ZUKIWORLD Online | Suzuki 4x4 Editorial and Forum
ZUKIWORLD Model Specific Suzuki Forum => Suzuki Grand Vitara, Vitara, Chevy Tracker (Gen. 2 Platform) 1999-2005 => Topic started by: ATW_SGP on October 07, 2010, 03:09:16 PM
-
Hello,
I have a 2004 Suzuki Grand Vitara 4 door auto..
Was wondering if there's anyone that runs the complete rocky road 2" body lift kit with Old man Emu springs and absorbers?
Would love to hear your feedback as i am considering to change to them
Rgds
ATW
Singapore
-
I only ran the OME springs (with strut extenders). The ride was noticeably "more plush" compared to the standard springs with coil spacers. I do not have a body lift. If there were some type of warranty on the OME struts (like a year parts or some variable) I'd jump on a pair. But to my knowledge there isn't so I'm staying with the factory Monroe or Gabriel replacement struts. You still have the labor/time of installing them but when they blow early you are at least covered for the part.
-
The last set of OME shocks I bought had a two year warranty.
-
What about their struts?
-
What about their struts?
The shocks I had were for a land rover so I can't comment on their strut warranty yet. However, I just ordered OME shocks and struts for the Tracker yesterday so I will let you know next week when they arrive.
As for OME reliability - I have mixed feelings. I just replaced a set of OME shocks on a Discovery that had about 150k miles on them with a new set of the same OME shocks and could barely tell a difference. The old ones were still good and didn't need replacing I guess (my dad's truck). However, the OME steering damper on the same car started leaking after about 100k miles.
I have an old range rover with OME shocks and had to replace one about two years ago that blew out. But that truck gets some very heavy abuse off road. I'll probably go with Bilsteins or something on this truck next time I replace them all as a set but I do like the way the OME's ride.
If there were more choices for the suzuki's I'd probably have ordered something other than OME's to be honest. I just thought that they were the best for me of what was available. The struts have extra down travel and correct the camber for a small lift (I'm trimming Jeff's spacers to give a 1.5" lift). My Tracker doesn't get too much abuse so hopefully they will last like they did on the Discovery.
My friend ordered the Doetech (or something) shocks from rocky road for his Cherokee and the bushings split after 100 miles. Rocky road was nice and sent new bushings right away but the new ones did the same thing. Ordered some poly ones and everything has been fine for 10k miles at least. I didn't want to deal with this.
-
Good info Frank84. Thank you much!!!
Norm
-
Great info.. thanks!! it's helpful.
How about.. Ironman Australia?
Rgds!
-
by the way, warranty on old man emu suspension parts is 2 years 24k miles. I'm not sure how they check the mileage but I guess two years can be proved with a receipt from purchase. This at least gives me some confidence with the new parts I bought.
-
That appears to be a fair and reasonable warranty to me.
-
I've got an update on the OME stuff and my lift. Here's my experience thus far on my '01 2-door.
Lift: 2" Coil Spacers from Jeff. Please correct me if I'm wrong Jeff, but I remembered you saying that the front spacers provide just over 2" of lift to level the car. I actually wanted just under 2" for what I was trying to accomplish so I did some math and took off 3/16" from the front spacers. The height turned out perfect.
Rear OME N32 (2-door specific) Shocks from Low Range Off Road: They have about 1.5" more down travel than the stock shocks. The diameter of the body of the shock is significantly larger than the stock shocks so this caused an interference with the lower shock mounts. Due to tolerances, I had to trim 1/8" off the passenger side shock mount and 1/4" off the driver side to keep the shock body from hitting the mount during the suspension travel. I wasn't happy about doing this but I was committed by the point I realized what was happening. They come with new bushings, hardware, and a metal "dust cover" for the piston. Once on the car, they ride nice.
Front OME Struts from Low Range Off Road: They have almost 2" more down travel than the stock struts which translates to about 3" at the wheel - I was impressed with how much better this looked. They do NOT compensate with respect to your camber though for a 2" lift. In order to align it you will need camber bolts or need to elongate the strut holes. The struts do not come with new rubber bushings for the top so you will need to re-use your old ones or you can order new ones from rockauto or something. They do come with a new nylock nut for the top though. The struts do not come with a "dust cover" for the piston. I took the plastic covers off my factory struts and swapped them on. Like the rears, the front struts also ride nice.
