ARB BP51 By Pass Shocks now available.

Digging up this thread again as I am investigating shocks.

I currently have TerraFirma Extreme Long Travels on my 130 and I'm looking for an upgrade. One of the key criteria I have is that the shocks are Australian Made, which excludes the big European and American names and leaves OME and Superior Engineering.

The concept of Internal ByPass shocks is very appealing to me. Given what everyone said in this thread (and only one posted had a set fitted to a vehicle, and rears only) does anyone have any more actual experience with the BP51s?

Are they the quantum Leap in performance they were touted to be?

Please let me know.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wicks89

Digging up this thread again as I am investigating shocks.

I currently have TerraFirma Extreme Long Travels on my 130 and I'm looking for an upgrade. One of the key criteria I have is that the shocks are Australian Made, which excludes the big European and American names and leaves OME and Superior Engineering.

The concept of Internal ByPass shocks is very appealing to me. Given what everyone said in this thread (and only one posted had a set fitted to a vehicle, and rears only) does anyone have any more actual experience with the BP51s?

Are they the quantum Leap in performance they were touted to be?

Please let me know.

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G'day Wicks
I've just got home from a 8,000km Kimberley trip in my 130. The BP51s have been in the back with Flexi springs and airbags for about an additional 2000ks. The BP51s replaced a set of Bilstein 7100 remote res. Overall impression is that the BPs are great, I really like being able to adjust compression damping separately to the rebound damping. Found this to be handy when being loaded four touring. I can feel the bypass working when you hit undulating surface at speed. I'm a bit biased because I ride off road bikes and have always found 4x4 suspension really basic particularly when dealing with corrugations. When I bought mine the Land Rover BPs weren't available so I got 80 series LC 12" travel units (pin to pin) as I have Gwyn Davis top shock mounts in the back. I'm planning to change the fronts to BPs once the front Bilsteins croak but they are working well at the moment.
Hope this is of some help
Cheers
Nick

When you say you 'can feel the BPs working when you hit an undulating surface at speed'.. are we talking dips in the road or like washouts?

What I want is for the car not to bang like hell when I hit a washout at the end of bitumen for example, or like a cattle grid.

And to soak up corrugations.

My car is not usually heavily loaded, and I like to pack light. I have APT superflex coils all round.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wicks89

When you say you 'can feel the BPs working when you hit an undulating surface at speed'.. are we talking dips in the road or like washouts?

What I want is for the car not to bang like hell when I hit a washout at the end of bitumen for example, or like a cattle grid.

And to soak up corrugations.

My car is not usually heavily loaded, and I like to pack light. I have APT superflex coils all round.

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More dips but the washouts are not too bad depending on speed. Congratulations are very dependent on a variety of factors such as tire pressure, load and the type of corrugated surface and it’s severity. Sorry I can’t be more specific

Thanks for the reply Nick, any info is good info at this stage as youre the only poster ive seen on this forum that actually has any so good to get your opinion!

Have you checked the Dobinson and Terrain Tamer ranges to see if any of them would work for you?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DiscoMick

Have you checked the Dobinson and Terrain Tamer ranges to see if any of them would work for you?

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Hey Mick, yeah I've browsed the ranges of most Suspension manufacturers and even sent some emails to some of the smaller companies like Outback Armour and a couple of others, and no one has replied.

I think mostly because im asking for a shock based off a length and not the vehicle model. They just want to sell you the Land Rover shock, not a pin - pin shock of xx length.

The other factor is from what I know, the ARB BP51 is the only domestically produced Internal Bypass shock.

Everything else is basically the same technology (twin tube, or mono-tube, some remote reservoir) all designed to just dissipate heat fastest, or absorb the most heat to give consistent performance.

What is so appealing to me about the BP 51 is it's meant to essentially give you 2 shocks in 1, rides smooth over small bumps, and lets you hit a really big bump at speed without sending you bouncing into the bush. The only question is, does it?

Right now with my lame Terrafirma Shocks if I hit a washout accidentally feels like I've just sent the front diff through the sump, and I'm afraid one day it might.

The only other bypasses you can get are american and they are offroad racing application (think jumps and stuff).

If I don't go with the BP51 I will probably go with Superior Engineering Mono-Tube, maybe remote res. Based off customer service and price.

When you buy from Superior they send you the stuff you want and they bombard you with stickers etc etc. And you talk to people who are more than just a checkout person. You can ask for stuff thats a bit different and they are OK with it.

EDIT: If I'm wrong with any of the above please let me know!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wicks89

Hey Mick, yeah I've browsed the ranges of most Suspension manufacturers and even sent some emails to some of the smaller companies like Outback Armour and a couple of others, and no one has replied.

I think mostly because im asking for a shock based off a length and not the vehicle model. They just want to sell you the Land Rover shock, not a pin - pin shock of xx length.

The other factor is from what I know, the ARB BP51 is the only domestically produced Internal Bypass shock.

Everything else is basically the same technology (twin tube, or mono-tube, some remote reservoir) all designed to just dissipate heat fastest, or absorb the most heat to give consistent performance.

