Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Hey dude,

I have a couple of questions for you about your zook

About your rear shocks – you user Cressida rear shocks?
Does your spring pop out?
If it does is there anyway we can keep it in?
Are the Cressida rear shocks only good for travel ?
I ask cause I pack my zook to the roof with gear and head off for multi day trips sometimes – the nitrochargers handle this load quite well…

Up front you have turned the strut tower mounts upside down?
Does this limit upward travel?
Does it give too much downward travel so that you might be snapping CV`s?

You have ironman struts? What are they like? I have OME nitrocharger struts and find them a bit stiff sometimes

i might be able to answer some of your q's gonzo, i just ripped out my ome rear shocks the other day and replaced em with gabriel cressida shocks.

i finally managed to lift a rear tyre of the ground today (extreme front yard offroading ) and the spring didn't drop out, well it did, but the cone shaped upper bumpstop had 'just' enough length to stop them totally falling out, offroad it'll probably be a different story.the brake line seems to have enough length (though, i'll probably lengthen it anyway to be safe)....it's the handbrake that limits my travel now.

they seem to ride almost identical to the ome's that i pulled out, which is good. the ome's used to handle a load bloody well (eg. on a beach trip i had 6 people, 2 esky's full of food and ice, 8 bags of ice on the rear floor, plus clothes and other gear......and it sat beutifully, was a bit slow though ).....so hopefully the gabriels will be similar

You will get enough flex out of them for the spring to drop out even with a 2" longer spring.

You shouldn't be able to copress them enough in the backyard or with a jack to do this but it WILL happen offroad (I have the photos to prove).

Either I need rear springs an inch or so longer (planned), or wire them in so they wont fall out - when i have my new springs I will probably still do both.

I used Landcruiser front shocks (BJ73) which were about 570 long and they were too stiff, but a better length for my current springs so I made sure that the springs wouldnt fall out again when I went back to the Cressida shocks.


As you can see antt reckons they're pretty good as far as ride - my springs are too hard (being Kings springs) so it's hard to judge. When I was using datsun sunny rear springs ride was nice and soft but still controlled and flexed heaps more than the Kings springs do, hence I will get my original Vitara ones reset..

Don't try them unless you have 2" lift though, as they are too long for proper compression without lifting that much (besides the spring falling out issue). (I think I get something like 3 1/2" compression and 8 1/2" dropout at the shock).

A shock about 52cms is better for the Vitara on standard height springs - like the OME shock or the old HQ shockies.....

The Ironman struts (supposedly +25mm) are actually exactly the same length as factory, so it's a bit hard to recommend them based on that. Ride seems ok though and they are rebuildable and cheaper than factory replacements. No problems with them othe than the same length as factory, and they've been in for maybe 30,000kms now..

The front shocker tower flip partially counters the lack of extra travel that comes with taller springs but no extra shock length - you could do this with your stock struts just as easy. I've had no problems with it (or front CV's) yet, touch wood. Much more lift than I've done (the tower flip does 30mm) will put additional strain on for sure - lots of people have had problems using the Calmini Super Articulation Fronts (3" lift springs and lots of ancilliary stuff) leading to cv and axle breakage.

In theory I have less travel at the front than a standard Vitara, but the reality is that there's probably little difference, as the Vitara never really used all it's travel anyway - I have reduce upward travel (and can't compress my front springs enough to use it anyway) and increased droop (which I do use).

Once I get my springs reset my needs will change - might need longer rear shocks than the cressida ones - maybe ranchos.

if your gonna get anymore drop in the back than we're getting at the moment andrew, i'd seriously wanna consider longer trailing arms. atm mine is getting a bit of rear steer happening

thanks for the info guys