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Prado 90 with Bilstein Shocks

macks75

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Oct 20, 2014
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philippines
I have a Prado 90 that i want to fit bilstein shocks the engine is 3.4Liter V6

based on my research the front shocks should be
BE5-2450

but my dealer is giving me the BE5-2482 which is for 2wd What will be the effect if i put the 2482 will my ride be hard and can it fit my rig ?
 
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I would think shocks regardless of brand are rated by the weight of the vehicle they are intended to carry and 2 or 4 wheel drive makes no difference . Steven on here ran a 90 with 80 series shocks on the rear and was quite happy with them i believe , perhaps because he carries a lot of tools and equipment in the boot . As long as they physically fit , and the dealer would have to accept return if they didn't , the ride comfort is anyone's guess , same with any new shocks really .
 
Shocks just provide damping control really. No weight-bearing ability. So they should be matched to your springs which should be capable of providing the safety and articulation required. Some shocks are built to withstand different workloads so a shock good at controlling springs on far will fail at controlling the wrong spring rate on had roads or if the spring is over compressed or over extrnded.

Shocks shouldn't be considered in isolation either - you must take into account what you want them to do - i.e. heavily laden daily driver, rough-terrain overlander, extreme 4x4 challenge vehicle etc.

So back to your drawing board really...
 
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Forgive my ignorance but surely weight must play a large part in how shocks are rated ? If a 1 tonne truck using shocks rated for 3 tonne truck drove over a brick in the road at 50mph surely there would be no damping from the shocks and the truck would bounce like it had wooden wheels . Just asking i would have thought a spring new or old would just do what a spring does and it's the damper that's most important ?
 
Yup - but the shock must match the spring. So you would use springs rated for the correct load capacity then need shocks to control the damping of the springs. Shocks don't actually carry the weight - the springs do. So frequently manufacturers sell matched pairs of springs and shocks, but if you step aside from that guidance you get into the physics of articulation requirements, spring capacity and rebound characteristics.

And I'm no engineer but had a long discussion over a week's travels with a suspension specilist. If you get one of the parameters wrong you get chaos - over-damped springs giving stiff rides, under-damped giving bounce and tracking issues like wandering etc. And at worst you get bust shock seals from over compressed or over extended shocks if they don't match the spring rates correctly. So the final rule was to try to match the shock to purpose and what spring set you use ...
 
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Makes sense , buy shocks and springs together at the manufacturers recommendation because they can do calculations we can't :thumbup:
 
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