Scott Farris wrote:
I worked backwards and fairly uniquely. I feel in love with the looks of the Shrock front bumper and had one on order within 2 months of buying the X. Both girls were well out of college and I could afford the bumper, so I bought it. I also purchased the sliders at the same time based on my history of light wheeling, exploring, hunting, and fishing that I typically use my SUVs for. The added weight dropped her noise and increased the dip when stopping. So I bought the OME medium coil springs and installed them in my
coil overs. This raised the front enough to level her out - details and feed back on the attached link. She drove much nicer and all it cost was the springs. To do the coil over you need a GOOD Spring compressor, the Harbor Freight compressors won't work safely, too much deflection, they are sized for car springs.
A few years later I got into wheeling fairly heavily and decided to go with a lift. I went with top spacers and SPC upper control arms for a 2" lift while maintaining as much droop as possible. Droop is presently limited by my shocks with no coil over bucket contact. In the rear I replaced the leafs with OME medium leaf springs and added adjustable shackles and new Bills 5100 shocks for the lift height.
If you read the comments in the link there were lot's of opinions and naysayers but it's been over 6 years and 42,XXX miles since upgrading the front coils and my original shocks (Pro-4X Bills) are holding up well.
Next? Maybe a Titan swap, I already have the longer shafts for the RCV CV axles......
3 words of caution; Heim joints don't like road salt, stay away from them. Most suspension lifts cost you droop, too much droop lost results in an uncomfortable ride. And finally spring bucket contact pretty much limits lifts to 2 inches or less unless you replace the Upper control arms - Think SPC to stay away from Heim joints
Scott
Great info! Thanks Scott. It feels like you did a lot of the upgrades that are in the OME kit, but in phases. It's no more than 2" lift so I don't need UCAs. Just coilovers up front and AAL in the back. In the future, if I want more lift, I can add spacers and UCAs to the front and shackles to the back so I'm not stuck at 2". And in a pinch, there's always the BL! But my gut tells me that this will be it for a while as I'm not a heavy wheeler. Mostly beach stuff. On the coils, should I get the 607 and just deal with a small nose dive when the bumper is installed or get the 608 and deal with a stiff ride until the bumper goes on?
I also note that the OME lift describes itself as 0-2". I'm assuming that means the front shocks are adjustable. But what about AAL and new shocks would allow me to revert to 0" of lift in the rear?
Also, can I get a general idea of difficulty of install and time needed. I've done some front suspension work before (added spacers) and didn't have much trouble (thank you anti seize) But I've never dealt with the rear. Also, assuming I buy the struts pre-assembled, are there any special tools I would need? I also saw that the kit comes with rear sway bar relocation brackets. Do the front sway bars brackets not relocate?