Old Man Emu shocks too short
 

I'm about ready to pull the trigger on an Old Man Emu lift for my 1995 pickup, with medium rate Dakar leafs. But I've heard that the shocks that come with the kit are too short and limit down travel when in the stock mounting location. I've heard of people triangulating the shocks like /\ to get more travel out of shorter shocks, has anyone done this specifically with Dakar springs and OME shocks? Any drawbacks doing it this way? Plus, I'll be able to do a u-bolt flip at the same time to get more clearance under the axle.

I am not sure of the shocks that come with the kit, as I have never installed any lift on any vehicle yet, but I would think the easiest thing to do would to buy the correct shock absorbers if needed and bolt them up to the factory locations.

I guess modifying the shocks to the / \ would depend on what kind of off-roading you plan to do, but is something to consider while you are already working on the suspension.

I will let someone with first-hand experience suggest what you should do. :)

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:safari:

Call OME and ask them. They make good ˟˟˟˟ and if there is an issue like that, then those shocks probably aren't meant to go with those springs.

I nearly pulled the trigger on an OME kit for my Super Duty but it was about $2k. I only wanted it to soften the harsh ride, not for the lift (sits tall already). They were very helpful over the phone.

Yeah I might give them a call here in a bit. It just seems weird to me that they would pair shocks that are too short with their leaf springs. Sounds like a great way to blow out shocks from overextension, right? For reference, I'm looking at CS019R Dakar leaf springs and 60065 Nitrocharger Sport shocks.

If you've got leaf springs, I assume you have a solid axle. In that case, it seems to me that the shocks are supposed to limit the down-travel. What else is there to provide that limit? Now, if it limits it earlier than you'd like, you need a longer shock, as has been said.

I have OME Dakar Medium leafs on my 93 pickup, paired with stock shackles and OME shocks. After install, the shocks were the limiting factor in rear down-travel - but also in stock form, the stock shocks were the limiting factor in down-travel, so nothing really changed. Pretty sure they're the same length?
In regards to up-travel I couldn't really get maxed out unless I had weight in the bed and even then the bump stop was barely touching, likely due to the arch and stiffness of the Dakar leafs vs my old worn out saggy-butt Toyota leafs which I could hit the bump stops going over speedbumps with a load in the back, lol.
To remedy my 3-wheeling lack of down-travel situation I had my rear shocks triangulated as well as u-bolt flip done at the same time, this was about 1.5yrs after installing the Dakar leafs and shocks in stock position. Had shop who did the install flex the rear with hoist to determine best placement for the mounts based on compressed shock length and trying to keep shocks as vertical as possible for best on-road manners.
Hope this helps.

Edit: In case wondering, after several years of break-in, I believe my final ride height is 22.5" from center of axle to bottom of fender lip (Dakar medium + stock 3.5" shackles).
I also did some testing with forklift after installing my 33x12.5" Toyos to figure out what might need to be trimmed. Some measurements of top of tire to bottom of fender gap (empty truck bed) is: 7" ride height, 14" at full droop, 1.5" at full stuff just barely touching tire to mud flap mount; 21" underneath tire before lifting a 2nd tire. Couldn't find my measurements for front travel, but ride height leaves same 7" tire to fender gap (stock t-bars, BJ spacers, sheet metal pounding/trimming)

Good info! ^^

I haven't seen you around here in a while.

:safari:

Yeah, kids and no time to get sucked into the black hole of the internet ;)

Welcome back! :wave:

The regulars of YotaTech seem to be disappearing! :eeek:

:safari: