OME Lift Opinion / Sanity Check

[RAWZ08]

Hi all, I was hoping not to have to do this, thought I had all the info I needed from previous threads, but I need a sanity check and another member who had a similar setup recommended i throw this one to the group as it didnt quite seem right. I installed the OME HD springs (2933 & 2942 and looked like everything was labeled correctly) on my LJ last week and I was a little suprised at the results. Full discosure, i did not do any number crunching and maybe I should have, though I figured based on others' results with similar LJs, it would at least come close.

So, I was more worried about excessive rake, but i ended up with 1 inch of lift in the rear and 2 up front and somewhere between 3/4" and 1" of rake. The measily 1" of rear lift is what suprised me. It's all stock, including bumpers, with 32" BFG KOs, also for the mounted spare, (that measure at about 30" now) but I do have the rear seat installed, full doors, hardtop, and the tank is about 3/4 full. And only spacers/isolators present at the factory ones in all four corners.

In my mind, that seemed like a pretty "light" Jeep, even though its an LJ. More importantly, it seemed like others in comparable configurations (heavy bumpers, gear, etc...) may have cancelled out having the hardtop on mine or other variances in weight.

So, a few questions:

1. If i hadn't seen other posts with similar LJ setups, I'd maybe think the 2942s werent stout enough, but i generally trust others' experiences and photos. However, does it sound like its simply too heavy for the 2942s to achieve closer to 2 inches?

2. Other than weight, is there anything else it could be? Im doubtful on that, but if i have 2933s on a light front end would that alter the rear? I sat on the bumper and moved it up and down but didnt seem to change the rear at all.

3. The rake. I understand if the rear gets raised, so will the rake and that's another problem, but if my front springs measure 14 and my rear 9, wouldnt i likely see less rake than what I now have? Since i have an additional inch in the front over the factory spring length ratio (12 & 8 vs 14 & 9) I'd guess it would be less, but angles matetr and its been awhile since trigonometry...

Anyway, thanks for any insight, other possibly relevant factors are i replaced all four sway links with ones made for approx 2 inches of lift, ARB rear trackbar bracket, previously had a 2" BB on stock springs.

My immediate plan is to pull the rear seat and spare and see what happens. Depending what happens maybe i can extrapolate the results, maybe the hardtop is simply putting it over the edge at 140 lbs.

Cheers

 

[glwood]

Hi all, I was hoping not to have to do this, thought I had all the info I needed from previous threads, but I need a sanity check and another member who had a similar setup recommended i throw this one to the group as it didnt quite seem right. I installed the OME HD springs (2933 & 2942 and looked like everything was labeled correctly) on my LJ last week and I was a little suprised at the results. Full discosure, i did not do any number crunching and maybe I should have, though I figured based on others' results with similar LJs, it would at least come close.

So, I was more worried about excessive rake, but i ended up with 1 inch of lift in the rear and 2 up front and somewhere between 3/4" and 1" of rake. The measily 1" of rear lift is what suprised me. It's all stock, including bumpers, with 32" BFG KOs, also for the mounted spare, (that measure at about 30" now) but I do have the rear seat installed, full doors, hardtop, and the tank is about 3/4 full. And only spacers/isolators present at the factory ones in all four corners.

In my mind, that seemed like a pretty "light" Jeep, even though its an LJ. More importantly, it seemed like others in comparable configurations (heavy bumpers, gear, etc...) may have cancelled out having the hardtop on mine or other variances in weight.

So, a few questions:

1. If i hadn't seen other posts with similar LJ setups, I'd maybe think the 2942s werent stout enough, but i generally trust others' experiences and photos. However, does it sound like its simply too heavy for the 2942s to achieve closer to 2 inches?

2. Other than weight, is there anything else it could be? Im doubtful on that, but if i have 2933s on a light front end would that alter the rear? I sat on the bumper and moved it up and down but didnt seem to change the rear at all.

3. The rake. I understand if the rear gets raised, so will the rake and that's another problem, but if my front springs measure 14 and my rear 9, wouldnt i likely see less rake than what I now have? Since i have an additional inch in the front over the factory spring length ratio (12 & 8 vs 14 & 9) I'd guess it would be less, but angles matetr and its been awhile since trigonometry...

Anyway, thanks for any insight, other possibly relevant factors are i replaced all four sway links with ones made for approx 2 inches of lift, ARB rear trackbar bracket, previously had a 2" BB on stock springs.

My immediate plan is to pull the rear seat and spare and see what happens. Depending what happens maybe i can extrapolate the results, maybe the hardtop is simply putting it over the edge at 140 lbs.

Cheers

Any photos of the current look?

Any plans to run the LJ without the hard top?

 

[RAWZ08]

 

[glwood]

Looks just about perfect to me, considering the hard top on there...I guess you were expecting more lift in the back?

You do know that the OME 2942 springs, while having a higher spring rate, are actually physically shorter in height than the 2941 springs, albeit only .4 inches, right?

 

[bobthetj03]

What made you choose 942 rears? I was under the impression that LJ's take a different spring, but I could be way off.

 

[KMET]

I've got a couple 1.75" spacers you can have/try.

