Land Cruiser 79 OME BP51 Suspension Review

[Scalpel]

As far as I know Terrain Tamer and EFS has parabolic springs in South Africa. I have just given up getting details and prices out of them.

[IanK]

I''ve done around 30 000km on BP51's. Cannot recall cost at the time.
I must concur with the positive reports: these shocks completely changed the comfort of what is a pretty 'rough' vehicle.
My wife hated the cruiser until we fitted these shocks, some soundproofing materials, and a new sound system.
Now its a very comfortable cruiser.
Amazing on dirt, compliant, but I agree that its not a vehicle I would want to 'moose test'.
I have absolutely no regrets. My vehicle is extensively modified and pretty heavy.
We played around with compression/rebound for a few weeks, settled on a number, and have left that dialled in ever since.
For me this was an excellent utterly worthwhile mod.
Done together with leaf spring pack replaced.
I hope I am not just reporting confirmation bias, but I do not believe so: to me the vehicle really changed dramatically.
THe problem of course is that you can never do a side by side test once the changes made, so very very subjective....

D.

[gavpike]

Yep. I'm definitely going to spend that on my next Dakar race that I enter. Until then, maybe not.

[Cyclone101]

As far as I know Terrain Tamer and EFS has parabolic springs in South Africa. I have just given up getting details and prices out of them.

I have contacted EFS again, they don't have stock, just like a few months ago.
I am waiting for terrain tamer right now.

If I can find them, I will fit them.

Thanks.

[johanstals]

You can get a full Terrain Tamer suspension from Snyman 4x4 Brackenfell. Around 36K I believe.

[Cyclone101]

It's flexy Friday!




I just measured wheel lift for fun. Came out at 51cm.

I will measure it again after the terrain tamer parabolics have been fitted.

Hopefully I gain a few cm.

[ghouwens]

It's flexy Friday!




I just measured wheel lift for fun. Came out at 51cm.

I will measure it again after the terrain tamer parabolics have been fitted.

Hopefully I gain a few cm.

Remember that your travel is limited by the shock length, upward at full compression and downward at full extension. Changing just the springs is not going to make the shock longer or shorter.

[Cyclone101]

Remember that your travel is limited by the shock length, upward at full compression and downward at full extension. Changing just the springs is not going to make the shock longer or shorter.

There is a bit more up travel left at the back on the shock right now. Not sure about the droop. Time will tell.

[JorrieGroenewald]

I have contacted EFS again, they don't have stock, just like a few months ago.
I am waiting for terrain tamer right now.

If I can find them, I will fit them.

Thanks.

Maybe these guys can help.
https://www.supremespring.co.za/succ...leaf-springs-7

[Cyclone101]

Supreme spring has plans to design parabolic springs for the cruiser, but no time frame on the plan.
I even offered to buy a set for testing but they didn't seem too interested.

I am waiting till the new year to see if EFS gets a shipment of 200kg constant load, otherwise I will get the 500kg from terrain tamer.

I don't usually carry a big load, and my future plans will see to reduce weight as far as possible by building an aluminium tray etc.

As for now I have lifted the car with spacers in front and shackles in the back. The idea is to get the piston of the shock closer to the centre of the shock body. It resulted in a 35mm lift rear and 30mm front.

I will write a full update tomorrow.

[Cyclone101]

Ford ranger Raptor vs. BP-51

Yesterday I had the opportunity to drive a Ford Ranger Raptor, and I decided it was a good opportunity to compare it to the BP-51 shocks in the Cruiser.

I have increased the rebound in the shocks to 7/10 in front and 6/10 in the back. This has improved secondary movements after hitting mid size bumps. I feel this setup is very close to perfect for an empty cruiser.

Let me explain the mechanical differences first.The Raptor has independent front suspension and what looks like a 4 link coil sprung solid rear axle.The shocks are also bypass type shocks but here in the form of Fox 2.5. These are not externally adjustable and don't have reservoirs. (This is from observation, I couldn't find decent info about the shock-specifics online)

The Raptor also has 285/70R17 tyres as opposed to the 265/75R16 on the LC79

The Raptor has much better suspension design as it has much less unsprung weight in front and the rear coils are far superior to the leaf pack in the cruiser when it comes to smaller movements.

