Thread: Puma Suspension

Originally Posted by dmdigital

Koni Raid 90 series shocks front and rear.
Rear springs are standard but with polyairs added
Front springs ar LR HD springs as I have a bullbar and winch

the list of dmdigital's equipment is all you need. Save yourself lots of headaches & money and replicate this set up. Great shocks. Comfortable front coils and the rear is adjustable to your load demand. Don't be sucked into thinking that the aftermarket stuff is better. It's not. If you want long travel suspension then aftermarket is the only option. If your happy with the standard height, stick with the factory coils. Buy some height with taller tyres and buy traction with lockers.

my 2 cents. MLD

Standard Defender 110 springs front and rear.
ARB bullbar, no winch. Considering HD 130 fronts, but standards are doing well.
Standard ride height best for stability, ride, low centre of gravity, driveline durability.

KONI Raid Shocks. Fantastic, absolutely worth the money.
Extensive use on severe corrugated desert roads and highway use over 20,000km so far. Brilliant. (Original shocks lasted 5000km and only one trip up the Strezlecki Track).

Shocks:

I have the Koni 90 Raids front and rear. The Rear Raids have a bit of extra rebound when going over speed bumps, but they are still going strong after 60,000km. They survived the Anne Beadell track's massive corrugations, the Central Arnhem Road up to Gove, and right across the Savannah Way and never faded even once on our 20,000km trip around Australia. The OEM shocks are better around town but the Konis are good on dirt roads with a heavy load.

Springs:

Rear: Standard Rear Spring with air bags inside - work great. I got the ones for the Nissan Patrol from Firestone in the US, half the price of the local ones.

Front: The OEM front springs would hit the bumps stops on mine - even brand new ones ( Winch/ Bullbar /Roll cage makes it a bit heavier than normal). I had the HD King Springs, but did not like them, too firm for my taste. Based on the ratings of the springs, I tried the 300Tdi Discovery Rear Springs. The Green/Brown marked ones are the right length and have worked great for me, they keep the front up at exactly the OEM height even with all the extra weight I have on mine. Best of all, Discovery rear springs are cheap, most Series 1 Discovery owners have some out the back as they have replaced them with higher lift springs- and I had a spare set from my own Discovery so cost me nothing.

With the bull bar and winch on the front of mine, I've thought about this a fair bit, as in getting the 130 front springs.
The rear on mines fine, even when I had the canopy/RTT/roof rack on, but now its all gone I certainly wont be doing anything there.
We tow the camper now, and when thats sorted with its final weight, I may rethink whats going on there at the rear.

Originally Posted by dmdigital

Koni Raid 90 series shocks front and rear.
Rear springs are standard but with polyairs added
Front springs ar LR HD springs as I have a bullbar and winch
Round Australia towing a Kamper trailer
Lots of dirt track driving.

I like the sound of this.
I have had King springs fitted and have problems with bottoming out on big corrugations and deep sand bumps. My fully loaded axel weights are:

Front: 1160
Rear: 1800

Can I ask do you guys know your axel weights when fully loaded with this setup?
And do you get any bottoming out - on big corrugations or in deep sand tracks where you have to use some momentum to get up dunes for example?

Richard

I took mine over a weigh bridge before we left, let's just say we were full loaded

Front 1.35
Rear 1.95

We added another 80kg of fuel when crossing the Anne Beadel, and never bottomed out with my spring set-up. Pumping up the rear air springs made it look level.

Ive been fitting Terrafirma suspension gear to the Defender puma for quite a few years now and have been very happy (as has customers) with the results in both ride quality, load bearing and lasting.

The below pics on the Defenders are constant load, long travel setup, some with a few other tweaks, as most owners are fitting a lot of other cool gear and use a Defender for its intended purpose (if there is such a thing).

Some good pics here...
Land Rover TD5
LAND ROVER & JEEP SUSPENSION SYSTEMS | Brakes & Suspension | Gumtree Australia Belmont Area - Rivervale | 1079182019


OBVIOUSLY ....my opinion is going to be biased as I sell and fit.... so take it as you will

Regards
Daz

Originally Posted by Iain_B

I took mine over a weigh bridge before we left, let's just say we were full loaded

Front 1.35
Rear 1.95

We added another 80kg of fuel when crossing the Anne Beadel, and never bottomed out with my spring set-up. Pumping up the rear air springs made it look level.

Didn't look like that both times I tried to do it ,it's amazingly difficult to traverse when theirs an inland lake the size of Sydney harbour between each dune . Pat