Thread: shocks

I'm in the process of fitting King smooth body shocks to my Puma, these are probably the best shock on the market that is 'bolt in' that money can buy. Aiming for 1-2in lift and on road/high range dirt handling.

Will post progress pictures and results if you can hold out for a week or two

Rob

Hi Ian


I have just put Tough Dog foam filled on my Defer. I have not worked them yet as still in the midle of a rebuild of sorts. They seem very good on the road.

Went with them due to their performance in an overall comparo in 4WD Action magazine. They won.

If you get them, dont do what I did. I called the shop and told them they were stuffed. It turns out these type of shocks are not fully extended from new. The act like buggered ones of old, they just push in and you pull them out. This is apparently because of the way they work in both directions.

Been a few years since I worked on a car so am catching up on all this new design stuff, felt a bit silly.

The defer cam with Bilstein. One had buggered bushes so I changed the lot, when you see them side by side, the Tough Dogs are much bigger with bigger bushes etc. No doubt Bilstein have different models.

Hope this helps.

Tony

I've used both Billies and Koni's in Defenders and although the Billies produced quite a noticible improvement in regard to body roll and general handling when first fitted, they only lasted about 60,000kms.

On the other hand, I've had Koni's in a Series I Disco and three separate Defenders and can't fault them for performance and longevity - done well over 100,000kms on a set and have a friend who has done over 220,000kms and his Koni's are still working well.

Can't get much more punishing terrain than the corrigations of the Gunbarrel or the spinifex moguls of the Madigan Line but although, when we stopped for morning tea, the Koni's were too hot to touch, they continued to perform satisfactorily.

I know there are people who will swear by one or the other but for me it's Koni's that have the runs on the board.

No mucking about with unproven stuff in my experience, Koni,(especially Koni Raid), Bilstein, or DeCarbon are the best of the off the shelf brands. Have been proven in horrific outback (REAL australian outback) conditions; loaded, high speed and high temps and basically there are few off the shelf shocks around in the market place that will cope.

Cheaps shocks are a crime against humanity.

SPEND THE MONEY, do it right. You will be glad you did.

JC

Ian, I recently bought Bilsteins from the USA for the P38A. Cost here: $220 each. From the USA: US$359 for 4. At the time that worked out to about A$340 (plus bank charges).

However, the seller I used doesn't ship overseas. I had them shipped to a fellow Admin (in the USA) from the RR.Net forum and picked them up whilst visiting him.

I was going to bring them back in my checked luggage but found Qantas wouldn't carry them as they were gas shocks.

So I went to a US post office and mailed them back (US$126),

I'm sure there are resellers who will ship overseas.

Originally Posted by tuffrangie

I'm in the process of fitting King smooth body shocks to my Puma, these are probably the best shock on the market that is 'bolt in' that money can buy. Aiming for 1-2in lift and on road/high range dirt handling.

Will post progress pictures and results if you can hold out for a week or two

Rob

I've never heard of King smooth body shocks,who makes them?. Pat

Koni Raid are the only shock for rough roads in my opinion, that said I agree with Justin's analysis.
Do it right do it once you cant skimp on shocks most of the stuff made in Australia are substandard in my experience.

i got a full set of de carbon from here $270 plus shipping :

De Carbon Uprated Shock Absorber Kit - Land Rover at www.rimmerbros.co.uk

or they've got bilstein set of 4 $430 :

Bilstein Uprated Shock Absorber Kit - Defender 90-110 at www.rimmerbros.co.uk

on the de carbon paddocks were about 15 pound cheaper but i rang them up to check something on my order and they said they won't ship them via air because of the gas in them, they've had a few knocked back at the airport. but they weren't able to specifiy the gas when declaring so that's why. they were looking into this. on the other hand i checked with rimmers, no probs so got them from there. postage - i got other stuff with my order so not relevant if just getting shocks.

put them on a 1999 td5 defender - bloody marvellous. i run round empty 99% of the time but when loaded/with trailer still great.