I can't compare my set up above to others but it was more work than I expected to get everything tweaked just right. I initially installed the front sway bar, but it didn't line up well with the new angle of the lower control arms with the lift. It would have eaten sway bar end links fast. I drove about 100 miles with it on and now have it off. There is a difference with it off, but it is barely noticeable with the new struts. I'm keeping it off for now.
Vendor experience were great. Jeff took my order and got me parts fast. Same for Low Range Off Road. The shocks/struts/lift were just a part of what I was doing on the car so I also ordered stuff from Trail Tough (shift on the fly removal stuff), Rocky Road (greasable u-joints), Rock Auto (tons of misc), and gmpartsonline.net (whatever I couldn't get from rock auto) with good success.
-
Did you do anything regarding bumpstops?
Also, I don't suppose you have any photos of the trimming work to clear the shocks?
-
I left the bumpstops alone. I haven't really flexed it out yet or used it off road so I can't tell if I'll need to do anything at all to them. I only have 215/75/15 tires so there aren't any rubbing issues to worry about.
I don't have any pictures of the shock mount trimming but I will take some next time I'm home and the sun is up at the same time.
-
I don't have any pictures of the shock mount trimming but I will take some next time I'm home and the sun is up at the same time.
Yeah, this early darkness stuff sucks.
Thanks for your updates. I've finally, at long last, gotten around to removing the squished-to-about-1/4" that used to be 1" RRO spring spacers and installed 2" in the rear. Am about to order the N32 shocks, and your comment is the first I've seen that mentions having to do any grinding. It's good intel: I'd hate to budget only the usual 45 minutes for a shock absorber change, then realize in the middle that I've got another hour+ of compressor retrieving, grinder wheel finding, and actual grinding to do. It gets dark early these days, and cold!
-
skip the expensive shocks, i run 80's model tbirds out back, trust me on this, i've tried crown vics, mustangs, cavaliers and now these, longer beefier and mount perfectly to your truck.
-
skip the expensive shocks, i run 80's model tbirds out back, trust me on this, i've tried crown vics, mustangs, cavaliers and now these, longer beefier and mount perfectly to your truck.
Do those have a nice exposed shaft that, say, Daystar's EVS bump stops might fit onto?
http://www.daystarweb.com/productdetail.php?productID=679 (http://www.daystarweb.com/productdetail.php?productID=679)
(http://www.trailduty.com/images/KU_KU09059-KU09060-1.jpg)
-
skip the expensive shocks, i run 80's model tbirds out back, trust me on this, i've tried crown vics, mustangs, cavaliers and now these, longer beefier and mount perfectly to your truck.
And now these - which are "these" - do you have any experience with the Old Man Emu shocks?
-
I've got an update on the OME stuff and my lift. Here's my experience thus far on my '01 2-door.
Lift: 2" Coil Spacers from Jeff. Please correct me if I'm wrong Jeff, but I remembered you saying that the front spacers provide just over 2" of lift to level the car. I actually wanted just under 2" for what I was trying to accomplish so I did some math and took off 3/16" from the front spacers. The height turned out perfect.
Rear OME N32 (2-door specific) Shocks from Low Range Off Road: They have about 1.5" more down travel than the stock shocks. The diameter of the body of the shock is significantly larger than the stock shocks so this caused an interference with the lower shock mounts. Due to tolerances, I had to trim 1/8" off the passenger side shock mount and 1/4" off the driver side to keep the shock body from hitting the mount during the suspension travel. I wasn't happy about doing this but I was committed by the point I realized what was happening. They come with new bushings, hardware, and a metal "dust cover" for the piston. Once on the car, they ride nice.
Front OME Struts from Low Range Off Road: They have almost 2" more down travel than the stock struts which translates to about 3" at the wheel - I was impressed with how much better this looked. They do NOT compensate with respect to your camber though for a 2" lift. In order to align it you will need camber bolts or need to elongate the strut holes. The struts do not come with new rubber bushings for the top so you will need to re-use your old ones or you can order new ones from rockauto or something. They do come with a new nylock nut for the top though. The struts do not come with a "dust cover" for the piston. I took the plastic covers off my factory struts and swapped them on. Like the rears, the front struts also ride nice.
