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And there goes another pedders shock... best place to buy a new kit?

GuyB

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Jun 8, 2015
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sweden
To be fair, it was never supposed to be a permanent solution. I needed a lift kit in short order, and Pedders were both helpful and had available stock.

I went for their foam cell, heavy duty shocks (not the entry level kit Milner used to sell) with 50mm lift springs. Bout the same money as the equivalent OME kit.

They were fine for day to day, and some light off-roading, but the heavy load and harsh terrain of Budapest - Bamako, back in January, proved too much for the rear shocks. First one, then the other let go after a day of dune-hopping. We tried to continue but apart from the motion sickness, it just didn’t feel stable, so we pulled into a bush mechanic in Senegal, who found two mismatched van shocks and welded the pedders mounts onto them. Brilliant!

I called Pedders on my return, and they (without inspection) surmised that they must have been fitted with the vehicle lifted, but nevertheless agreed to replace them (they were under warranty when it happened, but not at the time of claim) free of charge.
Alas, they said they needed the batch numbers stamped on the shocks, which I had left in Africa! Hmmm...

I was about to take them up on a secondary offer of a half price replacement, and then this happened...

upload_2018-6-4_16-19-40.jpeg


Yep.. that’s the oil from one of the front shocks, apparently a casualty of a day of (fairly) hard off-roading.

I don’t know if there’s any merit in Pedder’s claim of the likely cause concerning the rear shocks, but it’s not impossible. The fronts, however, I know for certain, were fitted on the ground.

I know people who give their trucks soooo much more abuse than I do, and haven’t had to change their kit for a decade or more. I can’t fault the service of Pedders UK, but I’m afraid I’ve just lost all confidence in their product.

So time for a new kit. I’m considering the usual suspects, OME, and also Icon, EFS and others. I assume, the best kit may comprise shocks from one and springs from another... would appreciate some guidance as to a good outlet... knowledgeable and with decent aftersales. I would usually go to Julian at Overland Cruisers but can’t get a response.
 
Can't get a response from Julian? Really?

I'd recommend EFS too. Superb stuff. As for Slinky, they're really rock crawling springs. I have been for a ride on a set and it was impressive but they are not supposed to be squashed flat on a heavily loaded 80. They have 3 areas of progression (IIRC) in the spring and at least one of them is just flattened in this application. On a light weight rock crawler, this part of the spring should be working. I guess they work, but in the wrong application in the wrong way if that makes sense. I think Kingtom is on a set and likes them. But I'd not hesitate to go EFS

I tried to get a set but after a year I gave up trying to get a response.

Can't recall who I was asking though .....
 
Thanks, Grant and Chris!

Really interesting, re the slinky springs - I had wondered how the softer end of the progression would fare under load!
 
I was thinking of the Koni adjustables- not that I need adjustable but figured once they were setup then I could leave them. ANyway why do aftermarket uprated springs and suspension come in hideous red, green, yellow or blue colours? I think they look as tacky as a 'bang tidy' sticker. Anybody doing good old black these days??
 
The recommendation of EFS may be from experience that I don't have, but I swapped out my sagged OEM springs when I went for a lift, with OME components 12 years and 200K+ km ago.

Admitted, the springs have shed their paint, but there’s only surface rust and nothing more serious. They’ve been used and abused all these years and the only thing to let go was the steering damper (last week) which was vomiting fluid.

The gas shocks still perform and feel like they did when fitted, albeit paint peel on stone chips, but elsewhere as yellow as the day they were fitted.

No complaints at all from me.
 
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Interesting - been running a Pedders +2" on our 80 Series for 4 years and c30,000 miles and no issues - admittedly that's largely road miles (though if you've driven the IOM roads, they're not much better than 3rd World countries!). For my use, I'd buy them again.
 
Indeed - I wouldn't have had a bad word to say about Pedders for road use, even IOM roads! And others have put them through worse with no issue. Maybe a bad batch, maybe they switched suppliers. There's a company in China called Unity4x4 that seems to have a tie-up with Pedders since last year. Everything I've ever bought from Unity has either been useless or has failed very quickly - so if they're the new manufacturing partner for Pedders, that could explain my woes.

I have no problem with Chinese manufacturing in general... but when it's bad, it's very bad.
 
Yes , that rings true, Clive - the truck I drove with OME has had plenty of abuse and miles, also fitted over 10 years ago, and felt completely solid.

I wonder if the newer kits are as good as the old, given today's commercial pressure to outsource everything.
 
My take on choice is you need to look carefully at your setup and expected use. It is very much down to our individual needs for example, my use over the last 7 or so years being regular 60/40 road/off road use this is now nearer 70/30, this soon to move to 50/50 ish. So mine goes from stock lightly loaded, to still stock but very heavily loaded in a a couple of hours, and as mentioned on stock gear.

