OME suspension lift

[Snaga Wishing I was lost Find all posts View Profile Close Snaga]

Looks great Damien... Now to test it :twisted:

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

Looks like a suspension lift is on the cards :twisted:

[Damien Parker Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Damien Parker]

Do it you know you want to... :twisted:

Of the two jobs that i took on this weekend with the car, the suspension by far was the easiest to do. Some basic hand tools, Spring compressors and some jack stands is all you need. I recommend if you are halfway competent at using your hands and spanners then give it a go. Its not a hard job at all for two people.

Estimate around 5 - 6 hours for the job.

Though an Air compressor and rattle gun with some sockets makes the job insanely easy.

If you do take it on your self, exercise a great deal of caution when using spring compressors. If they aren't secured on the springs properly they can come off causing the spring to rapidly de-compress and injury or damage to individuals or property is likely.

We used three compressors for safety.

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

The way I look at it is if, I spend a few dollars on tools and refreshments it should be more than made up in the saving on labour.

[PAL001 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close PAL001]

Hey Damo,
Lift looks good, what is the height sitting at now ?

Peter

[Damien Parker Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Damien Parker]

Indeed

I am wishing i had done the snorkel myself now as i have found some rust patches forming from swarf... :evil: :evil:

Will have to take it back tomorrow arvo and give the fitters a serve.

[Chippy Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Chippy]

Hey Damo,
Lift looks good, what is the height sitting at now ?

Peter

... and what springs did you end up getting - 884's or 885's in the front ? 896's in the rear ??

Cheers
Chippy

[DR Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close DR]

G'Day

I am about to place an order with ARB for OME884 Springs & N140S Shocks on the front and OME896 Springs & N142 Shocks on the rear of my new GXL D4D. This is what was recommended to me by ARB but I notice that Paul's (pcm_120) experience was that he did not like the OME896 and changed to OME895 also in a later post he mentioned that he changed the shocks to N141.

I am not towing anything apart from the possible odd hire camper trailer once a year on holidays and I spend a bit of time on gravel roads for work with varying degrees of corrugation and stability on gravel is important to me. What is everyones opinion on what to fit, would you recommend that I consider changing to the OME895 and N141 on the rear instead?

Any comments would be appreciated.

DR

[Chippy Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Chippy]

Hiya DR

The 896 combination is for more of a constant load while the 895 gives some load carrying and a bit of a softer ride.

My decision, to go on with the 896's, was based on spending more time with a load in than not.

I pay for it occasionally when I have no load and I'm out driving on gravel / corrugated roads - it's a tad too firm and can bounce around a little. I don't find it an issue as I had spent the first few months driving around with Polyairs in and they are even less forgiving.

Certainly the 895's would give you slightly better manners on the gravel - they're just rated to not carry as much.


It's a balance thing - how much do you want to carry, how often and are you prepared to accept a little trade off ???

If you are heading down to Harvey on the 20th you can check mine out and see what it handlles like - if that's not too late.

Cheers
Chippy

[DR Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close DR]

Thanks Chippy, I'm still keen to head down on the 20th barring anything unforeseen but I don't know what the the plans are. Is this in another post?

I need to place this order on ARB, probably tomorrow to allow for any more comments but a lot of the time I will be away for work with just my Bag and an Engel in the back with the vehicle loaded up for holidays and when I go fishing.

How would the 895's compare with the standard shocks in regards to load rating? Also is there any comments regarding the N141's as opposed to the N142 shocks?

Thanks

[pcm_120 Member Find all posts View Profile Close pcm_120]

Hi DR.

In my opinion, unless you are going to carry a bunch of gear, most of the time, you will hate the N142 shocks. As you read, mine was downright uncomfortable to drive with the 896/N142 combo and on dirt and especially on corrugations it was terrible, “very” erratic.

The 895’s will not give you as much lift as the firmer 896’s, but… what I have found, even with the softer/lower 895 coils, I only had approximately 40mm of extension left in the shocks and about 180mm of compression (N141’s and N142’s are identical, they just have a different rate), which means that the side to side articulation (extension/compression) is totally out of whack and off road, you would regularly be lifting a wheel in the air because the shocks are to short (going to the 896 coils would make this even worse).

I recently made up a pair of shock extensions to help balance this out and they have made quite a difference (I’m running N141 shocks with extensions, 895 coils and 1” coil spacers).

So… in the end, if you are not after mega lift and won’t be regularly carrying lots of “heavy” gear (I don’t count the fridge as heavy) I would recommend the 895 coils and N141 shocks. To be honest, even if you wanted the extra lift of the 896’s but were not going to carry much, I would still use the N141 shocks.

This is of course my opinion. :?

Good luck,

Paul.


PS. In this picture (taken whilst we were stripping the diff after it let go 4x4ing) you can see the black extension at the top of the shock.

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

Nice write up boys. I was looking through the ARB price list and noticed there is a Medium and Heavy Duty option for suspension.

Can you list which option is pictured here ?

[Damien Parker Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Damien Parker]

Paul has set his suspension up the way that work for him best after extensive research, testing and mods.

When you go to ARB they will ask you questions on what your intended use of the vehicle will be and how much weight it will be carrying etc.. from there they will recommend a setup for your car.

As a brief tip though, if you have a steel bull bar, dual batteries, winch etc.. on the front end you will want the heavy duty springs up front and if you dont carry much weight in the back go for the medium.

[pcm_120 Member Find all posts View Profile Close pcm_120]

Hi Wally.

As Damien mentioned, I have done the mods to suit my use, but as you see it, I’m running HD OME coils and shocks with 6mm spacers in the front and medium coils and shocks with 1" coil spacers and custom shock spacers in the rear.

Regards,

Paul.

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

Thanks for the info. I have had a few suspension set up over the years, and I have been happy with most except 1 brand. Luckily it has not been mentioned on this site.

I think I might need to contact fat Dazza at ATS I have not tried Bilsteins before.