OME/4+Plus Kit from Man-A-Fre installed...

[SWITAWI]

My friend Matt conned a couple of us into rolling around on the concrete in front of his house this past weekend... DISCLAIMER: All models are 18 years of age or older.

Before...

During...

THINGS TO NOTE:

We had to jack up the exhaust under the passenger footwell in order to get this top bolt out, so we just reversed it once we got the drop bracket in place to make things easier.

Once we got the drop bracket in place we could NOT get all three bolts in at once which required a very slight enlarging on the rear outer hole (left, top of bracket as shown).

Then the drop bracket went right in like it was made for it... because it sorta was... kinda... and then because we modified it. :ar15:

ALSO... No pictures of this, but there was maybe one of the factory brake line brackets (front & rear) that didn't have to be modified with a dremel tool in order to get the aftermarket brake lines into them far enough to get the retainer clips on. I would say a good third of our entire labor was related to getting the new brake lines into the factory locations. The aftermaket lines are of good quality, but using the Toyota fittings would have been even better.

 

[SWITAWI]

After the front got done we thought about just leaving it like this while driving around playing airbag whooshing noises from the stereo...

But since Matt bought the 'complete' kit we figured we'd do the back end, too. Since it was getting dark Matt decided to feed us steak and we saved the back for Sunday...

 

[SWITAWI]

Found I only took a couple of pictures on Sunday. Hard to tell from this pic, but while Matt was still underneath trying to get the rear brake lines on it actually started to rain... Jeff & I got everything into the garage and began perusing our ancestral memories concerning this weather phenomenon. :sombrero: It's been a good while since we've seen any significant rain in Central Texas and unfortunately this little shower was only just enough to make us go inside for a while and come back out into 10% more humidity.

 

[SWITAWI]

When we finally got everything done, including bleeding the brakes on Jeff's F-350 crew cab long bed (damn there's a LOT of fluid in those lines), I took this pic after dark when Matt parked in his driveway again. There's a major difference.

All in all it was a straightforward setup though the included instructions were rather lacking. We also referred to the May/June 2011 issue of 4WDToyotaOwner magazine where they had some of pictures of an OME lift being installed on an 80-Series. I would say the hole mis-alignment of the drop brackets up front and the brake lines all around keep this from being a strictly 'bolt-on' affair, but if you've got a couple buddies who'll work for food (or less) and some shade it's totally doable without a lift. Not a bad way to spend the weekend.

 

[SWITAWI]

Now that he's added at least 4in to the rear height it should be a bit more practical for towing his M101A3. We'll probably get some pics of that next weekend after we bleed some more brakes...

 

[Schattenjager]

Good thread. Would like to see some pics of the rig in action!
:victory:

 

[ScottyDog]

LOL.. I know this isn't the clearest of pictures... but my son thought that that was me in your LC!!:Wow1: Didn't know I had a 'doppelganger thats into LandCruisers' LOL!

When we finally got everything done, including bleeding the brakes on Jeff's F-350 crew cab long bed (damn there's a LOT of fluid in those lines), I took this pic after dark when Matt parked in his driveway again. There's a major difference.

All in all it was a straightforward setup though the included instructions were rather lacking. We also referred to the May/June 2011 issue of 4WDToyotaOwner magazine where they had some of pictures of an OME lift being installed on an 80-Series. I would say the hole mis-alignment of the drop brackets up front and the brake lines all around keep this from being a strictly 'bolt-on' affair, but if you've got a couple buddies who'll work for food (or less) and some shade it's totally doable without a lift. Not a bad way to spend the weekend.

 

[SWITAWI]

A couple crappy phone pics...

Sure makes it easier to get to the spare now...