Thread: Losing all my fillings

Like dullbird we had 130 springs up front on our Puma but with O.M.E. shocks A.R.B. bar wince etc., rear were Land rover 110 springs with firestone air bags at 5 lbs. with T.F. shocks. When fully loaded we ran up to 20lbs. I also had a draw system and 2 40ltr fridges fitted loads of recovery gear etc. I removed both sway bars and found the ride to be as good as my sons D3 and only replaced the rear sway bar when I fitted a full length roof rack and loaded it to the max. I found the sway bars made the ride far more T Ford like. On very rough Kimberley tracks the changes were fantastic, even on Perth streets it was a good vehicle to drive. I do think that tyre pressure havea huge part to play in the way a Defender performs and road tests at changed pressures are worth a try... I am now trying to get our ninety to ride as well as the Puma did but not yet...

Allan

Originally Posted by LowRanger

Yes the whole suspension thing was discussed before
This is the result of mix and match without considerations

What he said.

When I had my new suspension fitted ken said that the shocks he took off were the worst shocks he had ever seen. No rebound valving and a terrible compression valve rate for the size of vehicle they were on.

I was running the same shocks as you are now but I can tell you the new setup is absolutely amazing in comparison, when you feel what a proper suspension setup is like there is no point trying to do it yourself. The money you appear to save at first you will probably spend in guessing wrongly.


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When I say tyre pressure I don't mean a massive difference but we found it to be s noticeable difference but the we were up close to 50 on the rears at one stage when you lower the pressure a bit but not enough to heat the tyre up to much it took a bit of the harshness out of the corrugations this is just my experience from our recent trip. If you have your tyres up hard and you dont have enough speed the corrugations feel very harsh

Lost the odd filling or two

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6D8UZh1npE

VERY hard on the shocks, even harder on the shock bushes.

Martyn

Originally Posted by chook73

What he said.

When I had my new suspension fitted ken said that the shocks he took off were the worst shocks he had ever seen. No rebound valving and a terrible compression valve rate for the size of vehicle they were on.

I was running the same shocks as you are now but I can tell you the new setup is absolutely amazing in comparison, when you feel what a proper suspension setup is like there is no point trying to do it yourself. The money you appear to save at first you will probably spend in guessing wrongly.


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Who did your suspension Chook, what did he do , and most important were you walking bow legged when you got the invoice ?

Originally Posted by rick130

If that's what they are, 285lb/in is crazy heavy.

I'm running 220lb/in-17" free length, but IIRC we've discussed these spring rates, etc before.

Just spoke to the fellows at Heisman’s and he confirmed that the OME coils I have are 285lb/in, and are the right ones for the truck to allow for the winch and the bar, catering for between 50 to 110kg of extra weight past the center of the axel.

He did mention that the Terrafirma are not a good match for the coils as the rebound is to slow, then he waffled on for a while.

So he came to the conclusion that I should buy a set of Bulstein’s B46-0243 front B46-0253 rears , Surprise surprise and he could have them fitted in a few hours .

Though he did say bring the truck around and old man Heisman’s will take it for a run and give his opinion.

If I can speak for chook, he used Ken O'keefe at The Ultimate Suspension, Minto.

As for 285lb being 'right'.......funny how most of us use lighter springs and we're all sporting bar work and winches.
Hell, I'm contemplating lighter coils.

Bush65 has put together some good load/rate/height charts in another thread but I'd seriously suggest talking to someone like Ken O'keefe. (or Gary Baker in Melbourne, or Andrew at LRA in Melbourne)
All due respect to Heasmans but I'm guessing their expertise is more fast road/racing and those Billies they recommended are more suitable for Disco or RRC spring rates (ie. Below 200lb/in)

Yep it was ken at ultimate and the pice was awesome given he weighed each corner and had custom made springs and shocks done. Now I have a massive unsprung load so you probably wouldn't need custom made stuff. I think his package is about $1700 from memory for shocks and springs but its on his website. He valves all the shocks to suit your load and driving style.

Well worth giving them a call.


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