100K on OME struts and springs. Replace them?

[DesertJK]

Hello,

I put OME heavy duty springs (2" or so lift") on my wife XK a few years ago. We have driven it about 100K since then. The XK has been great and never let us down. We love the 5.7 Hemi and take it on more long trips than our JKUR. It has done mostly rural highway and graded dirt/gravel. Lots of gravel, lots of compact snow and ice.
The struts are done. They gave good service and I am happy we went with OME, not like there were any other choices.
I really don't want to replace the springs, but the front end seems to have sagged a little. I am wondering if new OME struts will fix this? Anyone else have a lot of miles on their OME stuff? Anyone venture to guess how long the coil springs should go before they are sacked out?

D.

 

[BulldoginaJeepwithaColt]

I drive a 1998 Jeep TJ since new and replaced the stock setup with OME springs and shocks since 2000, now with 185k.

I changed out the OME shocks with new ones at approx 100k.

About 2 years ago and 175k I noticed that I was bottoming out when loaded with gear or rear passengers more and more frequently.

I emailed ARB and they said everything coyld be due fir replacememt due to age and miles. They also recommended I uprgrade to heavier duty rear coil springs that they designed for the LJ.

So far I have ONLY upgraded the rear coils based on their recommendation. My Jeep rides and handles fine and no longer bottoms out, just a little stiffer in the rear when unloaded and no top on. Nothing annoying or hazardous.

For the time being, I will run the rest until they develop a problem and will replace with more OME aftet I squeeze the remaining life outta them.

OME is an excellent suspension and for me has stood the test of time and abuse.

You could always contact ARB for their advice, after all it is free and may help for your desired solution.

Good luck!



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[SilicaRich]

I would say 100k is more than your money's worth out of shocks and springs. It will be worth replacing them at this point.

 

[DesertJK]

I think I will do the struts and see if it improves. My wife and I are at a decision point with the commander. It has 175K on it. It runs great, uses maybe 1/4 of a liter between the 6K oil changes with Mobile 1. The interior is still nice enough to take clients in (real estate) and it gets my wife to some pretty hard to reach rural property, as well as back and forth over snowy mountain passes. We also think it looks good doing it, and she like being the only realtor that drives a lifted Jeep instead of a Honda/Subaru/GMC mini SUV that can't make it up some of the undeveloped drive ways.

But, at 175K miles, at what point is it not going to make sense to daily drive it? I am sometimes a slave to our vehicle maintenance. My JK with 145K and many, many things done to it is different. Even though I use it almost every day, it's a toy to go take trip into the woods in, I'll keep it forever.