What is so appealing to me about the BP 51 is it's meant to essentially give you 2 shocks in 1, rides smooth over small bumps, and lets you hit a really big bump at speed without sending you bouncing into the bush. The only question is, does it?

Right now with my lame Terrafirma Shocks if I hit a washout accidentally feels like I've just sent the front diff through the sump, and I'm afraid one day it might.

The only other bypasses you can get are american and they are offroad racing application (think jumps and stuff).

If I don't go with the BP51 I will probably go with Superior Engineering Mono-Tube, maybe remote res. Based off customer service and price.

When you buy from Superior they send you the stuff you want and they bombard you with stickers etc etc. And you talk to people who are more than just a checkout person. You can ask for stuff thats a bit different and they are OK with it.

EDIT: If I'm wrong with any of the above please let me know!

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How about Fox remote shocks, Bilstein and Koni? People seem to rate them highly.
I don't know myself, I'm just interested in your opinion. Hope you don't mind me asking.

Went and spoke to my local ARB and was quoted $687.75 per front, plus the front kit which I believe is the shock towers/bump stop and sway bar mount spacers? I don't need any of the spacers due to already having bumps top spacers all round and not running sway bars. Price for this kit is $368.55. The rep didn't really know any info, I guess because I wasn't asking for a Land Cruiser. I won't be happy if the price is firm and I have to buy spacers that I don't need. I already have HD DC shafts front and rear from Gwyn Lewis, around $1800 for both delivered. Not too sure what'll happen if it needs castor correction as I have SE superflex arms fitted, and they run Nissan bushes. Rears shocks are same price as front and rear fitting kit is $294. Again I'm guessing I won't need this. I'm VERY concerned about which springs to fit as I have a lot of long travel suspension bits fitted. Rear are X arms which have 60 degrees of arc, so the limiting factor will be shocks and springs. I fitted an ARB 2 inch lift when I bought the car, they fitted plus 2 springs but as I found out, standard height shocks which meant I had very little droop. I really think they have NFI what they're doing most of the time, as the guys out the back are fitters, not suspension engineers. Rep told me the fitting kit was for the reservoir mounts, no mention of anything else, which contradicts the media release on the first page. This will be a large outlay of cash, so if it's just going to be slapped together I might give it a miss. Rep told me he will call an engineer to find out for sure and call me back, but no one here seems to ever call. I found a video on YouTube but it was in German I think. Showed the suspension moving, stock vs BP51. Just wish I knew what was said. Guy was smiling at the end, so I guess it was a positive review? Just rang head office and there is no way to buy the parts needed, as you HAVE to buy the whole kit, bump/sway extensions which I don't need as I already have them. Front kit includes the shock towers and all spacers, rear also includes the upper shock mount, which sucks as I already have Gwyn Lewis mounts, mind you they may be at a different height to the ARB ones. If someone could go out and buy the kit and let me know if it's worth it, I'd really appreciate it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DiscoMick

How about Fox remote shocks, Bilstein and Koni? People seem to rate them highly.
I don't know myself, I'm just interested in your opinion. Hope you don't mind me asking.

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Hey I'm no suspension guru, so my explanation probably isnt worth much, but one of the main considerations for me was buying Australian made. No judgement on people that don't but for mine I'd rather support a local business if it is possible.

Aside from that, as I understand it there are a few main factors that affect how a shock performs, what it actually does:

Construction of the body - this is the mono-tube vs twin tube design - the idea behind mono-tube is it allows heat to dissipate faster to mitigate heat build up with repetitive cycling of the suspension such as on corrugations

Oil capacity - Remote reservoir canisters come in here - and again designed to mitigate heat developed in the shock absorber by having more oil to absorb it. Can also contain the 'Internal Floating Piston' such as on FOX shocks which AFAIK allows the shock to tolerate 'shock loading' like big hits and high heat.

Valving - this is the bit that actually changes how it feels from square one and once the valving is set the shock will perform a certain way as long as the oil remains serviceable. Some shocks have 'velocity sensitive valving' which is meant to operate differently under normal small loads and big, shock loads.

By Passes - a secondary system that allows the shock to operate differently under certain conditions. So for normal conditions the shock may be firm, but when the vehicle goes over a big jump the bypass allows the piston to shoot through the body fast, up to a point and allows the suspension to 'soak up' the landing.

As far as I know Fox and maybe Bilstein offer bypass shocks but of universal construction so require huge mods.

I'm not set on Bypass shocks, but very intrigued that OME offer them and curious to see if they are truly worth the price. Like if I could pay 600 a corner and my defender would soak up a washout that would normally leave me on the side of the road crawling underneath looking for a bent frame, I'd be very interested.

And again I don't really know enough about shocks to know if any other type of shock can be set up to perform like that. Ive only had these cheap-o terrafirmas on my 130 so I dont really know.

People rave about Koni Raids and stuff but I would honestly prefer to buy Australian made and give some kid in Victoria or Adelaide a job. That and the Raids are just a big beefy shock, nothing really that special about them as far as I can tell?

Maybe I should start a new thread?

Also, Micksta YES I am in the same predicament. I have all the hardware I dont want the other overpriced brackets! Thanks for the pricing info!