Suspension swap DIY

[gippslandoffroad]

interesting article - I alwasy remove top arm easier doesent alter aligmnet .
and always measure from bottom of rim to lip of guard and also do bump stop clearances most accurate form of suspension measurment used when doin R&D work among others

[saint]

Thanks for the article.
Hoping for a bit of advice.
I'm about to put Dobinson's on my 09 ML (manual with one piece shaft)
I noticed you used the 100kg to GVM (Medium) rear springs.
I was thinking about going for the 350kg to GVM (Heavy Duty)
How do yours ride? Have you loaded it up yet with the boat on the back as well?
How did it handle it?
Also, did you go for the heavy duty on the front? How's that?
Would you change anything if you did it again?
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Once again, great article.

[snowman]

Thanks for the article.
Hoping for a bit of advice.
I'm about to put Dobinson's on my 09 ML (manual with one piece shaft)
I noticed you used the 100kg to GVM (Medium) rear springs.
I was thinking about going for the 350kg to GVM (Heavy Duty)
How do yours ride? Have you loaded it up yet with the boat on the back as well?
How did it handle it?
Also, did you go for the heavy duty on the front? How's that?
Would you change anything if you did it again?
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Once again, great article.

i don't even know what spring i have on the back (it is Dobi) so can't help there much although i do have a steel canopy and rear /side bars for permanent weight.

i do have the harder dobi front spring and can advise that it is the way to go if you run a bar and winch (or maybe dual batt) but without the winch (i.e. steel bar only) it is probably too stiff and runs a bit high.

Martin at Dobinsons can assist and i am pretty sure Ultimate will supply matched shocks even for Dobi springs if you specifically ask for them.

[ultimate]

interesting article - I alwasy remove top arm easier doesent alter aligmnet .
and always measure from bottom of rim to lip of guard and also do bump stop clearances most accurate form of suspension measurment used when doin R&D work among others

You should always do a wheel alignment after modifying the suspension regardless of what parts you remove during the install. Any change in height will throw out the alignment.

At lot of the measurements on this site are taken from the centre of the wheel to the guard. That way it's easy to compare heights regardless of rim size and is still accurate.

[saint]

Saint if your question is for Subi_man he doesn't get on here much anymore. You could try PM'ing Greedy who also has Dobinsons.

Thanks Tex.

[saint]

Thanks for the article.
Hoping for a bit of advice.
I'm about to put Dobinson's on my 09 ML (manual with one piece shaft)
I noticed you used the 100kg to GVM (Medium) rear springs.
I was thinking about going for the 350kg to GVM (Heavy Duty)
How do yours ride? Have you loaded it up yet with the boat on the back as well?
How did it handle it?
Also, did you go for the heavy duty on the front? How's that?
Would you change anything if you did it again?
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Once again, great article.

i don't even know what spring i have on the back (it is Dobi) so can't help there much although i do have a steel canopy and rear /side bars for permanent weight.

i do have the harder dobi front spring and can advise that it is the way to go if you run a bar and winch (or maybe dual batt) but without the winch (i.e. steel bar only) it is probably too stiff and runs a bit high.

Martin at Dobinsons can assist and i am pretty sure Ultimate will supply matched shocks even for Dobi springs if you specifically ask for them.

Thanks Snowman, will probably go with the heavy duty back and front. We really load the car up when travelling (tow a boat with off road trailer as well). Have done trips with the car sitting low due to load and it's not fun!

[Mattstruck]

Just finished my Ultimate 2" kit.

Just wanted to thank Subi for a great article. Also just a small tip.

When putting in the front strut, place it in its final position and put the front (or closest) nut on the strut top on just a few turns.
So it is hanging by that one nut.
Then put your upper control arm back on and the bolts that hold it (they fit: bolt inside and nuts on outside) back in place.
Then go about doing the other 2 bolts and tighening them up.

If you dont do this and you tighten the 3 strut top bolts you cant get the upper control arm bolts through the control arm (unless you reverse the bolts) as the spring is in the way.
Found this out the hard way. Read: had to pull it back apart.

Recommend anyone planning this mod to pay the money for the struts to come pre-assembled.
Brendan sent them out pre fabbed and its just too easy!
Makes a bast8rd of a job easy and acheivable by one person.
I actually found the front end easier than the rear because of this.

