Shock Tech thread - thoughts please ?

[RangeyRover]

Thanks Mate fpr the quick response.

I have had rough country +5 on too. I have enjoyed the shock and good value for the money. After the first few outings though the shaft started rusting at the top. It didn't have a boot on. I cleaned it off, but you cant fight oxidisation. The rust has finally destroyed the seal and the shock is now dead, after 18 months. The fronts are rough country too and have not had the same problem with rust on the shaft at all?

Has anyone had the same with the procomps?

With the procomps, i can at least choose the length I require.

I have the QT weekender kit (Actually white peak) at the back, and am pleased with the articulation. I have si's ball joint ready to go on the rear, and want more travel if possible than the Rough Country +5 gave me. which is a 13" shock I believe?

I shall prob go procomp as I have the g wagon axles to get on which will be my permanent axles on any truck, and I just want to get through the MOT at this point with the rover axles.

[samwilk200]

Have you looked at the new Terrafirma +5" travel shocks yet?! Gwyn Lewis will be stocking them shortly I beleive. When I was last at Gwyn's, we had a long chat, and lined up the Pro Comp, Rough Country, Terrafirma and OME side by side. This gave a direct comparison between the shocks. Pro Comp and Rough Country shocks had thinner bodies and smaller piston rods, and looked 'lighter duty'/

We also pushed all 4 shocks down, and released them to see what their rebound damping was like. The Rough Country's returned to full extension very quickly, almost like a spring, showing they have little damping. The Pro Comps were not far behind. However, both the Terrafirma and the OME took at least 3 times as long to extend, meaning their damping was much greater, which has been shown by many peoples opinions of OME shocks. I have also been in a vehicle that had Pro Comps fitted, and another vehicle that had Rough Country fitted, and both were very bouncy!

If your wealthy, go OME.

If you cant stretch that far, go Terrafirma

If you cant quite afford £55 per shock for Terrafirma, save your money until you can

IMHO the Pro comp and Rough Country arnt worth it for only £10 less per shock.

[samwilk200]

the Rough Country +5 gave me. which is a 13" shock I believe?

The +5" shocks are approximatly 11" travel.

A standard landy shock has about 8.5" travel

Most +2" shocks offer about 9" travel, the +2" refers to the body length.

The +5" shocks offer about 2.5" more travel, and have a 2.5" longer body.

I think its mostly a marketing ploy, because how many people would go and buy new shocks if instead on being called +2", they were only called +0.5" I think not many...

[clbarclay]

Marketing has a fair bit to do with it. You can search this forum (as well as other) and find a few examples of people that bough +2" lift kits thinking that the +2" refered to the dampers as well as the springs, only to find that the dampers are actually standard lenght and the adverts never said they were and different, but didn't state that they were the same either.

A friend already has some +5.5" Terrafirma dampers from Gwyn Lewis on his 90 and initial comments are positive though they replaced standard units so no comparison against any other aftermarket damper. Only time will tell how durable they will be, the RC dampers have now been around long enough to show up the corrosion issue. My RC dampers are starting to rust on the top of the rears where the chrome appeared to suffer inicially from stone scratches (on road use?) before I fitted the plastic boots. The one thing that initially puts me off replacing my RCs with the Terrafirma rather than OME dampers is the same lack of steel shroud over the shaft.