[WaldoH]

I recently purchased a set off Gabriele HDP shocks for my GEN3; 3.2 DID 2005 SWB Pajero. I took these to a fitment centre and found the front shocks did not fit the bottom spring holder. The part number for the front shocks GS 46006 match the make and model of my car in the Gabriel catalogue but for some reason do not fit the factory spring holder, the holder is to small and can not accommodate the shock it also has a washer welded to the top of the rod that does not allow one to fit the shock... I even had a second set ordered form a local spares shop but these were identical. I have now had a set of Koni shocks (which fit the vehicle perfectly) fitted instead. I am very disappointed in Control instruments who manufacture Gabriel HDP's, I must have spoken to 5 different people none able to help or come up with a reason why the shocks did not match the vehicle. I now have to return the shocks to the spares shop and have had to pay double for fitment.... I am also out of pocket as the Koni's don't come cheap. Has anyone had a similar problem with fitment of HDP's to a GEN 3?

[Nick Gibson]

Hi I also had problems with my HDP shocks, one front one collapsed on the vehicle and they replaced both.

There is a rubber fitting which fits on the top of the shock, it comes with the vehicle -See the item 8 on the diagram, did they fit this with the new shocks??

There are all sorts of cups, washers and rubbers that are to be reused when you change the shocks, btw who and where did the fitment?? Maybe they are to blame, Control Instrument really came to the party to sort my warranty claim out, I originally used a tyre fitment centre who did to have much experience with fitting shocks, they recommended Supa-kwik in Durbanville who did the swap out

Here are some pics I took of my shock/coil assemble when they replaced mine.

Also see my posts of my issues in this thread:
https://www.pajeroclub.co.za/forum/view ... 0&start=50

[WaldoH]

Hi Nick thanks for the reply, the lower spring mount on my vehicle is different to the one in your Pic. I don't know if it's possible but I have a suspicion this vehicle may have been fitted with a BK font suspension. The lower spring cup looks different and is tapered and narrow, compared to what you have in your sketch. The threaded section and mounting washer welded to the shock simply does not fit through the spring cup. The guys that fitted the shocks are next to a 4x4 accessories dealer and install all their aftermarket stuff in fact they reported back to me that the shocks didn't fit after only an hour (and had already fitted the rear ones). They undoubtedly know their way around a Pajero and even checked the ball joints and all the Bushes. I am confident that they assembled correctly and did a good job.

What baffels me is that the Koni's also ordered out of a catalogue, fitted correctly the first time round. I don't know what the problem is here but I know the HDP's didn't fit. I took a couple of photo's and can email them onto you for a better look.

It would be interesting to find out if anyone has had similar issues on late model 2005 / 2006 GEN 3 Pajero's

[dr0ne]

Hi I also had problems with my HDP shocks, one front one collapsed on the vehicle and they replaced both.

There is a rubber fitting which fits on the top of the shock, it comes with the vehicle -See the item 8 on the diagram, did they fit this with the new shocks??

Shock mount.png

There are all sorts of cups, washers and rubbers that are to be reused when you change the shocks, btw who and where did the fitment?? Maybe they are to blame, Control Instrument really came to the party to sort my warranty claim out, I originally used a tyre fitment centre who did to have much experience with fitting shocks, they recommended Supa-kwik in Durbanville who did the swap out

Here are some pics I took of my shock/coil assemble when they replaced mine.

IMG-20121205-00038.jpg

IMG-20121205-00041.jpg

Also see my posts of my issues in this thread:
https://www.pajeroclub.co.za/forum/view ... 0&start=50

Hi Nick,

I had the same shocks installed today, but I am almost certain they left out number 8 as you've pointed out. Now, I have a knock sound at the front passenger side if you drive over an uneven road surface. I took off the wheel and checked everyhting i could think of, but found nothing.

Is it possible that you can take a photo of the top of the spring/shock where this part should be?

I have a gap of about 10mm between the shock boot ( the part that is bent on your photo) and the metal cup ( part of the oem stuff carried over), where you can see the green paint of the shock. I am almost certain it is causing the noise.


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[dr0ne]

I took some pictures!

and

Does yours look the same?

Thanks!!

[Nick Gibson]

Hi Drone

Here are my pics,

looks like you are missing something - too much of your shock is showing, the rubber boot/dust cover of my HDP is within the part listed as #7?? Not having this part could lead to excess play on the upper shock mount and will lead to clunking when hitting bumps. Is your shock tightened all the way on nut on to the top??

Ps. Is that a TJM coil, it looks quite thick with fewer turns than OEM coil, must be quite a hard ride??

[Nick Gibson]

See comparison between setups.

#8 in diagram is a rubber bump-stop with a dust cover attached for the OEM shocks, it is not re-used on the HDP shocks. Looks like you are missing Part # 7 on the diagram...

[dr0ne]

Hi Nick

Thank you for the photo's!

I know #7 is there, but it is turned upside down on mine. The cup side is directed upwards. That will be the reasons for seeing the exposed shock rod then!

I checked all the bolts, no issues there. What I will do is buy a spring compressor and take it apart myself to check if everything is in the correct order.

I took the standard coils back with me, so if I need to, I can put them back to confirm. I left the standard shocks there unfortunately, otherwise it would have been easy to see if it was the shocks

The coils are Ironman, I bought from Gerrit here on the forum. I am also pleasantly surprised by the ride! It's not hard at all, a lot firmer, but not unpleasant. No more body roll or nose diving. The corrugations I drove were soaked up with much more ease than the Standard Coils and shocks did! BUT I must add - I have no idea how old the shocks were.

[Nick Gibson]

Hi Drone

I am not sure if the way the suspension setup works/fits together allows you to invert #7, it needs to face down as the upper element is too big for the cup to fit over - don't know if I am making sense??


I had a clunk on the rear suspension, it turned out to be a steel collar that was fitted around the damper shaft that was keeping the two big washers a specific distance apart "squeezing"/holding the rubbers to the upper shock mounting, the rubbers had compressed a bit and had play on the upper shock mount causing the clunk - here is my post you mght need to scoll down a bit. https://www.pajeroclub.co.za/forum/view ... &start=280


On my front shocks the upper nut (due it being stripped!!) on the shaft of the one shock was also a bit loose giving about 3mm of up/down play on the shock, this gave a horrendous clunk when going over and bumps - one shock had also collapsed... https://www.pajeroclub.co.za/forum/view ... 0&start=50

[dr0ne]

Thank you for your help Nick.

I have now had the original springs put back in and I took the diagram you posted with so they can put everything in the right order. But no luck. The clunk sound is still there when you drive over uneven surfaces. But they do look identical to your photo's now.

Only thing is... the noise now moved to the driver side!

What I am going to do is switch the struts around, to see if the noise moves with. Then I will have an idea of where to look.