110 rear shockers

[goingbush]

One of the Bilsteins on the rear of my 04 110 is Leaking Oil,

They haven't had a hard life & obviously are not bulletproof.

I hear that Koni Raid are supposed to be the bees knees, at $750 a pair locally or $650 from UK they would want to be, Hard to justify when I can get new Bilsteins for $150 a pair ex GBR, Utah.

Can anyone report that the Koni Raid is significantly better enough than the Bilstein to justify the huge cost.

I also noticed Rimmer Bros have the DeCarbon Uprated shocks for $170 a pair, anyone tried these ???

thanks Don

[uninformed]

Bilstein are good, but like everything can have a problem here and there. I run normal Konis in mine. Your bilstein should be rebuildable. One problem for all shocks is the horrible LR upper chassis mount. Its on a bad angle, which you can tell even when just removing replacing them at static ride height. It binds the shock bush and puts pressure on the shaft....

[dfendr]

I have a full set of these on my defender
Purchased from U.S a year ago for about $1000 but took months to get
They are a much more robust shock and on corrugations only get to luke warm to the finger test

[isuzurover]

The Bilsteins on my 110 were already fitted when I bought the car in 2000. No problems (and no leaks) in ~200k km, including the CSR, etc etc... The rears are only now starting to feel worn out, which I think is mainly due to the CSR and the fitment of rear air springs which they obviously weren't designed for.

As mentioned they can be rebuilt, but cheaper to buy new.

[DEFENDERZOOK]

I've got some terrafirma big bores on the back of mine......

I can describe them in one word......fantastic.....

[ted44]

hey old bushie, did you have to put wheel spacers on to fit the big bores?
Cheers ted

[blue_mini]

Ive got the terrafirma big bores as well and no there's no spacers to fit. Just bolt them straight on.

[Brad110]

I used de carbon on a jeep previously and they were very robust.

They come from the 'ultimate Suspension" in Sydney who I have noticed others recommending. The important thing to me is with their warranty was 3 years for shocks alone and seven with matching springs.

I have had Raids previously and they were very good but the expense. They were on a County that I took around Aus for 13 months and then transferred to my Defender where they were still going strong 8 years and 250km later when I sold it.

The irony is that I purchased them on the basis that I could get them rebuilt....Not that there was a need.

Theres a big choice.

I think Andrew at les Richmond uses them in his kits built to his specs.

[uninformed]

Brad, were yours actually koni " raid" as I didn't think they had been about for 8 years???

[dullbird]

I had Terra's on mine and they were great but then after a few thou failed I'm not sure what failed in them. Possibly the valving or something because they felt fine off the car but they car would bounce around horrifically when on the car,,, however I had some of the first ones out and I believe they have changed since then. I also have Terra's on the disco not big bores but one of them failed and terra were brilliant with me even though it was out of the warranty period. I still Ike Terra's I think the big bores I had we new to market and teething issues.

I do now have koni's raids all round on the defender and even though we haven't finished out trip the corrugations have been punishing here and they have performed brilliantly pulling the ton of camper behind the car they have also been brilliant off road on the telegraph track the only thing I will say is they Extended enough on a couple of occasions to allow the spring to dislocate but this also happened with the Terra's, though that was to be expected as the Terra's we had were +2s