In this review we run through everything you need to know when choosing a 4WD suspension kit. In our personal experience having installed an Outback Armour leaf spring kit on the Ford Ranger display car before we left for Barrington Tops. We saw a considerable difference in comfort and drive whilst on the corrugated back roads and dense bush in the misty mountains of NSW. Outback Armour is currently about ten years old, it had humble beginnings in the garage underneath a house. The founder was designing a suspension that would accommodate armoured vehicles, which is where the business originally started. They took that technology and applied it to everyday dual cabs and Utes, especially the way they manufacture to control that amount of lift in a vehicle. Lift allows you to put more weight on the vehicle without compromising clearance, which is where the Outback Armour suspension kits allows us to take back control on those heavier vehicles with steel bull bars, canopies, winches, etc.
Performance suspension kits:
Starting with the performance range, which gives you the better quality, bigger oil reservoir than what you would normally have from factory. This is for customers that just want a bit of road of handling and a little bit offroad assistance. It is a nitro charged gas shock absorber, 65mm body in most cases which stops the oil in the suspension on dirt roads from getting soft and cushy underneath the car. Outback armour use top quality oils, top quality seals and top-quality valves on their performance kits so you do not have to worry about maintenance.
Steering dampeners:
Up next is the foam cell steering dampener usually for your solid front axle truck, like patrols and land cruisers. This is a large bore, with heavy duty valving to help control wheel shimmy.
Adjustable suspension kits:
Then you have your top of the range suspension kits which is the adjustable series. The biggest feature with this is that it has an adjustable threaded seat on the top with helps to control the rebound of the shock absorber. This allows you to fine tune the car depending on terrain, road type etc. These are great for when you are going on long touring trips and find yourself navigating all kids of corrugated roads and rocky surfaces. The reason these adjustable performance suspension kits perform so well is that they have a larger oil reservoir. Suspension kits will get hot and therefore the oil will thin out and become less viscous, meaning a less comfortable ride. However, these suspension kits will get as much oil as possible within the shock absorber, the cooler it can stay the better it will perform, aid in distribution and the more stable it is to drive in tough conditions.
Bump stops:
A lot of people forget, especially with heavy loads in the back of the vehicles, it needs a more progressive bump stop and most bump stops started as just a solid piece of rubber. If you imagine you go through a wash out, the car bottoms itself out and it only has a factory bump stop, you will see damage over time. Outback Armour introduced what you would normally find in military set ups, instead of it being a solid thud on a factory bump stop, a progressive bump stop has a cushioning effect. This is a lot safer for the vehicle and the driver. The bump stops is a must for vehicles carrying a heavier pay load in the back, although they do make them for the front as well.
Coil springs:
Outback Armour will normally try to run three spring rates on each vehicle. These include Trail springs which are your standard (no bull bar) springs. Secondly, they have the Expedition which is ideal for vehicles adding a steel bull bar with a weight of around 50-100 kilos. Then the Expedition HD which would be suitable for a steel bull bar and winch. They compensate the added weight on the front end with through these three spring runs when they are loaded up onto the front strut. What this means essentially is that over springing a vehicle will give you problems, like CV angle/driveline issues and severe vibration when going off road. You don't want to go over that maximum ride height so when choosing a spring upgrade make sure you calculate the exact weight you will be adding to the front or rear and choose the correct spring for the application.
Leaf springs:
Leaf spring technology, you try and get the maximum lift you can without getting drive line problems. For example, the Ranger comes with a centre bearing kit which actually allows you to lower the centre bearing in order to get that driveline back to the angles that it wants to run at. Otherwise, you can get vibrations for the vehicle which will be an uncomfortable daily drive. With the spring rights they are done on a constant weight load. Outback Armour to offer between three and four leaf springs to choose from for the customer, depending on how much load they will have on a daily basis. The names for these are the same as the coil springs, so once again the Trail leaf springs, which will go up to 150kg of constant load. Then finally three hundreds and then some of the big ones between 500 - 800 kilos.
When you're setting up vehicle, you try and set it up with what you're going to do as a maximum load. So what the everyday sort of stuff is whether it's a trip that you're doing constantly around Australia or vice versa, or if it's a tradie that's going down the road, we try and suggest that you throw your tools in it, throw your camping gear in it and if this is how you are going to run it for the majority of the time, choose a leaf spring according to this weight.
Outback Armour supplies the full kit. For example, a Landcruiser 79 series comes with a hand brake, cable kits, etc. So when you buy a kit from them you get everything that needs to go for the project, so there's no hidden cost or anything like that. Not only that, the quality of these suspension kits are unbeatable when it comes to manufacturing. With the leaf springs they use polyurethane bushes and greaseable pins and shackles. All the poly bushes are built right here in Australia. Every vehicle and driver is different so make sure you do some thorough planning before bolting on accessories. The last thing you want is to compromise the factory comfort and driveline when building your dream touring car. If you have any more questions or if you would like to watch the full interview with Outback Armour and their range of suspension kits head to our Youtube channel.
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