Sources for AHC Accumulator Globes (4 Viewers)

[agaisin]

If you're an AHC hater you can move along there's nothing to see here...

If you have AHC and like it to the point where you would consider keeping it after globes (or other parts) fail, here are some alternative sources for the globes to help you keep it going. I have been doing research and figured I'd put it together for people (obviously prices are subject to change and these prices don't include shipping or the cost of labor if you're not diy'ng).

The globe part numbers are:
2x 49141-60010 - front globes
2x 49151-60010 - rear globes

1) OEM for ~$2540 Total
The List Price is at least $620/ea for front and at least $650/ea for rear total of AT LEAST $2540 for new OEM from the dealership. Many dealerships I've spoke to charge more than those list prices believe it or not.

2) OEM for ~$1800 Total
Beno or CDAN can do significantly better than that at more like 430ish/ea front and 470ish/ea rear. That's a total of $1800 for new OEM. You can't go wrong with Beno or CDAN.

3) OEM for $1350 Total
Cruiserparts.net is selling brand new ones for $329/ea front and $339/ea rear totalling $1350:
Front Suspension Accumulator 98-07 [49141-60010] - $329.00 : CruiserParts.net, Toyota Landcruiser Parts
and
Rear Suspension Accumulator 98-07 [49151-60010] - $339.00 : CruiserParts.net, Toyota Landcruiser Parts

I've seen mixed reviews about them in general (wrong parts or right parts shipped to wrong person or items not as described) but hey if these are new parts it's the most amazing price I've seen for the globes. Price can't be touched for new OEM. I confirmed with them that these listed prices are correct.

4) Aftermarket Citroen adaptations for $700 Total
Pleiades the "Hydraulics Suspension experts" adapt Citroen ones for the 100 series and charge ~£110.00 each (~$175/ea) totalling $700:
Pleiades suspension spheres
The Toyota Landcruiser Owners Club :: View topic - Suspension Spheres
100 Series - AHC system - 'A stitch in time' • Land Cruiser Club and Forum

I have only seen positive reviews of Pleiades ones. The only problem I have had is that the owner while obviously very knowledgeable with an excellent reputation does not seem very tech savvy (i.e. responsive via email) or setup for worldwide shipping. He's been selling them for over a year now I believe, with only happy customers from everything I've seen. If Pleiades can get with the 21st century he'd probably have more business than he can handle. Seems like they're a great option, I just don't know of any IH8MUD members that have used his globes, and have only seen reports from the two forums above which I believe are from locals that can drive over and have him take care of them.

5) Aftermarket Citroen adaptations for ~$800 Total
ebayer kjs500 sells them for ~£500.00 equal to ~$800:
Toyota Landcruiser Amazon 100 models AHC Suspension Accumulators Spheres Upgrade | eBay

My understanding is that he was a customer of pleiades and took the idea to the ebay market. I contacted 9 of his customers and 8 responded to my inquiry and they all had only positive things to say about the product since their purchase. Of course the ones I contacted only had them for a few months at most.

6) B&B aftermarket for ~$1470 Total
Buy LX-470 or Land Cruiser 100 Suspension Accumulators

From my experience Keith is very knowledgable and very helpful. He's been selling them for years but there are mixed reviews from what I've seen. I'm not saying this is objective but I feel like I see more posts about people that have had failures and the positive things people say are often related to getting replacements. That's very different from OEM ones where many people have them for well over 100k miles and sometimes over 10 years. And that's very different from Pleiades who only gets positives from what I've seen. With cheaper sources for new OEM and other aftermarket options at ~ half the price I'd want to see better reviews, more competitive prices and maybe more evidence that the B&B design is somehow better than the OEM or Citroen ones. I have to say Keith has put a lot of thought and engineering into his product.

7) Used for $800 Total or less
If you're the type that would consider used ones, you can definitely find them used sometimes super cheap, and from better sources that even warranty them you can get them for ~200/ea used. Shops or individuals that have removed them might have spares. can het them used on ebay, classifieds, cruiserparts.net, etc... The risk is that they are either tainted with non AHC fluid and might contaminate your system or that they are already low on gas pressure or even ruptured. But for the right price or with a warranty (I've seen 1 yr warranty from cruiserparts.net for example) it could be worth the risk to some folks.

Hope this helps others - if you do use one of the non-standard sources post your experience!

 

[parnoren]

Nice Work!!!

 

[Bawlz]

Awesome! Thanks for compiling and posting this!

 

[Texas993]

Thanks for taking the time to research and post up.

Sticky?

 

[3D FJ]

I probably should post up the parts i have that have only 63k miles on them huh?

 

[eleblanc]

I bought some used and pretty happy. There are alot of people that have remove the complete AHC setup for a lift and something that can handle the load of a expedition rig.

