Well I've spent a good portion of the weekend replacing my old Bilstein struts and OE springs with my new OME struts and heavy duty OME springs trying to get them installed on my Superlift. Needless to say, they don't fit. Matt set me straight that I'm not the first one to have this problem and others have had to cut a coil off the springs to make it work. I didn't want to (1) sell my HD struts and buy MD struts because it sounds like you still need to cut off a half coil, and (2) put my OEM springs back on.
The OME struts are the same specs as the OE struts. I did finally get the strut with the 4" SL spacer in place and mounted, but I couldn't come close to getting the knuckle up to the UCA to attach it w/o spring compressors. (I don't want to have to carry springs compressors on my off-road adventures just to change out a CV!). I don't really understand why the Bilsteins fit and the OMEs didn't since the springs only change the compression force and not the geometry and I was always able to get the knucle attached w/o compressors when changing out a CV.
Since I had some Rocky Road (1-5/8") front spacers left over from my first lift, I decider to mount those up and see how it looked. That seems to work (I've only done the drivers side so far so I can compare).
In all the messing around, I did discover some important details:
1. With the OME and 4" spacer, the CV was binding at full droop with the knuckle disconnected. This tells me that once the knuckle is attached to the UCA, it will be the limiting factor in a full droop and the strut doesn't come close to full extension. It also means that we should be very careful when disconnecting the front sway bar!
2. With the RR spacer (I had to go out and buy some 1/2" x 3" bolts), everything went together easily, but my droop is now limited (44" to top of wheel well previously, vs 41" with the RR spacer).
3. The ride seems no different! The HD springs are just as mushy as the OE.
4. Sag is not a problem with the short spacer and HD springs. Both sides seem to compress about the same amount.
5. Both sides sit at 38" normally.
What this tells me is that I need 3" spacers. If you all agree, I'll have my buddy fab some up this week and give it a try.
Photos here:
http://s1182.photobucket.com/user/Bi...w/OME%20Struts
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