Best performance shocks that I can put on my fzj80?

[AutoCraft Aus]

I cant comment on what you had fitted but looks like you always went 2.0s looking at the pricing, so really re enforces what Im saying about stepping up to 2.5s for an OVERLANDING or heavy rig. Our custom versions are limited lifetime warranty, so cost per mile would of been , and you wouldnt of had the poor ride of twin tube set ups. If you had customs made, then ensuring the design of the custom shock was right within the build requirement of the vehicle parameters is another consideration.

So 95,000 miles with a one off cost on good 2.5s with warranty would of come in better than the twin tubes cost per mile, plus the added benefits. Our service life fits easily into that 100,000 miles as a general rule, from our testing, and improvements.

The other choices on your list are what I call "well marketed" shocks, but in the real world they just are generic, like most twin tubes with sticker engineering. I would never run any of those on a std truck, let alone a heavy truck, as you found out.

This point was well driven home on our recent South West Adventure trip, where every afternoon the OME and Rancho fitted vehicles would lose shock control completely and be going full suspension travel to the point of pulling rear wheels off the ground like pogo sticks on the trails. Not conducive to having the shocks like being a slide hammer, or the truck itself putting up with this, when "overlanding" around the weights you mention. Also has impact on the bushes etc as well when this happens.

So based on your numbers its far better to spend good money once which is what we always say, than bad money many times to learn the same thing over and over and expect a different result.

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

I cant comment on what you had fitted but looks like you always went 2.0s looking at the pricing, so really re enforces what Im saying about stepping up to 2.5s for an OVERLANDING or heavy rig. Our custom versions are limited lifetime warranty, so cost per mile would of been , and you wouldnt of had the poor ride of twin tube set ups. If you had customs made, then ensuring the design of the custom shock was right within the build requirement of the vehicle parameters is another consideration.

So 95,000 miles with a one off cost on good 2.5s with warranty would of come in better than the twin tubes cost per mile, plus the added benefits. Our service life fits easily into that 100,000 miles as a general rule, from our testing, and improvements.

The other choices on your list are what I call "well marketed" shocks, but in the real world they just are generic, like most twin tubes with sticker engineering. I would never run any of those on a std truck, let alone a heavy truck, as you found out.

This point was well driven home on our recent South West Adventure trip, where every afternoon the OME and Rancho fitted vehicles would lose shock control completely and be going full suspension travel to the point of pulling rear wheels off the ground like pogo sticks on the trails. Not conducive to having the shocks like being a slide hammer, or the truck itself putting up with this, when "overlanding" around the weights you mention. Also has impact on the bushes etc as well when this happens.

So based on your numbers its far better to spend good money once which is what we always say, than bad money many times to learn the same thing over and over and expect a different result.

Of course that was 8-9 years ago. I do know that the fitted shocks logged above were what 3 of the companies recommended to myself and the installing shop for that truck at the time.

A maintenance mechanic from Halliburton is the one that recommended the cheaper shock that lasted for a fraction of the cost. The company that runs the project now has 20+ vehicles out there daily and its reported that they change shocks and tires at the the same time now, around the 20K mark. One of their company trucks I looked at a few months back were running some plain white shock no labels or mfg mark. Definitely a 30-50$ shock. I assume whatever the parts store stocks.

Maybe one day I'll look back into a upper tier shock for my own rig, to test again, but for now I'm happy with the price, ride and the no maintenance/cost aspect of the TD foam cells I'm running.

Thanks for your input.

J

 

[BILT4ME]

D,

Not a 80 or cruiser, but you prefer the monotube for heavier rigs. So just trying to see why they never worked for me on my Dodge 3500, but a cheaper twin tube outlasted them. Hence my disdain for monotubes. My wife worked on the same project and drove her 80 50% of the time and Fox and ?? shock didn't last either.

Here is my actual shock log over the course of my ownership of a 2009 Dodge 3500. All shocks were single tube/smoothie styles.


View attachment 1527207



Monotube $$-- 3085.68 mileage 35493 cost per mile--- 8.69¢ per mile

Twin tube $$-- 593.44 mileage 58239 cost per mile--- 1.06¢ per mile

Holy crap! That's 5207 miles per month! (186 miles per day assuming a 6-day work week.)

That's a LOT of windshield time! (averaging 55 MPH, that's 3.4 hours of driving per day.)

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

Holy crap! That's 5207 miles per month! (186 miles per day assuming a 6-day work week.)

That's a LOT of windshield time! (averaging 55 MPH, that's 3.4 hours of driving per day.)

HA!

