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Old Man Emu, who has it

wolfpackjeeper

wolfpackjeeper

NAXJA Forum User
Location
500' and 500KCAS, RAF lakenheath
Ok, I just bought a second xj that I thought was only going to be good for parts on outside visual inspection. However, it runs great, drives well, and the interior is perfect. It is a 91, 4.0, AW4, 4wd, and the outside paint cleaned up great with just a light washing. The rockers are shot front to back, but over spring break I will weld in some 2x4 tubing, so no biggie there.

I think it is gonna become a nice daily driver since it is so nice and has ac, pw and pdl's. It needs a new suspension and I dont want much, just a slightly more agressive stance, and I will be upgrading to wj discs in the front and zj's in the back.

SO... I have read good things about OME 2in lifts as far as comfort goes, but most of it smacks of really good PR writing. So who has one or has ridden in one. I care about on road handling more than off road, since I have another lifted and stroked 91 that will become a dedicated trail machine.

add a leafs, blocks, shackles, and spacer lifts need not apply, I want new springs front and rear.

so who has some experience?
 
Well, I haven't been around for some time. I am no expert by any stretch of the imagination. But, I did have a new '98 XJ at the very first NAXJA run in Moab with an OME 2". It ramped at 920, road on the street like a Cadilac, and I did all of the trailes except Pritchet (I think it was called). I had no problems...with the trails that is. I was the guy who launched over the sand dune leaving a 15' rooster tail and tweaked the unibody a bit. Ah...good times. There's a video floatin' around somewhere. Anyway, I am on XJ #5 and will do the OME again. Great ride.
SgtJCJ (originaly "Thrash")
 
There have been a lot of similar threads on the OME systems and if you want to do a lot of reading, a search for Old Man Emu and/or OME works pretty well I believe.

But to answer your question, I don't think you will hear many bad words against OME for a DD that gets some trail use. I have a hybrid heavy duty system netting me about 3" using all OME components from DPG and some MJ shackles. I don't run a rear swaybar and with the front disconnected it stuffs 31's great. The best thing though is the ride quality and handling on road. I had three 16' canoes on top of mine stacked in pyramid form running through the Adirondacks and only had to slow down for when I caught up with cars.

If you can afford it, you'll like it. That's my $0.02
 
I've had mine installed now for about a month or so and have no complaints. As far as ride goes, I think it is great. I run it with no rear swaybar and have run without and had no complaints about handling. It soaks up bumps with no problems and it is a pretty smooth ride overall.
 
I have OME shocks and rear leafs. It rides well on road. My coils are 160lb Rubicon Express models. This is the same spring rate as the OME 2" coils, so it should be comparable. It will always drive like a jeep. Please ignore all of the 'rides like a cadillac' comments. This is simply not true. Solid axles will never compare to independant suspension onroad, even trucks with IFS are better. I had 2" spaces and an AAL prior to that. The ride was very harsh. Since it's been so long I can't remember how the OME lift compares to stock.

Since you don't plan on offroading much, you might want to consider the 'comfort' shocks. That should soften up the ride eveng more. Old Man Emu suspensions are very pricey, so you have to weigh you options. I ended up getting RE coils because they were $150 verus $300. Some may chime in and say that the coils don't cost $300, but that is what they run if you price them out individually. As mentioned previously, Dirk@dpg can probably get you the best deal on the OME components.
 
Sweet, yea, the weird thing is that when I search for either "Old Man Emu", or OME it brings up no search results. I am no newbie to the board, and I search almost every time I am on here for something or another.

I have heard great things about OME from reading online, but something that 4wheel parts said set me off for a sec. Most of those guys have no clue what they are talking about though, from my experience. Guy tried to convince me after I already told him that I wanted new front and rear springs, that I should really just go for a RE budget boost.

I used to go through them for a lot of stuff, but here lately they have been getting really stupid.

thanks for the replies
 
this is also the $250 jeep that I mentioned in another thread. I really cant believe the condition it is in. And the think the guy was selling it because of a tranny problem. On light visual inspection it turned out to be a worm clamp on a tranny cooler line that had backed off
 
wolfpack:

Try seaching for *OME*. You'll get 15 pages of results. The search engine on this board is somewhat difficult to work with. It doesn't support three character words. Unfortunately, there is several key offroading words, abbreviations, and acronyms that are three characters long. You can also search for oldmanemu, and get some hits.

