Thread: Refreshing suspension at 180k

I'm bumping this thread as it applies to me.

I have standard (I think) shocks on my D2a TD5 with ACE (185K km). I have just fitted an ARB bullbar and roof rack and looking at our trip up north this year. We'll be towing an ATCT off road camper (heavyish) but I'm trying to load it rear CoG so the ball weight isn't too bad.

Our anticipated weight will be

• Two adults in the front
• Three kids under 5 in the back
• Fridge (50lt, full)
• 20lt of water
• The usual assortment of tools and other things, filling the back, but I will try and put most weight in the camper (the rest of the food, water etc)
• The roof rack will have spare tyre, pram and one jerry can of fuel
• Trailer ball weight

Should I upgrade the shocks, and if so, any suggestions for shocks, and a reliable place to buy? Not interested in lift kits really. Cost is a factor after all the mods to date. http://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/smilies/ohmy.gif

I should add, the off bitumen bits of the trip will be the Oodnadatta, Old Andado, Buntine, Gregory NP, Bungles, Cape Leveque and Tanami.

The problem here is that you're quite heavy and a lot of the load is rearward of the rear axle. To control this you'll need quite stiff rear shocks, but this may not give a plush ride when the vehicle is unladen.

If it were me, I'd be running some type of monotube shock in the rear to make sure that the shocks don't fade when it is being worked as hard as it will be. There are a few manufacturers who make these such as Ultimate Suspension and Bilstein. The gas is seperated by a piston so you don't get airation of the shock oil. My choice would be Bilstein and I would run polybushes so that they last, not rubber bushes. I would not run any foam cell shocks. Valving.... to be honest you would control it well at 400/100 on the Bilstein dyno scale, unladen you'd probably want to be at 360/80. I'm not sure what the standard valving is, but the lighter one would be a really good long term setting. I deal directly with Sydney Shocks/Heasemans who are Bilstein and Bilstein racing. I'm not sure if they are the cheapest, probably not but they can do all of the mods I want.

The front shocks wont be as critical as the rears for the Disco2.

So could I just do the back 2? Or is it something that should be done all round?

And how do they play with ACE?

Originally Posted by stallie

I'm bumping this thread as it applies to me.

I have standard (I think) shocks on my D2a TD5 with ACE (185K km). I have just fitted an ARB bullbar and roof rack and looking at our trip up north this year. We'll be towing an ATCT off road camper (heavyish) but I'm trying to load it rear CoG so the ball weight isn't too bad.

Our anticipated weight will be

• Two adults in the front
• Three kids under 5 in the back
• Fridge (50lt, full)
• 20lt of water
• The usual assortment of tools and other things, filling the back, but I will try and put most weight in the camper (the rest of the food, water etc)
• The roof rack will have spare tyre, pram and one jerry can of fuel
• Trailer ball weight

Should I upgrade the shocks, and if so, any suggestions for shocks, and a reliable place to buy? Not interested in lift kits really. Cost is a factor after all the mods to date. http://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/smilies/ohmy.gif

I should add, the off bitumen bits of the trip will be the Oodnadatta, Old Andado, Buntine, Gregory NP, Bungles, Cape Leveque and Tanami.

I'd be looking at sway bars/load levellers on the trailer hitch - I'm going to be fitting them to my camper trailer even though I have SLS

Originally Posted by stallie

So could I just do the back 2? Or is it something that should be done all round?

And how do they play with ACE?

If the front shocks still work then just do the rear. Mind you, 185k is a lot on a set of shocks and they may be worth looking at anyway. The shocks are a seperate system to the ACE, the ACE doesn't get touched when fitting shocks.

She handles just nice now. Slightly firm, no bumps or nasty stuff, but I haven't tried it fully loaded. We've done some shorter trips with the trailer and it handled ok, but this was on the bitumen. I know nothing of the shocks' history, except they're yellow with no markings.

For our trip, I want to know that the back end will be ok basically with the extra weight, but having already shelled out a few grand on roofrack, spare wheel, bullbar, dual battery, drawers (home built) fridge slides I'm moving into financial conservatism mode.

I understand that ace is a separate thing, but many shocks are not suited for ace discos according to their nomenclature. The info I googled showed bilstein didn't say no ace , nor did they say ace was fine. Some sellers have said that Bilsteins are not suitable for ace.

Originally Posted by stallie

She handles just nice now. Slightly firm, no bumps or nasty stuff, but I haven't tried it fully loaded. We've done some shorter trips with the trailer and it handled ok, but this was on the bitumen. I know nothing of the shocks' history, except they're yellow with no markings.

For our trip, I want to know that the back end will be ok basically with the extra weight, but having already shelled out a few grand on roofrack, spare wheel, bullbar, dual battery, drawers (home built) fridge slides I'm moving into financial conservatism mode.

I understand that ace is a separate thing, but many shocks are not suited for ace discos according to their nomenclature. The info I googled showed bilstein didn't say no ace , nor did they say ace was fine. Some sellers have said that Bilsteins are not suitable for ace.

Oh, it sounds like the suspension has already had some work. The factory shocks are black. and if its standard height with a bullbar and not crashing through to the bump stops then something has been played with under there. If it drives ok on the dirt (ie corrugations), doesn't move around on the dirt and controls the body over the bumps then I'd just leave it if you're looking to conserve. The yellow shocks may be any of a number of brands such as TJM, OME, Monroe, Bilstein etc.

In industry there has been a lack of understanding of ACE ever since it was introduced. The ACE is roll control as you.... actually I'm not going to write a thesis. In a nutshell, despite what is written by the shock brands, they will all work properly with ACE. ACE in particular will tolerate a wide range of shock settings and still handle in a balanced manner. If you have a matched set of shocks, then they will more than likely work - each brand will be valved differently, even if from the same manufacturer.

Thanks Slunnie, though I haven't been offload with the bullbar yet, I'll load her up and give a try ASAP.

The mrs did comment on the harsher ride when I bought the car - when she was 8 months pregnant! As such I was instructed to drive the 40 mins to hospital in the Subaru Outback when she began to labour!