Shock absorber advice

[Jens]

Hey everyone,

I've done some research on what type of shock I want and I'm hoping people's experience can lead me to the best shock for my needs.

I just purchased the 2" flexy coils from suspension stuff and will be looking at fitting 3" shocks in the front and 4" shocks in the rear as recommended. My GQ is mainly set up for touring.

I want a shock that's a monotube design that's going to do the job for touring through WA. I've looked at AmadaXtreme, Profender, and Tough Dog as the main contenders. I don't want an adjustable shock either.

Does anyone have any experience with these shocks? My budget would be $1000 max. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

[Ben-e-boy]

I would go with the amada's they are rebuildable which means buy them once, when it flogs out put a seal kit through it new oil and repressurize. A downside to monotube shocks are if the tube gets dented (by a rock or something) the piston is not able to travel past that dent as it wont fit. That could lead to more serious damage like bending a shaft.
The amada and profender are remote resovior. This helps with cooling the oil, the hotter the oil gets, the thinner it gets and the shock does not perform properly. shocks get incredibly hot, I recently had one of my King shocks on a shock dyno for 5 minutes I could not touch it for half an hour its was that hot after a 180kmh simulation. Imagine what 8 hours of corrogated roads will do.

Amada is my pick

[Winnie]

I would go with the amada's they are rebuildable which means buy them once, when it flogs out put a seal kit through it new oil and repressurize. A downside to monotube shocks are if the tube gets dented (by a rock or something) the piston is not able to travel past that dent as it wont fit. That could lead to more serious damage like bending a shaft.
The amada and profender are remote resovior. This helps with cooling the oil, the hotter the oil gets, the thinner it gets and the shock does not perform properly. shocks get incredibly hot, I recently had one of my King shocks on a shock dyno for 5 minutes I could not touch it for half an hour its was that hot after a 180kmh simulation. Imagine what 8 hours of corrogated roads will do.

Amada is my pick

The things you learn! I did not know they got that hot


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[BigRAWesty]

Same.. Learn something new everyday..

[Ben-e-boy]

The things you learn! I did not know they got that hot


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Same.. Learn something new everyday..

I knew they got hot, but up until it went on the shock dyno I didnt realise they got blistering hot. I had to see it to believe it. I know why some cheap shocks fade so quickly now.....cant dissipate the heat

[MudRunnerTD]

The things you learn! I did not know they got that hot


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Same.. Learn something new everyday..

That's why the Old Man Emu shocks are called Nitro chargers. They run Nitrogen gas as it has a much higher boiling temp and they resist fade by design.

The idea of a remote res shock like the LTR OME or the Amada or Kings is that the remote res is an extra canister of gas to dissipate the heat.

I have Amadas on the GQ and am stoked with them.

Yo need to check your lengths before ordering mate and ignore the advice about 3" and 4" shocks with your 2" springs. It defies logic. The centre position of your shock should be aimed for mate. A long shock will end up being close to bumping out if its 2 long and you will blow them. I have blown 2 rear sets with that advice from Suspension Stuff. Ripped it all out and started again. So much nicer now with Superior Setup. Junked the SS gear

Tough Dog should not be written on the same page as the other 2 choices you have listed. Simply not in the same class.

[alfonso]

I run tough dog nitro max shocks and find them great 16000 klm of rough corrugation working in the cape lots of pot holes and fully laden with no bottoming out works for me. They have been making them in south Africa for nearly forty years so they must have some merits .

[Jens]

Hey Mudrunner,

Can I ask why you'd stay away from Tough Dog? I'm keen to know if you had a bad experience with them or if there not well suited for a GQ. I'm definitely keen on a shock with a remote reservoir depending on how much they are and I haven't heard a bad thing yet about Amada.

I bought the flexy coil and was given the measurements of 570mm in the front, and 720mm in the rear. Could you explain what you mean't by "the centre position of your shock should be aimed for." Not quite sure what you mean.

Does anyone on the forum have experience running the 2" flexy coils?

Thanks guys

[Drewboyaus]

So I'm curious, what's the advantage of Flexi coils over say, regular OME lifted springs?
BTW if you're touring, the nitrogen filled shocks are excellent if you don't want your ride pogoing down the road.....


Tip tip tip......tap tap tap....

[Jens]

The flexy coil is tapered at the top and slightly thinner. It was explained to me that the top of the flexy coil is designed to compress when the truck is loaded up, and you still retain the two inches of lift in the main section of the spring. They have a five year warranty against sagging so I'll be keen to see how they go