Dobinsons Monotube Remote Reservoir Shock Absorbers

[Anth120playdo Banned Find all posts View Profile Close Anth120playdo]

Hi Peter,

Have had the MRR on for about 2 months and 10,000k, love them. Travelling around oz and used them on corrigated roads, whoops, off road, rocks, sand etc and they perform great.

My friend from Oricom has his ranger kitted out with Dobinsons gear.
You people may have seen the big orange beast on display at the melb 4by show in August.
His feedback to me is, he is very happy with the ride, definitely better.
But so is most aftermarket suspension that's any good.

[Anth120playdo Banned Find all posts View Profile Close Anth120playdo]

I ended up getting them too - they've been on for 3 weeks and 7500kms (Sydney-Adelaide-Flinders-Adelaide-Poeppel Corner-Birdsville-Cameron Corner-Sydney).

They seem to work ok though to be honest I'm not sure how to gauge how well they work.

The Sydney Dobinson guys fitted mine and did a dodgy job - they put the hose for the rear drivers side between the body & the chassis. I asked and they said it would be ok - the hose is armoured with steel braiding. Anyway... it wasn't ok and when we got to the top of Mt Gill there was an odd smell at the back of the car - the chassis had cut the hose and the oil was being pumped out on every bump all over the car & exhaust. Luckily it isn't flamable!

I spoke with Martin from Dobinson's Sydney and he was apologetic. He arranged for some replacement "yellow" Dobinson shocks to be sent to Hawker (south end of Flinders Ranges) for me. We drove around for a few days with only 1 rear shock working - a weird feeling as it kept bottoming out on that corner! - then swapped in the replacement shock for the drive home via the Simpson. I've since noticed that the two front hoses are rubbing on the driveshafts sometimes - perhaps when it bottoms out.

When I get a chance I'll be taking it back to Dobinsons Sydney to get the MRR shock put back in and the front ones fixed up. Martin has handled it well - no attempt to blame me and he sorted out something to get me back on the road so we could continue our holiday. So no complaints about the boss! I'm not so impressed with his installers... 3 out of the 4 shocks have install issues. I suspect that if anyone else gets them to do a 150 Prado they'll get it right - I'm really hopeful they will learn from their mistakes!

Marty is growse! Great advise & he is a guru in suspension!
The fitters, seems to be like most workshops ey?
I spoke to a fitter there before I fitted up the 150, I'm not going to repeat his " how we do it"
That's why I sent them back, it was a p.i.t.a, no point rushing a product in that has not got proper mounts & instructions.
It needs to work reliably & what happened to you is exactly what I avoided by sending them back.

[peter_mcc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close peter_mcc]

Here's how they ran the hose...

He wanted to keep it away from the exhaust pipe.

[Anth120playdo Banned Find all posts View Profile Close Anth120playdo]

Here's how they ran the hose...

He wanted to keep it away from the exhaust pipe.

Wow. Totally stupid.

The rears are supposed to be a piggy back mounting. So I'm not sure w.t.f is happening there.

[peter_mcc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close peter_mcc]

Sorry for the slow reply - the rears aren't piggy back. Dobinson's QLD said they can be mounted either inside the chassis rail or outside. Mine were on the inside - you can see the mounting bolt in the bottom left of the photo (goes through the chassis and holds the cannister bracket on the other side).

With the fronts, mine are mounted on the chassis rail sort of "inside" the engine bay. Dobinson's QLD sent me a photo showing them mounted on top of the spring towers. On the chassis means they are out of the way of mud & rocks and the airflow through the engine bay will cool them (a bit - realising that the engine will heat them too!).

[Dominator Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Dominator]

Just got my MRR'S and they looked great untill I measured them. The front struts MR59-50701 only have 120mm of travel. Is it me or slopes that seem really low considering it is less than the factory strut.

Open length is 580mm from the center of the bottom bush to the top of the bottom upper bush (ie where the upper chassis mount would sit)

[Anth120playdo Banned Find all posts View Profile Close Anth120playdo]

In my Prado suspension specialist experienced opinion, 580mm is way too long.
C/v damage likely if used on flexi offroad tracks, unless diff drop or lucky.
UCA binding on coils
Upper ball joint damage or binding.

Subtract 120 off that equals strut bottoming out before bump stops?

701 is the rear part number.

I have still not fitted any, I'm waiting for proper brackets before I bother fitting the offered sets, to our test vehicles 120&150 to assess the suitability.

I'm currently recommending a monroe Dobinson combination that I believe is the best set ups for 2" all round Prado use.

As soon as brackets are available I will accept the gear & advise the findings.

Lastly, check you received the right gear, maybe they are hilux struts?

[Whitey Shockie Maker of the Month Award Find all posts View Profile Close Whitey]

Just got my MRR'S and they looked great untill I measured them. The front struts MR59-50701 only have 120mm of travel. Is it me or slopes that seem really low considering it is less than the factory strut.

