Outer Limits 4x4 Board

gday. finally got some money to do a 2 inch lift and was wondering if anyone had any reccomendations on some good shockies.
is it possible to put long travel shocks on a rangie when lifted 2 inches, eg ranchos ,and would you have to change the bumpstops? also considering a 2 inch body lift , does anyone know of a shop on the gold coast who can do a bodylift. i own an 82 rangie THANKS

Shocks:

Bilstien.

Koni.


any of the rest.

For springs look in FAQ lots info and basic ride hieghts.

Michael.

HSV Rangie wrote:Shocks:

Bilstien.

Koni.

any of the rest.

For springs look in FAQ lots info and basic ride hieghts.

Michael.

HSV Rangie wrote:Shocks:

Bilstien.

Koni.


any of the rest.

For springs look in FAQ lots info and basic ride hieghts.

Michael.

LukeV wrote:

HSV Rangie wrote:Shocks:

Bilstien.

Koni.


any of the rest.

For springs look in FAQ lots info and basic ride hieghts.

Michael.

Dont throw him off track if he wants the best and also want abit of protection from stones I say steer clear of the bilsteins... to easily damaged.

ow and for springs Les Richmond Automotive (in melbourne) has plenty for you to choose from.

I would use Bilstein shocks every time.

I have 8 on my RR Dakar and they are all 10+ years old. They completed the 1994 Australian Safari without being touched and still work well.

I run 7 mudflaps on the vehicle. One behind each wheel, 1 in front of the loadleveler and one in front of each rear wheel. I don't think too many Rangies have had a harder life from a suspension point of view than mine and the Bilsteins just keep working. You get what you pay for buy cheap get cheap.

I also use a Bilstein steering damper and have been thinking af replacing it with a spare I never used whilst on the safari. The old one works fine but is covered in oil from the engine and as I no longer run a Rover engine it would be nice to fit a clean one knowing it will stay clean.

zuffen wrote:I would use Bilstein shocks every time.

I have 8 on my RR Dakar and they are all 10+ years old. They completed the 1994 Australian Safari without being touched and still work well.

I run 7 mudflaps on the vehicle. One behind each wheel, 1 in front of the loadleveler and one in front of each rear wheel. I don't think too many Rangies have had a harder life from a suspension point of view than mine and the Bilsteins just keep working. You get what you pay for buy cheap get cheap.

I also use a Bilstein steering damper and have been thinking af replacing it with a spare I never used whilst on the safari. The old one works fine but is covered in oil from the engine and as I no longer run a Rover engine it would be nice to fit a clean one knowing it will stay clean.

I have one that has a very slight dint in it and its farked.... still on my car though
Next time round i am gonna be a cheap arse but if i wanted to spend big again I will get Konis.

On my Rangie I have had three koni shockes break. One top, two bottom. I have also had the internals fail in relatively short amount of time. I would not recommend them to anyone.

well lets start a debate shall we

I broke my bilstein at the rod
But i think it was more my driving style at the time that did it

But if you say your busting Konis then forget em both

Go by sum Monroes thats what my rear end will have a soon as i get the new diff put in
Up front I still run the bilsteins and the ride is beaut but in the rear they were alittle to prone to rock rash and they are farked

As far as value for dollar goes, I am happy with the Rock-crawler and Tough dog shockies. $165 ea, 41mm bore, twin tube, foam cell, long travel and quite a comfortable ride.

My RR had bilstiens on it when I bought it and they were comfortable enough. They weren't long enough for the 2 (ish) inch lift its got on it and were seriously limiting the axle's downward travel. Couldn't find any other brands except Rancho that would give decent travel at any sort of reasonable price.
I wouldn't go Rancho on a RR. They might be fine on a Hilux or Jeep but the 35mm bore will not cope with the weight of the RR unless you look at putting two on each corner.

I've had konis on different 4x4s and loved them but they were expensive.

I don't love gas shockies, I much prefer the feel of the big bore Foam cell shockies, but I'm sure there's plenty of people around who will disagree.

My experience only,

Adam.

