Saturday, Sep 09, 2006 at 20:05
Hi Phil,
I must admit that I'm not too flash with the
suspension set up in the prado's, but, the point I was making about mixing factory/ springs-shocks was that things could go wrong,for instance.
ye olde range rover (4 coils),post 80 series LC (4 coils) had STUFF all holding the coils in place(except shock absorbers) so if you got a wheel in the air and the shock travelled further than the spring, the coil would dislodge or fall out!
often shocks have longer travel and this when it begins to go wrong when the mix-matching
suspension components
After having a second read of the post ,I interpreted it wrong,thinking the shocks where A/M items(their staying factory) .
But still there needs to be caution doing this SOME H/D springs have longer travel which COULD lead to shockie dramas during enthusiastic driving moments such criss-crossing deep wash outs or getting out going over a sudden dip/hole.
What happens is the coil pushes down until the shock gets fully extended, by this time the(factory) spring has run out of energy(travel) and the shock only has to deal with is the weight of the axle/wheel.
If we've got too bigger coil in there,the shock 'tops out' carrying unsprung weight(
wheels,axles,diff's) with the coil still with energy pushing down against it
This will not be an issue if you just doing day to day stuff because the
wheels will be always on the ground but if ya gunna go off road, sooner or later you will find a wheel (or two) in the air sooner or later.
Everything I have mentioned here ONLY relates to coil springs,and, again not being familiar with prados rear coil set up, I think that there needs to be a degree of caution
happy 4WD'ng
By the way nice pics
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