Re: SHOCKS - Remote Res or Mono Shocks for Defenders??

[Robmacca]

Guys,

The time has come for some new suspension for my 2010 Defender and especially some new shocks. I wondering whether remote res shocks would suit my sort of travel or not with the varying driving conditions that do. I currently have Tough-Dog Adjustable shocks (came with the car) and with the few cross country trips I've done the Tough-Dogs have tended to fade quite quickly leaving me with a very uncomfortable ride. I use it mainly for remote touring across corrugations and "off-track" desert exploring and I'm usually fully loaded as well.

I'm thinking of going the remote res shock way so I can adjust the valving for the current road/track conditions that I'm driving. My concern is though that this may also open me up to some potential failure points when cross country exploring with the flexible hose and remote reservoir as possible points of concern.

In my other older tdi300 Defender I'm running the Dobinson IMS shocks (changed mounting to Pin/Pin all round) and these have been comfortable and good off-road but yet to really test them properly. I'm thinking that the rear IMS shocks may be a little "under-valved" though...

What are people's experiences/knowledge in regards to Remote-Res verse the Mono Type Shock? Good/Bad points?

thanks in advance

[Tombie]

I’ve run remote res in both defender and D2.

Billie 7100s in the d2 and OME remotes in the Defender.
Both worked brilliantly (I was even involved in valving development/refinement on the OME units in the day).

They aren’t really “adjustable” - you can pump them up / down with nitrogen if you have the right fitting etc. they’re more set and forget - once you have valving correct.

They’re certainly better than a mono and will usually have a shorter body as the gas reservoir is external allowing a better travel overall.

[Blknight.aus]

For general and touring duty I reccomend going mono.

IF its for performance go remote. If you're going remote change the front shock towers to the tube type not the standard pressed type. you may also want to beef up the bottom plate the shocks mount to on the axle.

[MLD]

i ran tough dog foam shocks in a 110 and killed them on a trip to the cape. Replaced with dobinson twin tubes suited for an 80 series (Dobbos equiv to the OME that GL sell). they were much better. When i bought the 130 i did the same and fitted 80 series 12" shocks. they were good for years of outback travel. I eventually killed them on my second Simpson desert crossing. Lost all effective compression and rebound. Replaced them with dobinson 3 way adjustable remote res. I've done a third Simpson crossing with the remote res and was heavy as all get out (wife packs more than i do when i'm solo). They controlled the weight nicely and no fade. One thing to consider with the dobbos in the front, the rebound adjustment takes up about 1" of the bottom of the shock, raising the effective bottom out of the shock. If you fit them, it would be prudent to remove the coil and bottom out the shock and compare to the bump stops. If necessary, add extended bump stops. I didn't find the same problem in the rear.

Can't speak for other brands and i'm sure if you had the $$, you would get a better shock from the likes of Radflo, Fox, Bilstein etc.

[scarry]

The ARB BP-51 are a great mid range priced remote res shock,adjustable compression and rebound.Could be the same as the OME shock Tombie is talking about?
They are available for Defenders but i don't know about your particular model.

High end shocks,Radflo,Fox,Kings,Jmax,etc, are very expensive,and often need rebuilding at lowish sort of K's.

The early BPs had a few issues,but they now seem sorted and ARB are very good with warranty if there is an issue.

[Robmacca]

i ran tough dog foam shocks in a 110 and killed them on a trip to the cape. Replaced with dobinson twin tubes suited for an 80 series (Dobbos equiv to the OME that GL sell). they were much better. When i bought the 130 i did the same and fitted 80 series 12" shocks. they were good for years of outback travel. I eventually killed them on my second Simpson desert crossing. Lost all effective compression and rebound. Replaced them with dobinson 3 way adjustable remote res. I've done a third Simpson crossing with the remote res and was heavy as all get out (wife packs more than i do when i'm solo). They controlled the weight nicely and no fade. One thing to consider with the dobbos in the front, the rebound adjustment takes up about 1" of the bottom of the shock, raising the effective bottom out of the shock. If you fit them, it would be prudent to remove the coil and bottom out the shock and compare to the bump stops. If necessary, add extended bump stops. I didn't find the same problem in the rear.

Can't speak for other brands and i'm sure if you had the $$, you would get a better shock from the likes of Radflo, Fox, Bilstein etc.

Thanks for that... As I previously mentioned, I run the IMS Dobo's in the old Def and they've good to date but maybe a little under valved in the rear (The IMS Shocks in the Rear are from the FRONT of a 105's Cruiser - Pin/Pin). I've since found out that u can run the IMS shocks upside down if u want w/o any issues. If I had known that I would have kept my Eye/Pin in the rear and bought the shocks for the REAR of a 105's Cruiser where the eye is at the bottom and just run them upside down and I probably would have gotten the correct valving I need.
Going with Remote Res, obviously I cannot run the rear Cruiser one upside down and therefore would still need to convert to a Pin/Pin to find a suitably length shock for the rear to get the most out of my wheel travel. The correct valving would be an issue if I went with Dobo's

I see u are running Dobinson remote res shocks all round - do u have the model numbers for the shocks as I couldn't find any that suited lengths I was looking for...

[MLD]

I see u are running Dobinson remote res shocks all round - do u have the model numbers for the shocks as I couldn't find any that suited lengths I was looking for...

email Rick Billington at Kingpin Fab. He will have my invoice on file with the model numbers. full name Mark Davies.