[Tassierra]

Thanks For the info Darkhorse. massive help!

heres some pics of my current setup...

heres the back setup of the shocks at the top



front





back tyre clearance (tyres are 265/75r16)



front tyre clearance. tyre is slightly turned


back...




current gearing is 5.12s the previuos owner installed.
It is manual also.
Ive emailed rancho, toughdog and ironman.
ranchos response was they can supply a rs5000 shock that extends to 541mm and compresses to 328mm and are $280 a pair
toughdog started to tell me they could supply 40mm adjustable shocks but then told me that the adjustable and foam cell will not fit under the vitara as the body is too big.(60mm) and they could instead supply the gas shocks part no. BD1166T at $125 each
iron man can supply there nitro gas shocks to match the lengths of the calmini shocks for $110 each shock.
$2000 is just to spend on suspension. i have all the other accesories i want so far.

how did the xl-7 coils turn out that you got from kings in the link you put up ?

[Sco-tie]

Shock replicators are the easiest way to get decent bore shocks in there. Tough dog make custom shocks adjustable around the $220 a corner. Did I miss something or how is that a Uni and cv for a front drive shaft! Since when does that exist?

[DarkHorse]

Noticed that too. Someone got sick of blowing CVs at some point.

OK, we're slowly getting somewhere... so you have a manual SWB SE420 Vitara running the Calmini kit and 5.12 diff gears. That's a good start for 31s, otherwise you'd be clutching and revving the shite out of the poor little thing. The other gearing option is transfer reduction gearing - lowering the Lo for better torque and control off road. Something like $800 plus installation, but along with lockers generally considered the best mod you can do for off-road performance.

So you've investigated Rancho, Tough Dog and Ironman? Are you just talking to a sales rep?
Also look at Old Man Emu (ARB) Dobinsons, Bilstein, Monroe, Gabriel, Doetsch...

I bought my Ranchos through 4WD1.com after an exchange of e-mails about what I needed vs what they recommended - not always the same thing.

As Sco-tie mentioned bigger bore shocks can be worked around using shock mount relocators which space the shock away from the diff:



But bear in mind that your car weighed just over 1000kg from the factory, whereas brands like Tough Dog and their fancy big bore adjustable foam cell gas charged malarky is aimed primarily at the 2.5T+ patrol/landcruiser market. (Nothing against TD, I ran them for a while and the quality and durability was great, but they were much too stiffly valved for my car, even at 1800kg loaded up.) Even the Ranchos I'm running now are only really functional on their softest setting. I don't know how the non-adjustable 5000 series are set up, but it would pay to ask before you...erm... pay.
Plenty on here have been running cheap generic road car (commodore) shocks for years, so don't get too hung up on the bling and the specs.

[henno]

Tassierra wrote:

[atari4x4]

Looks like a SV420 to me darky

[DarkHorse]

Oh for crying out loud...

[Sco-tie]

and the cv/uni is what? How???

[Chop]

Sco-tie wrote:

and the cv/uni is what? How???

I'd say he doesn't know as he bought the car model, may not have known it was any different too stock also.

[Gwagensteve]

DarkHorse wrote:

I bought my Ranchos through 4WD1.com after an exchange of e-mails about what I needed vs what they recommended - not always the same thing.

.......Even the Ranchos I'm running now are only really functional on their softest setting. I don't know how the non-adjustable 5000 series are set up, but it would pay to ask before you...erm... pay.

This.

Unless there has been a radical attitude adjustment at 4WD1, you're going to struggle to get any good info out of them.

They don't know/won't release valving information, claiming it's proprietary.
You can't try a shock without buying it, and of it's used, they won't accept it back
They won't accept a return on a shock if you have it dynoed by a reputable shock specialist who has a dyno and the Rancho works out to be too soft or stiff.

All the expense and experimentation rests with the buyer, not with the seller.

From my experience, you basically need to request a part number, and that's it. Asking for a recommendation will pretty much involve them telling you which shock "fits" (as in bolts in)

I don't think they recommend mounting Rancho 5000/9000's upside down any more.