Iron man Suspension report

[VillageSTX550]

Well, so we had an ironman 2" constant load lift kit installed 2 years back, and it's been great. The rear has always been a lot higher than the front, but we thought that was just because of the constant load leafs.
Had a look under the front the other day, and I swear the CV's were angled downwards, that is pointing down from the wheels to the engine. I didn't think springs would sag this much....
We've bent and snapped the mounts for the rebound clips a few times now, no idea why. I think it's from flexing and hitting the frame, hence the marks on the frame rail.
Heres the right one which sheared off it's mount.

Bent one

And now this, coming back home from a big trip. Hit a speed bump 2 minutes from home and BANG from the front corner of the car.
Arrive home and check out the front right spring. Clean snap.

Lets see what happens with ironman now. I have a feeling that the wrong springs were installed because we have an STX 550 which requires heavier load rates springs because of the heavier engine.

 

[glennm]

None of that is good for only 2 years. That is some serious looking rust there. Do you do a lot of beach work?

 

[VillageSTX550]

Never been on a beach in its life. It is used up at the snow though, so I think it's from the salt on the roads. Looks to just be surface rust.

 

[benchrisfennell]

Shit snapped spring

 

[Jased22]

Not good mate. Lots of people on this forum have had trouble with ironman gear. I had efs leaf springs snap on me

 

[VillageSTX550]

Yeah i'm lucky it didn't happen on the freeway or out bush. We did over 1500km over the weekend, and this happens 2 minutes from home on a speedhump at midnight!

 

[Cobez]

I have IM springs and shocks up front. They arent bad. Had them for over 2 years and no probs. The rears though, blown shock seals after 8 months. I didnt even bother with the warranty crap. Too much pissing around. I ripped them out, belted them up with a sledge hammer and put a pair of Tough Dog foam cells in.

These days i have a steel bullbar up front etc so its a good excuse to piss the IM crap off for some heavier duty Tough Dog gear up front.

 

[d22dave]

Not good mate. Lots of people on this forum have had trouble with ironman gear. I had efs leaf springs snap on me

I wouldnt say lots.

Either way thats not good.

 

[VillageSTX550]

Yeah if warranty works out being a pain we might swap to some radflo coilovers and PRG UCA's I think, want something that will be awesome offroad.

 

[Jased22]

Gee that is lucky!

 

[mike1303]

Push for replacement then sell it as a new kit and try another brand!

 

[VillageSTX550]

Yup, just in contact with them and they are going to replace, now going to look over my options and consider selling the new ones.
Support from them has been very helpful.

 

[Ironman 4x4]

Hey @VillageSTX550,

Just caught your thread on here after talking to you via phone email.

This is a very, very rare thing to have happen - and more than likely is a manufacturing defect for it to have snapped like that.

Hopefully the replacement springs should rectify your issues. Should you have any other questions or queries, I'm always here and happy to help!

Cheers,

Matt
Ironman 4x4

 

[VillageSTX550]

Hi matt. Yeah thanks for all the help, they were sent out super quick and we now have them reinstalled, all is back to usual. Thanks for all the help.
Does ironman have any plans for some "hardcore suspension", I know you just released the foam cell pro.
We got a quote for the king shocks kit from the importer and very $$$$$$

 

[Ironman 4x4]

Hi matt. Yeah thanks for all the help, they were sent out super quick and we now have them reinstalled, all is back to usual. Thanks for all the help.
Does ironman have any plans for some "hardcore suspension", I know you just released the foam cell pro.
We got a quote for the king shocks kit from the importer and very $$$$$$

That'd be our Foam Cell Pros mate. We've got guys using them on comp trucks at the moment - they are a truely impressive shock - I drove our D40 550 through the Simpson with them in, they chewed up the corrugations. The only point the suspension was falling behind was when we were going over large consistent whoops where the lack of wheel travel in the IFS setup was causing it to top out regularly - not much you can do about that though without changing the whole suspension design in the D40.

The trucks that handled the whoops the best were the GU patrol (and was the universally agreed vehicle pick for the trip) and the 79 series dual cab cruiser (and this wasn't as good coz leafs on the rear mean it wasn't nearly as plush as the GU).

If you're talking about going to a remote res shock - then no, we have no plans. We prefered the performance, and durability afforded by our Foam Cell Pro (and we looked at remote res monotube designs when first mapping out our development).

Cheers,

Matt
Ironman 4x4

 

[VillageSTX550]

Ok thanks matt, will look into the foam cell pros.
We didn't bring up this issue when we emailed, but if you look at the first post I posted some pictures of whats happening with the rebound clips. We had gotten them rebolted and now one is loose again... From wear marks it looks like it's contacting the top of the frame rail, this shouldn't be right? is the clip too large or something?

 

[Ironman 4x4]

Ok thanks matt, will look into the foam cell pros.
We didn't bring up this issue when we emailed, but if you look at the first post I posted some pictures of whats happening with the rebound clips. We had gotten them rebolted and now one is loose again... From wear marks it looks like it's contacting the top of the frame rail, this shouldn't be right? is the clip too large or something?

Hey Mate,

I just had a look. It appears you got one of the first batches of springs as in later batches we stopped them being added for that reason (occasionally contacting the chassis).

If you just remove them altogether you wont have any issues. They are just there to stop your leafs splaying, but if your leafs are setup correctly and tight then they shouldn't do it anyway for those springs - which is why we removed it on later batches of the leafs of D40s.

Hope that helps!

Cheers,

Matt
Ironman 4x4

 

[VillageSTX550]

Awesome, thanks tonnes!
If you can shoot me a PM with an email for your sales team or whatever with a quote for the foam cell pro's that would be awesome.
Do you think we'd be able to get a bit more height out of the front with the pro's as currently the front is still a bit low, even though obviously rear is high because of constant load leafs.

 

[Ironman 4x4]

Awesome, thanks tonnes!
If you can shoot me a PM with an email for your sales team or whatever with a quote for the foam cell pro's that would be awesome.
Do you think we'd be able to get a bit more height out of the front with the pro's as currently the front is still a bit low, even though obviously rear is high because of constant load leafs.

I'll just make it easy and post on here mate.

Without any springs being replaced - only shocks you are looking at

$1012 for Foam Cell Pro rear shocks and front struts.
Foam Cell Pro kits start at $1735.80 and go through to $1823.80 depending on spring selection. *and none of these include fitting.

The front can be adjusted a bit higher using the adjustable spring seat - but make sure you maintain sufficient down travel (minimum 60mm of droop recommended) - the higher you go the less droop you'll have. And don't forget it's a 2:1 ratio.

Cheers,

Matt
Ironman 4x4

 

[VillageSTX550]

Awesome thanks