I am going to replace the front and rear springs in my 81 pickup (4x4) and was wondering if anyone had advice on where to buy quality springs. I have done some searching and it is really hard to find stock ride springs.

Thanks!!

 

I couldnt find any stock replacement springs either. A good option would be just to replace the rear shackle bushings (Rubber) with new poly 1's. I dont know about your rear springs but all the 1st gens ive had the rears held up good. Its a different case for the fronts though. Stock the fronts were flat, over time they get a negative arch. these ive never seen last. maybe re arch the fronts and put a large add a leaf the same size as the main leaf (the one that is at the top which gets the negative arch) Ive also seen some people grind the axle perch smooth and put reinforcement metal on the ends.

 

Old Man Emu is the closest aftermarket spring to stock that will give you a mild lift (about 2") and a good ride. There are a few spring shops out there that make aftermarket stock springs, but you'll pay dearly for them.

 

I might just try replacing the bushings. The front springs are flat but my main concern is that the bushings are wore out. Any advice on replacing those buggers is welcomed as I know they can be a pain.

 

What kind of $$$$$ are the OME springs ?
I didn't see them listed on the OME or ARB website either.

 

OME leafs run about $100/ea. they'll also have new poly bushings for the new leafs and everything else you might need like shackles and ubolts if replacing those.

Look here for parts and prices: LowRange Offroad 1979-1985 Pickup OME parts

 

I am in the middle of this job and I was not able to find stock front springs anywhere. I went with the OME leafs and they did put about 2" of lift on the truck. 2" is manageable and the OME leafs look very well made.

My main problem has been finding stock spring shackles! Anyone know if the OME front shackles are stock height?

 

OME is the best aftermarket springs made for stock hanger locations - hands down, can't beat them, period! I'm fairly certain that the OME shackles are stock length - Stock length is 3.5" from center to center. OME shackles are rather steep, I would check out Trail Gear or Sky Manufacturing shackles.

 

I found these from Low Range...

http://www.lowrangeoffroad.com/index...p-shoem-g.html

I'm going to give em a try as they are a bit cheaper than the OME shackles.

 

Might want to make sure that Low Range Off Road has them in stock, on site and ready to ship. They have put me behind on things so many times because they either don't have a part in stock due to back order or they drop ship parts from a third party company in which case you're at the whim of that company's shipping schedule. After my last order that took 4 weeks to get parts in, I likely won't order anything else from them in the future. I emailed and called several times to get an ETA, but the only time they responded to me was when I demanded my money back and then parts were "magically" back in stock. Their excuse:

"We try to ship most orders within 2-3 days of order placement and Monday is generally our busiest day because we are catching up from online orders over the weekend. Our website does not show live inventory and we also have over 7,00 skus and 500 orders a week... keeping it all flowing and in stock at all times is not really possible."

I placed the order on a Wednesday and I didn't even get a free apology t-shirt or anything. I have spent over $2,500 with them over 6 orders and I have NEVER had a parts come in under 2 weeks delivery time. Basically, If you're in a time crunch, I would look somewhere else.

 

I went with rocky road and they told me that it would be shipped in a week we'll it's 3 weeks later and it's still not shipped. So I'm assuming that since it comes from Australia that they just don't stock up here in USA but I'm very frustrated with this and I recommend getting some extended brake lines, the stock lines will work but once you start flexing it will put a lot of strain on it. But I'm gonna take a lot of pics and do a very good write up on my install.

 

Most places that sell OME have the product shipped directly from Australia. It'll usually take at least 3-4 weeks to get to you because they typically only ship once a month so that there are enough parts to justify the cost of shipping half way around the world.