Unless you have a very specific use in mind, or unless you can find someone with an identical setup (including tyre size) and with the same use in mind, then there is personal preference to ride comfort, it is very very difficult to get spring and shock rates spot on for an individual application.

Given how good the original Toyota spec is (ask anyone who has been off road with me) perhaps research their specs and using that as a baseline then factor in your individual needs (lift ect) would be the way to go?

When a front spring on mine broke last year IIRC it was just a day or two before a trip off road, I quickly grabbed a pair of stock springs and they performed without issue, so the rate between empty and fully loaded is clearly well researched by Mr T.

I know OME (no affiliation ect) has been around for a long while , I would guess their catalogue has a decent range to choose from, the reliability already proven?

Regards

Dave
 
My take on choice is you need to look carefully at your setup and expected use. It is very much down to our individual needs for example, my use over the last 7 or so years being regular 60/40 road/off road use this is now nearer 70/30, this soon to move to 50/50 ish. So mine goes from stock lightly loaded, to still stock but very heavily loaded in a a couple of hours, and as mentioned on stock gear.

Unless you have a very specific use in mind, or unless you can find someone with an identical setup (including tyre size) and with the same use in mind, then there is personal preference to ride comfort, it is very very difficult to get spring and shock rates spot on for an individual application.

Given how good the original Toyota spec is (ask anyone who has been off road with me) perhaps research their specs and using that as a baseline then factor in your individual needs (lift ect) would be the way to go?

When a front spring on mine broke last year IIRC it was just a day or two before a trip off road, I quickly grabbed a pair of stock springs and they performed without issue, so the rate between empty and fully loaded is clearly well researched by Mr T.

I know OME (no affiliation ect) has been around for a long while , I would guess their catalogue has a decent range to choose from, the reliability already proven?

Regards

Dave

I’ve said this before on a few occasions, but when I got my 80 it was 11 years old and it had been abused. The PO was in the building trade and he openly admitted that it had been under maintained and overloaded throughout its life.

The springs were obviously tired. It looked slumped without close inspection, and compared with other 80s i’d seen around, it definitely needed some new springs at the least.

I have nothing against stock, Mr T got this vehicle right in my view, so I didnt want to dive in and interfere with it, unless I had experienced guidance. i was all ready to simply replace the springs with new OEM and have the shock absorbers checked and replaced as appropriate.

Anyway, I was fortunate enough to be introduced to a Scottish guy here, and he was the OME rep for Romania at the time and he also had contacts with ARB importers. I sat with him and over several beers he asked me my plans and anticipated use of the truck, what extras I had in mind and so on.

My list included a winch bar and winch, larger wheels (because I’m obsessed) a steel full-sized roof rack and a rear bar with spare wheel carrier. I said no to a long-range fuel tank and said it was unlikely that I’d be fitting extra leisure batteries and storage drawers etc.

Away he went and on our next encounter he had with him a list of priced suggestions. It was extensive (and costly) but we went through it ticking and crossing the various items. Finally, he came up with the OME suspension parts list, and I still have it somewhere.

I ordered it all and had it all fitted. Everything, as the truck is today. The transformation was remarkable.

That was 12 years ago, and I still like the way it handles.

I’m guessing that some components may be fading a bit by now, I’ve replaced bushings from time to time that have failed due to a high proportion of offroading, but otherwise its held up well.

One thing I’m pleased about is that it was all weighted out before, meaning that the replacement suspension was designed for the vehicle and its use. I’m sure that a random approach would have ended up with a mis-match and this stuff is too expensive to get wrong.

That’s my pennyworth for what its worth.

Over time I’ve had my doubts about the castor correction method, and after trying correction bushings and dropper boxes. I’m currently pleased with correction plates, except the steering tracking bar is just skimming the suspension arm on one side which is annoying.

Even considering some Slee arms, if I can get them here at the right price.
 
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My suspension has been delayed while i try to figure out what will be added to the truck weight wise long term , its a bloody nuisance that the companies that make and ship bumpers and the like don't advertise weight :icon-rolleyes:
 
My suspension has been delayed while i try to figure out what will be added to the truck weight wise long term , its a bloody nuisance that the companies that make and ship bumpers and the like don't advertise weight :icon-rolleyes:

Have you tried to search for technical data sheets on these products?

IIRC, ARB used to provide good dimensioned technical data on all their products...
 
Just had a reply from Switzerland - sorry we no longer sell the front , rear bumpers nor side steps but we can offer you cheap Chinese copies from our EU suppliers at just 3 times the price .

FUCK THE EU !

I'm starting to think i'd be better off driving to a free country such as Russia to spend my money .
 
Have a look at the Ironman Foam Cell Pro, 3 year warrenty on them and the specs top any direct fitment shock there is.

Speak to West Coast, I’ve just put a set in the 105, Paul can give you good feedback on the performance of them, he has them fitted to his 105 that was raced around Morocco on them with no issues
 
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