Tough Dog

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

PhiloCruiser

PhiloCruiser

10 Year 15 Year
Joined
Feb 16, 2011
Threads
16
Messages
146
Just ordered 41 up front and 45 adjustable rears for my 2019. I need some feedback from people on how these perform or hold up in winter. I live in the midwest and it gets well below zero on a regular basis. Anyone have any insight as to how those will hold up in those conditions?
 
PhiloCruiser said:
Just ordered 41 up front and 45 adjustable rears for my 2019. I need some feedback from people on how these perform or hold up in winter. I live in the midwest and it gets well below zero on a regular basis. Anyone have any insight as to how those will hold up in those conditions?
Click to expand...
Maybe ask Jason @TRAIL TAILOR ? Thats what I would do. He’s a straight shooter.
 
Only had mine one winter so can't speak to long-term longevity. However, I will say that the paint on the bottom of my rear shock bodies was completely worn off (by flying pebbles, I assume) down to metal within just a few months. (EDIT - No, this absolutely isn't normal wear. *Every bit* of the paint was gone from the lowest part of the rear shocks, where the adjuster knob lies.) The shock bodies had started to rust, so you'd want to consider adding some extra paint or keeping a close eye on them to repaint as necessary. Not a big deal, but I wasn't expecting to see that.
 
Last edited:
I passed on Tough Dog after seeing all of the rusted shock housings and ended up going with Dobinsons. Really would have like the adjustable shocks but living in the PNW, rust prevention is a must. Search around for Tough Dog Rust...
 
I should have been more clear...where I live, rust happens no matter the product. You can't avoid if if you combine gravel/sediment with salt and water...I was more concerned with how the part would react to the extreme cold in terms of performance. Would it be incredibly stiff...anyone have any strange failures during extreme cold, etc.

For those of you pointing out rust, and I'm certainly not defending my purchase or TT or TD, combine the word rust with any suspension manufacturer and you'll get results.

Fluid film is anyone's friend where salt is used.
 
I’ve had TD 45s on my rig since 2017. 2 Chicago salty winters and 32k on them and they’re functioning the same as when I purchased them. No significant rust aside from the 4 bolts at the top of the coil overs. I do have someone spray the underside with fluid film each November, which doesn’t stop all rust but definitely reduces it significantly.
 
Note I can snap some photos of my shocks if you’d like.
 
linuxgod said:
Note I can snap some photos of my shocks if you’d like.
Click to expand...
I'd appreciate that. I live not far from you so I'm betting we have similar environments. I bought my own Fluid Film and plan on doing what I can. You have someone in your area who does that for you? Mind sharing who that is?
 
PhiloCruiser said:
I'd appreciate that. I live not far from you so I'm betting we have similar environments. I bought my own Fluid Film and plan on doing what I can. You have someone in your area who does that for you? Mind sharing who that is?
Click to expand...
@GoISU has done several trucks in the Chicago are.
 
Sandroad said:
@GoISU has done several trucks in the Chicago are.
Click to expand...
Yep he has done mine the last 2 years. Great guy

I’ll snap some pics tomorrow. My wife took the truck to go to a class downtown so it’ll be dark when she gets back

FWIW I think TD used to have some quality issues several years ago but reliability has improved. My only complaint was that their instructions say to put the taller rear spring in the drivers side in the US and that was wrong - it goes on the passenger side rear. Otherwise I’ve been quite happy with them for the $. Adjustables are particularly nice when you load changes a lot (like when i tow). If you can change your order i would opt for 45s in the front as well as they let you tune the plushness/harshness depending on your load and preference
 
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, whether it's rubberized undercoating or Fluid Film.

Anti-seize compound is great for preventing/reducing corrosion on dissimilar metals.
 
I have the TD 41mm 40/20mm lift. None adjustable. Rig drives very well loaded and unloaded.
 
Actually got lucky, my wife hasn’t left yet when I got home. Here’s a shot of the fronts - super dirty but I rubbed my finger on the coil so you can see it’s just dirt
5DC3227A-1420-4185-8337-37764F467D20.webp


Top hat of the coils. You can see the nuts are rusty. So far that’s the only rust I’ve seen
0096282B-DEF1-4756-91C5-07355CE0AFD1.webp


Quick Shot of the rear shock as well. Again super dirty so it’s hard to see but there is extremely minimal if any rust on the welds. Otherwise it’s good
96ECD725-D4F7-4168-AA19-12F4350D1E3A.webp


I’m going to hit the car wash on Friday or Saturday and can send a couple pics onve I have the month of LCDC and other accumulated road trip grime hosed off
 
8 Months of use mainly in Southern California and mine look like this. Not too pleased. Any thoughts on next steps? Probably no point in complaining, but figured future owners would want to see.

IMG_4439.webp
 
JohnJB said:
I'd recommend getting stainless.
Click to expand...

Is the stainless steel guard isolated from the mild steel parts? Putting stainless steel in contact with other types of steel while being bathed in salt spray sounds to me like a great way to cause galvanic corrosion.

In the boating world, dissimilar metals are typically isolated from each other by rubber or plastic parts, to prevent such problems.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom