Suspension upgrade query - 150 Alt

[Brougham Member Find all posts View Profile Close Brougham]

Hi, planning the first major lot of upgrades to my Altitude D4D. Plan is for an ARB Deluxe winch bar on the front, 50mm lift, and allowance for a winch at a later date.

We have a Jayco Swan Outback that is pretty heavy on the ball. My last 4x4 was a Disco with SLS so never a problem, but i'm sure i need help on the Prado. We also have a 80L waeco that sits in the rear of the car, and probably a 30kg child in the other 7th seat.

my local ARB shop recommended the usual mix of H/duty on the front to cater for the weight of the bar/winch.
They then recommended static load 200-400kg springs in the rear.

However - I'm concerned that when the car isn't towing (and probably will be the family/wife's car normally) that it will be very rigid and hard in the rear. Can anyone comment on that?

I fitted airbagman spring airbags to our Territory and were happy with them, so wondering if better option is to get the medium/normal weight springs in the rear, or maybe the lighter 100-200kg static load springs, and then the airbags to help level the camper out?

Any thoughts or comments? Cheers, Nathan

[Guest Close Guest]

Yes, medium on the rear with coil assist airbags pumped up when you're towing. Going straight to HD at the front may not be too good if the winch was not installed. Always best to do the suspension last.

[Brougham Member Find all posts View Profile Close Brougham]

thanks for that.

winches are what, 30kg? would it make that much of a difference to the front?
are they different suggested springs, for bullbar with winch and bullbar without?

[Guest Close Guest]

A winch is 30kg but it us way out front. So the weight on the spring is actually multiplied by some factor.

[Brougham Member Find all posts View Profile Close Brougham]

so arb would offer a different spring to those without a winch?

[Guest Close Guest]

I would think so. Otherwise, the front end will drop a bit when the winch goes on.

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

The old man emu site has a selector that you can use. Might help you understand the options available:
http://www.oldmanemu.com.au/old-man-...sion-selector/

[Brougham Member Find all posts View Profile Close Brougham]

thanks for that, yeah, been there and it doesnt really help much as they just recommend all 3 options (0kg, 200kg, 400kg) and obviously dont offer or suggest the airbags as an option.

[Mattfunk 120 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mattfunk 120]

Suspension upgrade query - 150 Alt

Hi Brougham, I'd suggest doing a little research yourself first. I went to an OME supplier with limited knowledge & told them the weight on the vehicle & the expectation I had. They told me they would never install what was recommended on my car from the OME suspension selector as they didn't agree. I accepted their expert advice & wasn't till I had some dramas & did a lot of research, I realised I should have gone a different combination. I'd maybe take it to a suspension specialist as well for advice and talk to people who install different brands who don't have an agenda to sell one particular brand.
Matt

[Brougham Member Find all posts View Profile Close Brougham]

Bit of a generic reply. Did you want to expand a bit, via pm if you want?

Done a bit of research and unfortunately all suspensions joints give the same sort of reply (you could do this or that or that, up to you).

I was chasing real world experience replies hopefully, not sales people talk.

[AussieAndy Find all posts View Profile Close AussieAndy]

Real world experience, fit the suspension that the car requires to do the majority of the driving it does. If every day it runs around empty doing school pick up and drop off and only goes on a trip 2 weeks every year and the occasional weekend away fit for empty. If you are retired and tow 90% of the time fit for that. By the sounds of what you are saying fit front springs to suit a bar only, fit medium duty rears and airbags. That should work for you and if/when you fit a winch you may require new front springs then. There is heaps of suspension threads on here, and plenty of coil and shock options and everyone has an oppinion, enjoy

[Nik83 Member Find all posts View Profile Close Nik83]

Can I just say, and this may be irrelevant, but take your car to a suspension specialist.

I bought my springs+shocks (dobinsons combination) from zordos, and that wasn't the problem, I recommend him or ############# any day! The issue came when I ran out of time and the option for borrowed equipment off a mate, so got my 4wd shop to install my suspension as a measure of goodwill (the more you use a supplier, the more ready the discounts). The suspension u/g was awesome for handling (being able to do 100+ around long corners is a nice change from the stock suspension after the bar work was installed!), but, at low speeds the suspension was squeaking pretty bad - and i could hear it with the windows up. It almost drove me insane.

I took it back to the 4wd shop to get fixed. They fixed the bar work. They had a look at the suspension and said "it's the rear hats, I don't think there's anything we can do". When I hear something like that I say to myself "that's either laziness or they don't know how to fix it". So I took it to a suspension place I knew of.

I should have got the local suspension guys to do it originally. It was actually the washers that were incorrectly installed. I took the car in today to get the annoying squeaks fixed, was charged one hours labour and that was it. What they did was put the right washers where they should be. "There wasn't any damage, so you got lucky".

:-\

JM2C from a potentially close call: Take it to someone that excels at what they do.

[SaltBoxII Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close SaltBoxII]

Not advice, just our experience:

We have the HD in the front (with steel bar + rails, winch, battery and recently bash plates) and med in the rear (0Kg to GVM).

Unloaded (2 kids, fridge, stuff), ride is great but still firm. I wouldn't like to be any firmer in the rear unloaded.

Towing 700kg camper, no real noticeable change. Towing 1300kg boat, still well behaved and no real noticeable change, and we take it pretty easy with the boat anyway. No air bags at this stage. Will be hooking the boat up Friday night. If I remember, I can measure before / after.

We did the suspension last after most of the mods, at around 15,000. The front was getting pretty bad by that stage and was impossible to keep aligned..

[Brougham Member Find all posts View Profile Close Brougham]

thanks for that, that's what i'm leaning to as well.
HD front, medium rear, and then airbags if needed to balance out the camper weight

[Rigged150 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Rigged150]

Hey guys, noticed the front of my prado sits a lot lower than the rear, would it just be a case of adding heavy duty/constant load springs in the front there?
Sorry if it's a silly question, new to this
can't really see it on below picture