Is OME lift the best bang for the buck?

Try and keep this short and to the point.
When i got my 2015 tundra this year, it had a OME 3.5" lift on it, and had been on there since new. Im guessing the previous owner wheeled and towed, it had a trailer brake controller installed also. The suspension was worn out, so I spent $2500 on a ironman complete lift... What a mistake.

First, drivers side UCA is bad, squeeks like crazy, they replace it.... That was the end of my help from this company.
Anothert squeek pops up in the front... the bottom of the shock is rubbing the little housing it sits in on the truck. I have to spray lube on it every month to keep it was driving me crazy. I email them pics, and videos... I get a reply "Hard to tell what it is or where its coming from".... All replies from them stop.

Rear Leaf springs squeek on both sides, I can spray them down with lube, it goes away for a while... I reach back out to them, no reply... I call, get someone, "theyll be in touch".

Worthless company, in my experience.

Now, with the market it like it is, its cheaper for me to just replace this suspension and keep the truck than it is to trade it in on a $65,000 new one.

Not looking to drop $5000, just want a good 3" lift to keep the look I have the same.

 

Get yourself good coilovers and deaver leaf pack as well as an upper control arm. Bilstein setup might be a good option for you

 

I have the OME kit and don’t have any issues. My buddy got the Ironman on his 2018 tundra and has issues with squeaking and not leveled in the front. He’s not happy about it.

Ironman hasn’t reached back to him after a few months. Company is shit.

 

I'm curious about "the bottom of the shock is rubbing the little housing it sits in on the truck", where is that exactly? Never heard of that, and mine don't do it. Love my shocks... even though I had to reload the springs to keep them from rubbing on the shock body. If that is happening to yours, then that would squeak.

Spring pack squeaks are not unusual. I've definitely heard that about OME and Deaver. Jack up the truck so the spring hangs down, pressure wash and lube between the leafs. Check the torque on your ubolts too.

 

Atleast it isn’t just me they ignore.
I’m wondering if I could replace just the Leafs and leave the Ironman shocks on.

i worry because the Ironman kit is for a 3.5” lift and the leafs that come with the OME say 2.5” lift.

 

I’m put rubber pads in from spring thing and that helped some. If I lay under the truck and push up on the spare tire, I can hear it up near the top rear bushing. I’ve greased them, checked and double checked torque.

It’s annoying hearing the noise anytime I’m on any sort of uneven ground

 

I would keep the Ironman leafs and try a spring insert to attempt a fix for the squeak. Replace the front shock/coil with OME and use the 614 coil. I got over 3” of lift with the stock bumper.

 

I've had an OME 3" lift since 2015.
It has been absolutely trouble free.
My only complaint is that the ride is very stiff...it rides like a truck.
You're probably not going to be able to go down washboard roads at 50 mph, but this will get you down any four-wheel drive only road to your favorite campsite with no problem.
Yes, I think it is one of the most trouble free, most bang for the buck systems available.

 

The ome lift on here was a lot stiffer than this Ironman lift. But it had factory springs and shackles. The springs were curved the opposite way lol. I may just order the entire OME kit sometime soon and swap it all out, AGAIN. What a pain in the ass.
$2500 down the drain with this lift kit.

 

Do you have a business that sells this stuff? If so, I’d love to chat over the phone to figure it out

 

The rear shocks will work with any springs with a modest lift. But... fix the squeak in the ones you have, OME are not going to be any better. Besides ubolts being loose, another cause of squeaks can be the bushing bolts too tight. I'm guessing you have the greasable bushings? Did you install this yourself or pay someone... and if you paid someone, who was it?

And like I said, check the spring-shock body clearance on the front. That is the most common issue and it can be fixed by resetting the coils to maximize clearance. That's not fun because you need to remove the shocks, but...

That would be a wasteful downgrade. I absolutely love the performance of the Ironman FCPs. I think their full kit is a joke though, and I wouldn't recommend any front shock-lift over 2.5". And if you are doing that, you don't need UCAs or a rear lift, so...

 

To each their own. Like I said my buddy has a lot of issues with his Ironman lift and I have zero with my OME. They may not be the best option but man are they reliable.

 

A huge factor in this case is that the OP already has Ironman... and the issues he is having are squeaks which are not yet identified, but probably not hard to remedy.

There is a huge IM thread on here somewhere, and the only issue of note that I recall was the "springs rubbing on the shock body"... a common and serious problem but fixable.

 

My coil over springs are not touching the body.

I installed the spring thing rubber pads between the leafs and made no difference. Just sprayed everything with dry lube, no difference.

here’s a video of me just rolling the rear tire forward.
https://youtube.com/shorts/ZRu_U9szD4A?feature=share

 

I sent Ironman another email after removing the springs, reinstalling and still no fix to this noise! Asking them to please honor their warranty and refund me for this springs as I will be going with a different brand.
I’m looking at the OME leafs, they say 2.5”, will I be unlevel if I go with these and keep the rest of the Ironman lift

 

You might want to do a search to see how many people with Deaver, Alcan, OME, etc report squeaking. You might even learn how to fix it. Replacing springs will not solve the problem if they are installed and used in the same manner. The IM poly bushings and shackles have grease fittings which is definitely a benefit.

 

The other option you can do and if I'm not mistaken is rebuild the OME shocks. I had the Bilsteins 5100's on my truck since my truck was new. Regreted putting them on, truck rode like a brick. No matterr how I adjusted the heights of the shock or adjusting tire pressures, it did not do anything to make it a more comforting ride. I use my truck as daily, on road and off road and as well some towing. I ended up in the late last year replacing them with OME BP51's. I've been in heaven, I don't get those jarring bumps, truck rides smooth as hell. Just another option for you to consider.

 

I’m not sure what else to do. Everything is greased and torqued to spec. I don’t wheel this truck, it doesn’t see much other than gravel roads from time to time

 

Here's a small update.

I get home tonight, going to grease the bushings again... 1 zerk wont take grease... weird.. Ill replace it tomorrow.
I come in and hop online to see if I can find the thread pitch for this zerk on IM website... i find the instructions.....

Now....... When I put this crap on, I went by THEIR install video, in which I just triple checked.. The dude says to torque the nuts on the zerk side to 35ft lbs... THATS IT... nothing else. I dont recall all my actions at the time of install.

I bring up their instructions, it says to torque it to 85 ft lbs... and the inside nuts to 95 ft lbs... He mentions none of this on the video. So Ill replace the grease fitting tomorrow and drop the spare tire and double check this. I swear, if Ive been riding around for 6 months wanting to crash this noisey ass truck into every tree I pass because of this, Im going to be pissed.... and happy.

 

That didnt fix my issue. I got a hold of them again, and talked to them for a while and sent them videos of each side. THey could see where I have rubber pads between the leafs, and greased them and they still made noise...

To start off, they were going to warranty the drivers side, because "it sounds louder than the passenger"...... WtF? lol... nah.

Talked some more, and got a tracking number today for my new set of leafs. From the picture on their site, they seem to have added more spring clamps through out the pack compared to the ones I have.

 

My lift kit is perfect for what I want it for. I am not using my truck as a rock crawler so I don't need a crazy aggressive lift or amazing shocks. The OME lift is sufficient for the average driver.