Comments on: Installation of Old Man Emu (OME) Suspension on Toyota FJ-80 Land Cruiser

By: Steve

Steve — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 00:15:07 +0000

Thanks for the information.

Since the suspension has had a few months to settle in a bit, there is no further vibrations any speeds. I know I still need to get the castor corrected.

I have the OME steering stabilizer but haven’t had a chance to install it yet.

I’ll have to make some corrections to the speedometer when I change tire size and/or gear ratio. Currently its still stock.

Its great to know that the OME suspesnion will last a long time.

By: landkrusher

landkrusher — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 09:33:34 +0000

I would go with the castor correction pretty soon since with the raised suspension you are stressing the system, but the robustness of the LC masks a lot of it. As well, I would go with the castor correction, not the bolt-on from ManA Fre, as the castors don’t drop the arms down so you maintain ground clearance and it more closely matches the LC design. (less things to fall off on the road as well)

As far as your wobble goes, with the height increase you might want to check the steering stabilizer. OME makes a nice one. When I installed OME, I also went to 33 in tires, the stock stabilizer couldn’t handle the bigger rubber and the lift.

As well, to get the speedo compensated, just get the gear from Slee Off Road, costs about 15 bucks and 5 minutes to install. All what it does is change the gear ratio on how the speedo cable gets driven and matches for 33 in tires. It’s a toyota part to boot.

It is a great system, I have almost 100,000 km on the shocks, I think they are worn out now but still handle better than the stock one ever did, and the system handles the rough stuff really well.

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 04:37:55 +0000

As a follow-up, I haven’t had the caster checked yet. I know the caster is off, but its nothing I notice. I’m not getting the dreaded “death wobble” at all (at least up to 75 mph). The only vibrations I’m getting are from out of balance BFG A/T KO tires in the 65-70 mph range (I know the tires are out of balance because of recently missing wheel weights).

Currently I’m leaning towards installing the Man-a-fre drop brackets instead of the OME caster correction bushings when my budget allows.

The ride and the handling are great and gets better when weighted down with people and gear. Because of the winter, I haven’t had a chance to load it down for a multi-day trip to really test the suspension.

Steve

By: Partsman

Partsman — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 02:40:15 +0000

Nice walkthrough.
How has the steering been affected without the caster changed?
Chris