How do you know when shocks are gone ?

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4x4nav

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Ute only has 100 thou kms on it and currently has old man emu so previous owner has changed out the stock suspension at some stage how long ago I don't know . It was a tradie ute before and same now so has constant load and every now and then a heavy load .

How can I tell if the shocks and torsion bars need changing ???

Cheers
 
Hard to tell I guess,

I'd do it if you have the coin. For piece if mind.

Actually, ring john at zordos suspension and ask what ride heights he gets when he installs on a d22 and compare to yours. That'll give you a good start!

Annnnd his gear us top notch and great price too!!
 
Torsion bars only need replacing if you load up the front with heaps of accessories/ weight. To test a shock pull it out, lean on it to compress it and it should rebound slowly but with a bit of force.
 
the bounce test is simply rock the ute hard and see if it settles straight away. do it on each corner.
the other is how it drives especially if it nose dives easily or front lifts when you plant boot on the throttle. if it suddenly dips when cornering.
 
I found driving over a rough surface, ie corrugations, shows up any issues! If it jumps and steps out all over the place and feels like the tyres are not well planted on the road then i would look at the shocks. Remember the springs also do some damping and the spring rate and condition will have a large effect.
 
Thx lads .... I'll run a few tests over weekend . The rear leaves were all but flat when I got it so rather than pay $650 to get them reset I've added the iron man load plus system $125 and did it myself which helped and put some angle back in the leaves and Id say raised it 30+mm too . Might do the shocks next then eventually do rear leaves too.

I definitely need a bullbar to add weight in the front just to even out /steady the front end , an alloy bullbar would do it Id say . Had wheels aligned balanced and rotated which helped . Maybe a steering dampener too ??

Cheers
 
You know your shocks are gone when the vehicle goes up and down more times than there are bumps in the road.

To Iceman, that is the 1st time i have ever heard springs supply any damping. A spring will try and fling you into the moon if you let it.

I would say that you get a better ride out of stiffer springs than overly soft or shagged springs, provided you have sweet shockers of course.

Another big factor is unsprung weight compared to sprung weight - a light vehicle with heavy wheels and tyres will ride like shit compared to a heavy vehicle with light wheels and tyres.
 
Yes coils will boing like a pogo stick but leaves are to a limited extent self controling. Like i said its in the rate, condition and loading etc. what do you think they used on carages and early cars before shocks were invented? Leaf springs otherwise known as cart springs.
 
After going for a drive fell the shocks with your hand. If they are not warm or hot they are rooted.
That's how we checked on trucks, but hard to do the "feels like it's floating" method.
 
bounce on each corner, if it doesnt stop at maximum 2 bounces, then shock is blown. another test is brake hard when you are almost stopped at the red light, if the truck bounces after breacking, then they are bad.


greetings!!
 
After going for a drive fell the shocks with your hand. If they are not warm or hot they are rooted. That's how we checked on trucks, but hard to do the "feels like it's floating" method.

To me this is The only method that makes sense!!!

1,most of us have heavy duty torsion bars

2, most of us have aftermarket UCA

It is not a coil front end...

I would like to see somebody try to push the front end of my car down.
I can stand on the bullbar and jump and the front of my car does very little movement!! It's very stiff.

And my shocks have only done 20,000 km

Due to having heavy duty torsion bars and upper control arms (wound up) I would be quite surprised if you can do the other methods


If this was a D40 then the story would be different!

So I second your method Sicko
Spot on I think..
 
In my youthful days I had no trouble getting the old single cab going with a real bounce up when I had good company. Looks like more than the shocks were rooted lol.
 
Did s short drive Id say 10 mins and checked shocks and they were warm -ish to the touch so should be ok ??

Do the d22s have x steering dampener ? I haven't checked under bash plate excuse the laziness lol
 
No steering damper, unless a previous owner fitted one. They never had them fitted from the factory
 
I have seen kits, they have a clamp looking thing for each end of the shock. 1 for the drag link and one to mount on the crossmember....
 

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