Need OME lift ARB Bumper Install tips and Suggestions

Desert Cowboy

New member
Hey all-

My ome lift and ARB Bumper will be coming in next week and I plan to install next weekend. I ordered it from Rocky Road. Any tips of Suggestions would be great.

I have an 04 sport with the x-reas , and a warn 9.5xp sitting in the box, ready to go.

Any help is appreciated.
 
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Very exciting

A couple of weeks ago I put on OME heavy duty front coil (882) and regular rear (890), and an ARB and warn winch. I did it all myself with no previous experience at all. It wasn't too bad.

I wrote some stuff about my ARB install on my thread "hidden winch box". Of course mine is a 3rd gen, 2000, so it will be different I assume.

If you are using the heavy front coils, I can definitely share with you a trick we figured out for getting the compressor tool out of the completed coil swap. The coil is so tight it binds on the tool, and you won't get it out without some kind of trick. The one my friend and I came up with was safe, and worked great. Let me know if you want me to explain in detail.

Good luck man, if I could do it...anyone can do it.
 
I just finished my ARB install over the weekend, and had done the OME install the previous weekend. My first advice would have been to get the front struts pre-assembled rather than go through the struggle of doing it yourself. I still say take it to a local suspension shop and have them assemble the fronts for you. I got the heavy duty coils (886 front/896 rear) so my install may have been even more difficult than most.

The rear was pretty simple, but I did have to use some basic spring compressors so that the huge coils could be inserted. The big limitation here was the length of the rear brake lines. The rear axle could only be lowered so much because of the lines, and that's why I had to use spring compressors. I have since installed extended brake lines from Slee Offroad.

The front struts were really difficult for me, because of the small clearance between the tie rod, sway bar, and steering spindle. I disconnected the sway bar and the steering spindle from the upper control arm, but didn't have the proper tool to separate the tie rod, so I had to use some really creative maneuvering to get the strut in place. One of the tips I found very useful when trying to move the struts in and out was to use a bottle jack between the UCA and the top of the wheel well to push the control arm downwards. This held the UCA in a downward position and made it easier to get things in and out. Of course, once the spindle is separated from the UCA you can just push the UCA up out of the way. The top nuts on the front struts can be a pain to work with, so I HIGHLY recommend a set of stubby ratcheting combination wrenches. I got a set at Sears similar to this (http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00991316000P?vName=Tools), although I only paid about half the price they list on the website.

I don't know if you have a press or vise (I don't), but I've got a simple tip for setting the bushings into the bottom of the shocks. I had to improvise, and found that pressing the bushing/shock between a bottle jack and the bottom of a wheel hub (with the wheel off, of course) was an easy way to set the bushing. Just set the jack underneath the hub (where it sticks out in front of a brake disc) with the bushing and end of the shock resting on top of the jack. Then just jack it up until everything hits the bottom of the wheel hub and slowly gets pressed into place.

I had someone helping me with the suspension install, and I recommend you do the same.

The bumper was a much easier install because there wasn't the same problem with limited working clearances. I did have a funny situation with the indicator lights on the bumper. The instructions tell you to switch out the bulbs in the indicators with another set that come in the bumper shipment. I found that this worked fine for one side (don't remember whether it was left or right), but that it caused the other side to blink rapidly. I fixed it by swapping back in the original bulb on that one side. This fixed the problem, and so now I'm running one of each type of bulb and getting normal operation. The major trick with the bumper is getting the height/alignment adjusted before tightening the bolts. I put a tool box on top of a floor jack (to boost the height) and then jacked it up under one side of the bumper while using a ruler to measure the gap between the body and bumper on each side. When I got one side where I wanted it, I snugged those bolts and then moved the jack to the other side to align the bumper with the first side. Using a floor jack gave very precise control over the heavy bumper.

All said and done, with the aid of a floor jack, I was able to do the whole bumper install by myself without any problems.
 
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when you go to install that XP be 100% sure that you turn the motor so the drain holes are functional. mounting it foot forward like you do in an ARB causes the drain holes to allow water in, but no water out. just unbolt the motor, rotate it 90* and reinsert, save yourself LOTS of headaches down the road.
 

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