[AntonE]

I guess this is tired subject , but I cannot drive one day more with the hard suspension on my 2000 3.2 LWB...

It was hard to begin with, bought original coils allround ( thanks Marius!) and replaced all shocks with Monroe Adventure. Tyres at 2.1 , 70 profile.
I asked the local shop to give me the most light duty shock, as I have found on previous vehicles that Heavy Duty = Hard Ride. An old post from someone else on this forum says the same, every cut and corrugation on tar is feltand heard through the whole vehicle, gravel roads is a nightmare.If I am going to drive on gravel for work ,I take my Hundai Getz .It is infinately better.
I have driven other 4x4 vehicles from around year 2000 to compare ,and the Pajero's ride can only be described as rubbish and totally inferior to anything else. I permanently drive with 150kg's of sandbags in the back which makes it fairly OK , but the front is unbearable.
It seems that to sort of fix these car's suspension,you have to spend R10k and upwards,which could only mean that the original setup is sustandard and badly designed.
Are there no normal 3way adjustable shocks like Gabriel used to make? Are the standard coils made extra hard to compensate for the short available articulation?
I am really on the verge of flogging it and relegating it to
"that piece of sh.t I once owned", but the rest of the car is pretty fine. I am actually dreading getting into it for attempting the highway tomorrow. Bridge joints is a killer in this one.
Bottom line, what needs to be replaced to make it remotely drivable as perhaps a gen 2 Pajero for instance?[/font]

[Nick Gibson]

HI Anton

Sorry to hear of your woes re your suspension. I have very heavy duty shocks fitted, Gabriel HDP's and run my tyres at 2.5bar for fuel economy so my ride is a bit harsher than normal.

I agree that the Paj does not like corrugations at all, I think I chipped a few teeth doing the richterveld 2 months ago. In the cars defence however they were the worst corrugations I have ever been on by a very long shot (we drove via Eksteenfontein to sendelingsdrift and it took us 4 hours to do 90km of gravel roads), and keeping in mind I have done a lot of gravel driving growing up on a farm and doing Namibia etc...

I think also the problem with the Gen 3 pajero is that it has a monocoque chassis(stressed member), so all the vibrations are transferred straight to your bum in the seat, and not insulated by a ladder chassis and rubber mounts as in other makes. However what you are saying does not strike a cord with my experience of a pajero, it is generally a soft ride, all my mates comment on its soft and supple ride as well; and they have variour vehicles in the same class: Prado's, Frotuna's, Nissans etc.
Above a certain speed (about 70 kph)it comes into it own on gravel, it drives on gravel like no other bakkie/car I have driven, smooth and soft and very controllable, no rear end stepping out like to Toyota Hilux's etc. On tar it also does not wallow around like a clumsy jeep grand cherokee either (good for articulation though...), it is precise and has minimal body roll, so for me it is the perfect combination for an overlander. Very nice to drive in town/highways and ever since I did my 2" spacer lift a very capable trail vehicle as well.

Have you check if all your rubber bushes are still intact on the control arms, or driven in another Pajero of similar model to compare rides??

[4ePajero]

My personal experience is that Pajeros are very good on gravel roads. Even my Gen1 is way above average.

My second experience is that tyre pressure on gravel is much more critical than on hard surfaces (please don't say "tar", we don't have tar roads, but asphalt/bitumen seals ).

Try one of two things:

1. The 4PSI rule (search is your friend)
2. Let the tyres down until the side walls show a pronounced bulge. (Sometimes it is better to deflate until the bulge is obviously to pronounced, and then inflate a bit ). Rather to soft than to hard. Try it. If it works, take the pressure and use that in future.

Different tyre / suspension / load combinations give different results, so don't stick to a given recommended pressure.

(eg

1. on my Touareg I have 265/65/18 BFG ATs, which I run at 1.7 kPa on hard surfaces, and 1.4 on gravel
2. My Gen1 Pajero rides on 32x15 tyres, which I run at 1.1 kPa on gravel

Both give very smooth, soft rides, and pass the 4PSI rule.

[4ePikanini]

having owned one like yours I can comment.

The gen3 is harsher than the gen2 on gravel but only at low speeds. Once the speed picks up to about 70km/h it's probably one the best handling cars out there.

You mentioned the bridge gaps to be harsh which points me too only one thing. Suspension bushes, gearbox mountings and in particular the crossmember bushes under the gearbox.

To eliminate the suspension bushes, take it to a dekra test center where they put one wheel on a circulating platform to stress the suspension. This will show any bad bushes. Fix those and then have a look at the engine mountings. Put the car in Neutral and rev it a bit while looking at the engine. It shouldn't rock more than an Inch at the most. Mostly it should rock less than an inch.

Then lastly the crossmember bushes under gearbox. It's just 4 x 14mm bolts on the body , 2 x 14mm bolts and 2x 14mm nuts on the gearbox mounting to drop the crossmember and inspect the bushes.

