Thread: Thoughts on suspension setup

apparently Terrafirma4x4 only do +2" shocks.
Can anyone recommend other long travel shocks?

Cheers.

I dont usually advocate more than 2 inches of spring lift on a disco (partly because 50mm is technically as much spring lift as you can put on in some states without engineering, partly because past 2 inches and other problems can start showing up)

I;d talk to suspension stuff, they dont advertise it on their site but if you speak to them they can do more custom stuff if its required.

my opinion on their gear is as follows (and has been more or less unchanged for nearly 5 years now) "you can buy cheaper stuff, you can buy better stuff, but you cannot buy better stuff at their price with their service"

Originally Posted by Blknight.aus

I dont usually advocate more than 2 inches of spring lift on a disco (partly because 50mm is technically as much spring lift as you can put on in some states without engineering, partly because past 2 inches and other problems can start showing up)

I;d talk to suspension stuff, they dont advertise it on their site but if you speak to them they can do more custom stuff if its required.

my opinion on their gear is as follows (and has been more or less unchanged for nearly 5 years now) "you can buy cheaper stuff, you can buy better stuff, but you cannot buy better stuff at their price with their service"

Thanks Blknight.aus,

I've sent Suspension Stuff an email with what I'm looking to achieve. Pricing seems good (as you have already said).

The difficulty is making a setup that gives me the flex I'm after but that can be made "legal" if required (without having to pull everything off and putting stock stuff back).

should be doable just but I'd suggest longer softer bump stops to help cushion the springs when you dont have the blocks in (and trust me you'll get plenty sick of doing the front ones due to the shocky inside spring setup) plus cranking the arms to suit a 4 inch lift will give you some very racey handling when its back down at the 2 inch level and loaded.

I'm tempted to advise you to fork out the dosh on the SS mates rates 2 inch lift and see how you go with that, most people are impressed enough with the advantages gained to leave it at that and then spend some $$ on driveline upgrades. If you then want to go a spacer lift you get your spacers and change out the shocks shelving the ones you've got in case you decide to go back.

2 inch lifts are generally the magic mark for discos after that you need to start looking at spending money on other vehicle components

Originally Posted by Blknight.aus

should be doable just but I'd suggest longer softer bump stops to help cushion the springs when you dont have the blocks in (and trust me you'll get plenty sick of doing the front ones due to the shocky inside spring setup) plus cranking the arms to suit a 4 inch lift will give you some very racey handling when its back down at the 2 inch level and loaded.

I'm tempted to advise you to fork out the dosh on the SS mates rates 2 inch lift and see how you go with that, most people are impressed enough with the advantages gained to leave it at that and then spend some $$ on driveline upgrades. If you then want to go a spacer lift you get your spacers and change out the shocks shelving the ones you've got in case you decide to go back.

2 inch lifts are generally the magic mark for discos after that you need to start looking at spending money on other vehicle components

Starting to come around to your way of thinking. The guy's as SS have suggested 2" flexi coils and +4" shocks. They say the flexi coils will not need dislocation cones as they have a huge amount of flex already.

My only concern is the +4" shocks topping out during upwards travel, but adjusting the bump stops should fix that.

Originally Posted by Blknight.aus

should be doable just but I'd suggest longer softer bump stops to help cushion the springs when you dont have the blocks in (and trust me you'll get plenty sick of doing the front ones due to the shocky inside spring setup) plus cranking the arms to suit a 4 inch lift will give you some very racey handling when its back down at the 2 inch level and loaded.

I'm tempted to advise you to fork out the dosh on the SS mates rates 2 inch lift and see how you go with that, most people are impressed enough with the advantages gained to leave it at that and then spend some $$ on driveline upgrades. If you then want to go a spacer lift you get your spacers and change out the shocks shelving the ones you've got in case you decide to go back.

2 inch lifts are generally the magic mark for discos after that you need to start looking at spending money on other vehicle components

After a lengthy conversation and some great feedback by Blknight.aus I've just bit the bullet and ordered a setup from Suspension stuff.

Ended up going with the 2" lifted Flexy Coils and the Suspension Stuff Mono Tube shocks with a 46mm bore nitrogen charged Shocks.

With the shocks I went with 615mm for the front and 625mm for the rear for that bit of extra flex.

Now just need to wait the 4 weeks for them to made and delivered!

The only thing i would add to this is with longer travel shocks you will need extended bump stops, otherwise you risk breaking your shocks when they bottom out.

Originally Posted by keithy47

The only thing i would add to this is with longer travel shocks you will need extended bump stops, otherwise you risk breaking your shocks when they bottom out.

I concur, I would suggest the following

remove the bumpstops, remove the springs, leave the shockies in place

measure the clearance of the axle to the chassis where the bump stop would normally sit

remove the shocks, fit the new shocks and with the vehicle sitting on the shock stops (lower it very carefully) measure the clearance again.

refit the whole new suspension

take the clearance for the old shocks away from the clearance for the new shocks and that gives you the minimum distance you need to pad out the bumpstops to protect your new shockies. you can either make up an adaptor bracket to take OEM bumpstops or youll have to ind non oem longer bump stops

you can get the same measurement by measuring the fully closed length of the new shock to the fully closed lenght of the old shock and spacing the stop by the difference of the shock lenght but that can be misleading for a few reasons.

best of luck, pay close attention to how you bolt up the bushes on the pins

the correct order is (starting at the shocky side and working out

thick plate
bush
thin plate with the locating ridge
axle mount
thin plate with the locating ridge
bush
thick plate
nut.