A couple of friends and I installed OME Dakar springs today and this is what it looks like before and after.

Before:


After:



The OME bushing kit came with only one metal insert (forgot the part name) per package so we had to take them out of the old bushings. What a PITA! Had to drill out the rubber, in the end. We only figured out this was the best way after about 40 minutes of . My friend tried pounding them out with a big socket, but only ended up with a small knot on my head after it rebounded three feet up into the air.
One side: couple hours
Other side: ~45 minutes (three of us by this time)

And to top it off, we thought we had extra bushings. Turns out they are for the the upper part of the shackle assembly. DOH! No inserts for these, either. I'm going to call 4by4connection to see what the deal is. They gave GREAT customer service, BTW!

All in all a good day. Never done this before and it was a learning experience.

Whadaya think? Need a small lift up front?

 

very nice! I could use something like that

how she ride right now before they settle in?

 

Looks good. I'm a OME fan. Had an OME lift on another truck I used to own. If I ever lift the Tacoma, it'll be OME.

 

I've only put about 15 street miles on it so its a little early to tell. It rode quite well before, but it does seem a little smoother now. I can tell there is a bit more bounce than before which makes me believe the stock ones weren't doing their job. I also have Bilsteins and Michelins which make for a good ride.
This is my daily driver so who knows when it will see a dirt road again. I'll have to look for some speed bumps!

 

same thing happened to me with 4x4 connection, they told me stock bushings would fit. kind of put a bad taste in the mouth with them. but they are semi local so no shipping.

 

I have a question, Does anyone know if another make of truck would bolt to the Toyota axles to give it a 3 or 4 inch lift?

 

nice job on the springs! i have had mine in for about 10 months and love them. i am also sporting the raked look. bj spacers in the front should help to level it out. i didn't have any issues with parts missing on the ones i got from trdparts4u. hope you like them.

 

Great to hear your rear springs seem smooth, encouraging for me! Mine are pretty dang stiff and I have to really torque the OME tbars to get even close to level (still has about 3/4" rake). I would like to try removing a spring to get it to drop and soften up a bit..... Which leaf did you remove? Thanks!

 

Welcome to YT
Always good to see an old thread get revived

I don't think anyone in this thread removed any leafs from their pack. Which Dakar leafs did you get? the Medium or the HD? I've heard of people removing a leaf from the HD, but mine are Mediums and have broken in nicely. I sped up the break-in process by loading up several times with heavy loads to help flex them out and make the process go faster. I don't run OME t-bars, just the stockers+bj spacers for me. hope this helps.