OME suspension lift

[Leonardo Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Leonardo]

Dear friends,
I am thinking of fitting a 2 inch OME suspension lift on my LC 120.
Since you live in the motherland of OME and I am sure that, a lot of you have done such modifications, please give me you valuable experience...

What are the negative points of a 2 inch OME suspension lift ?
:cry: :cry: :cry:

I already know the positive points
:wink: :wink: :wink:

[prado-admin Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close prado-admin]

How about: if you have roof racks & the lift, you may not be able to park in some shopping centres...

[TEPUI Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close TEPUI]

How about: if you have roof racks & the lift, you may not be able to park in some shopping centres...

Not being able to go to the shopping center should be a POSITIVE!

More time Outdoors

[prado-admin Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close prado-admin]

O yeah TEPUI - you are right... what was i thinking? ops:

[Leonardo Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Leonardo]

Many thanks for the replies.
So you say that the only negative point is the wheel alignment???
The thing about the shopping centres, is positive I believe, although I have trained my wife...hehehe

[pcm_120 Member Find all posts View Profile Close pcm_120]

Hi Leonardo.

I have the following OME kit on our 2005 V6 manual with steel ARB bulbar and warn 9500XP winch.

OME885 front springs, rated at 50-100Kg additional load carrying
N140S front shocks, to suit the firmer springs

OME895 rear springs, rated at 50-125ish Kg additional load carrying
N142 rear shocks, to suit firmer springs

When ARB did the original install they fitted OME896 rear coils and they were way to firm with no load in the back. Within a week I swapped to the OME895 coils (which I actually asked for in the first place) and the ride was much better.

The 896 coil has a calculated rate of 318Lbs/” where the 895 coil has a rate of 260Lbs/” (that is the weight required to compress the spring one inch). For what we do, the 895 is good, we have had the truck seriously loaded (fridge, esky, 2 tents, 4 sleeping bags, stove & stand, 2 gas bottles, 2 weeks of food, 4 chairs, clothes for 2 adults and 2 kids, 30-40Kg of water, 100Kg of recovery gear, the list goes on) and only lost maybe 15mm of height.

With the 896 coils we gained 60mm at the rear and with the 885 coils we gained 70mm up front. Swapping to the 895 coils brought the rear back to a gain of 30 or 40mm. While the 895 is shorter than the 896, the vehicle actually sits level when comparing the side step to the ground. I plan to get taller custom coils wound for the rear but I will keep the same rate as the 895 coils.

One thing I did notice (I think) with the 896 coils is the vehicle seemed to turn into a corner harder as the body rolled to one side. I think as the body leant over, it started to induce rear steer due to the additional angle of the rear control arms. That is, because of the lift, the rear control arms are on a steeper angle between the chassis and the axle housing and as the vehicle leans, one side of the axle housing compresses up and slightly rearward and the other side extends down and slightly forward inducing a steering effect across the rear axle. Now, I am not sure if this was the case, as the truck was new to me and I only had the tall coils in the rear for a short time, maybe I just got used to it, or maybe the tyre pressure was lower than it should have been. I’m not sure, but that is what it felt like (my bash around 87 Pathfinder suffered badly from this).

I have found that the N142 shock is firm (not quite harsh) in the rear with the 895 coils. As it is OME’s "heavy duty" shock, it has to look after both the 895 and 896 coils. OME do a N141 shock that is approximately 15% "softer" than the N142. If I had my time again I think I would go for the N141. The N141 is not recommended for the 896 coil.

One thing I am planing is to remove the polyurethane bushes from the rear shocks and replace them with the original Toyota rubber bushes. This should remove some of the harshness. I have also found the N142 shock rate to be to firm on roughish dirt roads, with the rear getting skittish (with no load in the back). I believe this is because the shock is over controlling the axle and the wheel cannot follow the contour of the ground quick enough. With the 896 coils, the vehicle was downright scary, It was hard to hold 80km/h where my wife’s Avalon would comfortably do the same piece of road at +110km/h with 225/50/16 Toyo’s.

So far I am happy with the front, it rides nicely, better than the back.

Overall I am pleased with the kit, I think the vehicle corners and handles better than it did in stock form and it has a more confident feel on the road, all be it considerably firmer.


As an interesting aside. The Lovells TRR119 rear coil is classified as a standard load, raised spring and it has a 261Lbs/” rate, almost identical to the OME895.

Another interesting titbit. I believe the OME N141 and N142 rear shocks actually out stroke the equivalent Bilstein (from what I was told by the importer). They (the OME’s) compress 15mm shorter and extend 17mm longer. Now take this however you like, but I would imagine that the Bilstein would actually be a better shock in terms of quality and operation.


Now…. This/these are only my opinions and 95% of the time I carry very little in the back, so take this into consideration and use your best judgement.

Paul.

Here end’ith the lecture

PS. Tyre pressure also plays a large role in what I have mentioned above.

[Leonardo Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Leonardo]

Hi pcm_120
Many thanks for the big reply.
The idea I had in mind was not a big modification.
I have an ordinary LC 120, I am not thinking of fitting a SAHARA bumper or a 9500 winch.
I just want to gain some height and more suspension travel.
I will not add anything heavy to my car.
So I believe I have to fit the ordinary OME shocks and coils for ordinary weight.
If this modification means that I will lose speed, I am afraid I will not do it
I am travelling now with 160-170 with no problem.

This is the situation.
My innitial question was...Am I going to change (for the worst) the road handling of my LC with the 2 inch lift??

Many thanks again
Leonardo

[lc120_man Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close lc120_man]

Your fuel consumption will increase after fitting the lift kit,
but you if you are doing over 160 it shouldn't bother you

Bilstein shock are much better as they got velocity controlled valving which improves handling

[denzilmstn Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close denzilmstn]

I've lifted my 120 using the Lovell / Bilstein (medium wieht) combination from Darren McRae @ ATS, Geelong OZ. Darren has the shocks custom valved to suit the 120.

I've got an ARB Sahara bar (steel) and usually carry 2 - 4 people with about 80kg of gear in the back. I like the lift and ride to the extent that I won't hesitate to make the same mods to my next 120.

If you want to see the some pics have a look here at the lcool site. The caption also shows the amount of lift.

http://autos.ph.groups.yahoo.com/gro...os/browse/b876

From personal experience I would argue that the vehicle handles slightly better now that it did stock standard. But lc120_man is correct in saying that any alterations like this will increase fuel consumption and if traveling at 160 frequently I would question why bother. I ran with the stock setup for about 2 years offroad, (both work and play) with very few clearance issues. I haven't had any problems rising from the lift, wheel alignment or other

[AJs Prado Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close AJs Prado]

Paul lc120_man,

Your set up is close to what I am putting in this Thursday so I'm happy to read you are satisfied with it. While I'm not running a winch (yet) I do have dual batteries and run full cargo drawers and fridge in the rear when touring so should I expect to be OK with the 140/885 and 142/896 based on your feedback. I did think the 895s would be too soft with around 2-300 kgs weight on board and occasionally towing a 12ft aluminium boat on heavy duty (200kg) trailer.

Unfortunately the choice of options and reliable fitters who know much is not that great in Canberra and after a Central Oz run last year including Kangaroo Island, Rainbow Valley, Chambers Pillar, Kakadu, Litchfield, Karumba and Fraser Island with the standard coils, struts and shocks it is well overdue.

Leonardo,
Having run up to around a 190 burst into Alice with a full load and 160 unloaded around Darwin/Kakadu, anything over 160-170 unloaded is just scary in these things. More so if you run AT or MT 70 series tyres and add a 2inch lift.

Can you put me in your will?

Andrew

[AJs Prado Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close AJs Prado]

Pradogxlv6,

If you are measuring to the plastic outer guard then the difference is probably due to the plastic guard alignment at build than suspension droop.

I found the same thing when I had mine done measuring to the plastic. None of the measures where the same all round when measuring to the plastic outer. The test will be if the "variance" remains constant when you get the lift done using the same measure points.

[Maverick Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Maverick]

I have heard from several sources that most suppliers of aftermarket kit for the Prado are having problems with the front struts breaking their mounts. EFS, as yet, haven't got a shock for their Prado springs and I have also been told that another supplier had a recall on the kits they fitted due to the same reasons.

Apparently OME are the only people to get the front struts right.

I was looking at fitting Ultimate Suspension to mine, having used it on my old Hi-lux, but now I'm not so sure.

Anyone else heard these same stories?

[TEPUI Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close TEPUI]

I installed the OME setup last week and it feels and performs great so far!

[craig Member Find all posts View Profile Close craig]

koni shocks

Has anyone fitted some koni shocks and struts to there prado?

I have got the shocks and struts, I have just got to get them fitted.
The koni shocks will be going with a set of king springs that I have had in the car for about 12 months.

Craig
03TD GXL
factory bull bar
twin hiclones
snorkel
dual batteries
king springs

[Maverick Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Maverick]

Had a call this morning from Ken O'Keefe of Ultimate Suspension in Sydney, regarding my question of the front struts breaking on the Prado.

He informed me that this is a problem. Apparently, the hard bushes put a lot of stress on the mount and cause it to break. Replacing the hard bush with a softer bush causes the bush to wear out quickly. His solution to this problem was to desigh a strut with a stainless steel bearing on the mount to remove the stress altogether. Not a cheap answer to the problem. The front shocks are nearly $550 a pair.

Looks like I'm going to have to save a few more pennies before the suspension gets upgraded now.