IronMan 4x4 2" lift!

$800?!? The largest, strongest, most robust shock ever?!?

 

Yeah, its a little bit of a stretch as the most robust. But it's an adjustable coilover, and not many on the market for that price.

 

It is 3mm thick steel walls. Probably the most robust in its class. Interested to hear what these things weigh.

 

They are very nice, but the marketing baffles me. I could understand strongest in its class, or strongest for its price, but strongest ever? Pretty sure a SAW 5.0" 8 tube bypass is bigger, stronger, and more robust. I'm not even sure how a thicker wall shock body is even a benefit, Ive never seen a high end shock body break

 

Couldn't agree more. Makes no sense to me unless the steel used is poor qaulity. Not saying it is

I can appreciate the testing though

 

Again they are nice shocks but sell them for what they are, making false or meaningless claims makes it look sketchy

 

New marketing director perhaps.

 

Keep in mind, I do not have these yet. They'll be here next week and I will give a good run down of them then.
Second, I didn't make the video, just posted what I had. I don't work for them, only run their products. They do make great products.
Third, I would never put these in the same category as the other adjustable coilovers (fox, icon, etc..) because I have never ran those, or ridden in a Taco with them. But I have ridden in trucks with other suspension set ups. I will give as good of write up as I can with the limited time I will have before summer.

 

Hey Cr250jumper,

Good questions and I'd be happy to answer them!

The marketing is in reference to direct bolt on shock replacement and a combination of all 3 features.

Often these large bypass racing shocks need to be individually tuned and modified to suit an application.

A thicker walled shock is relevent for remote touring or overlanding as you yanks call it. In australia imparticularly we get a lot of heavily corrugated remote roads that kick up a lot of stones into the shocks. One thing that can happen as a result of this is obviously damaging the shock exterior, but can also cause leaks or in the case of a monotube shock, locking up and destroying the shock. This is one of the key reasons we chose a twin tube design - because even if you do manage to damage the exterior of these shocks, they can still drive away and perform at a very high level - which in remote outback touring is essential - there is often no support or repairs available anywhere near where you're driving. A compromised shock could end your trip right there and leave you in a very dangerous position.

And there are cases were the eyes of even high end shocks do come off. In Australia the standard is to do twin welds either side of the eye as well as the friction weld. The 360 degree welds, 3mm walls and solid piece take this a step further re-enforcing it from all sides. You mightn't ever have an issue with a less robust shock. But this isn't a case of getting by, it's a case of overkill to ensure you won't have any issues!

Cheers,

Matt
Ironman 4x4 Australia

 

Awesome, thanks for the input Matt! I'm not well versed on up selling your product. I should have the pros here next week and I'll get to get a few trips out with them before I'm unable for a few months.

 

And they are here! Beefy as fuck! My first thought was "these things are fucking heavy!" And they are, but look built really well! I'm going to try to put them on sooner than later too.

 

Those things look awesome!

 

I'll get more pictures of them tomorrow in the daylight. But these things are HUGE. I can't wait to get them on and tested out.

 

I'm glad he could pull you in and "make you laugh."

I don't run my truck like you do. So I don't need something that goes out and romps in the sand and desert. I do know that my current set up with them is great and I have no problems.

 

I'm not sure what happened to the flyer I posted... but I think they changed their website and deleted some other content. Obviously, I don't work for them. I have just ran their stuff for a few years and I like it. It works for me. Maybe I could go and get fox's for the same price, but I don't want to be like every other person.

From what I do know, these are fully rebuildable. I don't need a "fine tuned" ride. I am just happy to have something besides stock. I have ridden in a truck with a few of the others you mentioned (OME, 5100's) and I like the ride this gives me better. I am not a shock person. I just know what I enjoy over the stock application, and others I ran before.

 

The body is 65-72mm (would make it 2.83 inches in imperial) and the piston 45mm, with a 20mm piston rod.

