Best shock absorber choice

**mufie** · 2012/09/11, 07:37 PM

I know there has been threads on this before - but what is the general feeling now on the shock absorber of choice amongst the Defender community?

**James MacKay** · 2012/09/13, 08:24 PM

Never ever again will I ever touch Old Man Emu , service from 4x4 Megaworld Gaborone was fraudulent and to make it worse 4X4 Mega World in Edenvale ( head office) did nothing to remidy the situation.

**mufie** · 2012/09/13, 09:03 PM

I am curious about anyone with experience on Koni?

**eric60260** · 2012/09/13, 10:46 PM

Originally Posted by mufie

I am curious about anyone with experience on Koni?

Hello,

It is difficult to speak about shocks without adressing other topics like springs, transmission, etc..

I have on my 110 Koni Heavy Raid + OMU Springs (+75 Kg front, +200 kg rear), quite happy about this (My 110 is modified - pop up roof - and quite heavy - usually a total of 2,800 / 2,900 Kg incl. 140 l. of diesel and 70 l. of water.

Seems to be quite good, main inconvenience is the indecent price.

Cheers..

**XJ Junkie** · 2012/09/13, 10:53 PM

Originally Posted by eric60260

Hello,

I have on my 110 Koni Heavy Raid + OMU Springs

I think you mean Koni Raid shocks. The All terrain is know as Heavy Track

**eric60260** · 2012/09/13, 11:01 PM

Originally Posted by XJ Junkie

I think you mean Koni Raid shocks. The All terrain is know as Heavy Track

Hi,

Sorry, that's Koni Heavy Track..

I have also front propshaft with double cardan..

Cheers

**XJ Junkie** · 2012/09/13, 11:11 PM

They are great shocks!

**eric60260** · 2012/09/14, 12:06 AM

Originally Posted by XJ Junkie

They are great shocks!

Hi,

Agree completely, but you have to consider the balance with the other elements of your rig:

Great shocks with poor springs are nuts.

Same applies for springs / transmission: if the springs are harder, you should allow more tolerance from the propshaft, reason for the double cardan.

And please do not forget gearbox, transfer case and even chassis.

I know lots of people (overlanders who travelled either Africa North / South / North or South America) who had transmission problems with too hard springs, or fitting a Def with 8 schocks (the chassis has not been designed for that), every time with overloaded vehicles..

That' s another golden rule: never overload (2,950 Kg for 110 or 3,050 Kg for 110 pick up or 3,500 Kg for 130). You will pay the price for it some time.

Just remember that the LR engineers know a lot about off road driving, they designed fantastically balanced cars, and we, as amateurs, should not think we can change a lot on them without consequences.

Cheers...

etc..etc..

**DUMPIE** · 2012/09/20, 12:55 PM

And the Terrafirma is half the price of OME.Just ordered mine from LR service centre Cape Town-hope for fitment next week.

**knarsis** · 2012/09/20, 01:28 PM

its also not really possible to choose a favourite if you have not used all of them at some stage.
i think it will be a battle between terrafirma and OME and terrafirma will take it due to price being the most reasonable

**mufie** · 2012/11/17, 07:33 PM

So I finally did the upgrade with medium Terrafirma coils and the top-of-the-range Terrafirma gas shocks.

WHAT A CHANGE!!!! I am soooooooo pleased with the results!

The handling on and off road is a 100% better, got some lift but not too much - actually back to the factory height. Last weekend we went away and with 7 people in the Landy and all other stuff on the roof rack - I did not even notice the load.

Thanks for everyone that contributed and helped me to decide.

**Trevor_Mathews** · 2012/11/17, 11:01 PM

Good stuff man...thanks for reporting back.

**XJ Junkie** · 2012/11/18, 09:51 AM

At the last WCCC event Chris Ingram entered a diesel Defender bakkie into the locker class. It had a seriously impressive Terrafirma lift kit installed. He won........without lockers :-)

**henkc** · 2012/11/18, 11:03 AM

There's probably nobody here who can compare them. However a lot of us have probably fitted one or two different shocks and can at least say what they liked/didn't like.

Originally Posted by eric60260

Just remember that the LR engineers know a lot about off road driving, they designed fantastically balanced cars, and we, as amateurs, should not think we can change a lot on them without consequences.

I beg to differ a little here. Due to a mix up I recently had standard LR oil shocks fitted to my Disco for a few weeks. On the road they give an excellent, well damped ride. Off road they are great for the first few minutes, after which they fade very badly.

If I have to look at my experience with shocks, it goes as follows:

I bought the truck with Gabriel Safaris on the front and OEM on the back. They were old and pretty shot, so comparing this setup to a new setup wouldn't be fair.

These were replaced with Gabriel Kubus which gave a firm but well damped ride and were great off tar. Over time (I had them on for 80,000km) the firm, well damped ride gave way to quite an unforgiving ride - firm but not that well damped. I would consider these again if they (and nothing else) were available.

Next up Monroes. Very nice shocks but they didn't last. I drive on quite a lot of corrugations. Changing them at 50k illustrated how much they had worn. I probably should have changed them a lot earlier. During this period I replaced the springs with Bearmachs.

The less said about the OE shocks the better.

Now on TF Pro Sports. So far these are behaving very very well on a mixture of tar, gravel and some mildish offroading. Time will tell whether they are good value.

**Witblitz** · 2016/01/22, 08:00 AM

Mufie , how are you now finding the Terrafirma gas shocks on the Defender.
I am thinking of putting on the extreme long travel shocks (tf122lt) 125mm longer than standard. To give me the articulation

**mufie** · 2016/01/22, 08:54 AM

Hi Witblitz

As said before, I am extremely pleased with the handling and general performance of the TF's. However, I recently noticed the rear shocks leak oil (and I thought it contained only gas

), this only after about 3 years. It is a bit concerning and I still need to get to the bottom of it.

**Landyluvver** · 2016/01/22, 09:00 AM

this thread is a little "vague"
shocks should be rated on "fit for purpose" and price
Gabriel Safaris and Monroes are perfect for a daily driver and occasional offroad excursion
HDP, TJM and OME made for more serious offroading which probably makes it applicable to only 10% of the vehicles
TJM and Billstein is not on the list
Safari probably the best value for money on average
TFs leak
OME too expensive
what about LR shocks?

**Witblitz** · 2016/01/22, 09:01 AM

Hi mufie
Thanks for the information. Price wise I think it is the right choice

**Fontuin** · 2016/01/22, 01:17 PM

Originally Posted by Landyluvver

what about LR shocks?

I found LR shocks to be very good. Better than many of the aftermarket stuff...

**Fontuin** · 2016/01/26, 11:04 AM

Just a word of warning.

If you intend buying Koni shocks, and you are using the fact that they can be serviced as one of the reasons for your decision.

Not all Koni shocks can be serviced.

Make sure you you check that the shock you are buying can be serviced.

I went through all the trouble to transfer my Konis to my 300 Tdi from my V8 because they can be serviced, only to be told that they can't.