Which dampers (shock absorbers)?

[daveturnbull]

It would seem that my Pro Comp ES9000 dampers have started to lock up giving a very harsh ride.

I'm not really in the loop with what's good for reasonable money these days (say £40 each, +2" flavour), so what would you all recommend?

Edited January 3, 2017 by daveturnbull

[landroversforever]

I love the OME shocks I had on the 90. But they could probably be described as quite harsh. They did improve the handling vastly though over the old Pro comps.

[SPendrey]

I recently fitted Britpart Cellular Dynamic shocks to my Disco (DC6000L & DC6001L).  They are oil rather than gas and as a result sees much less bounce in the vehicle.  I like the ride and feel, but can't speak about how long they'll last.

[DC_]

Having had pro comps on my last Landy...... I've now got terrafirrma on my 110. I'd say the terrafirma are better. They cope better with handling at higher speeds (50 mph). They seem a better quality. Just my opinion though. 

[pat_pending]

6 hours ago, SPendrey said:

I recently fitted Britpart Cellular Dynamic shocks to my Disco (DC6000L & DC6001L).  They are oil rather than gas and as a result sees much less bounce in the vehicle.  I like the ride and feel, but can't speak about how long they'll last.

I have the Cellular Dynamics on my 110 and I find them perfect.

Fitted them 4 years ago and they still look as new.The supplied bushes were carp so I fitted standard rubbers.

The Terrafirma look to be a good budget damper and have a bit more travel, however I have read of eyes breaking and the paint finish seems poor as they appear to rust quickly.

[Kevm]

I have a new set of Pro-comps on my 90 and I find them quite a harsh ride for a gas shocker, wish I had looked for something a bit softer now.

[western]

OME dampers on my 110, ride & handling is fine ?

[DC_]

45 minutes ago, pat_pending said:

I have the Cellular Dynamics on my 110 and I find them perfect.

Fitted them 4 years ago and they still look as new.The supplied bushes were carp so I fitted standard rubbers.

The Terrafirma look to be a good budget damper and have a bit more travel, however I have read of eyes breaking and the paint finish seems poor as they appear to rust quickly.

 

Yes to be fair they do seem to show signs of rust along the lower legs...... I'm a geek I think and rub them with 3 in 1 every now and again. Protects and brings em up niioce ??

[SPendrey]

12 hours ago, pat_pending said:

I have the Cellular Dynamics on my 110 and I find them perfect.

Fitted them 4 years ago and they still look as new.The supplied bushes were carp so I fitted standard rubbers.

The Terrafirma look to be a good budget damper and have a bit more travel, however I have read of eyes breaking and the paint finish seems poor as they appear to rust quickly.

Me too and me too!

I used a spare set of pro-comp (Bearmach) bushes instead of the 'poly' BP ones.  I was also at my local LR indi a while back who was dealing with a nearly new Terrafirma shock that the eye had snapped off!

[daveturnbull]

Thanks for the replies.

From opinions here and general reading around other forums etc, the Britpart Cellular Dynamic ones seem pretty well regarded, where as Terrafirma have some quality issues, and Pro-Comp seem to have fallen out of favour.

Seems I'll probably plump for the Cellular Dynamic ones, but I might be tempted to give them a quick coat of black from a rattle can tho.

[Snagger]

I have had two sets of Pro Comps, plus warranty replacements.  They are utter rubbish, the 3000s too soft, the 9000s to hard and all prone to rusting pistons, leaks and seizures.  They're a classic case of getting what you pay for - they're cheap for a reason.  I replaced the leaking rear pair on my 109 with MoD spec OEM dampers (longer than standard) and the ride improved considerably.  The front will get the same "upgrade" when the car is put back into service, whenever that is.

[honitonhobbit]

Cellular dynamics lasted me 600miles on the disco

TF shocks are the most returned damper on the market - they are less than 4 quid a shock to bring in to the UK

OME have changed a lot now  - very different kettle of chickens and 104 quid a piece.

I'd look at Delphi - LR's own gas shock fitment; cheap as chips and very good. Also Monroe 4x4 Adventure, still made down under...

Bilstein are the best mid level replacement shock but are expensive

[pat_pending]

8 hours ago, honitonhobbit said:

Cellular dynamics lasted me 600miles on the disco

 

What failed?

[Disco-Ron]

11 hours ago, pat_pending said:

What failed?

The discovery most likely. ..?

[Bowie69]

Worth saying that dependant on use, vehicle weight and driving style they will all behave differently....

So 'best' is very much dependant on the owner.

[honitonhobbit]

What failed?

The bushes crumbled after 200 miles - and I mean crumbled. front shocks seized and rears lost valving. This was on a 200Tdi Disco, medium load, Gen LR HD springs F/R. Gen rubber bushes. Slightly oversized tyres. General road use, some towing up to 2.5tonne, greenlaning and the odd bit of navigational rallying. I genuinely wanted them to work, so they were fitted properly and carefully and not abused to excess. Paint finish was good mind. The Raw4x4 HD gas shocks on their at the moment are very good - although to be fair the first set leaked badly form when the two poster was lowered. This was traced back to a factory issue. A second set were supplied FOC direct form Argentina (the factory) as the shock is no longer sold in the UK. They have done 20k of the normal usage with no issues. No rust, no leaks, valving still good

[pat_pending]

10 hours ago, Bowie69 said:

Worth saying that dependant on use, vehicle weight and driving style they will all behave differently....

So 'best' is very much dependant on the owner.