Open length is 580mm from the center of the bottom bush to the top of the bottom upper bush (ie where the upper chassis mount would sit)

Hey,

You need to measure from the centre of the bush to the flange on the shaft, which is at around 120mm up from the strut body in your second photo.

It's a bit of a convention issue, in Australia we measure to the flange, in USA they also measure to in between the bushes. Everything in the Suspension Database here on PP is measured to the flange for struts.

If you subtract the bush thickness from your 580mm measurement, that is your real open length, so if the bush is 10mm, your open length is around 570mm.

As this is a 150 thread, 570mm would be fine, see my discussion below.

To elaborate a bit more on Anths comments above, and I'm sure he can give you further details. His perspective on front strut open length limits for Prados is based on getting the Prado hoisted in the air with wheels at full droop, and loading the front CV's up by giving the accelerator a nudge, and noting when the CV's disengage with a loud pop! I believe he has done this for various open length struts, and he suggests keeping the open length down to around 540-550mm.

For "static" measurements of when the CV's will bind up, this is a different measurement. The engine is off and not used, and just get your front wheels at full droop, and you can jack down on the hub arm until the rotor becomes very difficult to turn. For a 120 series, the open length at which the CV binds is around 580mm, and most will run a 570-575mm open length maximum. For a 150 series, the CV will bind somewhere in the 585-590mm range, and most will run struts around 575mm.

Both of these points of view should be taken into consideration when you are choosing your struts. As #### has stated several times, he has seen many front CV's damaged from long travel struts. In contrast, there are a lot of drivers running long travel struts who don't/haven't had any issues. We may run out of luck one day!?

Please chime in #### if you feel the need to clarify anything.

Also, isn't MR59-50701 a code for a rear Dobinsons shock? Can you double check the code for the strut?

Best

Mark

[peter_mcc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close peter_mcc]

Hmmmm, that doesn't sound good! I've got them installed - what measurements can I do to help? Where do I measure from/to? I can easily measure it on the ground and with the suspension at full extension. I'm not sure how I'd do full compression...

[Dominator Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Dominator]

Thanks for the replies. Yeah I had my part numbers mixed up. The fronts are MR59-50700 and the rears are MR59-50701. Upon re measuring I am even less impressed. Open length of 555 (bottom eye center to top flange) which makes it no longer than a standard strut. :/ Not what I would call 2in lift.

[Anth120playdo Banned Find all posts View Profile Close Anth120playdo]

Thanks for the replies. Yeah I had my part numbers mixed up. The fronts are MR59-50700 and the rears are MR59-50701. Upon re measuring I am even less impressed. Open length of 555 (bottom eye center to top flange) which makes it no longer than a standard strut. :/ Not what I would call 2in lift.

555 is a good length.
The spring gives the lift.
A 2 inch lift does not & cannot mean you get 2" more travel.
It varies from 0 to too much, IMO 555 is good.

C/v can pop out inner cup & break tripod & bearings without getting to the point they bind. Never seen broken c/v with under 15mm extra travel.
So I prefer to keep around stock or just over to keep c/v's 100% strong, ready to nail the hardest hill climb without risk of breaking.
If you choose More travel more flex, for what because if one wheel is unloaded it will spin & no drive to the other side wether its off the ground or just making contact. The rear is where you want your flex, live axle & let the LSD work.
Most struts have built in bump stops for top out.


Mark what you said is a pretty good interpretation.

Cheers.

[Dominator Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Dominator]

Thanks for the reply ####. I have come from a Patrol to the Prado so I am still learning the finer points of IFS.
I under stand the spring provides the lift, I just thought you would have a longer strut to go with the higher ride height to prevent the strut from topping out too soon.

[Anth120playdo Banned Find all posts View Profile Close Anth120playdo]

Thanks for the reply ####. I have come from a Patrol to the Prado so I am still learning the finer points of IFS.
I under stand the spring provides the lift, I just thought you would have a longer strut to go with the higher ride height to prevent the strut from topping out too soon.

Fair thought!
The lengths do vary a lot between the manufacturers & brands.
I do think its a bit silly how they all come up with such different lengths.
Sometimes you can use some spacers or washers as spacers, just have to be carefull.

[Guest Close Guest]

Standard strut is 540mm open. So at 555mm open there is 15mm extra travel at the strut and therefore, approximately 33mm extra travel at the wheel.

[Anth120playdo Banned Find all posts View Profile Close Anth120playdo]

Standard strut is 540mm open. So at 555mm open there is 15mm extra travel at the strut and therefore, approximately 33mm extra travel at the wheel.

Hey Andrew,

Yes correct, for the 120 series. The 150 series is 10mm longer. Approximately 550mm stock.

Cheers.