[dank]

Hey Guys,

KPD4x4 are now a Aussie Distributor of Radflo Suspension Technology. Radflo are a US based company manufacturing high end offroad racing coilovers, Airshocks, and OE replacement suspension systems for a wide variety of cars.

The performance of these shocks is unlike anything that has ever been offered for a vitara. If you thought Dobinsons were great (which they are for the price) then wait until you drive in a car with some Radflo shocks.

A Radflo equipped Ultra4 buggy just won the US national Ultra4 Race series and other Radflo equipped rigs often come in the top places in Races like King of the Hammers, Best in the Desert, Baja 1000 etc.

So the question is, is there anyone interested to spend the cash to have the best bolt on shocks you could possibly get for your rig?

Indicative pricing, based on other shocks in their range would see a 2.0" body shock with Internal Floating Piston and Remote Reservoir would cost around $400 to $500 to your door.

The front strut would look something like this, but would have a three bolt plate on the top to bolt to the existing mount and also the two bolt mount on the bottom.


The rear shock would look something like this:



This is purely a concept that popped into my head today. I haven't even approached Radflo about it, but I can't see any reason why they wouldn't develop something if there was a market for it.

THe aim would to have these shocks valved speciifcally for the Vitaras, with the option of custom valving if your Vitara is severely modified or you have some particular application in mind. Compression Adjusters are also an option at $120 a shock in addition.

Questions, comments etc appreciated. I'm willing to do the ground work to make this happen if you guys want it....and deep down...you know you want it

[Fatzook]

The only issue I see is that with their inverted body, the clevis mount at the base will be seeing some pretty big forces whilst holding the hub assembly in place, and this may damage the piston/ shaft of the shock as it flexes.

Atleast with a normal strut arrangement, the clevis mount is welded to the shock body, and doesn't load the piston at all.

[got_bar_work]

Or make a second body that slides over the original boddy which now becomes the shaft

[dank]

Yeah that's interesting. In most other IFS applications the setup is a bit different because they are all Coilover Shocks, so the bottom mount has an integrated coil mount built into it which would give it a lot of extra strength.

The idea would be to use a minimum 7/8ths (~22mm) shaft on it though, and if you've seen them in person they are huge and i can't see them being any weaker than a thin walled strut body.

[swifty_ano]

Would be awesome to replace my calmini with these bad boys
Can we get them average length ? Equivalent to extended strut length and como shock etc?

[royce]

The load is going to be the same on the piston no matter which way around they are

so $1000 a pair? I reckon if other brands keep up their sloppy work there could be a small market for some, 2 sets of OME is the same money and thats not many years of use, can they be rebuilt?

A few years ago I would of jumped on a set, but now I dont think mine has that many years left in it to make them worth it, theres another factor, the age of them, perhaps jimny?

[swifty_ano]

I misread and thought $120 per shock haha
That will teach mE

[Scrawny]

swifty_ano wrote:

I misread and thought $120 per shock haha
That will teach mE

If only!!

Quality comes at a price. I'd assume they'd be rebuildable for that money

[atari4x4]

do want, but not sure if i need... just bought new dobinson struts too

[Gwagensteve]

Randall, the editor of Dirtcomp, has Radflo shocks in his Prado - his was the development car for the Prado. I went for a ride around the racetrack down at the pines in it. Even reallyheavily laden it felt awesome - deeply impressive - and that's a bolt in setup. Rebound was really well controlled and the damping felt really well tuned.

Bear in mind though for those that might be considering this - these are just shocks. Because they are excellently valved, have reservoirs, are shiny and rebuildable won't do anything to "fix" any other suspension issues. They won't even add any significant wheel travel because they are intended as a bolt in.

I would imagine that as a "bolt in" shock, they would offer approximately the same travel as any other bolt on kit. They can't offer more because of all of the reasons an OME/tough dog/whatever kit can't add more - there's only so much travel designed in to the rest of the car - the shocks are only one element. Loose springs, CV's falling apart, rear driveshaft misalignment, springs bottoming or distorting, slip yokes pulling out... they're all your problem, nothing to do with the shocks.

If you want more than the "bolt in" solution, Radflo offer up to 18" coil overs, air bumps etc.

Please don't think I'm being a hater - Radflo is top notch stuff and good value for what it is- but dropping 2K on shocks will only make your car better if the rest of the suspension is up to it. It's not going to turn a 1/2 baked suspension into a trophy truck.

[31zook]

I read $500 for all shocks

Yeah this will never be under my car, because cheaper shocks work so well for me.

[DarkHorse]

Would be awesome, but I don't think I could stump up $500 per corner.

What sort of travel do you think we could expect? (My Ranchos are 385-585mm for reference.)

[got_bar_work]

If they come with some bumpstop spacers and driff drop u could get 600 long rears and 100 over stock fronts and then just stop them all short a in with limit straps

[dank]

I think the aim would be to get the collective tech from you guys here to come up with a strut length that will bolt in, offer slightly more travel than a stock set but not go too far as to damage the cv joints from extreme angle. There would be no need for limit straps etc. The shocks also feature a rubber bump on the shaft as well which radflo have said is fine to use as an upper bump.

