Suspension again

Whitepony

Firstly I have had Koni's and they do the job but they do float around town.

Greasable shackles - Yes

Caster correction - never had it and never will. Personal choice.

All I can say is I have used Old Man Emu on my Cruiser and my Hilux and they have been excellent around town ond offroad.

I also have a HJ60 Cruiser which has had Ranchos on it for about 5,000km and they have been exceptional at smoothing the ride out on the old girl on and offroad.

With suspension and other 4wd equipment alike there is a plathora of information so I apply the Keep it Simple principle. The only ting I would recommend would be some airbag suspension as well for the back.

Either way you go will be comprimising something so just make a decision so you can get out there and have some fun.

Morto1

Whilst I have coils on my 105, I find the Koni Shocks excellent. I have the 90 series RAID on mine which have the biggest oil reservoir of all the Koni's and are adjustable, so the 'floating' issue can be corrected if that's what you find (I don't). Tha RAID's are expensive, but I found them to be the best of all the shocks I have used on corrugations (beat the OME/ARB, genuine Toy and a couple of others I can't remember) and can be rebuilt down the track if required. Been on 2 years so far and with about 15k outback touring with lots of corros and some high country work and they're still performing the same as the day I put them on.

Whilst I don't know where you are, in Melbourne, I can reccommend Top Performance Suspension in ?Bayswater for King Springs and Koni. They are the Australian distributors for Koni, I think. Excellent service and advice....(no affiliations etc..).

Good luck in your research. It is a bit of a mine field out there.

Cheers,

Mark

Suspension mods need to be looked at carefully. I have the 4.2l TD 79 series Landcruiser and have left it mainly standard. I left the original springs on and added bellows for when we travel. This is the only time it has a heavy load so why heavy duty springs. We do not to have shock failures even on CRS. Then again I drive defensively and we stop regularly so that may have something to do with it. Our previous vehicle had extensively modified suspension. This did help while driving on the black top and on rough tracks but made it skitish on gravel to the point where the wife wouldn't drive it. It also made locating spares out of cities difficult. Just about any workshop has standard 79 series bits. So my new view is suspension mods and lifts are for IF you need them. 90% of the 4wd with lifts have never been anywhere where they were really required. Some people use these mods to compensate for their poor driving techniques. We used to get surprised looks in the old Jack when we turned up in hard to reach places. In reality they are a capable vehicle but require more skill to get into some places. If you are regularly in a situation where the lift or mod is desirable then go for it, if not think hard first. In reality most people don't need lifts. They are not generally required for places like Cape York, CSR etc in the tourist season.Places like ARB and TJM will always take your money if you want to give it to them.

Having said that if you are planning a lot of serious off track driving, are regularly in rough terrain or driving near the limits of the vehicle you are in the 10% and should get the best gear available.

I'm not saying lifts and suspension mods are wrong or a waste of money. They are just not justifiable (except for discussions in the pub) based on the vehicles usage for a lot of people who have them. The big trick is to work out which group you are in. Good luck to you with whatever you decide.

Steve

Whitepony,

I have a 2003 78 Series Troopie. Brought it second hand last year and the first thing I did was to change the suspension.

After the 75 Series with rock hard suspension, I did not want to go that hard a ride again so I spoke to my local TJM man, who I know does outback trips, for his recommendations.

I knew what I wanted but didn't what my options were.

The set up, 2" lift in the front with XGS coils (King Spring)
400kg rear leaf springs medium range, with air bellows. Replaced all the bushes, pins and shackles. I did go for the greasable shackles.

The pins on the OE springs were frozen so if I did not change the suspension it would have broken on the CSR. With the weight and the amount of wheel travel and the springs not been able to move I think that they would have broken like a piece of wire flexed back and forth.

The shocks I have gone for the XGS, and will replace the front shocks before the next set of big trips that I will do starting next June.
Shocks, in my book are a throw away item, they do wear out, just like tyres. The rear shocks will stay on for two years because they don't get the work out like the front. Leaf springs do a lot of there own damping and the bellows also help with keeping the wheels on the ground.

So far the set up has worked. The vehicle has been through the CSR, Kimberley, Simpson, Vic High Country and to work, 60k round trip in Sydney traffic and I have not need to make any other improvements.

Wayne