Extra Credit- Finishing up the Old Man Emu Suspension lift

7/8/12

Not much to this update right now. I stopped by Brown's Nissan on Friday on my lunch break as the dealership is right near my current construction project. The U-Bolts for the Old Man Emu suspension lift kit are of a larger nominal diameter and are larger overall than the stock U-Bolts. That's great for the implied durability. It was not so great when the guy that installed the kit was unwilling/unable to modify the rear axle spring brackets to receive these bigger U-bolts. I was kind of torn on how to review my experience on having someone else install the lift. I ran into the roadblock of not being able to generate enough torque to free up the bolts at the front lower shock mount in order to proceed with the installation of the new coilovers. I was happy that the shop allowed me to stay in the garage and chat with the installer as the work was progressing. It was during a work day, and invariably some important work came up which necessitated that I leave to attend to it. They ran into some difficulty with a stripped leaf centering bolt which delayed the completion a good deal. They finally got done well after hours and overall I was pretty well satisfied despite the delay. My only feeling of 'not so great' was that they wouldn't ream out the holes in the bracket as a part of the installation. Had I done this at home, it is something I would have been challenged with anyway. As I neared the time of departure for the trip to Utah, I had a dilemma. The truck had been driving fine as it was presently reassembled. But there wasn't very much thread at all beyond the nut holding the axle to the leaf springs. Would that be enough for the forces of offroading? Was it worth trying to tackle it at 12 midnight when I was to be leaving out at 4am...and hadn't packed yet?

Ultimately I decided to leave as-is...or as-was for the time being. I packed with me some tools to accomplish it once I arrived in Utah, but I didn't want to risk being incomplete and stranded 2,000 miles from home. So I let it ride. It held up as we know by now since I'm back writing this.

I created this page as a placeholder because I intend to go back in and replace the current U-bolts. I ordered another set of the brackets from a nearby dealership. I'll get those reamed out in the meantime. My thought was that it would be good to have an unmodified stock set if I ever want to return to stock. Also, if I butcher the job, at least I can bolt back on the originals and still be able to get around on my daily driver. I'm also thinking that, while I'm at it, I may add another leaf for additional support due to the weight I carry back there. As a part of the kit, I was sold, the leafs themselves are essentially Toyo leaf springs that are marketed to Toyota Tacoma owners. Nothing special at all. So I may just pick up a set to add on there while I've got everything disassembled anyway. I'll come back to this page and update with pictures once it is done.

3/7/13

Good gracious, has it been that long. I've still basically done nothing to the suspension. I looked at some options the other day. I still haven't reamed out those brackets. They're here...in the garage.

I'm trying to decide if I'm just going to add a leaf or swap out the full leaf pack for something more robust. I'll check back in if there's any  more activity. I've been busy with other unrelated builds.

I also want to go full lockers...front and back. At that point, I might as well lock down whatever I'm going to do with the suspension at that time as well. That's still at least 6 months to a year out. I'll be very sad if the book  hasn't been closed on this page come next February.

8/31/13

It is done. The post below by Anonymous reminded me that today (9/13) I am overdue to announce the closing of this year long chapter. I went with Automotive Customizers' (4x4parts.com) 3-leaf add-a-pack. I ended up having to ditch the overload springs as the leaf centering bolt was not long enough to accommodate it and the three additional leafs with the OME extra leaf as well. I ended up interspersing the three leafs in as opposed to a direct add of them below, as I recall reading on the OME instructions that the leafs should be assembled from longest to shortest as they springs are stacked vertically from the top. They did immediately help perk up my existing pack bringing them from flat to a noticeable arch once more. I have not found the ride to be overly stiff. In another 20K miles or so, I'll probably be due to replace the shocks anyway. At that time, I'll evaluate the condition of the leaf pack and consider going with maybe a Dakar setup with some extended travel shocks for the rear. We'll see. For now, I'm just glad to have actually finished it.

Here are some progress pics:

 I can't recall what is in the box below this. The tope one definitely has the leaf springs and the extended, steel-braided brake hoses.

 I ordered additional spring assembly hangers so that the original, stock ones could be left in tact in case I needed to revert back to the original configuration.

 This is how the leafs arrive.

 Loaded down, the height to the top of the wheel well through the center of the wheel hub measured 37-1/4" before proceeding. This is AFTER the 2" suspension lift and 2" body lift. I'd have to dig up what the stock height was previously. It is somewhere in the blog.

 I mostly emptied everything out and it only came up about a 1/4" to 37-1/2" or so.

 So this kit didn't come with any instructions. It is probably presumed that if you are bold enough to order aftermarket springs that maybe you should also know what needs to be done. I knew that I needed to jack up the rear of the vehicle and then also support the axle.

 I also knew you needed to disassemble the lower shock mount to allow the axle to droop beyond the range of the shock.

 What I did NOT realize is that at the rear differential and this yoke assembly will tend to want to rotate forward and potentially put strain on this connection. I created a quick and impromptu prop using a spare rim and some stock steel to add some additional support.

 Once the U-bolts are loosened, this center bolt boot cap/bump stop can be removed exposing the nuts threaded onto the centering pin/bolt.

 I had already made these little "Z" brackets to lift the attachment point of the brake lines from the top of the differential housing. I decided to release these bolts as well to ease any potential strain.

 First pass at assembling the pack and keeping the overload spring in there.

 I STRUGGLED epically to get the new packs in. This was largely due to the fact that my Farmer's Jack was malfunctioning. I could hoist the truck up safely, but I could not lower using the normal ratcheting function. I needed to create some additional separation between the axle and the bottom of the upper two leafs which I left attached at both spring perches. I did ultimately succeed in this. I had no  choice. I couldn't get my electric impact gun into position to try to loosen the packs at the spring perch. And with the back end of the truck precariously supported on jack stands on top of blocks, I could not begin to generate the amount of torque/leverage needed to unthread the bolts without risking toppling the whole thing.

 The whole process should have maybe been a couple of hours, but the complications with the jack and figuring out ways of lowering and lifting dragged the job out to a full day for me.

 I remember joking with my Dad, (who generally comes not to wrench, but basically to ensure that I don't maim myself) that it would be funny if the truck's back end stayed jacked up this high. It basically did.

That first night, I measured and it was at almost 40-3/4" high. It settled a little bit after I went up to Scrubgrass and had some equipment loaded in the back. I think I'm down more to 40-1/4" now.


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