Dual shock setup

[Leyland1980]

I want to put a dual shock set up on my 110 defender which is setup for touring in order to reduce load on the shocks and so that if one fails then the handing will suffer less than with a single shock in each corner.

The terra firma set up seems fine for the front but I am not keen on it for the rear as it appears to reduce clearance and need shocks of different lengths.

I have seen setup for the rear where the existing shock is mirrored to the rear of the axle, I saw some on Schumacher setup Defenders in Nairobi. This requires another bracket like the existing one to be welded to the axle casing and an upper bracket to be attached to the chassis. Is any one out there running this arrangement. Any photos? Any drawbacks/problems.

If welding brackets to the axle casing i assume all the internals have to be stripped out, correct?

Cheers

John

[inside]

For touring why make things complex? Just get some Koni Raids. Job done.

[MR LR]

Why don't you just fit good, standard figment ones. Then carry spares?

That way if it blows you can take your ride back to original in 10 minutes, instead of having poorer dampening for the rest of the trip...

Cheers
Will

[Fraz]

Agree with Koni Raids but following for interest

[modman]

Have a search for Len beadell tours out of SA
One of the best reads about remote travel and shocks around period
Dc

[130man]

Hi John, I went through this process to control the ride on my heavily loaded 130. I did not then know about the Koni Raids and would recommend looking seriously at that option. My dual shock system certainly worked but it is lot of mucking around . If you want to go ahead with twin shockies I can email you some photos of how mine looked. The axle welding was done for me by guys with a Mig welder and that meant not stripping out the axles. I simply did an oil change soon after. I had the same people tap two 12mm steel plates to suit second hand chassis mounts and then Mig weld them to the chassis to match the original bracket to axle spacing. Cheers, 130man.

[Leyland1980]

Why don't you just fit good, standard figmentones. Then carry spares?

That way if it blows you can take your ride back to original in 10 minutes,instead of having poorer dampening for the rest of the trip...

Cheers

Will

That is what I have always done in the past and can be easy with rears butfronts take me more than 10minutes. With a dual setup it seems that it shouldbe fairly easy to balance damping even if you cannot find exactly the shocksyou want.

For touring why make things complex? Just get someKoni Raids. Job done.

http://www.schuhmacher4x4.com/double-shock-absorber

Doesn’t appear to be massively complex

I am not just thinking about touring in Australia

[inside]

The Koni Raids are proven touring shocks. For a touring application I can't see why you need more unless you want to grossly overload your vehicle.

I've given my Raids a good flogging and they just keep on going and they would be in my list if I were travelling the world in a Defender. I would check the size of them as one rear shock is likely bigger than two normal ones anyway.

[Leyland1980]

Thanks to all the Koni fans.

What I am after is as stated in the OP is some input on dual shock setup options maybe I'll fit dual Koni!

[Dougal]

Dual shocks with double the rate springs and twice the weight on board would ride okay.

Otherwise it's going to be riding very harsh.