I have MN with factory diff lock. I recommend that you just watch the air lines AND brake lines AND electrical connections when dropping the diff. They get VERY tight and stressed.
I think I will need to lengthen the brakes but the air and electrical... Thats all for another day

Finally, you will need TALL car stands as you must jack the body up high enough to get the wheels off the ground at the rear. My car stands were put on top of ------ so they were high enough to support the body.
Cant tell you what I put the stands on cos it really was dodgy and in breach of OHS standards
Didnt like it but had 2 jacks and 2 car stands so wasnt too bad

One question for Brendan:
What grease type should I be putting into the shackles - what do you recommend/use?

[GLX-R Alex]

The torque setting is FT

[General Pershing]

Finally, you will need TALL car stands as you must jack the body up high enough to get the wheels off the ground at the rear. My car stands were put on top of ------ so they were high enough to support the body.
Cant tell you what I put the stands on cos it really was dodgy and in breach of OHS standards
Didnt like it but had 2 jacks and 2 car stands so wasnt too bad

Im doing mine now, im using milk crates.




































......lol just kidding.

I had trouble dropping the front lower control arms low enough to re mount the bottom strut bolt, had to get a bar and lever it down while i had 2 spring compressors on mounted 120degreed apart, then i had to use a ratchet strap to pull the bottom of the shock inwards, towards the mount. I'll try the other sde tomorrow.

[jn5555]

Just wondering does the top wishbone need to be removed at all? replacing front shocks with standard.

if it is removed does that effect wheel alignment,camber etc?

thanks
John

ps thanks for posting, huge help.

[DoubleD]

Just a quick thanks to everyone especially Subi for putting this together.

I put in my suspension last night & this was good
to have a read of before I got into it.

One thing I had a little trouble with was getting the upper ball joint back in
place to put the 3 bolts in. Even jacking up the lower control arm I couldn't
get the ball joint close enough for the 3 bolts to get started.
So I ended up using my slide clamp, which worked a treat to compress them together.

I also agree with above, bolt the upper control arm up before mounting the lower
strut bolt, that & the clamp made doing the second strut a lot easier!

DD

[DoubleD]

[salt36]

Just wondering does the top wishbone need to be removed at all? replacing front shocks with standard.

if it is removed does that effect wheel alignment,camber etc?

thanks
John

ps thanks for posting, huge help.

I have found removing the top wishbone completely makes the strut replacement a lot easier.

Should not affect wheel alignment.... it would be advisable to get a wheel alignment done when doing any works to the suspension though, I do, Bob Jane $50 they do a good job too !

[tom149835]

Has anyone got some advice on fitting the tail shaft spacer. In can only get about a 10mm gap between the tail shaft and diff to fit the approx. 25mm spacer. I am also concerned if I do manage to get it in that it will be putting to much pressure on the diff an gear box.

[Bigbirdalx]

Just to bump this. Did anyone need to trim back the bump stop at the front, i found i had to take 10-15mm off the one at the control arm?

[NowForThe5th]

There is no need to remove or trim the bump stops. I had mine in and out at least 4 times with various HD coils. It's a tight fit but not impossible.

[bazzashadow]

could someone post up the torque settings for this install....thanks

http://ftp.users.on.net/~holmes2804/Triton%20suspension/

Click on the above link, then click on the files ending in .PNG and it shows all the torque settings. Awesome post Subiman was really helpful.

Really helpful having all these torque settings, but what is the torque for the one bolt at the baet of the strut assembly in the front as well as the 3 bolts right at the top?

[Kingbrown]

The three nuts at the top of the tower are 44Nm.
The bolt for bottom of the strut is 105Nm.

[Witty9]

Thanks heaps bud. Top stuff

[brodical]

Any one know of hand what size spanner is required for the 2 bolts on the uca???
Cheers

[TUF909]

.

[brodical]

Thanks man appreciate it ..is there a chance there n imperial size if it was a bit loose? Or def metric? Maybe 3/4

[TUF909]

.

[brodical]

Sweet yep 3/4 fits little bit snugger ....mine are metric too ..jst bought a 3/4 for a dollar lol

[Kingbrown]

For the DIY'ers, there's a little snippet that I noticed in the Challenger workshop manual:
A 'Steering Sensor Calibration' is needed after a wheel alignment has been done (it's a MUT3 exercise).
Presumably this is so that the ASC wizardry and its associated sensors can work their magic correctly.