The Toyota Landcruiser Owners Club

[Tractionman]

Tony, as yòu previously pointed out quite rightly, you get what you pay for. Both types are between £100 - £150 per pair, or cheaper depending on where purchased.

[Google]

[Bigfoot]

Just noted that our replies ( both timed at 2123 ) coincided Juddian, so missed the reference to spax. Hi to Tractionman. Makes perfect sense to at least ask Spax the question. Decent shocks with still the ability to adjust. At least goes someway to maintaining the integrity of the setup. The purists might not agree, and I would love to fit the oems even if its only in order to maintain the integrity. But not at any price. Would like to hear Toyotas justification for the cost. Nothing to compete with probably. There are generic ones on the market at a sensible price if your prepared to take the risk of delivery from China/Hongkong. But not prepared to risk it. Have also had the opportunity to purchase a used pair of oems from a breakers. Likewise wasn't prepared to risk it. Would have been unseen as it was mail order.  And get this, for a pair they wanted £475 plus carriage which took the total to £ 496. "In there dreams". Will give Spax a call on Monday and let you all know how I get on.

[Juddian]

Excellent Bigfoot, and i quite agree about used breaker parts, you need to see them and preferably on the vehicle, similarly i'm none to sure about Chinese copies either.

I was lucky twice in a past life when needing two pairs of dampers for the rear of two estate cars (years apart not a fleet) i owned over the years, one a Renault 21 Savanna, and one Volvo 760 estate with Boge self levelling shockers.
In both cases i was lucky enough to find almost brand new items still in place, the days when we used to wander freely around scrap yards eh? got a price and i quickly unbolted both sets and paid really very little for them, the Boge's in particular the scrappy had no idea what they were or how new they were because they would have been near enough the same new cost relatively as these way overpriced TEMS items...obviously this wasn't the Volvo spares place at Eaton Socon cos proably cheaper going to the Volvo main dealer.

The used spares game is now a racket in too many cases, often you can find the same part cheaper new.

[Tractionman]

Hi Bigfoot, wise to be cautious about unseen stuff from breakers, I've got a couple that always send good gear, but another that sends any old junk he has to hand and would never sell at all, if you turned up in person. Once bitten.....
Gone are the days where you could saunter down the yard on a Sunday morning and get a major part for £25. I think to a degree computers don't help, breakers can see at a glance what new prices are, and price theirs accordingly.
Spax were the buisness back in the day, where proper rally cars could be set up for each stage with minimum fuss, still going strong but for some reason not so high profile.. I had them on a few cars then, and have also used spring assisters to stop bottoming out with weight on. Keep us informed please.

[Tractionman]

Almost crossed. Same train of thought there mate.

[Bigfoot]

Heyho. Submitted a post yesterday early evening but it didn't make it onto the forum  for some reason. I will reiterate.
I well remember the days of freely wandering around the 2 main breakers that I used to use. Lots of banter with the staff and proprietors until one day that is. Just after one of them had changed hands. I Turned up at the yard, and as normal went to the portacabin for a chat, and if you were lucky a mug of tea. This time however it was to introduce myself to the new proprietors. No one around. So went for a wander as normal but also in the hope of locating someone. Eventually headed back towards the portacabin and coming towards me was a behemoth of a man whose angry face looked like he'd just had wasps for lunch washed down with wire wool. He eloquently told me that if I came into his yard again and wandered around on my own, that he would crush my car and put me and it on top of the heap of cars he was pointing to. My protestations were to no avail. That's universally pretty much around the time when those days of wandering in a breakers ended.  
Returning to the dampers. If Spax are unable to provide a compatible solution, has anyone heard of or had any dealings with a company called Carpartsinmotion who advertise on e bay. On e bay they're showing sales of 450,000 with a 99.4% success rate. Not to shabby. They stock a wide range of Kyb shocks and there price for a pair of rear dampers is £79 bar a few pennies. Had been expecting to pay a good bit more. Will do a bit more research in the meantime, but would be grateful for any input.

