dudley Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 Hi guy's Its come round to MOT and my 1998 90 300TDi needs new rear upper bushes, thats all. But the wife always moans about the hard ride on our country lanes, I suppose it does bounce about a bit on the pot holes. But what I am thinking is, if I am going to be getting mucky replacing bushes why not upgrade the shocks anyway. I have a van for my work day to day, but as we have a farm the 90 is useful, although rarely off road and sometimes used to pull a livestock trailer to market. But as we don't own another vehicle so wife drives it every day on a 10 mile return journey to work, and grocery shopping etc. So 95% is wife driving. Should I upgrade shocks,if so to what, without spending loads? Thanks steve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tacr2man Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 It wont be the shocks that are causing the hard ride unless they have got to the point where they have siezed ! What tyre pressures are you running and what springs ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanuki Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 "Bounce around a bit" suggests a lack of damping. On the basis of a couple of decades of rally-car and track-day experience[1] my shock-preference is still for Bilsteins or Konis. Not cheap, but they _are_ cheap when you consider the labour-cost and hassle of doing the job again in a couple of years because you fitted something aimed more at the bling-bling offroad market than the professional end. [1]If we were talking Japanese vehicles I'd only be recommending "Tein" shocks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discomark10 Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 Yea as said above...if it's the harsh ride, its either too hard tyres or too hard springs so you could replace the lot with a lower rate. But if its bouncing then new shock, old man emu are one of the best Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dudley Posted August 29, 2013 Author Share Posted August 29, 2013 My thought on the changing the shocks were knowing that they would be designed to be firm changing to something different would help soften the ride, but of course I can see now that wont help, there meant to stop any bounce. As for what make of springs? that I shall have to go check tomorrow, but it will be as factory fitted on the last 300TDi models built in 1998 . Wheels and tyres? Again factory fitted alloys with Bridgstone Dueler A/T on the front and Goodrich All Terrain on the rear 265/75/16 I will have to check tyre pressures tomorrow but if I remember when checked them last, and that was all too long ago, they would have been around 34psi I think. We have had the the 90 for 4 years, the tyres had good tread on them then, we have done about 35K in those 4 years and the tread depth still looks like it did 4 years ago, hardly any wear, although the rubber walls look tired. There are lots and lots of very tiny hairline splits in the side walls, but dont panic, MOT tester looked very closely at this, as did a tyre shop a while back, and the splits are cosmetic and not an issue as far as safety is concerned. But to me it implies maybe the rubber has hardened as the tires must be 5+ years old. If it helps, I am no landy expert, this is the only one we have owned and were running on all terrains, and as I have never driven another with standard road wheels and tyres I am probably wasting all your time. I think I need to get out and drive someone else's defender before trying to change the way mine drives and troubling everyone on here, Regards Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aragorn Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 Paddocks do the Bilstein B6 dampers for a very good price, i bought a set for my rebuild. The tyres will be date stamped, usually an embossed oval in the sidewall with a four digit code which is WWYY, where WW is week number and YY is year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discomark10 Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 Well if they are stock springs I doubt you can go any softer without losing ride to much ride hight, think you may have to live with it tbh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex Member Posted September 2, 2013 Share Posted September 2, 2013 If you want softer, get Konis. Bilsteins are stiffer than stock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokinv8 Posted September 2, 2013 Share Posted September 2, 2013 I have Terrafirma medium duty +2 springs on mine and +2 pro-comp shocks, and despite others critising *cheap shocks I have found this arrangement to be a softer more compliant ride than the old man emu ones fitted previously and are lasting well. BUT...bear in mind that I have a full cage and 2 winches on board making my truck heavier than standard to start with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted September 2, 2013 Share Posted September 2, 2013 I thought 90's were well known for having overly firm springs as standard... I'd use Trev's spring calculator in the technical archive to see if some softer ones would suit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happyoldgit Posted September 2, 2013 Share Posted September 2, 2013 If the current shocks are ok an alternative to make the ride a bit less bouncy is just to carry a bit of weight in the back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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