When those are worn out i'll go brand new. I love the AHC and if i ever need better support in the rear for load i'll go with air lift c/w AHC

 

[playdrv4me]

It's really awesome that you guys take the time to compile these terrific data threads. This is great info to have.

 

[SaadUK]

I have complete ahc suspension for sale. Everything in mint condition.

It includes brand new springs

The used parts are:
, 4 shocks, 4 spheres , 4 sphere cylinder assy, reservoir with motor and suspension motor.

With the above suspension the LC was driven actual 35k miles only. Pm if interested.

 

[00N8]

I just ordered a set of the #5 from ebayer kjs500. Will report in on them as the time comes.

 

[agaisin]

I bought a set of the kjs500 ones last week and finished installing them on Tuesday, drove on em on Wednesday. I have more info to post after more discussion with each vendor. Unfortunately the vendors are very secretive about their product - funny enough Toyota's not even that secretive cause they document the specs on their globes.

Fyi - the fronts didn't fit for me without removing the running board bracket. His instructions suggest using a small jack to jack the running board away from the frame rail but I didn't like that and figured it's easier to remove the running board bracket - just 1 12mm nut, 1 12mm bolt, and 2 10mm bolts. Also, I had a napa 36mm fan belt wrench that worked fine for the front two globes but in the rear it wouldn't work (crappy specs - too loose around the nut and the fact that it's a straigh wrench didn't give me enough room to break it loose). So I purchased 2 other 36mm thin service wrenches that had angles to 'em. One was still too thick and the other was not long enough handle. So I borrowed this spindoctor headset tool for bikes Spin Doctor Double End Headset Wrench - Headset Tools and it worked fine.

Fyi - the kjs500 rears are smaller volume than OEM. He sells two flavors - a sport and a comfort set. I bought the comfort, which did you buy?

At the time I bought mine I was looking at either 800 for his or 1600 best price for OEM (I didn't know about the $1350 price from cruiserparts.net). In retrospect I think I would have gone OEM for peace of mind at $1350.

I am happy enough - my main issue of terrible sway/instability around turns and instability at high speed is resolved. I still plan to replace shock bushings and have other todos on my list - I have a few nits but I'm not sure if it's my vehicle or the globes that are the problem. I have a long mem day trip this weekend so I'll have more info to report on then. Basically I still have a little sway side to side on curves (not sure if it's acceptable/normal or globe related or ahc related or related to other suspension parts etc), and I don't feel like the damping switch has the same effect it did before - it works, but it doesn't feel like it did before in each setting. Here's the deal - kjs500 tells me his comfort model (ones I bought) have a "extra built in damper system" and that b/c of the different volume of the globes he's adjusted the pressure to compensate. So does his damping interfere with our damping switch (ie. too much damping) and does his adjustment to pressure impact the feel of the ride? And his and Pleiades both use slightly less volume globes in the rear - so in what cases does that manifest itself in handling/feel of the ride?

I wish I could compare side by side OEM globes and these to see if there's a difference. I'm also curious to compare these globes in my car to someone else's to see if there's a difference and if so it would be my car vs. the globes I have only had my LX since 70k for the past 2 years and probably always had at least one globe super low or blown and possibly the rest low so I can't say what it felt like new...

00N8 - maybe we can coordinate a side by side test some time?

For others out there...
If you're looking for the cheapest option these might be hard to beat. If you're looking for stock and peace of mind and you're neurotic then OEM (for example cruiserparts.net price) might be the way to go.

 

[agaisin]

Here are some additional things to consider:
- type of gas -
OEM use Nitrogen
I believe Pleiades and KJS500 use Nitrogen.
B&B uses Argon (B & B Suspension Accumulators - Lexus Owners Club (USA & Canada) - Page 2).
Here's a B&B quote "My accumulators are not available elsewhere--they were specifically designed for the LX-470/LC-100 application. They incorporate thicker diaphragms of a more expensive material which is better at retaining the gas charge, AND they are charged with a much more costly gas that has MUCH lower permeation rates"

- diaphragm design (material and number of layers).
OEM say "A resin membrane is sandwiched between rubber
layers to realize excellent gas penetration resistance."

Citroen accumulators made for LDS fluid are "multicouche"/multilayer as well.

B&B's from pictures he's posted are a single layer and he says in the quote above from ih8mud that his layer is thicker and better material.

- globe volume -
OEM fronts are 400cc, rears are 500cc.
Citroen rears are smaller than the 500cc spec for OEM globes - don't know their exact size front or rear though.
Don't know of anything public on B&B's volume, although he wasn't constrained by using Citroen's size and I know he's aware of the suspension travel requirements - he'd have to speak up on that since I imagine it's proprietary.

