Shock absorber - suspension query

Hi Glenn, the guy is a Mechanic, a 4WD enthusiast, and he has seen the shocks, I would be inclined to believe him. Cheers, Kanga.

Do you trust your mech or are you looking for an excuse to upgrade. LOL.

I have just upgraded mine, 2004 LC, done half what you have, but did it cos of the load that will be in the back soon (based on what we had on another trip) and how much the back dropped last time, then there is future towing hopes.

My reasoning and excuse anyway and she fell for it. :)

Glenn,
I'm no mechanic and as said would be guided by your own mechanic.
That said one of my shocks leaked badly on the Mitchell Falls Road, WA back in 2007.
The other shocks had stone damage and none were repairable.
The shocks had 90,000KM on them.
Most of the others in the group had trouble with their shocks on that trip some with brand new ones.

Another eason to break journeys is let the shockers cool down and recover. heat from excessive work can help to kill them.

If there are no leaks and they still work I would not change them. Be kind to them and stop occasionly especially on very rough roads.

Alan

I was faced with a similar decision.
My vehicle has done 180k mainly on sealed roads with the very rare off road adventure and there is nothing that I've noticed wrong with the OEM shocks. I am off up the north west very soon and toyed with the idea of replacing them given their age (13 years). It is not a cheap replacement.

In the end I did replace them thinking it would better to replace them now rather than sometime in the journey if something went wrong or having a faulty set making driving less safe. On replacing them a careful inspection of the removed shocks revealed that they were still in reasonable shape including the rubbers. Can I notice any difference? Nothing earth- bleep teringly different yet but the trip should tell me. I just feel more comfortable knowing that the shocks are going to be ok. I bought Koni shocks.

Faced the same dilemma with the clutch too and replaced that as well.

WBS

Thanks all for replying... i did like one of the first replies, yes I suppose I was looking for an excuse to update. But as most have said the mechanic does know what he is saying and the past couple of trips he has lent me a spare front and rear shock so I will have this available. So the end result is i will follow the advise of an expert and leave the cash in my pocket.

thanks again.