Absolutely. I did some research and bought some budget priced dampers that work perfectly with my set up.

When I was looking for replacements, I emailed a number of potential suppliers/manufacturers asking about the damping characteristics of their products and their suitability given my spring fitment and usage.

Britpart were the only one to reply with any meaningful information.

 

10 hours ago, honitonhobbit said:

What failed?

The bushes crumbled after 200 miles - and I mean crumbled. front shocks seized and rears lost valving. This was on a 200Tdi Disco, medium load, Gen LR HD springs F/R. Gen rubber bushes. Slightly oversized tyres. General road use, some towing up to 2.5tonne, greenlaning and the odd bit of navigational rallying. I genuinely wanted them to work, so they were fitted properly and carefully and not abused to excess. Paint finish was good mind. 

Yes I had the crumbly bushes too. Disintegrated on fitting.

Your set up and use sound similar to mine, I know it's off putting when things fail but the Cellulars really are very good...when working.

I can't fault mine.

[muddy]

For off-roading rough country's from llama4x4, general landrover stuff standard black ones or ome if you wanna work them fairly hard.

[GW8IZR]

I've used Bilstein on all my coilers since about 1990 and I like the ride, they seem to last forever in my use.

I put new ones on the back of the 90 when I rebuilt it three or four years ago and was disappointed that the rubber bushes failed within twelve months. I had some cheap blue bag bushes in the shed and used them as the MOT was due, they are still fitted and show no signs of wear.

[neil110]

Ditto for experiences with Bilstein. Had a full set on mine now for 5 years and the only problem has been with the bushes. Replaced them with genuine Land Rover bushes and had no further problems. Often tow heavily laden GKN trailer (logs) and/or fill the truck with yet more logs. The pleasures of keeping 2 big stoves supplied with logs.

[honitonhobbit]

Years back when I was still writing for TOR I was sent a set of Iron Man Cellular Technology shocks - they were superb. The drawback with the stuff is the quality of the material. A Terrafirma Prosport is about 59 to 60 quid retail (with VAT). It’s about 11 to 14 quid (ex VAT) for a retailer to buy form the importer, who pays about 3.70 (ex VAT). Now that 3.70 includes the shipping. It’s about 2.5k to get a container from China. Or to be more correct it was – I haven’t looked for a while. No idea how many shocks you can get in a container. But let’s say 50p of that 3.70 is container costs. So that’s 3.20 materials, labour, on costs and profit.

Now Land Rover is a low volume manufacturer – that’s why so few companies make dedicated shocks for them. Especially now with it only being a service or aftermarket item. Almost all LR after-market shocks available are simple fitments for other more common vehicles that happen to fit LR. Sometimes valving is adjusted, but only on the higher level stuff, like Bilstein. So a ‘soft’ shock is simply not valved for that fitment

Main stream Shocks are made in Canada, America, Argentina, Columbia, Taiwan, China, Australia and Europe. A lot are generic – colour changes and bushes are about the only differences – a lot of manufacturers even leave the application of a sticker to the fitter.

Then of course you have your high tech stuff and your expensive low tech stuff; then your expensive low quality stuff, your gimmicks and your surprisingly good.

I have no idea what the cost is to wholesale import Britpart Cellular stuff. I what I do know is that I was just on the right side of the 2 year warrantee deal, so I had a new set out of them with no issues and within 48 hours. I had already sourced the Raw 4x4 units, so I fitted them instead. The replacement Britpart units were fitted to a Farm 90 in the village, but with the crappy yellow bushes replaced for cheap blue bag rubber bushes. That was three years ago and all is fine – that 90 drives 5 to 10 miles of drove roads (see rough tracks) 24/7 and tows a bullock box to market once a month.

What would I buy to replace the Raw4x4 shocks – Bilstein B6’s or Monroe Adventure 4x4’s. I’ve fitted loads to customers cars and never had an issue

[youngengineer]

I would like to revive this thread if possible. I would like to improve the ride quality of the 109, the speed-bumps in London are killing me.. I have given some months for the parabolics and britpart shocks to bed in, but in all honesty, its still a bloody hard ride. 

I am running on a Military chasis so I am limited to 1-ton shocks. I can't seem to find anything anywhere other then brit-part.

 

Should I be looking at generic shocks rather then land rover "Labelled" ones?

 

Edited May 11, 2020 by youngengineer

[lo-fi]

Before looking too hard at shocks, what parabolic are you running and how many leafs on the rear?

Regardless - and particularly if you've ended up with the firmer springs with more leafs - they ride much, much better loaded, so might be worth throwing a bit of weight in right at the back. Just takes bite out of it. 

[Nonimouse]

Grab a couple of empty 20 litre fluid containers, fill with water and tie in place as far back in the load bed as possible

If this makes a difference, but is still a bit harsh, add two more.

An ex military 109 simply wasn't built for comfort

[Snagger]

As a temporary replacement for another set of failed Pro Comps, I installed Armstrong  dampers for MoD 109s.  They’re the original manufacturer and I have the same suspension as you - HD parabolics on an MoD spec chassis.  They work well for road driving, including pot holes and speed bumps, with a good rate and not too much heat generated.  I didn’t try them off road, so I don’t know how well they’d cope with the reduced internal damping from the springs themselves - parabolics don’t have much internal friction to help the dampers like the original springs do.  But if you aren’t often driving extended off-road trips, then they should work well.  Cheap, too.

You’d expect surprised at the level of comfort they can give.  My 109 was much, much more comfortable a ride than the 2009 90XS we had at the time I fitted those dampers.