[TONYCY11]

Sounds like a bargain  bigfoot , I remember the good old days of scapyard wondering when you went around yourself and got the part you wanted by unbolting it your self and taking it to the portacabin for a price , those were the good old days ,and very cheap prices like TM said ,   I stopped going to them when you had to ask them for the part and they charged you way too much for the parts ,

[Bigfoot]

Yep. And nowadays Tony you feel you almost have to apologise for asking some for the part in case they have to get up and do something. Good news on the Kyb dampers if Spax is a no go. The company I mentioned in my previous post are online so not just an e bay enterprise. Even better they are based only 60 miles away in Exeter Devon. Still get them delivered though if I need them because the carriage is free. Out of e bay they trade under the name Parts In Motion. Fingers crossed for Monday.

[Tractionman]

Bigfoot, I have used them once before, for a Gates a/c belt. Only a minor item but easy transaction.
There is a firm with a similar name in the Netherlands.
Kyb I've not heard of before.

[Bigfoot]

Supposedly they are one of Toyotas main supplier of parts. They manufacture internationally including a plant in Japan.

[Tractionman]

👍

[Juddian]

There's a regular contributor on the Subaru forum down your way Bigfoot, Scooby indy mechanic as it happens and he knows his stuff, he often recommends KYB shockers for replacing the self levellers on Foresters, they're a recognised good quality product.

[Bigfoot]

No go everyone with the Spax possibility I'm afraid. So I decided to order some Pedders from Roughtrax. They remain absolutely adamant that I only have one alternative if I am not prepared to replace with the adjustables. Rip it all out and replace with coils. That supposedly is there instruction from both Toyota and Pedders. Roughtrax went so far as to say it could be dangerous if I fit standard shocks. The problem I have with there comments is they are unable to explain any specific details as to what problems would arise. I had in fact settled for fitting Pedders after a discussion with Matt from Wolf fabrications in Suffolk. He builds all sorts of off road and multi terrain vehicles.  He advised on the Pedders as opposed to a standard oem replacement because of the difference between an air bag and a coil setup. In his opinion an airbag would need a more resilient  and durable damper. Perhaps the original Toyota adjustables are more beefed up than the standard ones and the difference is not just the adjustable element. Makes perfect sense. Was a detail that had already crossed my mind. Still unsure as to which way to go. Would be nice to here from anyone else who has  fitted standard shocks on an Lc5, and to what success. Juddian I know you may at some stage attempt to take a similar route as me if and when the time comes. Would you be deterred by the response from Roughtrax or like me still keep an open mind.

[Bigfoot]

Apologies Juddian missed your last post. Will look up Scooby. Thanks.

[Juddian]

What Matt(Wolf) says does make sense, presumably he's had experience of and believes the Pedders shockers have more powerful damping, i'd never really given much thought to the idea the airsprings on our trucks would need stronger damping than coils, this is not exactly something we do every day.

However, i drive tankers (tipping powder tanks), as with almost all artic trailers these days they're on air, my own tank is 3 years old and hasn't needed an dampers replacing (i'm pretty gentle with it) but i used another one a few weeks ago the same age and whilst tipped up (takes around an hour to tip) i always have a nose around and found 3 or possibly 4 of the 6 dampers were showing signs of oil leaking, defected them dropped it off at the workshops and sure enough all i defected  were renewed.

Now, you might or might not have noticed, some loaded artic trailers rebounding violently over road undulations and we're talking probably a dozen or so rebounds before the dampers bring the rebounds back under control.
So what Matt says does make sense when i see what happens in lorry airsprung world, you never saw steel sprung trailers going down the road in a series of massive rebounds, even back in the days of cart springs and no dampers, so maybe yes air springs do need a higher performance of damping.

Now then, what would i do?
Is there a conversion kit for dual dampers on each rear wheel, probably not room, just thinking aloud really and its probably a ludicrous thought.
Are there any other makers of dampers for our motors, i'm thinking of IronMan here, another maker of uprated parts for LC's.
If no joy on either option fair enough.

If Pedders is the only viable choice, then i'd prefer to buy them than another damper, because if it turns out as the Roughtrax lads suggest that it won't be a satisfactory solution then maybe they'd sell you the rest of the conversion kit but delete the shockers which you will already have.

One other thought, RR's and Discos have been on air for a long time too, this must have been a question discussed at length on the LR forums, so before you make any decisions it might be worth an hour or three poke nosing around there and see what results they've had.