on another resulted in my ABS triggering causing the destruction of my neighbors' fence, not to mention their work didn't fix what I brought it in for. Bought a press after that, and do all my own work now.

 

Yikes - how did they cause the ABS to trigger? He definitely is pushing to go for the Built Right arms over the JBA/SPC but after reading some reviews of the JBAs it seemed like his concerns were warranted. Jury is still out on the SPC but I don't need all custom positioning for my 2" lift. The price is right on the Built Rights too. Wish I had a recent review of them though.

 

Man... after reading Andy01DblCabTacoma post it makes me just want to buy the compressor and do it myself. I could save a hell of a lot of money that way.

 

Absolutely.

 

My SPC UCAs are in the default position. The UCAs themselves are designed with 1° of caster built in. It's a solid product that pairs well with a full OME setup. Again, pricey but worth it IMO. When I ordered them back in March of 2019 I was able to score them for $538 from @Wheeler's Off-Road Inc. They've gone up in price but worth shopping around if going this route. Whatever you decide... good luck.

https://youtu.be/2-dPCBy7FKY

 

They nicked the ABS sensor wire along the axle housing somehow .

I do know countless people who have had a great experience there as well, so it would be easy to put that down to a tech who had a bad day. But for me it was enough to keep as much work in-house as possible.

I can't imagine though, that they'd be unable to correctly set your coilovers up for you.

 

Yeah that's a fair point. I do like doing as much work as I can on my own but I also enjoy my free time when I'm not working.

The thing that rubbed me wrong about their shop is that James is really pushing these control arms that I don't want/need. I wanted the SPC arms and he is insisting that his built rights are the UCA I should be using. I'm sure they are fine quality arms but after a lot of research and talking to others, the SPC is the best UCA for my needs.

 

I’ve been on OEM UCA with poly bushings for close to 11 years. Changed the factory ball joints at that time and am in need of a set again. 3” lift all the while.

 

follow up, I got the alignment worked out with another shop; however I blew both cv axel boots (closest to the diff) within the first 100 shakedown miles. Both were remanufactured OEM Cv’s.

I think the 882’s are too much lift. very disappointing to have to redo these before even off-road it the truck. I think I will pull the coils and go with something different.

 

New alignment sheet? They get you out of negative caster I'm guessing... no bueno to the neg caster. You should consider aftermarket UCAs when the budget permits. You'll have no issue getting the alignment dialed in.

On the 882s... yeah, maybe. I remember talking with Wheeler's when I purchased my full kit. We settled on 881s and that gave it a near level stance (no armor). Just slightly higher in the rear which I was good with.

Now that I'm finally finishing a swap to 4WD, the added weight is going to call for new coils. Wheeler's had suggested 883s with an ARB/winch. I've got the ARB (without the winch the 881s have been fine) and the winch will be next, just need to circle back with them and order up the new coils. Maybe the 882s would be better, we'll see I guess. The added weight of the front end 4WD components has given me the impression its dipped a little.

 

I ended up taking it too an old school alignment shop, and they were able to get the alignment dialed in by hand. Alignment has been fine.
It's really irritating tearing these boots with the 882's so quickly though. If you're ripping boots in 100 miles of light driving then they're basically unusable. Havig to get up under it and tear the thing apart to get the CV's out and rebuilt without even hunting out of the thing yet is a real bitch. The angle on the CV's with the 882's is just garbage.

 

looking for new setup soon, sub'd

 

CV boot mod done? I rebuilt 2 sets of axles to replace boots and finally just bought AZone lifetime axles for almost as cheap as good boots. Straight from the box I snip the metal clamps off the small boot ends, stretch them out as far as I can over the axle, burp the ribs back out, and zip tie them down. They’ll last years this way.

 

I’m over it; Already switched out the dakar’s for alcans due to heavy weight loads, might as well swap out these too, I don’t need a lift so badly that I’m willing to put up with this

 

So, I am replacing my OME shocks all the way around and I'm reviewing my original purchase from Wheeler's/Low Range Offroad 3 years ago and my original invoice says the part number for my rear springs is CS046RA/B but when I go onto their site and look up the springs for my truck it calls out EL122RA/B for the part number for both stock and heavy load. The ARB/OME fitment guide calls out EL122RA/B as the correct spring for my truck. The leaf springs look like they are really sagging but they are just less than 3 years old and I can't imagine they are worn out this soon. I've spent far too much time researching this with no real answers that I can find. Do any of you guys know the difference in these springs? What is the correct spring to use for a heavy load application?

I'm planning to install 882 springs in the front to replace the 881 that are not enough to support the bumper and winch.