Description
Our Challenge Suspension kit is designed for those looking to get the best from their suspension both on and off road. This kit will give you the maximum amount of axle articulation we have to offer for off road use.
When we say +5 inch, what we are talking about is your shock length. Our Challenge kit uses shocks that are 5 inches longer when fully open compared to standard Land Rover Shocks, they have 11 inches of travel.
We do not mean a 5 inch suspension lift.
Springs determine your ride heigh, shocks travel and length determine your axle travel (articulation off road), longer shocks mean more axle movement.
This is a bolt on kit using original mounting points, no modification is needed to your Land Rovers chassis. This kit is the most extreme travel kit available without making modifications to chassis and axle mounting points.
This Kit can be fitted to 90,110,130 Defenders, Discovery 1 and Range Rover Classic.
I have this kit fitted to my own 110 Puma which is my road car, the same kit is also fitted to my Challenge truck. With the right shocks our Challenge kit will still give you fantastic road manners and handling while at the same time give you maximum suspension movement off road.
On the rear we convert from the standard Eye/Pin fitting to a Pin/Pin fitting.
It is a known problem for the upper Eye fitting on standard fitment rear shocks to brake off due to lack of sideways movement.
A Pin fixing allows more movement in all directions without breaking off as has been well proven over the years by my +5inch Challenge Pin/Pin Rear Shock mount.
A Pin/Pin Rear Shock is for use by those who want the much improved reliability of a Pin/Pin fitting shock over the Standard Eye/Pin fitting.
I have designed my challenge shock mounts to use the full 11 inches of travel +5 inch Pin/Pin shocks have. The most important thing for any off road vehicle is upward movement, you need to get your wheel to go up as far as it can to get over obstacles, lots of downward movement is pointless and can cause the wheel to walk under the car and break something off if the drop down is too far.
This kit can be run from standard ride height up to a 3” to 4” lift, we would recommend lifting up to 2” maximum for anything that wants to be used on road as well.
with +5” length shocks Anti Roll Bars will need to be removed. You will need extended Brake Hoses, Spring Retainers, Spring Re-locators and if fitted with a lift spring you will need Extended Bump Stops.
Our Old Man Emu Sport Shocks will give a much improved ride and handling quality over other shock absorbers due to their multi-stacked rebound and compression valving, once the shock is compressed it is hard to pull out, it’s the firm rebound valving in them that reduces the body roll in corners and on side slopes but still giving a comfortable ride on and off road.
Obviously with this kit you have to remove the antiroll bars (sway bars) so this is where these shocks work best, when off road the valving detects more movement and opens up to give the full flex and off road stability you need.
GL2008, these shocks give a Medium Sport Ride, recommended for Defender 90s Front & Rear, Defender 110/130 Front and Front of Discovery 1 & RRC, (light to medium weight Land Rovers)
GL2010, these are the same shock but with a firmer valving, better suited for use on the Rear of 110/130s, Rear of Discovery 1 & RRC and 90s that are heavily loaded. (Land Rovers that are regularly carrying extra weight or towing)
My shock mounts and hardware are galvanized to prolong their life and come with all fixings needed to mount them. I do some items in a DIY form, these are tacked together and will need welding up and painting, my DIY rear trailing arms are fully welded and just need painting. I also do the shock mounts in Galvanized and powder coated Blue.
I do OME and Bearmach springs from a 1 inch to 2 inch lift, I mix and match springs to suit what you need and what you use the vehicle for. A very flexi spring is no good on road and a firm spring is no good off road, it’s getting the right spring for the right job that is important.
Wide angle propshafts should be fitted to cope with increased suspension travel, especially if you were to belly out on something and your axle was to drop down, this is when standard propshafts bind up and won’t turn.
Double Cardon propshafts are only to reduce vibrations, they don’t give any more articulation than my wide angle ones.
Extended brake hoses must be fitted due to the extra axle drop out (downward movement).
Extended Bump Stops are used to stop your coil spring becoming fully coil bound, if you land down hard one day and your springs could fully compress, this can damage the spring seats or even worse the chassis spring mounts, they don’t restrict the articulation in any way as the axle pivots on the spring not the bump stop.
On TD5 and Puma Defenders a fuel filter relocation mount is needed to move the fuel filter as it’s in the way of the shock mount. I recommend my XHD 2 position rear shock mounts for TD5 and Puma as this mount allows more room from the top of the shock and your fuel filter pipes if you mount your shock in the more upright position compared to using our single position challenge mount.
With our Challenge Kit you will change your standard front shocks for our +5” OME GL2008 Sport Shocks and fit with our Heavy +2” Front Turrets GL1050, these have spring relocators built in, you will secure these using our Heavy Duty Turret Securing Rings GL1053. To secure your front springs to your axle you will need our front spring retainers GL1054.
Moving to the rear you will change your standard Eye/Pin shocks for our +5” Pin/Pin OME GL2008 / GL2010 Sport Shocks and fit with our challenge Pin/Pin Shock mounts GL1061. With +5” rear shocks your rear springs will dislocate away from your chassis when articulating, you will need spring relocators GL1064 for a 90 or GL1065 for a 110/130. Rear Spring Retainers will be needed to secure your rear springs to your axle, for a 90 GL1070, for a 110/130 GL1182. For your Rear Arms you will need our Heavy Duty Cranked Arms GL1074 (BLUE) or GL1175 (BLACK)
Extended Bump Stops GL1057Y-4 / GL1057B-4 will be required if you are fitting a Lift Spring.
This list is an example, there are other mountings and shock options, some items also have colour options, please see HERE for a list of all options.
