GU - Suspension upgrade in W.A.

you will now get more replies and variations than you can poke 2 sticks at - if you can afford it go for the king / koni combination. konis are rebuildable and can be valved to suit (go fully loaded when fitting). king springs give a good ride with plenty of travel (there are different rates though). in the end as long as you stick with a reasonable mob then all should be ok. castor kit - not if under 75mm lift. for that price they should throw in a steering damper anyway (it is the end of the financial year and cash will talk). rgds

V8D,

I also have a 98 GU Patrol, and like you use it for my work, I carry tools etc, and also tow around a heavy tandem tipper trailer, after a fairbit of research I settled on the King Spring & Koni shock combination, I went for the 50mm lift with heavy springs on the rear and medium on the front, I also spend 80% to 90% on the black top and couldn't be happier with them I've done about 15000 k's since fitting them and they are giving me a superb ride, I recently had a sojourn into the Vic high country ( for my 10%-20% fix) and gave'em a very solid workout over some high range 4x4 tracks,(50-80kmh) and returned home even happier with them, the feel and ride over washouts etc was sensational.

The only advise I would give is get them fitted (whatever brand you pick) by someone who has several combinations in stock, over hear in Vic, I went to a mob called Toperformance, there the Koni importer, after having a look at the vehicle (trailer fitted and all) they made suggestions on wich combination to go for, but said that once they were finished I could take it of the hoist connect it up to the trailer and see how it sat, and to make sure I was happy with it, and go around the block a few times and test the ride, ( I was paranoid the ride would be to stiff), and if I wasn't happy they would fit a different combination straight away.

I didn't change a thing!

If you look under accessories on this site I'm pretty sure you'll find some info on the set up David & Michelle used on ther wagon, a mob from the west also

Kings & Konis......................Browny

V8Diesel,
I'll throw my 5 cents worth in, I've fitted the OME with Nitrochargers, heavy duty, I'm going to fit a long range tank soon, I've got _Affordable_Storage_Drawers.aspx a fridge and I tow an off road camper trailer. So far so good. Got a 50mm (ish) (slightly more) lift I haven't fitted the castor bushes as yet I'm letting things settle for a while before I do. Very pleased with the handling so far. I fitted everything myself it's not that hard, just watch the brake lines when you drop the front axel down. The castor kit will be a bit more of a challenge without pressing facilities. If you want more info let me know. I haven't got experience with Kings and Konis etc. I'm sticking with what I know until the Nitro or the OME suspension lets me down. As with all these bits and peices you will get a multitude of anwers to a point where you are totally confused. I did look at the Rancho 9000's but that was as far as I got.

Chat on outerlimits, there are big hassles happening in WA with regards to suspension mods, they are becoming as bad as Qld in regards to what you can and cant do..

Nothing is clear in the chat, but stick with a smaller lift.

2 inch lift you only need shocks and springs, no panhards, no brake lines, no caster kit...

Go with the Kings and Konis.. 100% the best setup you can get.
Dobinson springs with Koni Shocks second
OME shocks and springs 3rd.

I had OME on my 80 series and went to my 4WD dude, K & N in Canning Vale, for him to put a similar setup on my GU 4.2 . He sold me a combo of King springs and Cross Country shocks and threw in an OME steering damper because CC hadn't come up with one for the GU111's new fittings . Cost just over a $1000.
Lift was slightly more than 50mm front and rear, ( I have a set of _Affordable_Storage_Drawers.aspx and 60 litre Engle in the back occasionally) I didn't worry about castor adjustment at first but decided to do it after about 200km or so. Eccentric bushes made a big improvement on return to centre and general 'feel' to the steering. They added another $150 I think. I'm as happy with this setup as I was with the OME and I saved about $300.

I can highly recommend the guys out there. Ask for Glenn.

Cheers,

Hilly

I know its not exactly "real" experience and not really even close to a similar situation, but my best mate (has a wide track feroza) was going through all the motions here in perth for getting his suspension upgraded.
WA Suspentions were by far the cheapest and actually seemed to know what they were talking about. Alot of the people he went to see didn't even know what his car was, and started telling him all sorts of bullcrap. These guys seemed straight down the line and were going to custom make his leaf springs to suit what he wanted. Putting new torsion bars and shocks all round.
Might be worth a phone call anyway...
And FWIW ARB Osborne park were abosultally usless (I've also had the same experiences there) and the sales guy there started telling him how they could probally put Jimny suspension on it! Don't know if anyones actually had a close look at a wide track feroza but considering a track difference of 125mm, weight difference of 300kg tare and the fact that the feroza is IFS and the Jimny 4 coil, you gotta wonder what the guy was on.... It's not even remotly close.

V8 Diesel,

I have the King/Koni combo on my GU and am very happy with the result. When for 2" lift which gave about 40mm which suits me fine (and this is the height that supplier said I'd get). I got these through Wilkinson Suspesion in Bayswater and found that their advice was very good. Got a good discount for being member of 4WD club. Even if you're not, I'd suggest that there is margin to negotiate on especially as this is now end FY time.

Hugh

Hi I have koni /kings fitted to my GU coil cab and OME steering dampener up front this gave me a 2" lift I am really happy with this set up ,I had my regular mechanic fit them as I trust his work

Just to confuse you more, give ORE in Myaree a call about their Ridepro stuff, Large bore shockies, 50mm lift springs and damper fitted for $1200. They asked all the right questions with regard weight loadings etc and seemed to know their stuff.My GQ seems to have much longer legs in the rocky stuff than some of the guys I 4wd with.
Scott