Haven’t had a lot of time with it to test the difference. But so far it reacts to any little bump better than the factory.
OME BP51 Install
- Thread starter 74cruzah
- Start date
so this is the Front 3" Rear 2" kit or is this the the Front 3" Rear 0" Kit? Thanks!! I have the Front 3" rear 0" that i need to get installed im trying to decide where i want my front height set at. Im hoping you have the Front 3 rear 2 kit, i like your height but the wifey will complain too much lol
The 3/0 kit will likely leave you nose high unless the front is adjusted down lower. 3/1.6 results in level and 3/2.2 results in about 1/2" rake.
Exactly.
My 3"/2" kit came out to 3.1" and 1.75" and is basically dead level. This is the no extra load capacity option and there's no extra weight on the truck except for Greenlane Aluminum sliders.
I'm planning to drop the front some to get back to about 1/2" rake. (hoping both front and rear will settle a little also)
Looking for the 1/2" rake 3/2.2 so the measurement from the callor to the top of threads is scale 2.2"?
I tow with mine so I grabbed a set of the OME 3339 springs which are rated for a little more weight to help w trailer sag in the rear. When not hooked up to the trailer, these still allow for forward rake with the front preloaded to the max. After all the researching I've done and convos with experts and exARB employees, it seems that the BP51's and most OME suspension currently imported by ARB, their numbers are a bit inflated and/or misconstruing.... When they state 2.5" - 3", you will only see 3" with no added front weight and the springs preloaded to the max. Once you add weight up front, depending on how much you do, you'll realistically sit at around +2.5" give or take..... They also don't directly sell, nor will they share required information with (at least Mike from Exit and Mark from 4x4 Shock who helped develop the BP's) the required information to order a set of stiffer springs from a different BP51 PN and install on the LC. To note, for some bananas ass reason, OME Australia won't even share their spring rates with ARB Tech here in the US.
Not sure what the measurement is? I was saying 3" front and 2.2" rear (via 1.6" lift springs and a .6" spacer on top of the rear spring)
What does max pre-load due to droop travel on the OME suspension? In most cases with off the shelf kits the more pre-load you run the less droop you have which is one reason I avoided Adjustable coilovers.
I'm not telling you anything you don't know, but it depends on weight. Without adding weight, max preload will give more lift and less down travel from ride height.
If you have more weight and more preload puts you back to the ride height you want (ideally in the middle of travel), then you haven't lost down travel.
My BP-51's put me at 3.1 inches lift in the front and 1.75 in the rear with the lightest rear springs. The truck is almost dead level, something like 1/16" rake by my measurements. No extra weight on the truck and the front coilover preload is set at the factory recommended setting for no extra weight. Not maxed out preload.
I hope it does sag in the front so I get some rake back and get the front suspension back in the middle of the travel. Currently, as many have suggested, there is more up-travel than down-travel. Somewhere between 2-2.5 inch front lift would be great and maybe I need a front bumper, or I might need to get motivated and reduce preload to get it to sit where I want.
Agreed on OME being weird about their specs. It's impossible to find spring rates.
I don't have the measurements in front of me, but in my communications w/ Mark at 4x4 Shock in Issaquah, he asked for a full set of measurements off the front and found that I was well within safe limits.
Mark at 4x4 Shock, who according to himself as well as Mike at Exit, was one of the developers for the BP51, after talking to OME in Australia, came to the conclusion that ARB is trying advertising capability as a bit more than what you actually get....... He stated that when they say 2.5" to 3" of lift with 0 - 220 lbs, you're getting 2.5" at baseline preload setting with no extra weight, 3" of lift with maximum preload and no extra weight, and when you get to that +220 lbs you'll be able to maintain the 2.5" of lift with full preload. One thing that did stump him, and he had photos as well as multiple measurements, is that the preload doesn't correlate mathematically at all. What he's calculating the preload to lift ratio (distance of preload collar movement to distance of lift added)makes zero sense. That even with approx 200Lbs out front, I should have achieved way more lift than actually achieved. Which brings us back to "what actually are the spring rates". They are a compound spring, you can see the variation in windings, but as stated, what the hell are the rates?
Kind of goes to the point/assumption that although the BP51s have a high end/superior design to a lot of the competition, they are doing their best to stick to the off the shelf consumer market and avoiding the technical and/or tunable market for racing and/or really dialing them in type of user/customer.
Placing my order tomorrow - planning on leaving it as delivered with regards to preload and using the stock rear springs. I do not have have any constant weight added and just hoping to level out the truck/keep a slight rake. Does it make sense to order the light duty rear spring right away? I definitely do not want to have a Carolina squat going on.
So this is what I can say/advise....... I have the 3339 rear springs which are the one weight level up from the basic setup. I tow and wanted the stiffer spring to assist with sag. In the front I have approx 200-250 added pounds. I have the front preload dialed all the way up, and between the Fr & Rr,
I have about 1/2" rear high rake.
I would recommend getting the light duty rear spring, I think it's 0-200 pounds-ish?? With the factory rear spring I'd bet a dollar that your nose would be sitting pretty high and to adjust these you need to pull them off (leave the reservoir installed and the shock just out/loose) to get spring compressor on. DO NOT try and just spin the preload collars with the spanner wrench, you'll burn those threads alive!
Agreed.
If you stay with stock springs in the rear you will be nose-high.
I have front BPs at factory preload and the light OME springs (Listed as 2") in the rear and my truck is only a hair higher in the rear; almost dead level.
The light springs with no extra weight on the back feel a little stiff still though. It might work to keep the factory ride by adding a spacer to the rear.
This might be better for the BPs since you want to make sure ride height is in the middle of the bypass zone. If you're riding lower than they're intended the damping won't be working as designed.
I’m a real amateur here so forgive me if this is a bad question, but, I hear folks talk badly about spacer lifts all the time and say that you should only do a suspension lift. Does adding a spacer to a suspension lift have the same negative impacts?
Spacers have their place and are not bad if you know their limitations.
I think you're asking about adding spacers to an aftermarket suspension like BP-51s?
You wouldn't want to do that in the front where the shock and spring are together in the coilover and designed to work with the range of motion of the other front components.
In the rear though, the shock and spring are separate, so you have the shock doing it's thing and the height of the vehicle can be adjusted with a spacer on the stock spring, or new springs of varying heights (this also assumes the shock travel and length are meant to work with the vehicle height and suspension travel). Either the small 15mm "trim packers" like Toyota sold for the 200 and you can get from Dobinsons, or a larger spacer to get the rear higher if you want to adjust the front-to-rear level of the vehicle.
The risk of using a larger spacer in the rear to make it level with a larger lift in the front is that the risk of coil bind is higher if you're going to really flex the truck offroad (the suspension can travel up more than the short spring can compress). Larger rear bumpstops would mitigate this at the expense of up-travel.
Thank you - that’s very helpful
