OME kit purchase and self install suggestions

hang on

 

N 182's

A 16DE09 3

Seems like a manufacture date

 

it does. mine are A 28MY10 3. the middle part of it anyways. but i think that first and last number could mean something different. because both of our back shocks have the first "a" and "3". and one of my front shocks has the same front "a" and "3" as yours, but the other one was a "d" and "3". i am wondering if the "a" and "3" make it model specific for the tacoma, at least since we have those in common for 3 of them. maybe the "d" and "3" are for a different, heavier truck, since they are stiffer? i just don't want the wrong thing on my truck. even if they are both right, but one is a revised model, i don't want to mix. i'd want to have both newer models. also, did yours show any of the signs of use like mine and their boxes did. mine only came from florida to georgia and the rear shocks look like they have rubbed on something to where they yellow paint came off and the front ones have some chips in the yellow paint and look to have been handled by greasy hands. then there were the boxes kind of messed up too, but it wasn't the whole package, only a couple of the smaller boxes within the package. so i can't say ups did that.

 

My shocks and packaging looks new .

As do my coils and Dakars

 

i don't know wtf is going on then

 

Make a call tomorrow , your supplier should be able to explain the numbers and the shock length discrepency .

 

I sent Down South a PM earlier outlining my problem. Then I decided to call and leave a message, just in case they don't get on TW often, so I could get a head start on fixing this tomorrow morning. Sonny actually answered (he forwards the calls to his phone) and he already had gotten the PM and forwarded it to Marco (whom I ordered with) to get the problem solved. Shortly after that, Marco had already replied to the PM and is already working on getting my wrong/damaged shocks back and new ones on the way. Wow! These guys just earned a lot of respect from me. Sonny took care of my business on his personal phone after hours. He and Marco are already solving my issues within the hour, two hours after the store was closed; no questions asked. They will be sending me a tag to send my old shocks back, then having new shocks sent to their store to be personally inspected, then sent to me. They are making right, what the vendor messed up. I really dreaded trying to fix this because I thought I would get a run around on it because nobody would want to claim the fault on it and just say it's on me. But these guys are treating me right. That is great customer service. Thank you DSM.

 

Wow , that is awesome service .

 

Agreed. I was shocked when Sonny answered 2hrs after the store was closed. I was just going to leave a message so we could start figuring it out in the morning, then he answered. I was so surprised, I almost didn't know what to say, haha. I am very pleased with this service and glad that they are making it such an easy process.

 

When you get a chance , find out about the coding on the shocks .

I wanna know what it means now .

Lol

 

Will do, I will talk to them in the morning.

 

I have been wondering, how is your user name said "O-Z...T" or "OZ-T" (like the wizard of Oz)?

 

Like wizard of Oz - Tee

 

Every time I've saw it on here and said it in my head it's been "O-Z....T" lol

 

well i finally got my correct shocks in friday. they were still a little nicked up, but i guess that comes with shipping it cross country. at least they were the correct ones this time. i backed out of doing the install myself. i don't really have the tools, time, or experience to do it myself. i might F something up, lol. so i'm having a buddy with a shop down the road do the install. he's doing me right and quoted me about $200-300, depending on how long it takes. so i think for the price and the fact that he knows what he's doing, it's better off that way.

as far as the coding OZ-T, i couldn't really get an answer. like we agreed on, the middle part of the code is the production date. DSM couldn't really tell me what the "D...3" and the "A...3" meant. it makes sense since DSM doesn't make them and doesn't really normally sell them other than to us. my guess is that it's just a batch number or maybe where they were made. however, the "D...3" was still longer and stiffer than the other. oh well, as long as both fronts and rears are the same, i'm happy. i just didn't want to couple two different shocks opposite of one another. now my fronts are both "A...3" numbers and the rears are "D...3" numbers.

 

Cool

Good luck with your install

 

thanks. i can't wait to get off of these spacers tomorrow and get a decent ride back. it feels like i'm riding on wooden wagon wheels now, lol. every bump, pothole, and speed bump is punishment for buying spacers, haha.

 

well i had my OME kit installed today. i had a little trouble, but it all turned out alright. i dropped my truck off a little after 7 and got it back at about 3. i glanced at it and in my excitement said thanks and took her for a ride to test it out. the truck dampened the pot holes, railroad tracks, and drop offs more nicely. but it honestly wasn't a ton better. the ride still isn't perfect and is stiff, but i guess that is what you guys mean when you say "it drives more like a truck" after an OME install. i guess i also have to consider that it hasn't settled or broke in a lot just after a few hours. i also found out that my spacer lift was the poly rubbery type spacer, not metal. i didn't know because the first guy that did my spacer just basically said "you need this for 2.5'' and then he put it on. but since it was a softer one, i didn't have it as bad as some guys with metal spacers. regardless, the OME doesn't ride like a cadillac, but it really takes some of the harshness out of the dreaded railroad tracks near my house and the other neglected parts of our terrible county roads in GA. when i got the truck home i got under it and really looked at it good. i noticed something that didn't look right. i'm not sure what it is called, but the bell shaped piece (bottom plate?) that cups the coil was upside down. it was grinding on my sway bar. i came in, looked it up, and sure enough, that was wrong. i took it back and we argued over it for about 15 minutes. his attitude was much different after i came back and pointed it out. he said he knew all of this stuff, and he did know a lot, but that it was supposed to go like that. i agreed that he knew more than me, but said that even i know that metal grinding on metal is never good. he tried to say that the old coils and shocks' bottom piece was on that way, but it wasn't. i tried to show him that it has to be turned up for the coil to sit in it correctly. he wouldn't budge. he kept saying that if i turned it up that it would still rub the sway bar, but with it turned up it would cup the coil and widen the gap between the sway bar and coils. we argued more. he said that i didn't give him instructions and i said that he acted like he knew how everything was supposed to go. if he had told me, i would have gladly printed some off. finally his last point was that he would have to grind it, that turning it up would make no difference, and that it wouldn't be free. and i said i am the one paying, i want it turned up, and don't want anything ground down; it won't need to be. i left and about 3hrs later his brother brought it back to me. apparently he was too mad to bring it. i looked under it and the bell shaped bottom was turned up, but he had ground down the sway bar anyway. i was pretty pissed, but glad it was over with. i am pretty sure that he didn't need to grind it, he just didn't want to give in that i was right and ground it down anyways to act like it needed room.

oh well, it's over and i'm glad. it sucks that when i get my bill i will probably be paying him by the hour for his mistake. but overall it rides good and i'm happy.

 

i know, ton of stuff. i was kind of venting on how he pissed me off and got carried away.