[sleeperzook]

Ok, so I'm biting the bullet and going to upgrade by stuffed springs to some OME 40mm jobbies. I'm going the OME because they seem to be the majority choice.

I know there's a fair bit of tech about these springs already but I'm after people opinions with regard to the STD/HD springs for my set up.

I'm running a turbo GTi, 4.16, 235/75/15 + rear lock wrong.

Looking at the OME specs and after talking to an ARB salesman the front springs are STD (>25kg) and HD(26-75kg), which is apparently referring to the weight of the vehicle without luggage/passengers etc. So basic weight plus any permanent mods/accessories.

Now between the GTi donk, steam pipe manifold, turbo, oil & inter-coolers and associated plumbing (plus the soon to be added steal bar+winch), I'm pretty sure I'll breach the 25kg limit over the front. (my extended shackles are longer in the front than rear to level the car out atm)

However on the rear I'm just completing a steel rear carrier bar with jerry + 30" spare (build thread to come). Rear specs specify a medium spring (pretty much STD) or a '100kg constant' spring. I reckon the bar will be 30kg + 20kg jerry + 20kg wheel, worst case??? So I'm not going to get anywhere near 100kgs constant. So the questions are.....

-Can/should you mix HD front/STD rear springs?

-I know people remove leafs and I cant be the only guy running this weight, so are HD springs really needed? (I realise a flexy spring wont last as long but will obviously work better)

I'm tempted to go HD front and rear, due to weight and the amount of axle wrap my rears experience now with 100rwKw (and I'm a real nanna 99% of the time). I just dont want to go to the cost and hassle to replace it all, only to find its just as rough as my old flat springs are (pot hole=loss of front teeth) - side note, this forum needs an emoticon with a toothless smilie haha. On the other hand it's a weekend warrior, lucky to clock up 2-3000km a yr, so I cant see them wearing THAT fast. Maybe go HD and play round with the packs even?

Another question was the sierra lean. I notice they sell an 'A' and 'B' spring, however I dont think mine leans (I'll take some bump stop vs rim-flare measurements tomorrow). I'n any case I've never noticed the much talked about lean Does everyone go with an A and B or just 2xA if required?

Cheers, Aaron

[MacDaddy]

sleeperzook wrote:

Ok, so I'm biting the bullet and going to upgrade by stuffed springs to some OME 40mm jobbies. I'm going the OME because they seem to be the majority choice.

I know there's a fair bit of tech about these springs already but I'm after people opinions with regard to the STD/HD springs for my set up.

I'm running a turbo GTi, 4.16, 235/75/15 + rear lock wrong.

Looking at the OME specs and after talking to an ARB salesman the front springs are STD (>25kg) and HD(26-75kg), which is apparently referring to the weight of the vehicle without luggage/passengers etc. So basic weight plus any permanent mods/accessories.

Now between the GTi donk, steam pipe manifold, turbo, oil & inter-coolers and associated plumbing (plus the soon to be added steal bar+winch), I'm pretty sure I'll breach the 25kg limit over the front. (my extended shackles are longer in the front than rear to level the car out atm)

However on the rear I'm just completing a steel rear carrier bar with jerry + 30" spare (build thread to come). Rear specs specify a medium spring (pretty much STD) or a '100kg constant' spring. I reckon the bar will be 30kg + 20kg jerry + 20kg wheel, worst case??? So I'm not going to get anywhere near 100kgs constant. So the questions are.....

-Can/should you mix HD front/STD rear springs?

-I know people remove leafs and I cant be the only guy running this weight, so are HD springs really needed? (I realise a flexy spring wont last as long but will obviously work better)

I'm tempted to go HD front and rear, due to weight and the amount of axle wrap my rears experience now with 100rwKw (and I'm a real nanna 99% of the time). I just dont want to go to the cost and hassle to replace it all, only to find its just as rough as my old flat springs are (pot hole=loss of front teeth) - side note, this forum needs an emoticon with a toothless smilie haha. On the other hand it's a weekend warrior, lucky to clock up 2-3000km a yr, so I cant see them wearing THAT fast. Maybe go HD and play round with the packs even?

Another question was the sierra lean. I notice they sell an 'A' and 'B' spring, however I dont think mine leans (I'll take some bump stop vs rim-flare measurements tomorrow). I'n any case I've never noticed the much talked about lean Does everyone go with an A and B or just 2xA if required?

