Pajero Owners Club of South Africa

Hi, I am looking into getting a suspension upgrade for a 1990 2.5tdi Pajero wagon as the current suspension is shot. i tried Ironman but they dont stock the suspension kit for the gen 1, might go for OME. Called Monroe bit there shocks are even more expensive than OME Are there any gen 1 owners that could give me some advice on what and who to buy from. It will be great to hear what you have on your gen 1 and how it performs etc.

Hi radpaj and welcome.

4ePajero is the resident Gen 1 guru and I'm sure he will chime in.

Does your Paj have rear leaf springs or coils? If the latter you might be able to fit Gen 2 kits from Ironman/OME or the like.

I know 4ePaj imported some Bilstein shocks for his a while back. He will tell all.

Yes, I imported Bilsteins for mine and I'm very happy.

Mine has leaf springs at the rear, which are a bit soft when fully loaded and has very little travel. I would like to add Air Springs at some stage, because an extra leaf or different springs will compromise the nice ride when not loaded.

At the front, I'm still on original torsion bars.
I heard that the Gen2 bars (which are readily available) work, but I won't vouch for that.

Maybe ask that question (re bars) on the www.4x4wire.com forum. That's a good reference site for Gen1 and Gen2 petrol Pajeros.

radpaj wrote:Hi, I am looking into getting a suspension upgrade for a 1990 2.5tdi Pajero wagon as the current suspension is shot. i tried Ironman but they dont stock the suspension kit for the gen 1, might go for OME. Called Monroe bit there shocks are even more expensive than OME Are there any gen 1 owners that could give me some advice on what and who to buy from. It will be great to hear what you have on your gen 1 and how it performs etc.

What were you quoted for the Monroes?? My colleage just had a set installed at Supaquick on his Gen2 and they were R3200 for the 4. Also see if you can get Gabriel Kubu's. Also decent shocks

Thanks for all the replies and info.
I was quoted r1300 exl vat per shock which is way too much for Monroe. it was from a Midas branch in the WP.

I just removed one of my tyres to take a look at the shocks and I discovered i have a full set of Bilstein shocks on the Paj. Now I am confused as I know these are really good shocks and maybe its just my coil springs that are shot? If I go over a road hump the rear left side drops more than the right so I am now thinking its the springs as they also sag a bit when loaded. Also the bushes on the rear trailing arms are so worn that when it went for roadworth they called me under the car to see how much movement it had, which was about 1cm play It still passed as every thing else is mechanically good.
Now I dont know where to get new bushes, any ideas on where I can get some?

I just got four new bushes for the rear trailing arms and it has made a huge difference by stiffing up the back axle and it now makes the two springs feel equal when you go over a speed bump, ie it doesnt bottom out on one side anymore. I am thinking of removing the stabilizer bars to improve axle articulation. Have any of you done this? I am not sure if its safe to do so I am a bit hesitant to try.
I have 215/15 tyres on and i would like to know whats the largest tyre I can buy with out doing any mods, I am thinking of 245/75/15 - any ideas?