That's a shorter commute. When I was a full time contract welding inspector for pipeline/facilities I could run anywhere from 150-450 a day, 5-7 days a week. 250-300 miles a day was a typical day for me. Leave the house at 4-4:30 every morning and get home between 7-8:30 every night. I'd fill up every evening for sure and sometimes twice in one day. I kept a 50 gallon spare tank in the bed ( for me or others) and on more than one occasion, remember jumping out during road construction or on the jobsite and filling trucks up.

133,412 miles ('03) in a 12 month period was my most traveled year. Made a ton of money, but no life and no wife... From 2001- 2012 I had 8 new trucks and all between 81-133K on the tickers when traded in. Gotta love the .50-.59 cent per miles reimbursement.

J

 

[BILT4ME]

HA!

That's a shorter commute. When I was a full time contract welding inspector for pipeline/facilities I could run anywhere from 150-450 a day, 5-7 days a week. 250-300 miles a day was a typical day for me. Leave the house at 4-4:30 every morning and get home between 7-8:30 every night. I'd fill up every evening for sure and sometimes twice in one day. I kept a 50 gallon spare tank in the bed ( for me or others) and on more than one occasion, remember jumping out during road construction or on the jobsite and filling trucks up.

133,412 miles ('03) in a 12 month period was my most traveled year. Made a ton of money, but no life and no wife... From 2001- 2012 I had 8 new trucks and all between 81-133K on the tickers when traded in. Gotta love the .50-.59 cent per miles reimbursement.

J

Jeebus!
I only get $0.33 per mile and my 80 eats ALL of that!
I don't travel as much as I used to, but my peak was about 4000/month 5 days/week WITH a family and a wife (and none of them happy!)

Glad I don't do THAT much anymore, but I do enjoy some travel.

I can see it as a weld inspector. I was going to fabrication shops and doing inspections on non-oil field equipment, but there would be multiple orders at each shop, so one or two (sometimes three) fabs shops per day.

 

[GeoRoss]

Jeebus!
I only get $0.33 per mile and my 80 eats ALL of that!
I don't travel as much as I used to, but my peak was about 4000/month 5 days/week WITH a family and a wife (and none of them happy!)

Glad I don't do THAT much anymore, but I do enjoy some travel.

I can see it as a weld inspector. I was going to fabrication shops and doing inspections on non-oil field equipment, but there would be multiple orders at each shop, so one or two (sometimes three) fabs shops per day.

I get 45.5¢/mile. 33¢ is way too low.

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

Jeebus!
I only get $0.33 per mile and my 80 eats ALL of that!
I don't travel as much as I used to, but my peak was about 4000/month 5 days/week WITH a family and a wife (and none of them happy!)

Glad I don't do THAT much anymore, but I do enjoy some travel.

I can see it as a weld inspector. I was going to fabrication shops and doing inspections on non-oil field equipment, but there would be multiple orders at each shop, so one or two (sometimes three) fabs shops per day.

IIRC the national mileage reimbursement is 53.5 cents per mile and has been above .49 for quite some time ... IMO, They are taking your money, if they reimburse nothing (car rate per day, fuel, maintenance %). Call BS on their admin fee (if they charge one) and demand the national avg reimbursement per the IRS, guarantee you THEY ARE!. By most state law they can only charge 20.00 per pay period for admin fees per employee. WY is less than the nat'l avg on admin fee's a company can charge. Vermont, IIRC is the highest.

2017 Standard Mileage Rates for Business and Medical and Moving Announced | Internal Revenue Service

BLAH BLAH over....

J

 

[Burbot]

You wanna play you got to pay. Lots of opinions posted but that says it all. Buy the best you can afford

 

[SNLC]

Custom built Kings without a doubt, no argument!

Cheers

 

[Burbot]

Kid gets 50c/km x 500 km plus a days wage when he drives instead of flyingplus pay allowance for food. His bj70 making back some of the cash he invested. At 33/ mile I'd be going backwards

 

[SNLC]

And if you want to shop for shocks correctly you you need remove whatever you have in the truck now, compress and extend suspension to the max and take measurements.

Off the shelf is BS in my opinion if you want the goods.

Cheers

 

[AutoCraft Aus]

Of course that was 8-9 years ago. I do know that the fitted shocks logged above were what 3 of the companies recommended to myself and the installing shop for that truck at the time.

A maintenance mechanic from Halliburton is the one that recommended the cheaper shock that lasted for a fraction of the cost. The company that runs the project now has 20+ vehicles out there daily and its reported that they change shocks and tires at the the same time now, around the 20K mark. One of their company trucks I looked at a few months back were running some plain white shock no labels or mfg mark. Definitely a 30-50$ shock. I assume whatever the parts store stocks.

Maybe one day I'll look back into a upper tier shock for my own rig, to test again, but for now I'm happy with the price, ride and the no maintenance/cost aspect of the TD foam cells I'm running.