You can tune these shocks. We offer shim stacks that you can use ideally to just re-build, but using them you can tune them. We did so on a race truck of one of our staff members in our Australian office to match his needs. It's not something that we advertise though as it isn't something that any man and his dog should be doing in their garage. There should be a solid knowledge and understanding of the implications of what they are doing. It would also cause issues with warranty.

When doing the adjustments for the race truck, we were running the shock on the shock dyno after every variation we made.

Our shocks are valved to match the spring rates of our coil springs. Ideally we sell our suspension as kits, as they are a full solution rather than individual components. They are designed to work together to provide the best performance.

Yes, you are correct as if you were sensitive enough to your suspension to want even more fine tuning to those more specific compression and rebound points it's not going to be the perfect match for every permutation of vehicle kitout, but it'll be a very good and a more than comfortable solution for those that aren't looking for a tailored shock (where the price would quickly creep up). These as I said are an off the shelf product, that is a direct bolt in replacement. There do need to be some compromises somewhere. But as stated, if you did decide you wanted to make minor adjustments, the possibilities are there.

Point taken that yes you can get shocks with a 3mm wall. But a lot of them are aluminium not steel (which isn't as strong) and again many of those aren't direct bolt in replacements (you need to mount remote reservoirs etc). And if I didn't mention it above. They are re-buildable. So vs you OME, and other similar type shocks, these are an investment that can be freshened up. We sell re-build kits that'll allow you to keep them running as new. I'm not quite sure when they will be over there (I'd need to look into it when I'm in the office - it's midnight here at the moment).

They are a spin weld for the friction weld. And then a 360 degree robot weld then follows to re-enforce that weld and ensure ideal penetration is achieved.

As for the bushings (they are rubber) I don't know why the choice. I'd have to ask the designer of them - out suspension manager. Unfortunately he's in South Africa for a couple weeks, but if you can hold off on that I'd be more than happy to get you an answer.

Limited amount of shock oil? They use about 750mm of oil, which is more than you'll see in almost and twin tube shocks. Preventing shock fade is just a matter of keeping the oil below a certain temperature. Generally around 115-125 degrees centegrade is where we start to see shock fade start to happen. Though our extensive testing, the twin tube foam cell design allows for maximum oil contact on the exterior of the shock, allowing more efficient thermal dynamics and heat dispersion, coupled by the larger surface area as a result of the larger bodied shock and the larger quantity of oil, we've found it very, very difficult to get it near that temperature in real world conditions.

We did a trip through the Fink Desert Race Track and the Simpson desert with the intention of trying to get these shocks as hot as we physically could, our standard foam cell shocks we managed to get to 120 degrees and they were starting to suffer from fade (in a Nissan GU Patrol). But we really struggled to get the foam cell pros beyond 85 degrees. I'll note that this was in 40-48 degree weather in the middle of the Australian desert. (we used heat probes to measure the temperature and get accurate readings. ^^^p,s, all the above temperatures are in centigrade.

The times that we did find the shocks heating up the most wasn't with the high speed driving over corrugations. The air movement assisted with keeping them cool. Instead it was the extended dulations at slow speeds which ensured the shocks were doing full extended and compression cycles regularly without a lot of airflow.

Yes they are re-buildable. But we recommend getting it done by a professional. This isn't something that should be a backyard job. But have a talk to your local dealer. They'll have a better understanding of the local processes than I will.

I don't take any of these questions as criticism at all mate. I love the fact you are wanting to know more and questioning it! It's the way you learn things!

I don't know what sort of price tag you guys are usually looking at for shocks over there (my naivete has finally kicked in, but I'm taking it that's your equivalent pricing for other products like the OME and the Bilsteins?)

I hope that I've answered some of those questions! Let me know if you have any more for me!

Cheers,

Matt
Ironman 4x4 Australia

 

Guys have any of you had rusting issues? Mine have not been on very long, about a year and a half at the most and to me seem to be rusting pretty bad - or is this just normal?

 

^That's ironman quality for ya. My coils were completly rusted when I took them off the truck.