Anyone running the Trailmaster or OME lift on their JB74?

Trying to decide which lift kit to go for.

Not wanting too much lift, really looking to exploit wheel travel than gain big ground clearance. And while I'd love to make it a flex monster for rock crawling, it is my daily driver, so I really want to retain road manners.

I'm surprised at how well the stock setup rides on the road and it corners nicely. I want to retain the ability to throw it about some B roads and the like.

The Old Man Emu kit looks to be the more pricey, and they offer 3 different variants (front spring rates I think), depending on your exact configuration. They also claim you don't need extended brake lines and doesn't seem to require castor corrected bushes. I'd probably go for extended brake lines anyway, just to be safe.

One thing I like, it uses the regular bump stops. I'm a big believer in up-travel/compression. Downside is £100-200 more than the Trailmaster kit, and UK vendors only seem to be stocking one variant of the kit, which isn't the variant the ARB.au site recommends for my configuration.


The Trailmaster kit looks better value on face value. But claims to be a taller lift. I assume this is why it also recommends castor correction? I also note past kits offer different grade springs (comfort, etc). Is this true for the Gen 4? Only seeing comfort being offered? While I want the flex off road, I don't want it too floppy on road.

I also note the Trailmaster kit includes extended brake lines and extended bump stops. Bit of a guess here, but I assume this kit is running longer shocks than the OME? However as the upper shock mount isn't being moved, the extended bump stop it there to limit up-travel to prevent the shock bottoming out?? Therefore, probably offering more droop, but no greater wheel travel than the OME setup?


Would love to hear first hand experience vs stock on either of the kits, or even any back to back comparisons.

I'm currently hedging towards the OME as my preferred option, but when spending this kind of money, I want to ensure I do thorough research first.

Off what I have picked up so far reading different things is that the Gen4 doesn't need longer brake lines for up to 45mm lift and the Gen3 could go 50mm without.

BUZZ Special Vehicles has two OME kits listed, Heavy Duty and Medium Duty (although Heavy is out of stock). The kit also comes with castor correction bushes.

I would go for the Black Raptor Premium. 50mm lift full articulation adjustable shocks, just need to buy bushes on top. Just my wish list thoughts.

For what you're asking from your comments
+1 on the raptor premium

Grima wrote: I would go for the Black Raptor Premium. 50mm lift full articulation adjustable shocks, just need to buy bushes on top. Just my wish list thoughts.

Thanks. Don’t know anything about this one. Do you have a link?

Soeley wrote: Off what I have picked up so far reading different things is that the Gen4 doesn't need longer brake lines for up to 45mm lift and the Gen3 could go 50mm without.

BUZZ Special Vehicles has two OME kits listed, Heavy Duty and Medium Duty (although Heavy is out of stock). The kit also comes with castor correction bushes.

Thanks for the link. The ARB site suggest the light duty setup for my config. Haven’t seen that one listed at a UK vendor yet.

I have been using OME but, like the others who have responded, my Jimny is a Gen 3. I don’t have any experience with the Trailmaster so can’t make that comparison.

For the Gen 3, OME does make 3 versions of front springs for different weights ( one for stock up to a little added weight, one for more weight such as steel bumper and winch, and one for diesel). I am guessing it is the same for Gen 4. For the Gen 3, both versions of petrol have a spring rate of 146 lbf/in, with the difference being free height. The heavier is about 10 or 15 mm longer. The diesel is 170 lbf/in spring rate.
Like you, I wasn’t after lift but rather bringing it back to stock height with my steel bumper. Also like you, I was making my suspension choice based on not wanting to extend bump stops. I didn’t see much point in working to optimize travel and then just give some of that back with extended bump stops.

I like the OME but don’t think you would be going wrong with the Trailmaster either. Spring rate and free height (comparing the OME for ‘more added weight’ to the Trailmaster) the specs are almost identical. What will drive bump stop extension is the compressed length of the shock. That is what you might want to look at based on what you are attempting. If the compressed length of your front shock is less than approximately 300 mm and less than approximately 335 mm on the rear, you won’t need to extend the stops.

Hello,

It's been 3 months since we fitted the OME kit to our Gen4, and would throughly recommend it. It does lift the jimmy quite a bit compared to standard. But the ride quality and drive quality is not compromised, if anything it's only improved by the new suspension set up. It feels like the shock absorbers are better designed for the style of car and set up, so you can be confident when driving it on the backroads.

I don't know if you are close to Staffordshire show ground but my Jimny will be on display there so you can come along and take a look and ask any questions if you want? It's called the 4x4 Expo

Jimnybits website
jimny 2018+
suspension
there are a few to choose from.

www.jimnybits.com/jimny-18-on/suspension.html

cameronw2411 wrote: Hello,

It's been 3 months since we fitted the OME kit to our Gen4, and would throughly recommend it. It does lift the jimmy quite a bit compared to standard. But the ride quality and drive quality is not compromised, if anything it's only improved by the new suspension set up. It feels like the shock absorbers are better designed for the style of car and set up, so you can be confident when driving it on the backroads.

I don't know if you are close to Staffordshire show ground but my Jimny will be on display there so you can come along and take a look and ask any questions if you want? It's called the 4x4 Expo

Is that the 40mm lift you have?

I'll look out for you on Sunday, do you have a Stand name?