Lifted GQ wagon suspension set up. Please help :feedback:

Ok so i just picked up my GQ that i bought unseen off ebay :1087: wasn't sure what i was gonna get. I paid 7k for an early wagon TD42 with 400k's, front air locker, warn winch, 4" lifted with tough dog shocks and superior eng goodies, uhf, quarter chop, recovery gear, dual battery system and monitor and 33" muddies. I was pretty happy and it seems to be pretty good, just a few spots of rust and in need of a turbo.
Anyway apon driving it home from bris to cairns the ride was horrible, very very bumpy. When i finally jumped under to have a look i found that the shocks were adjustable and were set to fully hard:1087:
So i backed them off to about half on front and rear and a few more minor adjustments up the road. Now it has 5" lifted tough dog 45mm bore shocks and i think a 4" spring lift with all the superior engineering bits but it seems to go from super bumpy to wanting to wander over the road.

It doesn't get up the shakes but just seems to like wandering over the road which is not great. I mean its not way scary, just a bit unsettled. I can't see anything loose underneath when doing the steering wheel wobble check so i'm wondering if there is something else i should be looking for or adjusting. Wheel alignment seems to be good as it doesn't pull left or right.

For the lift it has i would definately think it should handle the road better but i haven't driven any other Q's with similar lifts. Has anyone had experience with the tough dog shocks or suspension set up in general?

Thanks in advance.

So when you say wander do you mean your forever correcting the thing cause it seems to be very twitchy and slight steering?

If this is so then your caster correction is not up to spec for the lift and you dont have enough caster correction and your Toe-in is killing you.

When the guy did the 4" lift what did he do in the way of caster correction? Caster bushes? Caster Plates? or Drop Boxes? Or Arms?

Get a set of Drop Boxes for it mate and you will never look back, That Wander is very exhausting when driving long distances cause you have to be On It all the time to keep the thing straight.

Ah ok. I am not sure what he did and if i had a look i wouldn't be able to tell. It has alot of good gear under there but maybe nothing done with the caster correction. Thanks for the info, i will get it to a suspension shop one of these days for some attention. The more i soften the shocks the worse it gets to drive, hopefully i can find a happy medium.
Thanks MudrunnerTD

Take a Pic of the front diff where the Radius arm connects to the front diff (The arm that goes from under the front seats to the underside of the front diffs and holds them forward) and also the back connection of these same arms and i will likely be able to tell you what they have done. Easy fix mate but your best bet is to be armed with the answers when you go to a suspension mob or be prepared to bend over ;) You dont need New Suspension you just need to tickle her a bit.

Thanks heaps. I will have to get the GF to take some pics as i am about 20 000 km's from home, this could be interesting.

I am still learning the names of the arms and stuff under there but i do remeber that the radius arm is a superior engineering one, but no idea what has been done where it connects onto the diff.

I just reckon it should be able to handle bumps on the road alot better, it still to rough but floaty at the same time, and i have been in other lifted 4bies that handle a shitload better and are no where near as rough. Is it possible the springs are too soft, would a stiffer spring and softer shock setting be better?

My 5" lifted GQ kinda floats but i have medium load flexys and adjustable tough dogs with superior super flex arms in the front :). My tyres (which im not happy with) for on road use make a difference to my ride. If its floating as your saying i would be looking to see if it has sway bars or not as this will make a difference. Castor incorrection will prob cause more vibration, twitchy steering etc than harsh ride. Tyre pressures can play their part in this as well. I wouldnt change the springs but possibly look at another set of shocks which may be valved better for what you do

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Originally Posted by Richo460

but it seems to go from super bumpy to wanting to wander over the road.

Thanks in advance.

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On a lifted rig bump steer is increased and poor wheel alignment will do that, also springs that are too soft.

I have the very early GQ (88) and it doesn't have the sway bar release like the last gq i had but sold. Comew to think of it i'm not sure it even has sway bars at the moment, def will get the missus to send me some pics. I only just bought the rig but surely no one would take out the sway bars, the bloke claimed he did very little off road stuff as he lived in the city.
Thanks for the replies, suspension is not my thing.

Mine is a pov pack 90 model and did not come with a front sway bar. I haven't put my rear sway bar back in after a 4" lift as I'm lazy and haven't bought extended sway bar links. However the ride is quite good not as you describe yours anyway. It's a little bit rolly around roundabouts


Tappin N Crappin

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Originally Posted by growlers71gq

It's a little bit rolly around roundabouts

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yup and those bastards keep putting em in, driving over them is fun though

ok so i got a pic, its pretty dodgy but its all i have as i'm not at home.
Can anyone recognise from the pic if i need or have drop boxes or lowerd arms?
I don't have sway bars, that is prob making it feel worse too.
Thanks for all the help fellas!

Foter?? Where?? Hahhahahaha sorry mate aint no piccie there


Tappin N Crappin

might help if i post the pic

ok so now i actuall know what drop boxes are, i see that i have them.

Yup drop boxes for sure


Tappin N Crappin

so from the info i have is that it has drop boxes, 4" lifted coils, 5" lifted tought dog 45mm adjustable shocks, superior eng radius arms and superior eng adjustable panhards. running 33" bighorns. Looks like there is no sway bars.
Maybe a wheel alignment is needed and then just suspension tweaking?
I have bought some new door hinges and bailey channel to hopefully stop a few door and window rattles, that might make it seem a bit better over bumps.

Mate the rattles and clunks are just her whispering sweet nothing's in your ear ;-)


Tappin N Crappin

well i put a set of 6x9's and a 12" sub in her before i came back to work and that seems to have fixed alot of the rattles and other noises. :band:

There are no sway bars pictured and you still have standard radius arms. I think you may have meant superior lower control arms on the rear? And your certainly running drop boxes. With your rattles etc just jump under there and make sure everything is tight.

Yep definitely got Drop Boxes. Where the radius arm attaches to the front diff looks a little strange? can i get a close up pic of that?

As newby said, you dont have a front sway bar connected or attached at all. Not that big a deal. The front radius arm looks to be a Nissan one right up until i look at that front connection. a closeup please.

If you do have drop boxes and some other form of caster correction too then you could be over corrected that wont be helping either. It will steer like a boat.

hey bud iv always ran tuff dog shocks they tend to be more rigid and rough unless there worn out then they tend to start floating around i would be checking the bushes in your lower control arms what run under the bottom of your diff common for them to be flogged out causeing the diff to move around upsetting everything. also check the rear lower trailing arm bushes as they wear and the back diff floats around and maybe steering dampner setup wrong or worn out.

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Originally Posted by MudRunnerTD

Yep definitely got Drop Boxes. Where the radius arm attaches to the front diff looks a little strange? can i get a close up pic of that?
The front radius arm looks to be a Nissan one right up until i look at that front connection. a closeup please.

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All looks normal to me, connected to the factory brackets on the diff. And yes it's a std Nissan arm.

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Originally Posted by bordertech

All looks normal to me, connected to the factory brackets on the diff. And yes it's a std Nissan arm.

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Just had another look at the pic on the computer rather than the iPhone. when i first looked at it it looked like that was a plate down the inside of the radius arm and i thought that might have been one of those SuperFlex arms but the rest of the arm looked stock. Was strange and i could not see past that image.

You are right though, it is the mounting bracket welded to the diff that i am looking at and as such all looks stock.

To the OP, check to make sure that you have rubber bushes in those radius arms, if they are rubber then there will likely be no caster correction built into them and your then running Drop Boxes and it should be sweet.