Old Man Emu options for 60 Patrols

[offroadkid]

Our Land Cruiser and all Land Cruisers I've owned are equipped with OME (Old Man Emu) 2.5'' suspension lift including coil springs, shock absorbers, and steering stabilizer shock.

Last week I was thinking it would be neat if I could swap out the stock shocks for OME shocks. I looked on the ARB website but didn't see any applications that went back as far as our rigs so I sent an email and got a phone call form a guy at ARB with a thick Australian accent who had the answer for me!

He also sent it in an email...

Hi Joshua,

The oldest Patrol we have shocks for is the old 60 series. It uses N49 front and rear, and steering damper part OMESD22.

The front and rear shocks have 10mm pin mounts on the top and the bottom. They are 446mm fully open and 271mm fully compressed.

The OMESD22 also has 10mm pins on both ends. It's 537mm fully open and 328mm fully compressed."


I just thought I'd share this incase anyone else was curious about options. There is no application for leaf springs. I haven't looked up prices yet as I just got home for lunch and read his reply.

[mdawg4x4]

Are their shocks hydraulic, or gas?

[Johnny Roadkill]

They are a gas shock - their brand name is OME "Nitrocharger", and I can confirm they fit just like the originals.

I would watch the extended length if planning on lifting the ride height, especially at the rear - but if the original travel limiter is left in place at the front there shouldn't be any danger of top-out in the shock. The swaybar in the back may limit the travel sufficiently to avoid trouble, but I would measure drop travel to be sure.

As for springs, Dobinson's will sell you a set made for the G60 - haven't tried them though...I had a set made by a springmaker, and they consulted a big, dusty hand-written book for the specs. Fwiw, I ran into trouble by not specifying lift and static / loaded camber correctly when placing the order, so I probably should have gone with a 4x4 specialist like Dobinson's who may have been more on the ball.

cheers,
D

[RMP&O]

Good stuff there Johnny and Josh! I have ran OME shocks on both my old FJ60 Land Cruiser and my now current FJ80 Cruiser. I am now running Fox bypass shocks on the FJ80 but the OME's worked good. Probably going to use OME's on the 64 restoration.


I have ran Dobinson springs. They are good but cost a ton to ship over here. It has been a long time but if I recall right it was over $2k for a Dobinsons kit due to shipping. I have been using Alcan for awhile now. It is tough to get them the right specs because all samples I have are 50yr old springs! When sagged you have to calculate back to stock height, then add the lift you want. Just about nailed it though and next set I get should be about perfect. Aiming for 1" max lift. If it all works out I will post the info, I imagine up till now Alcan has been hit or miss for people since you have to supply them with the specs and the specs are hard to come up with and get just right. The books have some of the specs but not all that you need to have Alcan build the springs. Alcan springs though run you right around $1,000 for a set of four.

One great thing, these days a lot of shock companies make conversions for the ends. Like Fox and Bilstien. So you can take a shock with an eye end and convert it to a pin. That opens up some other options.

Last bit about springs. I have found the Dobinsons shocks to be to short for their 2-3" lift kit. In fact I have had horrible luck with shocks when I buy them in a "kit". What I do is get all the suspension done except shocks. With no shocks in the truck flex it up tot he max. A big pile of dirt works for this. Then measure your compressed and extended lengths. After this go shock shopping. Every time I do this, I get the shocks spot on and perfect. Every time I don't, they are not right.

Cheers

[RiverPatrol]

I had the opportunity to bring over a few sets of the Dobinson's lift kits several years ago when the exchange rate was more in our favor. I was able to get a complete kit that included springs, shocks shackles and bushings including shipping for about $1400. The shipping wasn't so bad when it was a group buy; everything came over on a pallet and I picked it up at the harbor.

Having run the Dobinson's shocks with their lift kit in some pretty extreme conditions, I really like the Dobinson's shocks. I did not experience that they were too short. I ran them on both a 2" lift and with no lift. Actually, when I changed to the Rancho shocks, I found that they were too short for the lift. The ride with the Dobinson's springs was much smoother.

I haven't priced a Dobinson's lift kit with shipping lately. The nice thing about getting a kit is that you are also getting the shocks, shackles and bushings, not just the springs.

[limited slip]

Something you may not know about dobinsons, is that they make every set of springs in house to match every order. Given that they make them "fresh" .....they will make them to any specs you like for no extra charge. So for me who likes modified patrols, its no extra cost to get dobinsons to make them with mk patrol spring eyes, so that they fit std mk patrol ruber or nolathane bushes for improved articulation and much improved ride. Its no extra cost to get them to make the rear half of the packs for tha back springs 15mm longer from center bolt to center of eye so that the springs perfectly match the limits of travel for a set of extended shackles. Its also no difference in cost if i wanted std height springs, or 3 inch lifted springs ( which given how much my g60 springs have sagged, i would probably end up with nearly 3 inches of lift just with std springs anyways.)

what im saying is that you can have your sandwich any which way you like....... yeah i guess they are expensive, to me they are 2200au a set..... but given the above, i wont be considering any other products- even if i could get some made anywhere else.

Oh, i have had dobinson springs in one 4x4 i owned and loved them, and a mate bought a full kit for his suzuki, which was swapped to the next suzuki, then the next one..... one shock finally broke the other day, after 7 years 200k km and 3x different vehicles..........speaks volumes hey

[Swerve]

I only use dobinsons on my GU, wont use anything else. Havent bought anything for the 60 in a while but thats who I use.

[RMP&O]

What is important with shocks is compressed and extended lengths in relation to how far the suspension travels. Generally down travel is simply controlled by the actual leaf spring, up by the bump stops. If you are running the limiting rods up front that will stop down travel before the leaf spring.

What you do not want is the shock limiting travel up or down. Shocks are not designed to limit the travel and if that is what limits it on your truck you will damage the shock eventually.

Cheers