Shock absorber advice

[MudRunnerTD]

G'day jens,

The tough dog range of shocks are a mass produced budget specific shock for the world market, if you have a look around on forums across the net you will find many many mixed reports about them. When you sit them next to the others on your list they are just completely out classed by design. Tough Dog would agree that their range is not pitched against the Amada or the Profender or the Old Man Emu LTR range. Simply No Comparison. It was never the idea though.

A Full Step down from the above and you have the likes of Old Man emu Nitrocharger v Tough Dog v Iron Man. The OME are a class above the other two there too.

Tough Dog and Iron Man have a Business plan for the mass market World Wide.likely both are Made in China under supervision I'm sure. The OME are made in Kilsyth Victoria.

The 12 stage Adjustable technology is just silly when stacked against the OME. The OME designed a infinitely variable valving system in the shock to interact to the load and the conditions and constantly adjust to the feedback from the road. Why would anyone thnk they can do better than that by manually adjusting a shock to a single setting????

The Shocks that Alfonso notes in the above post I believe are a Tough Dog copy of the OME variable valving system and are not an adjustable shock. Given they are based on the World Class design of the Aussie Made Old Man Emu I am sure they are performing well to date. I note that Alfonso's sig line lists Bellow Airbags too which will be helping Allot.

Second part of your post.

What are those measurements mate? Is that pin to pin measurements? Fully open measurements? Or fully closed measurements??

A the idea of aiming for the centre of your shock is this. The Manufacturere of the shocks design around the shocks optimum performance being a ride in the dead centre of the travel of the shock, allowing the shock to travel an equal distance up and down.

If you buy a 6" shock that is say a 10" travel shock (for the conversation) you have 250mm of travel. When you bolt that shock up if it sits flat in your driveway in the centre of its travel you have 125mm up and 125mm down travel. But you fit that to a 4" spring so robbing 2" from the centre all at the top. Now it sits at 75mm up and 175mm down.
So now all you have is 75mm of compression left before you turn a wheel.

I was left with 50mm of compression on my setup designed by SS. I did not extend my bump stops and blew 2 sets of shocks to show for it. I could drive along and feel it bumping along not very bumpy tracks on the bottom of the shocks mate! Horrid. Bottoming out because I have 50mm of compression from ride height.

So now you want to go touring, load up the car and the thing sags 30mm with the weight and now you have Nothing left! Plenty of flex in the droop though! Joy! Mathematically incorrect IMO.

So the bottom line is that the longer the shock is the bigger the body therefore the Longer the Closed length is. Measure the Close Length of the shock you want to buy the measure the Pin the Pin measurement of the shock mounts and consider where the centre of the shock Stroke will be when it's at ride height (stroke being distance between fully closed to fully open)

Hope that makes some sense mate.