Hey all - I made a thread last month asking some specific questions about springs rates, heights, etc. After many emails I finally got back a couple responses from the Colorado Mountain Rally (CMR)engineer. Additionally, I called Rocky Road and gathered some information on the Old Man Emu (OME) lift kit. Information is as follows:

According to the Colorado Mountain engineer. They are saying that OEM spring rates are 159# and 283#, rear and front respectively.

According to the guys at Rocky Road who sell Old Man Emu, OEM spring rates are 180# and 300#, rear and front respectively.


CMR

CMR offers:
-2" block spacer kit for $500. All you'd need for a 2" lift. Downside is you'd still be on your OEM soft spring rates & shocks and body roll would be bad.
-1" (up or down) cargo kit (springs) to eliminate rear sag and give stiffer spring rates front AND rear for $400. Downside is you still need to buy upgraded shocks.
-2" Rallyover (coilover) kit for $1400.

A couple of things before you read below. CMR website claims the cargo kit can increase the front spring rates to 125% of OEM, and the rear spring rates an option of 170% of OEM or 250% of OEM. The actual rates they gave me in their email response I've included below do not gel with the math and % increases....I don't know why, just passing information on. Ignoring math, here are the spring rates:

Their 2" coilover lift increases the spring rates to 250# in the rear and 300# in the front. Cost is $1400 if you buy assembled. But this comes with all new shocks and springs so you wouldn't need to buy anything else.

Their 1" (adjustable up or down) coilover cargo kit can adjust the rear springs to either 250# or 350# (per the engineer). So that's your 170% or 250% increase...but ignore the math over OEM, b/c I don't understand how they came up with those percentages. Then you can also opt to increase the front to 125% of OEM. So not sure if that's the 300# rate as in their 2" lift kit, or (backing into their math) it would be around 315# in the front. The 1" cargo kit is $400 and does not include new shocks. You'd have to run some heavy duty shocks like Bilsteins to handle the increased spring rates and those can run $500-560 for all 4. So you're looking ~$900 for the 1" system.

I thought about buying their 1" adjustable cargo kit and opting for the 125% front increase and their 250% in the rear ($400 as you buy the front and rear separately). Since that's adjustable up OR down, I could always buy their 2" block lift kit ($500). That way, I could have the stiffest rear springs (and stiffer front springs) and just lower down my adjustable coilovers to avoid having a 3" lift (combine it would be a 3" lift, but I could adjust back down to a 2" lift)...hence preserving some of the angle on my axles/ball joints. The cost of doing this would also be about $1400 for all the suspension stuff (Bilsteins, CMR 1" cargo springs and 2" block spacers).

Honestly, buying the 2" lift kit and settling for slightly stiffer springs in the front and 170% stiffer (their math) springs in the rear, while also giving the additional spring/strut travel for off road capabilities that you wouldn't get from block/spacer lifts or their cargo lift seems to make sense. Again, the cost is $1400.

OME

Rocky Road sells OME, which offers:
-1.75" lift springs that are stiffer than OEM for $325. Would still need to buy upgraded/heavy duty shocks.

Running the OME lift kit that gives 1.75" lift front and rear is $325, and does not eliminate the rear sag. Also, that is just the price for the springs. If you run good shocks like Bilstein, you're looking an additional $500+, so this system would run you around $825-900. The OME kit does have stiffer spring rates - I called and found out that the front springs (2797) are 340# springs and the rear springs (2798) are 210#. According to them, the OEM spring rates are 300# front and 180# rear. In my experience with OME, given the front and rear are lifted the same and that the rear spring rates are only a mild increase, you will still have some sag. One option if you want to run OME and eliminate the rear sag is to just cut/machine yourself some .25" or maybe .5" aluminum spacers (as long as you have enough threads on the struts when mounting) for the rear struts. A guy I met this past weekend did that. Looks pretty good. He actually just got some cheap 2-bolt exhaust flanges and machined them down to work.

Conclusion

Hopefully that all makes sense. Given I don't know what shocks come with the CMR 2" lift kit, I'd say the BEST system to buy would be the OME 1.75" lift springs along with some heavy duty Bilsteins. It would seem the OME/Biltstein setup would give the best combination of lift, stiffer springs than OEM, and you can pair them with great shocks like Bilsteins, for an overall improvement in handling over OEM...and it's cheaper than anything CMR offers. Then, if you still wanted more of a lift, you could think about either buying CMR's 2" billet aluminum block spacers for $400 more or, if you didn't want a 3-4" lift in total, you could have some smaller spacers machined for you. Perhaps .25" spacer in the front and .5" spacer in the rear to eliminate any sag offset.

 

CB, let us know how it goes.

 

Nice write up!

 

have CMR spacers installed, body roll isn't bad. then again, crv's aren't race cars so you shouldn't be taking corners at excessive speed anyways

 

Completely agree. Thought I will say those that I know who are running the Old Man Emu set up with the stiffer springs claim the CRV handles worlds better than OEM. Of course, usually you have bigger tires that stick out more than OEM as well, so the wider stance certainly helps as well.

 

Hey guys been away from hondas for awhile. But recently got a crv for winter time and made a lift for it. Was wondering how bad camber will be with a 2in lift?

 

On the 1st gen CRV's you should honestly be fine...just get an alignment and see how neutral it is. The 1st gens had a bit of negative camber anyway, so a mild lift actually helps usually.

 

yep have heard nothing bad about the OME's either. i had ironman's originally but the ride was awful. that's why i have the spacers now

 

Can I get a link to buy the CMR spacers

 

Honda CR-V 1997-2001 (aka GEN 1)

 

On my old 2000 CRV I ran the OME rear springs (1.75" lift) and oem rear shocks and it worked great...I was fearful that it would over extend the oem shock and cause damage, but it did not. I wasn't looking for a lift in the front so I left it stock...just wanted to level out the stance. Sold that 2000 crv and just recently bought another '99...doing the same setup with rear suspension...I'll update with any issues. Cheers

 

The Rocky Road Rear springs ($200 USD for the set) did solve the sag for me but I coupled the Springs they had for my CRV rd5 with Bilstein shocks (100USD per side) from Amazon. They said the normal kit for the front is standard OEM springs and shocks but I am definitely looking for something a little bit stronger, maybe an valved front shocks to handle front shock loads on rougher roads. My country's non city areas can be bad at times and being able to handle rough roads and potholes is an asset and leads to long vehicle life.

 

This. 00 and 02 rear OME's and good ride, less roll or sway, a smidge more ground clearance.