Adjustable shocks,which are best?

I have Tough Dog Adjustables... they haven't been special.

Apart from the Plastic adjustable knobs being ripped off by stones rocks etc.(replacement $15 each) they don't have common bushes meaning you have to get them off 4WAY. This is what I was told anyway.

I had 2 fail on me and struggled to get them replaced under warranty.

Apart from that... they have been fine!

I have rancho adjustables on our GU set on 4, i think they go up to 9? But i have not played with them we have kk that puts a big weight on the draw bar, they have only travelled 15,000km 10,000km with the kk around longreach and down through camerons corner. I put adjustables because i worried about the car being rough to ride in empty with the heavier springs but rides better than the original suspension.

Mattie

I have Koni's with HD Springs. I had the rear Koni's adjusted to be "less firm" this works for me. I have had one Koni fail, it was fixed under warranty with no hassles.

KONI's - no argument or debate available.

I just put some 9909 Rancho's on the back of the surf, I was quite happy with the stock shocks for ride, however I wanted more travel hence the upgrade. I was running them on 4 out of 9 but have now reverted back to 2 out of 9 for around town and am quite happy with it. I'm the same as you, I find the hard springs with softer shocks are good around town, however on the highway especially with a load the stiffer shocks are much better.
The 9909s are actually for an F100 UTE so I think that's why I have to run them so soft round town as they were probally a bit of overkill for the lil' ol' surf, but so far I've been extremely impressed with the ride, we've only done two off road trips so far with them on (only a couple of thousand k's travelled) but the difference in the ride from the stock shocks is very noticable, now the IFS has a rougher ride than the back live axel (it's still got stockies on the front). Most impressed anyway. Of course having so much articulation that your springs fall out at full drop is kinda cool too! ;-) We'll see how they go after a few more thousand k's, but so far so good. I think they cost me about $170 each so not too bad I reckon.

Thanks for the feedback Guys and Gals.
I gather the Ranchos are free from the problems of the Tough dogs?
Konis I am aware of but I have seen several fail at the eye welds.
Regards

gday mate
i have the big bore tough dogs on my gq, with the incar adjuster so i dont have the problem with the knobs being ripped off. they have been excellent so far except for something i dont think the bloke who installed them thought about. when going through water, the little compressor that adjusts the shocks gets wet and it really disagrees with water. so for about 3 weeks my car has basically had no shocks as i cant adjust them and they have gone to as soft as possible so its like driving a camel! i get it fixed under warranty next week and then everything will be good again, might get him to move it somewhere away from the elements though!

cheers
Leayton

I now have Tough dog big bore adjustables on the 100 series and am very pleased with them. They have covered about 15000 kays so far and have given me no dramas. I also have the in cab but have not fitted it yet. I had a set of Ranchos before the tough dogs and they were stuffes after 30,000 kays. Ranchoes are good for lighter vehicles but wont last long on the heavier vehicles.

"I find the softer shocks combined with heavier springs gives the best results. "

Just remember that the job of the shock is actually to "control" the spring and the other suspension/unsprung weight components incl. wheels and tyres. The heavier the spring/heavier the tyres etc, the harder the shock required and vice versa. This is why you will often hear manufactureres like ARB claiming the springs and shocks are "matched".

Personally I have Kings HD and Koni's, .5 turn at the front 1 turn at the rear after playing around a bit.

KONI

KONI - Tough Trak. The best that money can buy. Low failure rate and they replace them with no Q's asked. I've only ever heard of them being replaced......

Do you really need adjustable? My ranchos died 4 times before I went with quality shocks

IMHO after havin had them they are a bit of a wank. I think your better off with good quality shocks.

also the koni's arent as easily adjustable as others.. but they would be the best.

TJM also have adjustable shocks, Tough D's but are startin to get a few bad reports from people who USE them.....

Rock and a hard place really.