I'll vote for Bilsteins. 200,000 km on my old Disco without a problem. Including corrugations, the Simpson etc.

I've put Bilsteins on the new car. Just completed a 3600 km weekend - 4 days through Wanaaring, Tiboorburra, the Strezlecki, The Flinders, & home. A lot of gravel, but no problems.

The other two Defenders in that little jaunt were Bilstein equipped too. Not a single problem.

Regards
Max P

If you do a lot of travel over corrigations ect then go the bilstiens or konies.

the others will be ok if you are happy witha shock that will fade in about 15 min of high speed rough surface, or hour or 2 down rough track.

simple guards can be fited t the bilstiens and you get all the benifits.

Michael.

AnthonyP wrote:well lets start a debate shall we

So has anyone tried Ranchos and had a good experience?

We have also snapped a Bilstien at the top end of the rod where it connects to the eye (county)

We now have Konis and are great.

Dave.

up2nogood wrote:So has anyone tried Ranchos and had a good experience?

I ran 9012's front and rear on my old rangie, rears had spherical bearing ends and all had custom mounts.

They were shite....

- Faded VERY quickly.
- Valving is not velocity sensitive, valving is no where near right on any setting, especially rebound. I know 9012 are valved to be run in pairs but as far as im concerned the adjustability is a wank if you cant change compression and rebound seperately, and non velocity sensitive damping means your always finding the bumpstops on faster/bigger bumps.
- travel was nice I guess....
- never stayed where they were set, ie set them to '5', go out for a rip and halfway through the day notice its handling 'funny', get out and discover one or more of the shocks has found its way to something other than '5', usually '1'.....

After all the dicking around, I'd run 2" longer bilstiens with guards, minimal lift, and lots of cutting. More than 2-3" lift and more travel than those shocks can offer produces a rig that is too unstable in most conditions to be a good allrounder (just my opinion, for what its worth), will excel in some situations but suck in most others.

my vote
Bilstiens

Cheers
Daryl

In summary from what i've seen in my years:

Rancho - Shite, no good. I've heard that they're all designed for leaf spring applications.
OME - Pretty good, not much travel, 3" lift tops. Relatively cheap.
Bilstein - Great, but pricy.
Koni's - Great, but not as pricy as Bilstein.

Depends on your budget and your driving style and terrain.
Sure there's plenty of other options, but you just don't here about them. Apart from Ridepro which Chris Hummer uses in his rangie.

From what i've read here on outerlimits, most people prefer Bilstein or Koni's, and there's a LOT of experience on this forum.

I have OME on the rear and Monroes on the front. I got the fronts for nothing off a mate and only had to buy some rerars. I wanted Konis as I had them on every other Rangie bar aqua and regretted it (Ranchos, crap shocks and totally useless), but the OME's were the only ones I could get in time for the RWC for the 83 Rangie. Plus they were the only ones I could afford ATM.

I would choose Konis overall if money was plentiful

Trav

hey has anybody tried EFS?

up2nogood wrote:So has anyone tried Ranchos and had a good experience?

i doubt it

I tried Ranchos once, in between Bilsteins. Fronts went soft and were stuffed within 3 mths / about 5000 kms, The rears were never very long. Broke 3 top mounts in that time.

Regards
Max P

Had a set of Ridepro's given to me by Ateco in Sydney have put them into my 85 tow car with 2 inch lovells so far so good not bad shock & great price ,if they can survive a week of Outback Challenge in Hummers car they are doing ok

AnthonyP mate i have yet to break a Bilstein from weak casings ect have two each corner 2 x OBC countless Winch Challenges,Willoglens,Club days trip to the Simpson & Cape York ect ect and there still as good as the day i put them in

Cheers Mal

i have tough dog on my 1985 range rover (on the car when i got so i know no different ) just get shaocks that are the right size as my springs fell out at full travel and had a bastard of time getting then back in on the track at appin and a few funny looks from passers by

i like the tough dog shocks
ome leak after about one lap of the block or they did on my fore runner and swb patrol ome shite