Cheers, Aaron

Personally, i wouldnt get OME, but i am biased against ARB... i would suggest going to a few other 4WD stores, and see what they have to say about OME... i spoke to the manager at my local Opposite Lock, and he gets alot of ARB customers coming to him complaining about ARB service and parts quality... and his opinion of OME, he is 50/50 about them, and recons you are just paying more for the name, and from what he has experienced, OME are good when they work, but around 40% are returned with problems, and ARB arnt to happy about replacing them...

[laurie]

i have ome std 40mm all round with bars,215/75/15's and about 60 to 70 kg of other stuff permanantly in the car. commo,toyota shocks
very happy with them even loaded for camping trips and towing.
i don't think you need hd

but as other people have said i am not happy with the service at arb.
and i will not shop there again.

[atari4x4]

thought about lifted rears & RUF?

[sleeperzook]

I've personally never bought anything from ARB, one because all their accessories are crazy expensive and my local ARB dude is a knob. However there's 3 ARB branded shops in Adelaide and I just happened to be passing the main store yesterday and thought I'd drop in for a look. The guy I spoke to was really helpful and when I mentioned preferring to buy from him over my local he indicated that they get a lot of similar comments. His explanation was that not all ARB stores are the real deal, some are franchise's with a business agreement and as such they have very little control over them and they are the one's that make life difficult for us. The franchise wouldn't/couldnt be bothered to even tell me if they had stock until I'd placed an order, where as the main stop had all bar the front leave's out the back and in any case all items are available 3-4 days ex melb.

I'm not biased to any spring, I just thought the general consensus was OME+commo/yota shocks was a good budget package for a weekend warrior? I've not been in any sierra's with lifted springs so I'm flying blind. I was quoted...

Fronts (STD) CS012FA/B $81ea
Fronts (HD) CS013FA/B $101ea
Rears (STD) CS038R $111ea
Rears (HD) CS039R $134ea
U-bolts ~$8ea
Bush kit $30 a corner

So for STD springs and U-bolts (bushes are only 1500km old, may replace depending on condition) $450 seems a decent price. I've got a mate that works for auto barn and even with cost price he cant match that with kings. EFS seemed to be alot more expensive and dobinson isnt one I've heard passed around much in the zook circle, unlike OME.

[sleeperzook]

atari4x4 wrote:

thought about lifted rears & RUF?

Yeah definitely have but new STD rears are expensive and mine aren't in a reuseable state. After a few trips down home to millicent and the dunes, plus morgan and ngarkat (border track) my springs are looking very sad. My zook has a fair few kms on it and I wouldnt be at all surprised if they're original springs. They are horrible!!!!! When you look at my rears you can see gaps between the packs half way from the perch to the ends of the leafs. I have a decent amount of power, but even when I was crawling at morgan, barely off idle I could hear the springs shudder when they were unloaded and can imagine the s bends they'd be performing under hard acceleration lol. Dont know of any second hand rears getting around close by Gus?

[rpmwrx]

My opinion is get 4 rear ome springs and do a ruf... I'm pretty sure the only diff between normal ome springs and the heavy duty ones is that the heavy duty spings have additional load leaves... Which u will find u will end up removing anyways... Do the ruf... From what I've seen u won't regret it...

[sleeperzook]

rpmwrx wrote:

My opinion is get 4 rear ome springs and do a ruf... I'm pretty sure the only diff between normal ome springs and the heavy duty ones is that the heavy duty spings have additional load leaves... Which u will find u will end up removing anyways... Do the ruf... From what I've seen u won't regret it...

Wouldnt you need massively extended rear shackles to get it sitting level with 4x2" lifted rears?

[atari4x4]

nego on the stock leaf springs, i don't deal with that old school horse & cart technology.

[chris_mac]

rpmwrx wrote:

My opinion is get 4 rear ome springs and do a ruf... I'm pretty sure the only diff between normal ome springs and the heavy duty ones is that the heavy duty spings have additional load leaves... Which u will find u will end up removing anyways... Do the ruf... From what I've seen u won't regret it...

i had std and heavy duty OME springs the difference between them is one extra leaf as long as the main one. so personaly i buy heavy duty rears ones. keep the extra leaf and remove bottom ones, that extra leaf having same length as main one prevents bending springs at the end around spring hangers. OME are soft springs and quite easy to bend if you have bigger rubber and t-case gears. if you remove bolts from spring clips you will bend springs quite easy , same without bottom load leafs. i bend to sets by doing that. now i have a torque bar, and heavy duty pack with no bottom load leafs but one extra leaf. a short one from the front springs