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Digby Gets a Suspension Upgrade



After 23 years of stout and worthy service, Digby’s suspension components are at the end of their life. There is no other way to put other than to say they are “Knackered…!”, and need replacement. After doing some research in my local area, and reading a tonne of forum posts and product reviews, I started to narrow down the options for replacing Digby’s suspension. A straight swap for factory parts would give the vehicle another 20+ years of service and probably be good enough, but what do you do when ‘good enough’ is not good enough….? You upgrade…!!

Doing this modification was a great opportunity to swap out for some quality 4WD parts and help make Digby a little bit more nimble-footed in preparation for the adventures ahead. With the future full-time camper conversion being planned, adding the heavy duty springs and torsion bars, resulting in better weight carrying capability and a 50mm lift, would ensure that Digby would be able to cope with the additional weight in the back, and also gain a little more ground clearance for those tricky gravel Australian Outback tracks and steep Utah backroads....


In the end, it came down to either Ironman 4x4 kit (here), or the slightly more expensive Dobinson MITS-60 kit (here). I must have read about 1000 forum posts on this subject, and there were all sorts of opinions and conjecture on both sides of the argument, but in the end I came down of the side of the Dobinson kit, mainly because it’s an Australian made product for Australian type conditions, which as far as I am concerned is perfect for what Fiona & I are planning.


UPDATE 29/10/18 - I forgot to mention that I also purchased some front Ball Joint Spacers from Rabbitz2k on eBay (here), that sit above the top suspension arms and raise the front by 25mm, whilst maintaining the correct angles.

Importing directly from Australia was going to be quite expensive when you factor in the shipping and the import duty applicable, so I managed to find a local New Zealand based company (Trundles Automotive), who could not only source the parts at a competitive price but were willing to ship them to me for free from Auckland to Christchurch. Score…! I placed the order and within 10 days the shiny new parts were sitting in my garage just begging to be fitted, so given my limited mechanical skills, I called Harry the Mechanic to sort out a date & time for him to come round and fit them for me.


After removing all the wheels and old suspension components from Digby, Harry the Mechanic noticed that the front shocks had the wrong bottom arm attachment and did not fit the Delica, so after a few hours of detective work, I identified what the problem was…., we had been sent the wrong shocks…! Not sure what had happened but we had received a set with the model number of GS43-082 for an old Pajero instead of the GS43-082S, it’s amazing what a difference a single missed letter will do…. Anyway I contacted Trundles and they immediately acknowledge the issue and sent the right model of shocks overnight, and even getting them to my doorstep on a Saturday morning.

Harry the Mechanic has now fitted the front shocks and spacers, and once I get a wheel alignment done, Digby will be back on the road…..

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