Thanks for your input.

J

For companies here, we have been fitting our higher end product, the first company had 5 x 200's and 27 79 series.

The 200s spent 22-24 hrs driving to the exploration area and then back on station track/outback roads in 2 week shifts, bar, winch 2 spares, water tank long range tanks and 5 guys and all their gear.

They ran OME or TJM and swapped them out every month buying pallets of suspension at a time, because the 79s pulled the nuts through the front washers driving across virgin ground, overloaded in the rear, and the 200s just killed the shocks/struts every month or so. [2 trips each way]

We fitted out the 200s first, and straight up cut the drive time to below 18 hours to do the same thing. Times that by 5 guys in 5 trucks paid to do so, it pays pretty quick.

Those 200s did 59,000km in 9 months each before they broke a front shaft, and they just swapped 2 new coil overs in, and we upped the spring rate even more to test.

We ended up doing the same with the others.

In 3 years they are the only changes to those shocks and set ups after swapping them monthly.

We also fitted out an outback medical staff Land Cruiser, who had twin tube mentioned here. To get back end of shift start of shift was a 23-25 hr drive in the 1hz with the slowing and speeding up taking a looooong time in the Land Cruiser on outback tracks mainly.

The new suspension turned it into a sub 17 hour drive saving the slow downs for the creeks and washaways on the dirt.

Fuel consumption dropped 2 lt per 100km as well for the 18900km trip each way.

4 years with only the stone protection fixed at service, due to the constant hammering from the high speed rough roads.

All drivers reported less effort, better feel, more comfortable, and less fatigue from having better handling and maintaining constant speeds for less time.

Hiluxs and Prados doing tonnes out outback mining and repping roles, no blown lower bushes, no inner fender cracks, no radiator support cracks, no blown inner splash panels, because good shocks keep it off the bump stops, which do the fatigue.

This is what value vs cost will get you in the suspension world.

 

[mudgudgeon]

18900km trip each way

Daz, Was that lap of the big island cclockwise, or anti-clockwise?

That's pretty good going for a 1HZ in 17 hrs

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

For companies here, we have been fitting our higher end product, the first company had 5 x 200's and 27 79 series.

The 200s spent 22-24 hrs driving to the exploration area and then back on station track/outback roads in 2 week shifts, bar, winch 2 spares, water tank long range tanks and 5 guys and all their gear.

They ran OME or TJM and swapped them out every month buying pallets of suspension at a time, because the 79s pulled the nuts through the front washers driving across virgin ground, overloaded in the rear, and the 200s just killed the shocks/struts every month or so. [2 trips each way]

We fitted out the 200s first, and straight up cut the drive time to below 18 hours to do the same thing. Times that by 5 guys in 5 trucks paid to do so, it pays pretty quick.

Those 200s did 59,000km in 9 months each before they broke a front shaft, and they just swapped 2 new coil overs in, and we upped the spring rate even more to test.

We ended up doing the same with the others.

In 3 years they are the only changes to those shocks and set ups after swapping them monthly.

We also fitted out an outback medical staff Land Cruiser, who had twin tube mentioned here. To get back end of shift start of shift was a 23-25 hr drive in the 1hz with the slowing and speeding up taking a looooong time in the Land Cruiser on outback tracks mainly.

The new suspension turned it into a sub 17 hour drive saving the slow downs for the creeks and washaways on the dirt.

Fuel consumption dropped 2 lt per 100km as well for the 18900km trip each way.

4 years with only the stone protection fixed at service, due to the constant hammering from the high speed rough roads.

All drivers reported less effort, better feel, more comfortable, and less fatigue from having better handling and maintaining constant speeds for less time.

Hiluxs and Prados doing tonnes out outback mining and repping roles, no blown lower bushes, no inner fender cracks, no radiator support cracks, no blown inner splash panels, because good shocks keep it off the bump stops, which do the fatigue.

This is what value vs cost will get you in the suspension world.

Well for here unless it is the CEO, Area Director or similar upper level position; these poor field guys run similar numbers to mine above and then get yelled at for spending 60$ to repair a seat belt (true story). One of my crew guys used a pair of vise grips for a shifter for 4 months until I saw it and made his boss make the repair. The man told me they would fire him for the shifter breaking (another true story). You're guys are pretty lucky to get a luxury $2-5K suspensions in a work rig. That would NEVER happen here. Those top fellas want their bonuses....

 

[AutoCraft Aus]

Daz, Was that lap of the big island cclockwise, or anti-clockwise?

That's pretty good going for a 1HZ in 17 hrs

No, that was Birdsville to Geelong, end of each shift to come home or go back for another 4 week stint.