The talks i've had and work i've done with B4T with his GV gives me a good grasp on what's required, the shocks can be made to any length, this is the beauty of Radflo, it's all custom designed and manufactured in house.

Like Steve said, without any changes to other suspension components you are limited to the performance you get out of OE travel lengths, but i'll have to say after installing the coilovers and rear shocks in my MN triton it has completely changed the way the vehicle handles. the ride and handling at speed around corners, over bumps, railway crossings etc etc is amazing, literally the faster you go the smoother it gets.

Once the initial concept is nutted out, the shocks can be offered with or without reservoirs. I don't think a 2.5" body shock is required on such a small vehicle. the 2.0" on the triton are wicked, and Randall has the same in his Prado.

Royce the shocks are fully rebuildable. Bascially you could expect maybe 3-5 years of service from the average driver and then you might need to chuck a seal kit in it which are around $30 a shock.

[Built4thrashing]

You wouldnt want a replacement strut any longer than the dobinson ones on a GV. As it is im very close to the max angle possible on the outer CV's even with the diff drop brackets. I can see these being good for GV' and Vits with extra heavy front ends (steel bars, batteries, winches etc) as they are adjustable.

Dank im more than happy to be your GV test rig ... ... But... ....im poor.... especially after replacing both broken outer CV's....


What im waiting for are stronger some aftermarket CV shafts with more operating angle......

[DarkHorse]

Built4thrashing wrote:

What im waiting for are stronger some aftermarket CV shafts with more operating angle......

Aren't we all...

[dank]

Ok I've got enough interest here to follow up on this so I'll get the ball rolling.

Let's use the Dobinsons strut length as a starting point. I'll keep you guys updated as we go along.

Radflo have shown interest in developing a strut so all is good to go.

[atari4x4]

if you can magically make them shorter than a dobinson compressed while still keeping the length, that would be awesome.

there is a heap of room to step up in diameter if required, might have to check a GV with less off set to be sure.

[dank]

Thanks Atari. We certainly won't limit ourselves to just a 2.0 sized shock body.

The remote res may allow a shorter compression length than a standard strut.

I will bring it up with the guys, see what they say.

[got_bar_work]

R they going to bolt to the rubber mount or come with there own 3 bolt mount
If ur making ur own mount one that shaped like a top hat that comes down over the body on compression would allow the body to come up through the hole a bit which would give u the compressed length u need
If u make them longer and supply a limit strap to people that dont have diff drop brackets it would be better
Every one thats has diff drop is going to want longer then 40mm
I ran 70mm spacers and my cv were prety safe

[Gwagensteve]

got_bar_work wrote:

R they going to bolt to the rubber mount or come with there own 3 bolt mount
If ur making ur own mount one that shaped like a top hat that comes down over the body on compression would allow the body to come up through the hole a bit which would give u the compressed length u need

I was thinking that very thing the other day.

I was also thinking about a mounting system for the front like the class 11 cheater shocks:



See how the mount is on the shock body not at the end? It might be possible to do something similar with the strut to allow the top of the body of the strut to get closer to the underside of the bonnet.

However, this opens up another can-o-worms.

Cars with 2" BL's would obviously be able to have a 2" longer strut body, as they have more room between the strut mount and the underside of the bonnet.
I would imagine strut brace (and it would need to be custom) would be required
Is there even a spring available, or able to be engineered, for the front end that would permit that much more travel? Spring bind would defeat the purpose of a plush riding shock, and spacing the bumpstops to prevent spring bind defeats the purpose of a long travel strut.

Let's assume the Dobinson strut allows 2" more travel than stock. Changing the mount setup might liberate another 2" or even more of shaft travel. That's cool, but I wonder if it's too much travel for stock steering geometry, CV's, spring design, and takes the whole thing too far beyond a bolt on solution.

Steve.

[Built4thrashing]

In a GV the CV's are very close to their maximum angle at full droop and with full lock and this is with the dobinsons extended struts.The strut is only 20mm longer compressed but extend to 40mm longer than a stock strut. At the wheel this equals to about 80 to 100mm more droop. I fitted some 40mm strut spacers and this caused the CV's to bind up at max droop. The bigest spacer i could fit and still have the CVs operate was 20mm but even then there was some stiffness in the outer CV when at full lock.

Due to these limitations i removed the spacers and re-fitted the sway bar. With the sway bar fitted it became alot more stable and predictable offroad and the struts dont top out anywhere near as much.

[got_bar_work]

Do u have diff drop brackets
I have the longes brackets possible with out moving the motor higher
I run 70mm spacer on stock kyb xl7 struts and i only do a cv when i jam a tire hard up against a big ledge
As for spring u will have to run a custom masive long coil with very few turns and a fine wire
There is not much roon in there
Because of my spacers to move the coil back in and level after the widened front end i have to run to big of a bump stop spacer to stop my hd dobbinson coils from binding
U realy need new arms that will let the coil sit level at ride hight but also let it sit much lowwer in the arm to give more room for more turns before it binds
Maybe a joint thing with fatzook
Get him.to make lux cv kit with new arms and diff drop brackets and u could supply new coils and shocks