Tough Dog/rancho Vs Old Man Emu Suspension Lift

[TheOtherLeft]

I am looking at giving my GV a bit of a lift and am looking at either the Tough Dog/Rancho or OME setups. I'm not really considering the Calmini setup as I'm not really that hardcore and it's really $$$.

Has anyone compared the Tough Dog/Rancho and OME setups? The TD/Rancho gives a 50mm lift whilst the OME gives only a 30mm lift. I considered the OME with shock/coil spacers but in my mind that seems to defeat the purpose of getting increased travel.

Of course there is the $ difference but hey...

Cheers

[Podge]

Several things to consider here:
-Rancho predominately only make shocks and not struts, so from Rancho you will only get rear shocks for a GV (98-09/05).

-The Tough Dog set will actually give about 55-60mm of lift, however has a relatively stiff coil to keep the height, such a stiff coil will hamper travel. Also, the front strut is essentially a standard length unit with an extension piece added, so therefore you have downward travel but upward is hampered. The flipside is that the rear shocks used are quite good and having 55-60mm gives you better ground clearance over the OME kit.

-The OME kit is very hard to beat as it well engineered. The coils might only give 30-35mm of lift but give good ride and travel because they are a little softer. The front struts have a genuine 30mm extra in travel.

[MUD-PIGSIERRA]

I know from reading up before your Tough Dog shocks and products are big bore and used on alot of big trucks, Whilst would last and be tough, Your Ride is def going to be alot harder aswell and you probably Going over Kill with putting it on...

[TheOtherLeft]

Has anyone mixed and matched OME struts with Rancho shocks and possibly Allsprings or King coils?

If going an all OME system then is it possible to add spacers to get a 50mm lift? Is it recommended?

[oozuk]

i've fitted quite a few of these kits and what if found works best on my own car and i sell to everybody else is

4-way 50mm lift springs
OME front struts (only ones with the longest travel!!!!)
rancho RS 9000 rear shocks (specific length)
K-mac camber adjustment pins for front struts (only pins that give enough camber on a GV with 50mm lift !!!)

i sell this kit for $1850 fitted all day every day and it works really well

OME rear shocks i found to be too softly damnpened and rode shit

[TheOtherLeft]

Thanks for the info oozuk.
Just a query with the coils, you recommend the 4-way springs but I thought they are too hard as Podge stated earlier. 4-way are Tough Dog right?

[Podge]

I basically agree with oozuk, when I was involved with selling this sort of product for a Vitara I basically used the same kit as oozuk talked about. The front struts definately use the OME's (P/No. N103S). As for the coils I did use the Tough Dogs and as mentioned I did find that they were a little hard but did do the job more than adequately. If you want a little ride and less stiffness in the coils use P/No. TDC814 in the front and TDC815 in the rear, this will give a good genuine 50-55mm lift. Otherwise if height is all that matters use TDC816 in the front and TDC817 in the rear and you will get about 60-65mm lift. As for the rear shocks I used to use the Tough Dog nitros but the Ranchos will be more than fine.

As for the camber pin/bolt, I read oozuk's post with interest as I haven't had anything to do with the K-Mac units. I used to always use the Tough Dog pins but I might look at the K-Mac camber adjustment if I get involved with doing this stuff again in the future.

Hope that gives you some direction.

[grand zook]

The cheapest option I found for a two inch lift was to mix and match a bit.

I ended up with 4 pedders coils, OME rear shocks and OME front struts. Pedders were happy to fit everything for me. Can't remember what it cost, but it was cheaper than what BBM (and anybody else) was offering at the time.

I'm happy with the ride and handling.

That's my two cents!

[Podge]

The cheapest option I found for a two inch lift was to mix and match a bit.

I ended up with 4 pedders coils, OME rear shocks and OME front struts. Pedders were happy to fit everything for me. Can't remember what it cost, but it was cheaper than what BBM (and anybody else) was offering at the time.

I'm happy with the ride and handling.

That's my two cents!

Price ain't everything, a lot of guys learn that the hard way!!!

[grand zook]

True enough, but as I say, it does what I want. So far...

[Momo]

Umm, Pedders ain't two inch. When I had mine done it went up a grand total of 27-29mm.
I'm getting some tough dog coils as soon as I have the cash, they rode fine on my old GV and are pretty close to 50mm lift.

[fightara]

i've fitted quite a few of these kits and what if found works best on my own car and i sell to everybody else is

4-way 50mm lift springs
OME front struts (only ones with the longest travel!!!!)
rancho RS 9000 rear shocks (specific length)
K-mac camber adjustment pins for front struts (only pins that give enough camber on a GV with 50mm lift !!!)

i sell this kit for $1850 fitted all day every day and it works really well

OME rear shocks i found to be too softly damnpened and rode shit

This is what I ran in my GV SWB, and it actually gave it a 75mm lift. It was stiff for the first 6 months, but seemed to get better (or maybe I got used to it ) Never had a problem with articulation though...

If you're near Sydney and want to swap my old stuff back in, I'd do a good second hand deal for ya.