- gas pressure -
OEM are 327psi front and 384psi rear.
I have seen statements that Pleiades uses these same specs for their retrofits.
KJS500 says he adjusts pressure to compensate for smaller working volume.
B&B I don't know.

- other features -
OEM are not designed to rechargeable.
I have seen that B&B's are designed to be rechargeable.
Citroen are not designed to be rechargeable but I believe KJS500 and Pleiades do recharge them.
KJS500 says his comfort set of globes have built in extra damping as a "feature". Not sure if this is something that comes standard with Citroen globes or something that he added (I assume it's a citroen feature just haven't found any details about it).

- concerns -

Reliability - OEM are untarnished, B&B have mixed public reviews but reality could be better or worse (who knows), Citroens are tried and true in their vehicles but who knows for our vehicles/weight.

Design - Citroen don't match our specs 100% so either pressure and/or volume are changed.

Design - whose diaphragm design is best? Who knows. I know that Citroen changed from single to multilayer deisign with their last carnation of globes, but Toyota's have been multilayer from the beginning. Is B&B's diaphragm better?

Pressures - I would think B&B and Pleiades and KJS500 should all be able to customize the pressure for your customized application (i.e. more weight).

Specs - if you're not using OEM volume/pressure globes, then I question whether the spec pressures and spec gradations are relevant/accurate?

Features - built-in damping on Citroen Globes (may only be on KJS500's) are a red flag to me, but I don't know enough about it.

 

[00N8]

I got the comfort version as well. Happy to meet up, I'm just outside of NOVA down I66 and Rt29 past Manassas.

I don't plan to spend any more cash on the AHC, I wanted new globes since I have 140k on the vehicle and every bump is like a pothole no matter what Sport or Comfort setting is selected. If anything else goes wrong I'll rip it all out and replace with a standard 2" lift.

There is a good thread here about refurbing your sway bars, I plan on doing that soon too.

 

[Brock]

agaisin,

what did you ever do with those globes and stuff I gave you.....did they work out or all fail ?

 

[agaisin]

agaisin,

what did you ever do with those globes and stuff I gave you.....did they work out or all fail ?

still got em - they were original from your rig though (2000 iirc) and i didn't have any easy way to test them. Given lack of time i figured if i was gonna go to the trouble of taking them off etc i was just gonna replace. still may toy with them down the line. i will more likely use the actuators if/when needed.

 

[Brock]

cool...can use them as shot puts to train for highland games if all else fails.

 

[Akella]

If any body interested i can get all 4 for 1100+ ride from Michigan

 

[playdrv4me]

I'm still surprised my globes are original with 150k. At least on the globes themselves the date code says '99, and I believe it says Citroen on there somewhere, but I could just be imagining that. My ride is not the smoothest in the world, but there still seems to be some difference between comfort settings and I don't have a bouncy ride of other uncomfortable problems. This rig was a one owner and as best as I can tell was driven by a woman for likely it's whole life. I suppose since it wasn't wheeled or abused a little more life has come from the globes. I'm running about 10 gradations between LOW and HIGH right now. I guess we'll see how long they last.

I too am not entirely certain yet whether I'd be so quick to rip the system out if there were a problem.

 

[SaadUK]

I read somewhere that these globes have expiry date even if unused. Is this true ?

 

[agaisin]

I read somewhere that these globes have expiry date even if unused. Is this true ?

Haven't seen that on oem globes. They have a sticker with manufacture date but i dont remember seeing any kind of expiry date on them. also there is resin and whatever kind of rubber the diaphragm is made of - i wouldn't be surprised if they eventually lose their elasticity etc as i imagine all plastics and rubbers do. but i've never seen or heard what that max lifespan would be.

but why would it matter anyway unless you're buying old ones? in other words if they're on your car already and they work isn't that all that matters?

 

[agaisin]

I'm still surprised my globes are original with 150k. At least on the globes themselves the date code says '99, and I believe it says Citroen on there somewhere, but I could just be imagining that. My ride is not the smoothest in the world, but there still seems to be some difference between comfort settings and I don't have a bouncy ride of other uncomfortable problems. This rig was a one owner and as best as I can tell was driven by a woman for likely it's whole life. I suppose since it wasn't wheeled or abused a little more life has come from the globes. I'm running about 10 gradations between LOW and HIGH right now. I guess we'll see how long they last.

I too am not entirely certain yet whether I'd be so quick to rip the system out if there were a problem.

just for s***s you should drive in someone else's or take a spin at a used dealership to compare rides. it's possible yours are still good or it's possible you didn't notice the (incremental) changes over time and maybe you do have a globe or two bad. even with blown or low globes i believe you should still notice a differene in your damping switch.