I can't compare my set up above to others but it was more work than I expected to get everything tweaked just right. I initially installed the front sway bar, but it didn't line up well with the new angle of the lower control arms with the lift. It would have eaten sway bar end links fast. I drove about 100 miles with it on and now have it off. There is a difference with it off, but it is barely noticeable with the new struts. I'm keeping it off for now.
Vendor experience were great. Jeff took my order and got me parts fast. Same for Low Range Off Road. The shocks/struts/lift were just a part of what I was doing on the car so I also ordered stuff from Trail Tough (shift on the fly removal stuff), Rocky Road (greasable u-joints), Rock Auto (tons of misc), and gmpartsonline.net (whatever I couldn't get from rock auto) with good success.
Nice write up. My Calmini front struts appear to be showing signs of wear as I am starting to get slight front end wheel hop every time I hit a sharp bump in the road. I had them one for around 1 year 4 months now. If they continue to get worse, I order up a set of OEMs from Low Range Offroad.
-
no, the shafts are not exposed so the daystar bumpstops would not work.
-
no, the shafts are not exposed so the daystar bumpstops would not work.
Nuts.
-
Also, I don't suppose you have any photos of the trimming work to clear the shocks?
I'm replacing a leaky wheel cylinder now so it was a good time to get a picture of the shock mount trimming I had to do. I put a bunch of arrows along the area I trimmed a little. It contacted the mount at the end of the downward travel only so that is why it doesn't look too close right now in the picture. I trimmed it with a dremmel because it is a tight spot but it is so little material that needed to be removed that you could just grind it too and put a quick spray of paint over the area.
Almost forgot - You can see where the shock is kind of close to the brake line in the picture too. I bent the lines in slightly closer to the axle housing so they wouldn't rub. Takes two seconds with a rubber mallet and isn't a big deal. Once again, the shock is closest to contacting at full droop so check your truck before driving away.
-
So Frank, are the OME front struts worth the $300? I can parts store the rear shocks but the front struts...the tires are sitting like this \ / from the lift and I'm not terribly impressed with the performance of the Monroes or whatever are on it now. Hard to swallow the $300 for the OME struts though. I'd hope they'll perform like Bilstein 5100's and last forever for that kinda cheese.
-
So Frank, are the OME front struts worth the $300? I can parts store the rear shocks but the front struts...the tires are sitting like this \ / from the lift and I'm not terribly impressed with the performance of the Monroes or whatever are on it now. Hard to swallow the $300 for the OME struts though. I'd hope they'll perform like Bilstein 5100's and last forever for that kinda cheese.
The biggest benefit I see from the OME struts is the increase in wheel travel. I have close to 3" of extra droop at the wheel which maxes out the stock CV's without lowering the diff. The ride is slightly stiffer than stock and I expect them to continue to ride nice for a 100k miles or so based on my other experiences with OME shocks. I never had Bilstein's so I can't compare there. I removed my sway bar and it still corners almost as well.
If you need new struts anyway then I would recommend them over a stock type strut but if not I wouldn't drop the $300 just for the hell of it. They won't correct your \ / problem though. I have just under 2" of front lift and the struts did nothing for the camber issue as far as I could tell. However, OME springs are supposed to give you 30mm of lift and I have more like 50mm so may be that is the difference.
-
Yes, they're meant to work with their coil springs and only as much lift as they provide. Mine has the springs but no struts.
I don't believe the Monroes (or whatever...they're blue) are up to the task of the OME springs' spring rate and I'm hoping they do fix the alignment issue. Not really a fan of camber bolts or grinding/cutting things.
-
I have OME struts and springs on my X-90 front, with a small (maybe 1") spacer, and camber bolts. It's holding up well.
-
Frank84 are you getting any seal seepage on your rack and pinion boots since you've been wheeling without your sway bar for so long? I removed my sway bar for a couple weeks (while I was looking for a squeak in the suspension) and noted my driver side R&P seal started seeping by the boot (Class 1 type leak - no drips just wetness where it use to be dry). I installed my sway bar... and no more seepage. The only difference I could figure is the sway bar limits the wheel drop a little and without it the wheels were dropping down farther on bumps before rebounding. That was my experience anyway. The actual reason for this... I'm just not sure.