Been down this road before. Anything above 3" your stock LJ well produce drive-line vibes. You'll need to upgrade to the SYE to correct vibes. Once you've got an SYE, might as well do the tummy-tuck.... It never ends....

 

[RAWZ08]

Youre correct, it looks fine, I was just expecting more lift in the back. Ultimate goal is to do the BL/MML and put 33s on it (current KOs are 8 years old), but now I'm concerned about the clearance. May just have to re-look at options.

Yeah, i did read that, seemed like the consensus was itd be too soft. But again, I didnt crunch numbers, so maybe that was more of an issue than I thought. I know they have a heavier rear spring too, 2949 maybe.

 

[RAWZ08]

Went with the 942s based mostly on others experiences on the forums with LJs.

 

[KMET]

You wont like 33's with stock gears.

MML well also produce engine vibration. Before installing my SYE I had Brown Dog MML... Drove me nuts!

Jeep looks good the way it is...

 

[RAWZ08]

Thanks @KMET once i decide what to do ill let you know if i want to try them. I was guessing I'd get 2.5" out of them if i was extremely lucky, but wasnt counting on it, and would be ok with that. The 2" up front im fine with, seemed to be within the typical range of results. The rear is a little more frustrating as thats where it was with the old stock springs and the 2" spacers.

 

[RAWZ08]

Thanks, i know thats definitely another highly recommended upgrade. I'm willing to live with the stock gears for the time being, I did have the 32s on there and it was fine for my DD needs.

 

[RAWZ08]

@glwood I do plan to run without the hardtop occasionally and I do have a soft top. My first thought was to pull that first and re-measure but for simplicity im going to try the seat and spare first.

Im in the daily driver Jeep and young kids at home crowd, so i don't have as much time or flexibilty as I'd like to tinker and troubleshoot it.

 

[Fargo]

That looks really good to me. Looks like about 2" on both ends. Maybe you just measured something wrong. I know the rear springs are hard to measure. You could have 9" at the front of the perch and10" at the rear. I'm not sure were the factory springs were measured at when people say they are 8" stock.

One thing I will point out though. Did you reset your control arms for the new lift height? If you have factory Clevite control arms, you need to loosen all 8 arms with the Jeep sitting on level ground, then tighten them back up. (They can be done one at a time.) The factory clevite is bonded to the shell inside the arm. If you don't loosen the arms, you have that clevite bushing in tension. That could make a small difference in height. But more importantly, if you don't reset the arm to the current height, you will tear apart that clevite bushing. So with your Jeep on level ground, just crawl under the Jeep and one by one loosen and retighten each control arm to the proper torque specs.

Otherwise, I think you have a nice level stance.

 

[RAWZ08]

Thanks, I've been measuring from the front of the rear springs, multiple times, ill try the other side. And I hate to admit it, but I didn't see anything about the resetting the arms in videos or other guides I found. Obviously didn't look in all the right places. May have overlooked it too since I had already decided to stick with stock arms. If need be, I've seen the recommendation to just buy new stock arms rather than replace bushings. Im the original owner and I know I didn't do it with the BB either in 2011, would have if the directions had said to. Guess there overall condition will warrant a closer look as well.

 

[bobthetj03]

I bought my OME lift years ago. It was advertised as a 2.5" lift, but included 10mm spacers to net the advertised 2.5" of lift. I went with 933/942 spring combo. Granted, mine is a TJ and not an LJ. My rake was more than I liked as well, so opted to leave the rear spacers off to help level out the jeep. In your situation, don't be afraid to use additional spacers to help level things out. For you, I'd suggest 1" spacers up front and 3/4" in the rear. that will give you the additional lift you desire and also level the jeep out some. For 33's, you really need minimum of 3" suspension lift and 1" BL so you aren't having to add so much bump stop to limit your up travel.

 

[RAWZ08]

Appreciate the recommendation on spacers, ill need to address that depending how this turns out and thatll be a good data point.

For the group: I may have been a little unintentionally misleading in my initial post, I don't mind, and actually like the factory-ish rake, i guess i was sort-of addressing the ramifications of what it would look like without hardtop, especially if the hardtop alone is responsible for the approx 1 inch loss of height (if thats how much it truly is).

 

[glwood]

That's one nice looking LJ, I have to say.

 

[RAWZ08]

Thanks, ive been fortunate enough to have garage space to keep it in almost the whole time. I remember when i bought it in 06 the salesman obviously thinking i was a moron for not getting an 07, but like a lot of people, when i saw the LJs I knew I wanted one. I've also always liked the stock look but wish they'd have designed them with a little more lift to keep the proportions right.

I also survived having it in Del Rio (border town) back im 08/09 without it being stolen. Was active duty at the time and part of our in processing covered security. Wranglers were the #1 stolen vehicle. Nevertheless, it was hot but i left the hard top on it.

 

[WesRJ86]

Did you order just the springs or a kit? I was under the impression the kits came with a spacer to get you to the full lift height as @bobthetj03 pointed out. My point being if you had the spacer in there it would only be 1" to 1/2" shy of what you were expecting right? And I would THINK the hardtop and spare tire would account for that loss. Just throwing out a thought. GREAT looking LJ by the way!

 

[lindsey97]

I think it looks just fine as is.

OME spacers are: front-OMEJGF10 and rear-OMEWTJPR10