Suspension, one piece at a time.

[sailor95]

As my cruiser comes within a few hundred miles of the 290k mark, I'm starting to wonder, when will my ahc fail on me? It still raises and lowers with ease and my ahc fluid levels seem normal, and it rides like it did when my father drove it when I was young (which is great). But I know one day in the future that will not be the case. I want to start gathering suspension parts now so when the day comes I am ready, but where do I start? I don't want to go to a stock lc100 suspension, I'd like to have a good balance between ride and load carrying capacity with a slight lift over stock. What part combos would you all recommend? These parts would be bought hopefully over the span of a year to spread out the cost, given that my AHC allows this.

 

[PADDO]

Grab a set of takeoff (known good fwiw) globe accumulators with their damper assemblies, height sensors when available and install new coils once a decade or so and you've got most issues covered. Keeping your fluid clean (I change mine every 30K) and your neutral pressures down helps too. Globe accumulators have a finite useful life and the damper control valves they screw into fail too. Height sensors are rheostats that wear out eventually as well. There are plenty of parts out there that can be had at reasonable prices - I've got a box full of shocks, height accumulators, about 10 dampers, height sensors etc that might see some use one day.

 

[sailor95]

So you would go the route of keeping and maintaining the AHC? Why all the maintenance and part stocking rather than switching to the traditional set up?

 

[PADDO]

So you would go the route of keeping and maintaining the AHC? Why all the maintenance and part stocking rather than switching to the traditional set up?

I thought you were looking for guidance on what parts to accumulate to cover off the inevitable failures. Yes, I would keep my AHC system because I like it, it's part of my build, it does everything I need it to do, I know how it works and how to maintain/repair it so it's a no brainier for me ATT. To me the maintenance effort and expense is trivial as I've spent less than $400 on parts and $45 on fluid every other year in 10 years of ownership of my current LX. My first LX was a $120K vehicle so I'm not opposed to maintaining/repairing them, but everyone's situation and needs differ.