Adjustable Shocks - Worth the extra $$$'s??

Looking for some words of wisdom from those with experience.

Are adjustable shocks worth the extra money? You can save around $300.00 if you don't order them.

I'm upgrading the suspension in the D40 and want a better ride, but don't want to waste money.

My biggest concern is the rear, the D40 is a king cab with an alloy tray that 98% of the time is empty. I don't want to upgrade the leaves and end up with a rear end that jumps all over the place. Will adjustable shocks help with this problem??

i have a d22 with comfort kit in rear. yes they are a different car but i have the comfort shocks and thinking about changing to adjustables. adjustables allow you to choose your ride. no load = you put it on the lowest setting or a low setting, putting some gear in it = turn it up to a higher setting to make it a comfy ride with load. where as just a simple comfort shock is set one way and laden or unladen it acts the same way. laden it mite be to soft and unladen it mite be a nice ride or even the slightest of bumpy.

for the $300 maybe just change the rear shocks to adjustables and the front keep as firms or comforts.

goodluck

Do shocks make that much difference to the rear end when its loaded/unloaded?? I'm not being smart, I really don't know????

I thought leaves were more supple when they were loaded up, but always give a bumpy ride when unloaded regardless of the shock??????

im nto 100% sure on this one and im sure someone will fill you in. ill say it my way and someone can correct me. i feel asif the springs are rated to a certain weight ie comfort,medium,heavy. comfort being carrying nothing to very little(maybe a canopy and thats it), medium being carrying loads but not alot of stuff, and heavy duty being constant loads all the time. if i was to fit comfort springs with heavy shocks im sure i would get a rough ride, comfort with comfort to most people is a nice ride quality and not over doing it on the bumps. so comfort springs with adjustables would allow you as the driver to choose your softness-roughness of the ride.

i look at it this way Spring = Compression, and Shock = Rebound or Expansion.

so when you put a small load or any load into a comfort spring you can up the rebound rate on your adjustable shocks to make the car react better to bumps etc in the road and also help the springs and not letting the car bottom out or sag to much.

as i said before i may be wrong but im no suspensions specialist. you mite need to pm Zordo on this site and ask him your question.

goodluck
Rusty

The shock is there to keep the wheel in contact with the ground nothing else, IMO it has nothing what so ever to do with comfort or load carrying ability, that's the job of a correct spring and tyre pressures.

Thats exactly what they do but is a little bit of a simple explanation when trying to consider hwo they impact ride handling.

Shocks control the excess engery in the spring from bumps on the road.
Shocks control the rebound and also the compression, the compression stroke varys from shock to shock. This is partly why some shocks make your car ride rough.

I am considering Rancho adjustables to replace my EFS shocks.

To be accurate, the shock absorber is correctly a "motion damper". It resists movement depending on the rate of movement - the faster the movement, the higher the resistance.

This means that as you move slowly over an uneven surface there is no real resistance to flexing, but when travelling on corrugations, the up-and-down motion of the axle is resisted by the shock absorber (damper) so that the up-and-down motion is felt more by the vehicle chassis (and everything sitting on it) but the chassis won't travel as far vertically. In English - the ride will be rougher, the car will sit firm and hard on the surface and may actually react badly at speed.

This dampening effect has NOTHING to do with load-carrying capacity - that's what your springs are for.

So, if your load varies a lot, air bags or removable suspension helpers are the trick.

If you travel on a mix of smooth and rough surfaces, you might consider adjustable shocks. If you reduce the dampening rate, the shock will allow more movement and the car will wallow in corners, but in a heavily corrugated road, the shock will provide more "give" and the hammering effect felt inside will be reduced.

Thanks for the info guys.

well that answers some stuff for me now. thanks old tony and lep for clearing it up

i think i mite give the ranchos a go when i get tired of the efs