This is obvious when driving over patched tar where the cruiser can still feel the imperfections in the road surface where the Raptor is smooth. The LC also has a tendency to rock from side to side a bit more than the raptor.

Where things become interesting is when we got off the tar and onto a very bumpy and washed out and very muddy "twee-spoor".The Cruiser had not trouble keeping up with the Raptor and in the bigger impacts the Raptor felt the hit more.

We drove through this section of road back and forth and then swapped cars to see what the differences were.The conclusion, the Raptor is definitely smoother most of the time and quieter with incredible stability.

The Cruiser was much less refined, but the stability at speed on uneven roads are not as good on smaller imperfections and slightly better on bigger bumps.

The fact that the cruiser could even keep up on this terrain is incredible. Everyone was surprised at the results. The fact is that you have to drive like a complete hooligan to find the limits of the BP-51s

[Cyclone101]

It bothered me why the cruiser seemed to handle bigger bumps better than the Raptor.
In theory the Raptor should outperform the cruiser there as well.

Information is in short supply with regards to the Raptor. I was wondering how long the stroke length of the shock on it was. My guess is that the independent suspension has a shorter stroke at the front.

After looking at some photos of the Raptor I think that might be plausible.





Let me clarify something, the two cars drive very differently. I don't expect the Cruiser to ever be as smooth at the Raptor, especially on smaller movements road imperfections. On bumps less than 5cm the differences are the most noticeable, ons bumps bigger, in the range of 10-20cm the differences are a bit smaller, but definitely still favours the lighter suspension components.

It was only when hitting ruts bigger than about 20cm that the cruiser felt more stable.

This is NOT normal gravel road driving. These ruts would probably have taken a smaller car's wheels right off. I don't expect people to drive like this on a regular basis.

In the end this was just a fun comparison, nothing too serious or scientific.

[PierredW]

Flex on my 79 with heavy duty Dobinsons and Firestone Ride Rite airbags. About 500kg loaded. Put 1 ton on the Raptor and the same on the Cruiser and test again.

[Cyclone101]

Flex on my 79 with heavy duty Dobinsons and Firestone Ride Rite airbags. About 500kg loaded. Put 1 ton on the Raptor and the same on the Cruiser and test again.

I'm sure the springs in the 79 would be better suited to the higher load, mostly because the cruiser is rated for between 920 and 1095kg depending on which Toyota website you consult, and the Raptor is rated for 672kg if it has a full fuel tank.

Overloading the Raptor would definitely have a detrimental effect, but I definitely would have bottomed out the Cruiser on some of the bumps I took if it were loaded as well.

I'm not saying the Raptor is bad, it is incredible to drive fast over rough roads, but it's abilities also brings some drawbacks.

I am trying to improve the cruiser without comprising what is already good about it. I want a Cruiser that handles better, flexes better without losing any load capacity or durability.

This obviously means that my gains will not be as much as a more focused build. I considered building a coil sprung rear, and going crazy trying to flex more, but the compromise would have been too great for me.

After the rear springs my plan is to get more flex in front with some redesigned radius arms as I can't seem to get full movement on the shock as it is now. I suspect the bushes are binding up. Although, as I am typing this I realise that I haven't disconnected the anti-roll bar yet. I will make quick disconnects for that at some point.

Hopefully I don't go too deep into the rabbit hole and end up with something that is unusable as a daily driver, again.

[kenskind]

I am trying to improve the cruiser without comprising what is already good about it. I want a Cruiser that handles better, flexes better without losing any load capacity or durability.

The reason why I'm keenly following your thread. Keep up the go work and thanks for allowing us to learn along with you.

I'm taking notes for my 76 which should also get a set of BP51s in the new year.

[Cyclone101]

BP51s with Light loads Off-road

This morning I picked up some lawn dressing that were in 35kg bags, I loaded 10, so that makes a nice exact load of 350kg.

