Re: LRO: The great shock debate

From: TeriAnn Wakeman (twakeman@cruzers.com)
Date: Wed Apr 11 2001 - 11:16:20 EDT

  • Next message: TeriAnn Wakeman: "Re: LRO: RE: The great shock debate"

    >Springs: I understand my 2 options are parabolic or stock and I am going
    >with stock. If anyone has any insight or comments here I'm all ears.

    I stayed with Rover leaf springs in my 1960 109 as well. However I did
    add thin sheets of plastic between the longer leaves to reduce friction
    and allow the suspension to work better. THis did help a great deal.
    >
    >Shocks: Gas or hydraulic? The Woodhead (Genuine LR) hydraulic shocks work
    >very well on heavier Jaguars (my only point of reference) and they seem to
    >be of good quality. Gas shocks (most speak of Old Man Emu shocks) seem to
    >be very popular as well.

    I followed the advice of the Land Rover engineers and stayed with the
    Woodhead shocks for the last 23 years. They have worked just fine for my
    109.

    >So anyone who has used some of this stuff please chime in - and is there
    >anything else I need to consider when replacing the suspension? I was told
    >I need to upgrade to IIa shackles and replace the frame bushings. Anything
    >else?

    I finally went to Old Man EMU soft poly bushings a couple years ago. The
    idea, at least for me, is that poly bushings are a LOT easier to replace
    in the future. The rubber bushings do a better job of absorning the
    shocks than poly bushings do. I went to the soft ones as a compromise.
    GO with the IIA shackles, move your steering arms on the swivel balls
    down to the IIA position while you are under the rig. You will need new
    'U' bolts. DO NOT FORGET the factory says to retorque them every 12K
    miles. There are some cheap poor strength 'U' bolts in the LR
    aftermarket. Either get US "u" bolts or genuine ones.

    TeriAnn Wakeman Marigold Ltd.
    Santa Cruz, California Web design, site updating, testing
    webmaster@overlander.net search engine optimization, graphics
                                  and more

    http://www.overlander.net/Marigold/index.html



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