Thread: 109 suspension upgrade

So has no one upgraded their shocks?

I had considered TJM XGS stuff but a response from the "tech" guy makes me wonder.... "yeah they've got an adjustable spring seat...so you can get longer coils..."

Ive also emailed Bilstein & Koni, no response yet.

OME get varied reviews...

Its a very confusing area, if anyone has opinions it would be appreciated!

It depends what you want to achieve...... Assuming that your old shocks are past their best you will definitely get an improvement in roadholding with new shocks but you may not notice a great deal of difference in offroad performance over slow stuff.
As a part way upgrade to the suspension it is a way of improving things so that when you spend the $$ on the springs you will have a good system.
Have a think about what your final desired setup is though and ensure that you are able to use what you choose as you do more work to the suspension.

Regards,
Tote

Basically the car is very bouncy at the moment, going over a speed hump involves spinal surgery and it is generally rough as guts.

I want to make the ride as smooth as an old Landy can be.
I don't carry loads, I want it soft and flexy.

I would be quite happy to blow a wad of cash on a full spring/shock setup provided I am guaranteed an improvement.

Im just very suss about 90% of the products on the market.
Ive owned a few different fourbies and every time I have bought suspension "upgrades" they have been harsh riding/poor quality/waste of money.
Usually it is because the shock/springs were not matched to the vehicle they were advertised as being made for...

I'm not against parabolics but it seems like no one in Australia can supply them?

As for shocks, well like I said im confused.

In general I would rather follow peoples experiences than BS marketing.

Adjustable shocks are good as you say your not carrying loads so at least you can play with the settings

As for springs see Isuzurover (Ben) his series 2a could out flex my old disco and what he doesn't know about leaf springs isn't worth knowing (also I nice bloke to boot)

Adam

Shocks don't do much on a leafer. Interleaf friction does most of the damping. I once broke a front shock 4x4ing - so removed it. I drove offroad for 2 days and on-road about 300 km home. I couldn't notice the difference.

NB _ the above does not apply with parabolics, as they have reduced friction.

With a leaf sprung Rover I have always found that the Genuine shocks are as good as any of the aftermarket stuff.
Not so with Coils though
Mind you what are you getting when you buy Genuine these days

the first things to do to improve ride comfort is oil your springs if they are the standard spring packs, old dry/rusty packs are almost solid due to the friction

i had a set that were like girders due to rust and dryness, a couple of weeks after wire brushing, washing with diesel and frequent oiling they gave a lovely ride, in my opinion they were better than the parabolics i eventually swapped them out for

Did you take them off the vehicle to wash in diesel etc? Or just wire brush what you could reach and oild etc?