On my way back I was shocked at how amazing the ride felt. So much so that I decided to go for a test run.

Luckily this time there wasn't any mud, because it took me more than 3 hours to clean all the mud in the engine bay from the last test.

The shocks handled the load perfectly, almost no difference in the body control, where it did shine however was on angled ruts where the tyres go over the obstacle one at a time, this time the Cruiser had almost none of the side to side rocking that it had before. The rear suspension actually felt supple on the smaller imperfections also.

It was incredible, I wish I had the Raptor here today because the difference in ride is astonishing. I will see if I can do a load test on the Raptor to compare it to the Cruiser somewhere in future tests.

I am actually considering just keeping a load on the bakkie just for the ride.

I will help a friend on a farm over the weekend, hopefully I can test a ton on the back to see how that performs. The longer I test these shocks the more impressed I am.
I wouldn't consider them a must have, but if you can afford the extra cost over normal shocks, I can not recommended them enough!

[grips]

It bothered me why the cruiser seemed to handle bigger bumps better than the Raptor.
In theory the Raptor should outperform the cruiser there as well.

Nice thread. Does not have any experience with the OME BP51. Have a FOX suspension on the Yank Ranger. Everyone that rides with me on bad and washed out roads will always comment on how nice the ride is.

I am in the same boat with the 76, do not want to mess up the ride of the stock suspension.

One also need to remember that the 70 Series have a very robust suspension and I am not surprised by its performance close to that of the Raptor. Have done some serious fast travelling on very, very bad and rutted dirt roads. You can hit bumps and washouts at speeds that will damage other suspensions or completely bottom them out. But let us leave it there I have no intension to start any arguments with people telling me how good independent suspensions are.

[peter bee]

a cruiser is made to take a fair load and drive like it has nothing on it in the worst conditions,. a raptor with the same load over time is going to fall apart. you cant compare the two, just buy a raptor if you looking for luxury and comfort.

[Cyclone101]

Nice thread. Does not have any experience with the OME BP51. Have a FOX suspension on the Yank Ranger. Everyone that rides with me on bad and washed out roads will always comment on how nice the ride is.

I am in the same boat with the 76, do not want to mess up the ride of the stock suspension.

One also need to remember that the 70 Series have a very robust suspension and I am not surprised by its performance close to that of the Raptor. Have done some serious fast travelling on very, very bad and rutted dirt roads. You can hit bumps and washouts at speeds that will damage other suspensions or completely bottom them out. But let us leave it there I have no intension to start any arguments with people telling me how good independent suspensions are.

What type of Fox shocks do you have, they make an incredible lineup of shocks. The only thing that kept me from buying Fox shocks was the lack of rebound adjustment.
That would mean a shock rebuild to match my chosen spring rates, but I don't know what my spring rates would be in the end yet. Not a massive issue to work around, but would require more R&D work.

The stock suspension on the Cruiser has no comparison to the Raptor, it still takes big bumps but not without excessive body movement. I suspect a stock cruiser would find itself on its roof trying to keep up with a raptor at speed. The tyres are just off the ground for too long. The Raptor really is that good.

Independent suspension is definitely better than solid axles in high speed handling and stability, but I am surprised at how good a solid axle can be, but in durability and articulation the solid axles win hands down.

[Cyclone101]

a cruiser is made to take a fair load and drive like it has nothing on it in the worst conditions,. a raptor with the same load over time is going to fall apart. you cant compare the two, just buy a raptor if you looking for luxury and comfort.

I can definitely compare the two, if one fails sooner than the other, that is exactly what a comparison is for, to highlight differences.
Loading 500kg on both and going for a drive is within specification and would be interesting, for me at least.

I bought a 1HZ Cruiser because I didn't want electronics. As good as I am at pixie-wrangling, I prefer a more simple approach to this car. I wanted to, and have with great success so far, improve the suspension as much as possible.

I understand that most people just want to buy something off the showroom floor and drive it, but I am not one of those people. My ideal car doesn't exist on a showroom floor.

For me, the process of getting there is just as fun as the end result. I just hope that some people find it as interesting as I do, that is why I share my experiences.