Old Man Emu shocks for Vanagon discontinued

[deaddrift]

I do believe that Old Man Emu has ceased production of the shocks that have been a perennial favorite for many Vanagon owners... and after 30 years it's no wonder. Last night I scored a full set from campervanculture in the UK, but it seems as though those might have been the very last available. They will mate to a set of Schwenk lift springs I bought last year.

ARB USA (distributor) and OME Australia (manufacturer) do not list Vanagons as a covered vehicle, and the usual online vendors (GW, Van Cafe, Bus Depot, others?) no longer have them listed for sale, even as out-of-stock.

GoWesty has the lower-priced bespoke Fox shocks available, still, for ~$1000. The remote-reservoir ones are OOS, and I'm guessing not to be renewed, though I haven't inquired. Radflo does not list a product to fit Vanagons on their site any longer. It looks like Bilstein B4's and B6's are available, for now.

What other options are still good choices, especially for lifted and syncro tintops and campers? I thought it might be nice to have a reference thread to consult going forward. It might even be time for some of us to throw down for Bilsteins in anticipation of discontinuation in the not-too-distant future, if I read the stars aright.
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Nat

'91 syncro Westfalia, 2nd and 4th owner

Ò,ó

[joetiger]

Unable to find OME's, I went with Bilstein B6. They weren't immediately available from any of our vendors so I bought them from ShockSurplus.com. I'm happy with them so far, coupled with Schwenk standard Syncro springs.
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Joe T.

'86 NAHT Vanagon GL Syncro/ supercharged ABA 2.0 "Pigpen"
'91 Wolfsburg Carat "Barchetta"
'02 Baja-ish Beetle "Bubbles"

"get metaphysical with it. if it's simply a means to get to and from places, it will let you down. if it becomes your zen, it can't fail you." -dabaron

"Still, it's good to be afield."--VWagabond

Justice for Megan: https://linktr.ee/justiceformegantrussell

[tjet]

I broke a front OME shock on my syncro, so I installed Bilsteins. The Bilsteins feel better on the road. I also have GW progressive rate 2" lift springs. Note, the thread is different on the Bilsteins, which may be a problem if you have shock extenders. I kept them off. Just needed to compress the lift springs more to get the nut on.

[tim_ha]

I guess I should count myself lucky. I recently noticed that my rear DS OME shock was leaking oil. I suspect that it blew on a fall trip to the White Rim Trail that my parents borrowed my van for. After looking at the usual suppliers I found the part number and was able to source a pair from DesertRat. I called to make sure that their website wasn't lying about availability. They apparently sourced from different suppliers, but I had a pair of new OME shocks within the week. Fingers crossed that they last as long as my last set did.
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1986 Syncro Sunroof EJ22
www.subagonsouth.com

[Earl Bay]

Stumbled over this a few weeks ago

https://busschmiede.de/navi.php?a=669&lang=eng

They say special production just for them, T3 Syncro 14" and 16", lifted or not
Allthough Koni lists HeavyTracks they don't for the Syncro. Don't know any more about it but thought I'd share anyway.

[Klister]

[lovine]

If it helps anybody, I scored a set of OME Syncro front and rears from Small Car Performance last month:
https://smallcar.com/vanagon/old-man-emu-shock-syncro-front/
https://smallcar.com/vanagon/old-man-emu-shock-syncro-rear/

It looks like they still have some availability as of this writing.
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1979 Bay Window 2.0 FI
1990 Adventurewagen GWM 1.8T
lovine.com

[syncro2x]

I put Old Man Emu's on my syncro tintop in 2002, they have taken 20 years and tons of abuse on gravel and offroad, as this is my camping, hiking, fishing, mtn biking rig and are still going strong. Great shocks, too bad they are saying good bye. Only shock I ever broken was a Bilstein, on my other syncro, 1992 Passat syncro wagen. Koni's have been good on my 2WD westy, some abuse but nothing like the OME's.