Pros,Cons & Myths

Shockabsorber Facts

Having the axles able to move so freely makes the handling of any long travel suspension difficult to get right.  A Land Rover weighs about 2000Kg’s.  The only items controlling the body are the springs and shock absorbers.  Springs are not used in Land Rovers as a handling component but more for load carrying and height adjustment.  The Shockers are the controlling factor in the Land Rover suspension. 

Les Richmond Automotive for the last 20 years only use quality shock absorbers for Land Rovers.  All longer travel shockers allows the axles to drop, hang or articulate / travel further than the genuine shockers supplied from factory.  This is where the problems start and without the correct knowledge problems can arise that in some cases are life threatening. 

The following table will list the open and closed lengths and mounting styles for the most commonly installed shockers into Land Rovers.   As you will see all of these shockers can not be fitted without quite a bit of extra work. 

            As the above list proves retrofitting any of the Toyota or Nissan shockers into a Land Rover is not worthwhile.  The two best non Land Rover shoclers are the Toyota 75 series rear and the Nissan GQ/GU rear.  Even though they are rear shockers they would have to fitted to the front.  to fit these the mounts have to modified by 44mm to achieve a minimal 23mm of extra travel.  The most important figure to look at is the closed length in relation to the factory shocker closed length.  What this figure means is if a shocker is fitted with a longer closed length the suspension is unable to fully travel upwards or bottom out.  This will decrease shocker life and in accident situations can be dangerous.  Vehicles are made with safty margins and when modifications are made it is important not to affect these margins.  The White Tiger 30% travel kit has been made to take all these perametres into account.

            The next measurement to look at is how much extra travel will be obtained fitting the shockers.  As quite visable in the chart above some shockers do not actually offer alot more travel even though they are quite long in the open length.  Also check the mounting systems and how much work is required to fit them, the valving of the shocker, is it suitable for another vehicle.  There are many many factors to take into account and to be aware of. 

            All figures supplied above are for standard monotube Bilstein shockers.

More to the travel argument.  Les Richmond Automotive has spent a lot of time and effort to supply a shocker to improve the already great Land Rovers wheel travel.  For example we could have had shockers made with 150mm more travel and yes it would look impressive in full articulation but the engineering would be enormous and the actual improvement would be next to nothing over the long travel shockers we currently supply.  Not to mention how unstable and dangerous the vehicle would be in cornering and side slopes.

The reason for this statement is:  A vehicles wheel travel is only as good as the wheel with the least amount of traction on an articulation ramp. We have found that once the wheels articulate more then aprox 2" over standard the unloaded wheel is only driving the vehicle forward marginly.  Thus giving no real value to forward motion.  A vehicle with true wheel travel should be measured without the assistance of front or rear diff lock or automatic locker of any type.  Once the unloaded wheel spins the car will no longer drive forward.  This is true useful wheel travel.  If a front or rear diff lock is engaged the vehicle can drive further up the ramp.  It might raise a wheel by another 100mm or more before the unloaded wheel actually lifts off the ground, but this wheel has not assisted in the vehicles forward movement.  In competitions the vehicle with the most wheel travel wins.  I have not yet competed without the use diff locks and the winners are mainly vehicles with drop axles (when the spring is no longer attached to the body, only to the axle).  It looks impressive but actually serves no purpose and is extremely dangerous.  These wheel travel comps should not allow the assistance of diff locks of any type.

Les Richmond Automotive makes "the Ultimate Suspension kit" complemented with the Dobinsons 60mm MRR shockers to set up classic Range Rover’s, Defenders and Discovery’s.  When fitted the axle will drop from a factory length of 6 ½” to 9” measured at the bump stop.  This is around 30% more wheel travel.  Depending on the vehicle and personal requirements the maximum Les Richmond Automotive will raise a vehicle is 4 ½” front and 6” rear bump stop clearance.  This set up gives in round figures 4 ½” up travel and 4 ½” down travel in the front and 5 ½” up travel and 3 ½” down travel.  This is a great balance of upwards and downwards travel which is safe and very useable.  If raising a vehicle to this height we would highly recommend the fitting of modified swivel housings to correct the front axle geometry giving the vehicle factory specifications even though it is a far from factory vehicle. See Castor Correction Solutions.

Spring Facts

Springing a vehicle also can increase or decrease how effective a vehicle is on an articulation ramp.  The softer the springs the more static wheel travel is available.  This is great for the ramp up test but in reality it is not the best.  The way we like to set up vehicles on articulation ramps is to have about 1.5" to 2" bump stop clearence when the unloaded wheel raises off the ground.  The reason for this is to allow for vehicle momentum.  The momentum even at 10Km/h witt close the 1.5" to 2" giving a smoother and more controlable drive.  The softly sprung vehicles will bottom out onto the bump stop harder causing the vehicle to jerk / bounce.  We at LR Automotive also like to add a slightly stronger spring to the front.  Even though it will not articulate as well on hilll climbs when all the vehicle weight is transfered to the back of the car but will work much better on down hill decents allowing the front axle to move freely with less bottoming out. We have many springs available for Land Rover, and the choice can be a bit daunting.  Visit our Coil Spring section to understand what we offer.

For more information on Bilstein Shock absorbers please contact us at info@lrautomotive.com.au or phone (03) 9464 4094.