Lovells shocks - gas legend

[Jason]

You'll need to get it offroad soon to see if there is you notice any difference there.

 

[Aido]

Might be a few weeks before that but looking forward to it.....upheaval and turmoil in changing jobs prevents me from having fun at the moment.
I'll get Anges response to the change when she gets home from work tonight.

 

[Leprechaun]

Might be a few weeks before that but looking forward to it.....upheaval and turmoil in changing jobs prevents me from having fun at the moment.
I'll get Anges response to the change when she gets home from work tonight.

I found better shocks give better control(stability) not comfort, thats more to do with spring rates.

Know how you feel, got those chunky mud tyres, but have to work 12 hour days at the moment, being promoted to a project manager. no more money just more stress!.

 

[Aido]

But only an hour to fit the 4 shocks, thats good going.

Hoo Roo

Its very easy and can be done with a stubbie balanced on yer chest. Rears took 15 minutes for both as they are only retained by a nut top and bottom - 17mm OE spanner required.
Front pissed me off when I managed to jam the first (RH) one between the control arms and took me 30 mins to extract it. Otherwise the whole operation with a fag and a beer included should have only taken 30 mins.
Tools required if doing the change from standard to Lovells shocks

1x 17mm combination OE Ring spanner
1x 14mm combination OE Ring Spanner - to remove original front top mount, ratchet ring spanner sped it up a bit though.
1x 17mm socket attached to a ratchet to speed things up on the front lower mount - use the ring spanner to crack the original and torque the new though.
1x Jack that you will find located conveniently behind the rear seat to lift the front and make it easier to fit the buggers. The rear does not require jacking to do those

 

[Aido]

I found better shocks give better control(stability) not comfort, thats more to do with spring rates.

Concur with that.
And thus I am now looking at the rear leaves. The standard will be thrown in the nearest skip where they belong --- read as e-bay
The torsion bars are more than adequate and I think I would find them too firm in standard trim without the additional 80kg of sprung weight I have forward of the vehicle. The rear leaves though aren't even a compromise of expected use. Since they sit marginally lower than horizontal with no weight at all then Nissan have engineered them to be harsh unloaded but adequete when carrying half the payload and completely inverted and useless when fully loaded.


But....
What springs do I fit?
At present we have a canopy only and 60kg of dogs over the rear axle but in the future I am looking at an ARB roof rack over the canopy which will add another 40 kg. Plus its payload.
I am looking at progressive springs from Carrols and getting them to engineering something that will suit my needs as the Nav is now about to be pressed into service as a company vehicle and will need to tow 2.5T of equipment on occasion but not every day so I still need something that does not force me into having fillings replaced every week!

Air Bags are an option but lets not go there. I'll start a new thread on renovating my rear end.







And my suspension

 

[Leprechaun]

Yeah, good luck on finding springs to carry your load and allows some offraod articulation, I don't think they exist. I made the mistake of throwing my old springs in the scrap metal bin at work, I ended up using some hilux leafs to make up my own spring pack to get the lift I wanted with out the load carrying springs that restrict the flex.

Back to shocks, If the Lovells don't pan out, why not try some emulsion shocks?, I'm keen for some feedback on their performance.

 

[Aido]

Back to shocks, If the Lovells don't pan out, why not try some emulsion shocks?, I'm keen for some feedback on their performance.

Easy tiger!
We are in drought and the money tree is struggling enough as it is!

 

[raywise]

Tools required if doing the change from standard to Lovells shocks

1x 17mm combination OE Ring spanner
1x 14mm combination OE Ring Spanner - to remove original front top mount, ratchet ring spanner sped it up a bit though.
1x 17mm socket attached to a ratchet to speed things up on the front lower mount - use the ring spanner to crack the original and torque the new though.
1x Jack that you will find located conveniently behind the rear seat to lift the front and make it easier to fit the buggers. The rear does not require jacking to do those

Perfect info Aido, thanks for that.

Hoo Roo

 

[Yakka]

Its very easy and can be done with a stubbie balanced on yer chest. Rears took 15 minutes for both as they are only retained by a nut top and bottom - 17mm OE spanner required.
Front pissed me off when I managed to jam the first (RH) one between the control arms and took me 30 mins to extract it. Otherwise the whole operation with a fag and a beer included should have only taken 30 mins.
Tools required if doing the change from standard to Lovells shocks

1x 17mm combination OE Ring spanner
1x 14mm combination OE Ring Spanner - to remove original front top mount, ratchet ring spanner sped it up a bit though.
1x 17mm socket attached to a ratchet to speed things up on the front lower mount - use the ring spanner to crack the original and torque the new though.
1x Jack that you will find located conveniently behind the rear seat to lift the front and make it easier to fit the buggers. The rear does not require jacking to do those

4HRS!!! Must have been smashing some stubbies too...... Did mine in about 1.... Nothing to it at all. Have had my Lovells for about 18months. Very happy. Get them through suspensionstuff.com.au cant remember how much, about 395 from memory but I picked them up. Thier workshop is in Springwood Qld.