This is Dirk's shop:
http://www.dpgoffroad.com/

I got my stuff from Dave at DesertFab. He's on here also, and can get you almost anything you can think of:
http://www.desertfab.com/
 
ok, that is the first time I have run across the three word deal. and I was searching with quotes instead of asterisks. Hopefully ill be calling DPG on monday to get a quote. Need to pick up some other minor stuff too, headlight switch and such.
 
OME Shocks and springs all around (Heavy Rate coils, with OME AAls for the leaf packs) Coupled with RE Shackles and spacers, gave my Thumper XJ exactly four inches of lift. On the road its fricken awesome, off the road its fricken awesome. You wont be disappointed. Even Thumpers steering damper is OME. IMHO, worth every single penny.
 
I have the OME coils and leaves w/ a 1.75" budget boost and boomerang shackles and RE long arms. I also run the OME shocks, my 99' previously had a 3.5" lift w/ AAL and LCA's. The difference is night and day I dont use a rear sway bar but you dont even notice. Its very stable and rides GREAT, a cherokee will obviously not ride like a cadillac in the literal sense but compared to the way it rode before it sure feels like it. I ran an OME lift on my YJ a few years ago and I made up my mind then there is nothing that compares. Not to mention that the amount of flex will surprise you for it being a smaller lift. If your budget can swing it, it is the best you can get in that range of lift size.

(99Cherokee recieved no compensation from OME for this thread)
 
nah, I already got a huge cherokee with 33's soon to go to 35's, stroked 4.7, no doors, cage in the works ect.... that is my trail rig. This ones going to be a DD and just needs a new suspension. Light camping wheeling at the most
 
I run 2" OME coils, leafs, and soft ride shocks. I've boosted it to 2.5" with spacers and shackels. Shocks are 4 years old now and show no signs of needing replaced. Ride is far more smooth than stock, much less harsh, yet, somehow it is not as 'wallowy-spongy' either.
I run with no rear sway bar and empty you'd never notice. With the cargo area loaded for self sustained camping, at highway speeds thru the mountains, a rear bar would be nice, but, it's still more controllable than cars seem to be, as, they typically hold me up.
The coils are soft, and definately want the sway bar hooked up on the road.

I've rode in other lifted XJ's... there is a difference with OME.

I know you do not plan to off road with it, but, if you do, it'll likely suprise you with it's ability to keep all 4 wheels on the ground with such an itty-bitty lift... and if you get to play rally car driver on some dirt roads/river beds, this, in my opinion, is where the kit will leave you completely amazed.

Hope that helps.
Few photos for you... 2.5" lift
http://members.cox.net/huddy31/squeezeF.JPG
http://members.cox.net/huddy31/squeezeR.JPG
http://members.cox.net/huddy31/squeezeR2.JPG
http://members.cox.net/huddy31/beepss2flex.jpg
http://members.cox.net/huddy31/beepss3flex.jpg
http://members.cox.net/huddy31/beepss1sideview.jpg
 
Just a bit to add......

OME has been in business quite awhile and the spring longevity is second to none. Theirs are not a spring that goes flat after awhile. They are expensive compared to most but you will be happy.....
 
sweet, sounds like what I am going with. I have heard nothing but good stuff but it was all in the writups under the buy me now button. After I PCS I will be probably doing my 9/44 swap in the other jeep and boosting it up to 5.5" so i can fit 35's better.

Like I said, I already got a built trail jeep that I like, I just kinda fell into this one and decided to make it a DD.
 
I just picked up a Xj from a buddy. He has some goofy long arm setup with RE springs and 32" tires. Got some body damage thats getting fixed. I want to put it on 31" tires.

I just talked to Dirk at DPG about the OME stuff. He suggested not to run a 1" lift shackle with the leafs and add the OME AAL to the pack instead. I hate AAL's. Anyone running lift shackles with there OME springs? Have any problems?
 
Had an OME HD suspension under the old XJ, see above posts for how it rated. It's more expensive, especially for the small amount of lift...but the quality is way higher than the rest of the industry.
 
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