NewHilux.net

Hi All,

10 years/260,000kms down the track and my front suspension has shit the bed. Strut snapped off at the bottom. 2012 KUN26 diesel dual cab.Bull bar up front. LR tank, canopy and tool draws at the rear.

I'm a farmer and only use it for work. It's got a 2" lift and +300kg springs in the rear which has all worked well enough up till now, but it's all tired and squeaky and I'm sure the rear shocks and bushes will be buggered too.

I'm being quoted a grand even for basic Iron Man shocks at the front, and I'm thinking a full new suspension kit up to 3k is a better idea.

There's a small indy 4wd place near me that reckons the Lovells kit is a good thing. He also mentioned that Iron Man is complete crap and OME is highly over priced. He reckons about 2700 fitted and aligned for the Lovell kit with 2" lift and heavier springs in the rear. ARB want over 3200 for OME.

Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you

I will concur that iron man is junk. Too many horror stories to list.

I am biased as I sold and serviced OME for ever and the best part is that the majority of it is swap and go. If you ever have a drama you go to any arb and warranty is pretty smooth as they don’t want a bad wrap.
Yes more expensive than most but the product is solid. Thicker shock rods, improved ride etc etc.

Bilstein is also another solid option.

But saying that I had ultimate suspension in my 07 lux and to be honest it was one of the best set ups I have had.
From a farming perspective I lived at the time in north west NSW it put up with mud, floods scrub, bush bashing, pig chasing, roo strikes and some of the worst corrugations in the country and it took it all in its stride.
I was able to provide the guys at ultimate my axle weights (handy having a weighbridge down the road) which allowed them to get a fairly mint set up for it.
It was happy towing and even when it was over loaded (I’m talking I had 2 fat front tires and rims off a old case picker on the tray only to find out when I got to town the one on top was also water ballasted the tire shop were surprised I made it to town. (They also shipped the parts out to me to self fit as I was nowhere near them)

If you choose any of these three you won’t go wrong.


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Every 4WD shop will sell you the brand that they provide and trash the rest
I have used ARB,TJM, and at the moment use Iron man with GVM UPGRADE and had no problems
Used lovells in a car years ago
The pick is up to you have fun choosing.

I just pulled the trigger on a set of Dobinsons IMS - they seem to be well regarded across many forums and other socials for the $0.02 that its worth.

If I had a good local joint, i'd go with them as at least you can go back pretty quickly if something goes wrong. Lovells make good kit, so sounds like a reasonable choice.

Like Dave said, every outlet for every product available will try to sell you their own products and sometimes trash others to make the sale. For what it's worth I too have used many different things over the years. Never had a problem with iron man but will never touch Munroe again.
Lovells have pretty good springs, but I can't comment on other products they might offer.

Like others have said, most shops will push what they sell and rubbish everything else. I have Ironman front shocks in my Grand Cherokee and they are superb compared to the factory shocks. I like the adjustable Tough Dogs which are generally well rated, but the only shock that I've had leak was a Tough Dog. Personally I now lean towards Foam rather than Gas and just replace them more often than needed or every 50k.

I personally will never use dobbinson again.
The Remote res didn't meet my expectations, In my opinion, the valving isn't suited to the spring rate when fitted with a bullbar and winch. That and they didn't last.

I fitted a full outback armor kit roughly 30k ago, It is adjustable and I have found it to ride smoother in every situation it's been in.

The dobinsons meet my expectations.

I'll finish this up by saying I went with the Lovells heavy duty kit, and I'm extremely happy with it. Much happier than with the kit I fitted to it when I bought it new.

The ride is really good and there's no squeaking or anything odd at all. What I really like is that all three of the pins in the rear leaves have grease nipples. Never seen that before.