Cape York and Shockies

Its always the last thing people think about!

How old are your shocks now? What condition are they in?

It would be a good idea to change them, keep the old ones, but then if you get new OME's or Konis etc, you would be advised against mixing and matching with your OEM shocks, meaning you would be better to buy 6 shocks, install 4 and keep 2 spares.

If your car is packed to the roof, are you still running standard Springs? Again You would be advised to put some heavier springs in there to save the shocks and your sanity...

Run your fully packed car over a weigh bridge, you will be suprised how heavy it is, and most people actually pack over the Max Weight for the car.. if you do and crash, insurance **can** legally say bye bye to you.. Just another thing to think about.

YMMV

Currently in Katherine after being in the Cape for past 6 weeks - I installed OME and the ARB suspension lift and never had any probs.

I have also decided that I like the ride so much that I would do the same in any 4WD even if I was not going away...

Leroy just abuot every person that comes on one of our trips comes with standard gear as in shocks etc. The key to getting a good ride is tyre pressures let your tyres soften the ride . Depending on rubber and load on your truck and trailer you can let them rite down . I advise people on our trips depending on load and rubber the pressure I think , at first they are concerned about what I sugest but soon let them down on the way after a day or 2 . My truck a 60 with good year wranglers mtrs on I let the front down to 19 and rear to 26 . When hot they rise about 5 psi per wheel and to date no probs. Last trip I was talking to a fellow at wepia and he was complainig how bad the tracks were he was in a troopy . I asked what pressures he was running 50 psi rear and 45 front I suggested 24 front and 32 rear because of the load . He took it for a spin and thought it was coil sprug range rover it improved the ride so mutch.
All the best
Eric
www.capeyorkconnections.com.au
4wd Tag Along AdventuresCape York Connections

Having done some bush travel but not of the extreme variety, could someone indicate to me what dodgy shockers do ?
I can appreciate that buggered shockers would permit untold wheel bounce, but if I was on a rough road and just tootling along, would I be aware of the fact that my shockers were on the way out ? The car before last was dancing a bit in the tail on dirt roads so I put OME's all round as a precaution, but can't say that I actually had a problem.
Gotta have red sand on those boots !

I would take an extra set of standard second hand shocks just for emergency and keep the standard shocks in the car you are using now....You will find some pretty fierce corrugations that will pound them around pretty bad....... I would buy the new shocks after you get back, which sounds crazy but thats my 10c worth........

No matter what shocks you have the corrugations will be awsome... Tyre pressures are important and correct speed, ( whatever that is because i didnt find it ).
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Rough corrugated roads are torture for shocks as we all know, but what often gets overlooked is these polyurethane bushes in shock absorbers "they kill shocks" they rattle and shake the valves and do not give enough side to side freedom, for example on the rear of a Land Rover the top bush is under a lot of stress sideways and this causes the piston and rod to put more pressure on one side of the seals and bore and eventually lead to leakage.
The solution is to go back to good old rubber based bushes which have a lot more compliance and insulate the shock from unnessasary viabrations and movements.
Polyurethane is great anywhere else dont get me wrong. its just a bit of a wank and actually causes damage in shocks.

The smart suspension companies realised this some years ago, and some just have not learnt their lesson yet.

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the input. We'll see how I go and hopefully won't have any problems. And with track reports sounding not to bad, that's also a bonus!

Leroy