Grande suspesion reliability

[Malcolm Godde Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Malcolm Godde]

I am thinking of purchasing a grande for the family car, also for the annual trip to somewhere in the outback. We tow an old T Van currently. Is the standard air bag suspension on the grande proving to be reliable & is there sufficient clearance for the vehicle. We are not going to travel on tracks that are classed as difficult, as we mostly travel alone. Any help we be great. Mal Godde.

[kav Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close kav]

Re: Grande suspesion reliability

i dont think you,ll have any problems , i haven,t yet . ive just done the merricumbene fire trail into bendethra valley , birdsville in the mud , stockton beach . your buying a touring vehicle not a rock climber.in touring mode with a van your not going to need it lifted, also remember the suspension at the back can be set to high when travelling at under 55kph. i havent done any real towing with it but this is what the airbag system is supposedly for , carrying loads . mine has 157000 ks on it mind you it never saw dirt for 145000 of those , the only thing ive done is replace the front springs to cope with the bar and winch because the front was sagging .you will have to do that with any vehicle if you strap 120 kgs to the bumper . i went lovells standard height heavy duty which gave it about a 20mm lift over what should be standard, which gave it about a 50mm lift from where it had sagged to.mine still has the electronic dampers and i have no intention of changing them to SOME i repeat SOME of the aftermarket rubbish that is around . buy it and enjoy it , im lovin mine , i never knew these vehicles were so good.

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Re: Grande suspesion reliability

Hi kav,

What droop do you have on the front with the Lovells springs?

To answer the OP, Darren at Autocraft has been converting a lot of Grandes by replacing the front struts and rear shocks, while maintaining the OEM rear airbags. Haven't read any issues with people having problems with Darren's method.

[kav Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close kav]

Re: Grande suspesion reliability

if im right about what your asking ..we got about 75 mm of drop . i would measure its ride height now but its at the auto elec getting its battery set up ill post it later . before we started the cvs were pointing slightly upwards ,now the point slightly downwards . i got the springs from 4wd direct online delivered to my door overnight for $170 .

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Re: Grande suspesion reliability

Thanks kav. My current droop is 95mm on standard suspension. I have a max of 35mm lift if I want to retain the TEMS shocks. Your 75mm droop sounds good. must be because of the bar and winch.

[kav Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close kav]

Re: Grande suspesion reliability

the bar weighs in at 85 kgs the winch at 26kg as its got dyneema on it . the ride is a little bit harsher and could probably handle a bit more weight it sometimes makes the rear feel a bit soft . its a bit hard to give a direct comparison before and after because i changed from passenger grandtreks to 694 lts at the same time . the dual battery system won't be under the bonnet i don't want that much weight out front.

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Re: Grande suspesion reliability

Best to search out the grande suspension threads as there is a heap of info on them posted here already. Including how to raise them.
I went raised and bilsteins in my grande and could not be happier, much improved ride and handling over the original stuff.