twin shocks

Hey I'm leaving for Africa later this year and we will be traveling in two defenders. They have a bad problem with breaking shocks on trips. last trip they broke 3 shocks in 3 days. Does anyone know away to mount twin shocks on the rear axle?
thanks

wot shocks r ya using??

y not do a full upgrade to OME or Procomp or similar??

Land Rover 90-110 Defender Front Suspension - Parts Spares Accessories - Rimmer Bros

might find sumthing here

ore here

Land Rover Parts - TWIN SHOCK ABSORBER BRACKETS - Performance Equipment - Defender - Land Rover Parts and Accessories Tamar 4x4 Store (Powered by CubeCart)

What breaks? The dampers or the mountings?

CharlesY

Pro-comps did have a problem with the welds breaking, my bro had some break on his terrano.

ive seen koni shocks snap on a fully laden 90 in Wales. replaced with old man emu's

G

the shocks break at the usually break at the weld, but sometimes bend the damper rod.
I am trying to get them to go to a better unit but it is hard to get replacement, there, if it breaks.

you must be well overladen and driving fast on the old rough stuff to go through three like that. Good idea to fit some heavy duty springs, then the dampers won't be going so mental.

I did a big trip just on regular springs and standard dampers with no problem, driving with "vehicle empathy" or whatever it was called in the book on how not to break stuff on a long trip...

I read somewhere that putting twin shock hangers on puts un neccesary strain on the shocks and there more likely to break than a single shock.

I'd huv thought the strain on each damper would be roughly halved, all loads and stresses being the same as if it was single hangers.

What you might get though is that extra false confidence in having twin shocks and then tackling stuff hell for leather therefore putting bigger loads on the mountings on your axle and chassis.

Much better to keep your mountings original for a big trip and just drive with a bit of care...

I dint know I just read somewhere that someone'd had load of problem on a morrocan trip with both his rear twinshock mountings snapping. and someone else saying that it's a design fault and introduces extra loading maybe it's a increased leverage on the hanger or summat. iI was a few years ago when I was younger and dreaming of crossing the world in a landy. Now I'm lucky to cross the road.

If he is bending the damper RODS then the dampers MUST be bottoming out on bump and getting crushed.

This suggests a bad mis-match somewhere in the suspension, because the BUMP RUBBERS are there to stop the dampers from being able to do this.

If a damper bottoms-out hard even just ONCE by being driven closed with a thump such as going over a rock too fast, the innards (hydraulic valves and stuff) are liable to get jiggered, and of course the ROD may bend or WELDS may break.

The damper should NEVER be asked to act as TOP bump stop though sometimes they are allowed to be bottom bump stops - fully extended.

Old Series Landies had axle straps specially to save dampers from being damaged by over-extension (bottom bump stop).

CharlesY

Yes, definitely overloaded and pulling a trailer over 2 days of wash board roads. The trip is 3 days and so I not sure how much they will like slowing down and making it take longer.

Good luck Chui - sounds like an accident waiting to happen!!!

Overloading, a heavy trailer, speed and washboard roads.

rather you than me

chui said:

Yes, definitely overloaded and pulling a trailer over 2 days of wash board roads. The trip is 3 days and so I not sure how much they will like slowing down and making it take longer.

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Oh well, that's what's doing it - bump stops are NOT stopping the dampers from bottoming out.

One cure is deeper bump stops or inch spacers under the bump stops, but all these "cures" merely throw the excess forces somewhere else, and in this case it will be the chassis which takes the brunt of it, and which may fail.

Never mind, welding a broken chassis isn't such a big job - once you get the body off.

CharlesY

CharlesY said:

Oh well, that's what's doing it - bump stops are NOT stopping the dampers from bottoming out.

One cure is deeper bump stops or inch spacers under the bump stops, but all these "cures" merely throw the excess forces somewhere else, and in this case it will be the chassis which takes the brunt of it, and which may fail.

Never mind, welding a broken chassis isn't such a big job - once you get the body off.

CharlesY

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Tip for tight wads here. Don't buy expensive extended bumpstops. Buy another pair of standard stops and longer bolts and use two standard bumpstops. One on top of the other. If you know someone who has brought extended bumpstops, scrounge his old ones and use them for an even cheaper job.