2014 Fuso FG New Shocks?

Butch1979

Family Adventurer
So I had the Fuso in the shop the other day and the service manager mentioned that my passenger shock needs to be replaced. With only 13K miles on the truck, I'm wondering if I need to go aftermarket vs the stock ones, so I'm looking for suggestions.

The truck suspension is stock at this point, and I don't want to get into extensive changes, but I am open to some opinions on different shocks.


Radflo seems nice, but WOW they are expensive. Anybody else have alternative options?


2016-06-18 16.14.25.jpg


Cheers

Butch
 

skippythedog

Observer
I just wrote a thread (my first) on the forum re: my install of Ranchos w/ Timbren bump stops.....The adjustable Ranchos work extremely well. The part numbers were: 999117(front) and 999113 (rear)...I'm not sure if they fit your year...so just do what I did: Cross reference your OEM shock # to an OEM shock for a 2007...if they're the same, they'll work. Rancho also publishes a chart which shows dimensions, hardware, extended/compressed length etc. Here's a link (hope it works) to my post: http://www.expeditionportal.com/for...-and-Timbren-bump-stops?p=2139861#post2139861

ps I'm absolutely happy and convinced that the adjustables are the only way to go. In these relatively rare trucks, everyones situation is different (weight/load/tolerance to pain etc)....A fixed rate shock that works for one person has little chance of making everyone (or even anyone else) happy. I run my truck empty most of the time (8600 pounds) and run my shocks on the next to lowest setting....plenty of room to dial them up for the camper dudes.
cheers....love to hear what you settled on...
 

david506th

Adventurer
Talk with Alan (Yabada)(sp?) but anyways he has done a bunch with his Fuso on both the Shocks and springs. I have the Radflo Earthcruiser shocks and they work ok but I have had three failures so far in my 6 month trip. One out of the box, two since traveling. Of those two I am getting little to medium resistance in one and the other one just started leaking.

I have also heard second hand that the EC shocks were having some interesting failures soon after install.

David
 

Howard70

Adventurer
Our Radflos Work Well

I noted up thread that some were having problems with RadFlo/EC shocks. We mounted ours back in May and have run them through the summer without any problems and we're very happy with them. I have seen one set on another truck that leaked in front, and I suspect the leakage was caused by the fitting on the upper shock body for the remote reservoir hose coming in contact with a lip on the Fuso's upper shock mount.

When I mounted my fronts, I spent considerable time figuring out what position of the upper body would provide the best clearance for that fitting. I think it is important to do any rotating of the upper shock body only when the threaded stud is completely free to rotate. I think that is important so that it is the complete structure of the shock that rotates and not the upper body independently of the threaded stud. I'm not sure, but I suspect that rotating the upper body with the threaded stud fixed could contribute to leaking at the top of the shock. When I examined one of the shocks that had been leaking on the truck of a colleague that looked like a potential source.

In the other situation mentioned above, when the hose fitting could contact the Fuso shock mount, that wouldn't happen ideally. However, if the nut on the threaded stud is not tightened enough, or is over tightened, then the rubber cushions that are part of the shock's mounting hardware may distort and facilitate contact of the fitting and the lip. If the fitting contacts the lip, then the fitting could be pushed out of alignment and allow fluid to leak out around the seals of the fitting. If you want check for contact, I'd look at the fitting and the lip for signs of pushed metal. If you see that, I'd hypothesize that you've had contact.

If you were worried about potential contact, there are a couple of things I think I would try. One would be removing a bit of material from the lip on the Fuso mount. The lip has a horizontal step in it, and it looks to me like removing the lowest portion of that step would provide some additional clearance to avoid contact. Another possibility would be to install your front shocks with a third metal cup washer. The normal install is shock > upward facing cup washer (#1) > rubber cushion (A) > Fuso shock mount > Rubber cushion (B) > downward facing cup washer (#2) > nut. Placing an additional upward facing cup washer (#3) between #1 and the first rubber cushion (A) might act as a spacer that could move the upper body of the shock down and provide more space between the fitting and the shock mount. In turn that could allow for more distortion of the rubber cushion without contact.

While I thought of doing either or both of those after I saw the truck with the leaking from shocks, I decided to leave our installation alone. I do monitor the apparent position of the fittings on our front RadFlos relative to the lip on the Fuso shock mount. So far I haven't seen any movement and we have no leaking. That could be dumb luck (a good hypothesis in my case) or the result of careful installation / monitoring. The only thing I'm sure did not contribute to our lack of problems is treating the truck to easy tracks. This summer we've traversed some of the roughest country yet in Prima Terra (our EarthCruiser).

For us, the shocks work great, provide a comfortable ride, reduce swaying on poor surfaced shelf tracks, handle washboards well (with appropriate tire pressure) and we'd buy them again. If I was concerned about attempting the potential solutions mentioned above, I would contact RadFlo or EC & get their feedback.

Howard
 

david506th

Adventurer
One thing we did do also as Howard did is the front mount. We rebuilt both our front and rear mounts to allow better travel and not interfere with the shock itself as he stated.
 

pugslyyy

Expedition Vehicle Engineer Guy
I run the Bilstein 24-185523 shocks up front.

Nice commonly available shock (used on Ford Broncos, etc, with a 4 inch lift).
 

Forum statistics

Threads
185,531
Messages
2,875,589
Members
224,922
Latest member
Randy Towles
Top