 

[Aido]

Rear leaves arrive next week. ARB Dakar's.
Will have to get another alignment done when they go in because they will raise the rear by 2" and so I will need to raise the front to suit.
Will be keen to get rid of the original leaves as soon as I can they are shit.
But thats another topic.

 

[Aido]

Finaly have rear leaves to go in tomorow.
Also have OME Nitro charger shocks to replace these lovells.
They are for sale at 50% cost. Have done only 7500kms and they do make a difference but not with a steel bar and whinch. Mated to standard rear leaves with no load they are too firm, front with load they are too soft. So if you have a standard vehicle that carries around a bit of weight in the back and dont have a steel bar and whinch on the front then apparently they do just fine.
$200 plus postage and they are yours.
Gone for the Nitrochargers because I got them, along with the leaves for an incredibly good price. Plus the 2 are matched in regards to spring rate and damping ability. ------FFS this better work or next the whole bloody car will be for sale.

 

[Dave]

I ordered some Lovell leaf springs yesterday.

Not cheap but if they are the quality I have been told they will be worth the money.

Dave.

 

[Aido]

I ordered some Lovell leaf springs yesterday.

Not cheap but if they are the quality I have been told they will be worth the money.

Dave.

Dave can you do a thread similar to this one re the springs and your experience?

 

[Dave]

Yeah I will do when they get fitted in about 2 weeks.

Dave.

 

[Aido]

New springs and shocks are in.......
Would rate the package as a MAJOR improvement over the standard suspension but still a bit harsh. Perhaps I am expecting too much to make this Bullock dray to ride like a limo and possibly the next suspension improvement will come from Bunnings in the form of 200kg of GP cement bags.
Interesting to note though that I changed the rear springs first and did a test run with the lovells in and they performed *almost* as good as the OME units now installed. The problem I have with the Lovells is that the damping rate is far too soft for the weight of the bar and winch but seemed to work well with the Dakar rear springs. Having said that though there was noticeably more body roll with the Lovell shocks and the OME springs than was present with the standard springs. The full OME compliment of parts works well with the front now performing very well but there is still a reasonable amount of kick in the back end even over small surface changes.
Hume city council has been great for providing me with a suitable rough track for testing all these changes in the form of mediocre road building and maintenance along with installing speed humps 100m apart on the same badly surfaced road. So big thumbs up to them!
So to sum up. Lovells are not the solution in my case because of the weight I have over the front of the vehicle.
OME are more suited to my application - but there may still be a case for Carrols springs to re-work the dakar's to make them just a bit softer.

NB. the dakars raised the rear by 34mm and so now I have to adjust the front to suit but I will get Pedders to do it tomorrow while they also work out why it steers like a billy cart put together by a bunch of 9 year olds.

And yes along with spanners I used more than a few swear words along the way. Why do nuts and washers find their way into the most obscure places where they cannot be reached?

 

[Leprechaun]

All the aftermarket springs are way too hash for every day driving IMO. If you want comfort and ride quality you need to import from the states. Or do what I did and make your own spring pack!.

PS: I can organise shocker dyno tuning if your interested. I used to work for Gary Baker who's a Bilstein shock dealer and suspension legend in all forms of motor sport. He's located in Clayton.

 

[Aido]

A shock dyno would have been valuable for feed back on the 6 combinations I have at hand but I'll be buggered if I am going to climb under again to re-arrange it for the sake of figures. My bum dyno tells me most of what I need to know. Speaking of, perhaps I should get Isri seats to knock something up for the Navara and then I might be happy!

Yes aftermarket stuff is all geared towards people carrying heavier loads while touring or at work and so it is all a compromise. But the aftermarket stuff still shits all over the originals in terms of handling and ride quality. The originals look like they should belong in a Corolla.

 

[Leprechaun]

It would be interesting to compare d40 and D22 suspension, D40 being a posers truck may be softer as standard?

 

[Aido]

D40's are definitely softer - drove one the other day. Not so much a posers vehicle but a more "refined" vehicle where Nissan prefer to spend dollars in chasing the Hilux market. The D22 is more for the toothless hill billy hack that prefers to shop at BigW rather than David Jones.
I would have got a D40 but I just don't like them.

Off track now.
D40 owners feel free to gloat over the above comment.
D22 owners with all of their teeth please withhold your comments and try to stay on the suspension path this thread was following

 

[ljacko78]

they may 'soften' in a little more Aido when you put some km's on them. Either that or you just get used to it

Any pics or does it sit about the same as before?