OME BP-51 Issues- Anybody Else Having This Problem? ARB Won't Help

Have put less than 5,000 miles on mine and they are sagging right at 5/8" from when they were new. After about a month it was just 1/4" which I was fine with as most suspensions will "settle" a little bit but now one has dropped about 5/8 of an inch and the other just over that.

Have never had this happen with any of the other setups I've had so I contacted ARB since they are still under warranty and they just blew me off like it was normal. So is it normal for this suspension to drop over 1/2" in such a short period of time?

Not too impressed with the reliability of this system. Also when I initially received them one was leaking when it was brand new. ARB did swap it out but was surprised that this got by quality control. The other one was a pain to adjust the preload as it seemed like something was wrong with the threads as it was almost impossible to turn but I decided to just keep that one. Not looking forward to having to adjust it again to try and gain some height back if I decide to keep these. Would have to adjust them to over 25mm to get to 2" of height which I don't want to do.

 

That is a normal amount of settling for a spring with a rate of 650lb or less.

You mentioned difficulty in adjust the c/o. Can you describe your process? The tire needs to be completely off the ground, with no weight on the shock.

 

Have had numerous Bilstein and Kings before and none had dropped by this much with under 5,000 miles of use. And I'm talking about the spring preload adjustment to change the ride height.

 

When adjusting the preload collar was the truck jacked up with the wheel off the ground?

What spring rate came with your Bilsteins?

 

They were sitting on my work bench in a spring compressor. You can’t adjust the preload when they are mounted on the truck.

There is definitely something wrong with the threads as one can easily be spun with my Gedore wrench but the other one won’t spin without tapping pretty hard on the wrench with a hammer.

Installed the optional 650lb springs on my last two sets of Bilsteins (came with 600lb springs). The last set I ran was the 6112 on my wife’s Taco and we took those off for some Foxes with maybe 20,000 miles on them and never noticed any sag on those.

 

You've had "numerous" Kings? Seems odd considering they are rebuildable.

Anyways, it depends on the spring rate and weight of the vehicle. Theres usually some sag.

 

If you actually read what I said then you would know I said I’ve had numerous Bilsteins and Kings. Only had two sets of Kings. A set on a 4Runner and a set on a another Taco. We have always owned at least three rigs and usually get something new every couple years and have never kept the stock suspension on any of them so we have tried quite a few different set ups before. In fact this is the third different set up I’ve had on just this Taco.

Yes, there’s always sag. But 5/8 plus inches in under 5,000 miles of use? Never have had that with any of our previous set ups except when they have been well used and or with a lot more miles on them. This has been our first experience with a ARB set up so I guess this could be norm with them. Just not what I’ve experienced with anything else I’ve owned.

So what are you running? And your set up has sagged this much or more in such a short period of time?

 

Uh I did read it hence my exact quote of it.

As I said, which you apparently didn’t read, depends on weight of the vehicle. You appear to have a few mods on the front of your truck. What coils are you running to support the added weight?

 

You could have just hit the quote tab. Doesn’t mean you read it. And I did read what you wrote.

Anyway, yes I do have some weight on the front end. But these are set at 22mm and I’m getting 1 3/8” in height. ARB states in the manual that with a winch and bumper they should be set at 20mm to get 2” in height. I guess their own manual is wrong because I’m getting over 1/2” less than that with just a winch and bumper. And I got a SSO Slimline tube bumper that weighs less than a 100 pounds so it’s one of the lighter bumpers.
Also have had bumpers and winches on just about everything we’ve owned and have never experienced this much sag so quick.

Let me also point out that I’m in my fifties and probably have built up over 20 rigs with winches and bumpers. In fact this is our eighth Taco so I’m speaking from experience. But this is also my first experience with ARB so maybe I shouldn’t compare them to Bilstein, Fox, Teraflex, and some others I have used through the years.

Bottom line is the weight I have shouldn’t matter as ARB says I should be getting 2” of lift with my set up at a 20mm setting which I’m not. That is the problem I have with this.

 

Is it sagging on driver or passenger side?

 

The BP-51s can come with different coils. So the manual may represent a heavy coil but you have a light coil installed. Only way to know is to verify the coils.

I haven’t built 20 rigs but my suspension is custom tuned and built for the corner weights of each of my vehicles. Anyone can bolt on aftermarket parts with little to no thought.

 

Both.

 

The BP51’s are offered with different coils? Where are you getting your info? According to the customer service person at their Washington office they do not offer any other springs for this set up. Maybe he was wrong? Please point me in the right direction so I can see which springs I have and what else is offered. Surprised this wasn’t mentioned anywhere in the manual that came with these or on their website when I purchased them. Having a stiffer spring would obvious help!

 

I thought they did but may misremember. I know their regular suspension lifts offer different spring rates. Below are the BP kits, maybe they are all the same.

LIGHT LOAD/HEAVY LOAD BP-51 KIT KIT 2” 1 OMETAC16BP51B
LIGHT LOAD BP-51 KIT WITH UPPER CONTROL ARMS KIT 2” 1 TACBP51P
HEAVY CONSTANT LOAD BP-51 KIT WITH UPPER CONTROL ARMS KIT 2” 1 TACBP51HP

Thats about the extent of my help, I pretty much run custom king setups but hopefully some of these ARB gurus can chime in further. Sounds to me like a heavier coil would solve it.

 

I thought only Icons were shit…what happened to Ozzie reliability and all that mumbo jumbo

 

Just cause they state it in literature it doesn't mean that's EXACTLY how it will work out. If it was me I'd simply adjust it to the height I wanted and go on with life. It's not such a big deal.

 

Try running these at close to a 30mm setting then get back to me. You obviously don’t have a set of these not to mention that ARB also doesn’t recommend taking these above 20mm in their own literature.

 

I believe those are for their complete kits where you can choose which leafs you want which they do offer the Dakar’s in different versions. I actually have the heavy duty versions of those.

I’m going to email them and see if they do offer a different spring for these now.

 

This thread may just turn into gold.