Ironman Suspension

Playdoe27,
I have Ironman H/D foam cell shocks, H/D Springs, Rear coil spacers and steering dampner fitted to my 97 80 series. Made a hell of a difference over stock suspension. Ended up with about(After a few weeks of settling) 2 1/2" Rear lift and 2" Front lift. Was cheaper to buy and have it fitted at Tyrepower than it was for me to buy from Ironman and get frieghted to my house. They did a good job fitting it to. My Dad has a CRDi Terrican and he went the same route with Ironman and was cheaper to get it fitted in vic at tyrepower than at the Ironman factory. I am very happy with there gear. 30,000km and still soaking it up. No affiliation with tyrepower/ironman just a happy camper
Hope this helps.
Matt

Put a full set of shocks, springs and torsionbars on my Navara last year and was very impressed. Towed a camper trailer over 40K km over the worst roads you could imagine and they performed exceptionally well. Went back for a new set of 22mm rear coils for my Patrol this year on the strength of last years performance. Great back-up and very well priced to.

Cheers Mick

Have Ironman on the front for 50mm lift and foam shocks. Have TJM rears so a mixture of gear and the Ironman ones seem to handle every bit as well and quieter too. The TJMs tend to squeak a bit.

Playdoe,
The 90series Prado is a peculiar beast. So what is good for other vehicles may not be any good on the Prado. It has a strut front end that puts a lot of stress on the lower strut bush. It took quite a few years for any of the aftermarket companies to come up with a front strut that was as good as the factory Prado strut. Even the big brands like Bilstein had major issues with the lower bush chewing out.

If you simply want some lift and stiffer springs, you can do what I did and replace the springs, and keep the factory shocks. Very inexpensive and very reliable setup. Stiffer and lifted springs will offer an immediate improvement to the clearance and dipping issues with the soft factory setup.

If you want better articulation, there is nothing that will improve the front end, except removing the sway bar, as it limits the downward travel. That has naturally got problems. Rear end articulation is improved by longer travel shocks.

I know nothing about the Ironman setup, so can't comment. But to me you have 2 options - either upgrade the springs for say $300 plus fitting, or replace the whole lot for about $1500 fitted. The Bilstein/Lovells combination, and the ARB setup are the preferred expensive option. Terrain Tamer has been a good low price option.

Have had Ironman springs and shocks on the Patrol for over 12 months now with a fair bit of off-roading. No complaints at all - went for a 2 inch lift and there is next to no sag at all. I reckon Ironman are under-rated and would recommend them to anyone based on my experience.

Had Ironman all round in mine for 1.5yrs. 2 trips to the Cape and another in 7 weeks. All good so far. Very under-rated.

Phill