Your experience of the pajero's handling is definitely not indicative of it's reputation.

[AntonE]

Hi all , thanks for the responses.

Yes I have driven other Gen 3's to compare , but each one had non-oem suspension setups I cannot help to wonder why.

I will have a look at the bushes, but if they are worn, will that not translate into iffy straight line steering? I have none of that which is noticable on the highway.
The roads in our town is built to slope down from the centre line, and what I do notice is that one obviously have to counter steer slightly right towards the road centre to keep straight, and when going over any bump/cats-eye/matchstick ,the steering will jolt to the right. Along with the usual bang through the whole car.

I do deflate tyres if I am going to spend hours on a gravel road, but if I am taking a gravel connection between tar roads , there is no way I can deflate /inflate every time I do so. I have not had to do it with anything else I have ever owned and it is not acceptable.The only comparable ride was my Alfa Giulietta with shocks set on Sport.

Questions:
1)If it is the bushes, does one replace with poly or normal?

2)Why would the rear also give the same thrashing over the same bumps ?

3)Does the Gen 3 really have a comparable ride to other vehicles ,like same year Prados ,doublecabs on original suspension? (I drove many miles on bad roads with my stock standard 4x4 Colt bakkie, and the ride quality is light years apart. I did not have to drive faster or let down tyres for a good ride.)

4) The expanded diagram for removal of the gearbox Crossmember: Where can I get it in PDF or whatever to view properly? On the page here I lose all defenition when expanding.

Anton

[Nick Gibson]

Yes I have driven other Gen 3's to compare , but each one had non-oem suspension setups I cannot help to wonder why.


4) The expanded diagram for removal of the gearbox Crossmember: Where can I get it in PDF or whatever to view properly? On the page here I lose all defenition when expanding.

Anton

I recon that most modify their suspension for more ground clearance (like I have), especially the older Gen3's which springs have sagged a bit, thus losing critical clearance - the Gen 3's were not too high to start off with as the ground clearance is not linked to a solid axle's diff pumpkin like in a Prado or Fortuner etc.

There are two ways of doing this, installing spacers ontop of the coil springs to lift the whole vehicle and then aftermarket longer springs (OME, Ironman, TJM etc...)

Then there are also damper(shocks) upgrades us well, I have put Gabriel HDP's in, but there are many more makes too. There are many Paj's still running stock suspension out there, nothing wrong with it at all.

4- Have a look at the attached PDF, it an early service manual for the 2000-2003 Gen3 Pajero power plant mounts.

[Davidvan]

Hi,

Have run on std coils and shocks for 4 years, never had an issue. Drove in a hilux in Namibia due to an "Upgrade" by rental company, drove 10km, and wanted to turn around and take it back, was rubbish. Have done over 30000 km's of overlanding on some of the roughest and corrugations which are more like speed bumps in northern Namibia and never had any issues.

Have replaced rear shocks with OEM and CATS gave me OME shocks which I am running up front on std coils all round. Recently added spacers for more lift and airbags to help in rear now when towing my trailer. Only place where I was uncomfortable was Kgalagadi, but everyone complains, ok over 60 km/h on bad conditions.

You definately have some issue and Marius knows his Paj very well, I would take his advice.

Hope you get it sorted soon.

Cheers

David

[AntonE]

Thanks for the info, gents.

What is the softest shock available for the Gen3?
Does any company make a normal 3 way adjustable oil filled shock which can be set to soft?
I would really like to get a compliant ride which resembles any other coil sprung vehicles , like Jeep,Toyota or Landie without having to spend R10K ,which I will not do.
I am not a racer, and if I have body roll it does not concerm me, I rather prefer that.

[CATS]

Anton

If you are looking for comfortable ride fit the original KYB shocks. You can also fit adjustable Rancho shocks but they are hellish expensive. I recently replaced rear bushes as my old ones were shot. They were replaced by poly ones and the ride is definitely firmer and I have increased NVH levels(noise vibration harshness) so I will stick to the original if soft ride is what you are after.

You mention that you have driven in modified suspension Pajero, I hate it when people use "upgraded" as description as it is not an upgrade merely a modification to suit specific personal requirements. Was the ride actually better than yours on the standard setup? If so then yours definitely has some problem.

CATS

Sent from my GT-P7100 using Tapatalk 2

[4x4John]

You can get a much smoother and softer ride by installing Old Man Emu suspension. Also gives you 35mm-50mm lift and better load bearing capabilities. They sold through 4x4Megaworld and you can decide between different configurations of suspension depending on the stiffness your require. I tested OME on several LWB and SWB models and worked magic every time.

Stay away from TJM XJS suspension - hard as hell and very uncomfortable ride. Had to throw away a full new XJS Gold suspension because it is a very hard suspension and turned my otherwise stable Pajero into a rattle-box.

Also good idea to deflate your tyres - i often drive a 100km stretch of dirt road that is very rocky and I deflate to 160Kpa.