G'day all,

Recieved some more promising info from Robert at Offroad Boss on Thursday so I thought it would be good to start a new thread.

I sent him a heap of photos of the Sportage suspension early last week, front and rear along with a heap of info including the link to this site <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/patriot.gif" alt="" />.

He has looked at the photos and is over all impressed and pleasantly surprised about the Sportage. The best news is he believes he can sort out the front strut. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" /> I originally enquired about three inches or four if achivable. His font struts are height adjustuble. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

They are in the middle of organising an offroad competition (King of the Rim) and then will be concentrating on my little project

He has picked up a front strut assembly from the wrecker to measure off. He is hoping that he will be able to adapt their adjustable struts to the bottom fork, if not he will look at what they can do. Best of all is the price will be good.

12 stage adjustable shocks with lengths for the rear extending up to a meter if required. No dust shields to interfere with the rear. Who would of thought. Looks like we are on a winner. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I previously posted in the tyres and suspension that I thought the shocks might be American. They are made in Taiwan.

Any way here a couple of pics of their adjustable struts and of a ultra long rear shock ftted to a Patrol, as well as link to their website. I will keep you posted <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

How good is this looking, adjustable struts, long shocks, front lockers, snorkels, The Sportages are having a resurgence. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/evil.gif" alt="" />

Cheers, Chris <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

http://www.offroadboss.com.au/

If he needs a test vehicle to fit it to, I live 10 mins away in Labrador

I'm drooling.. I hope this happens.

Hello

First of all- thumbs up for your effort-but there is a factor that you should take into consideration before you fit longer struts.
get the front of your sporty in the air using 2 trolley jacks-and take a long hard look at the suspension. you will notice that when the front shocks are fully extended the bottom of the shock (where the forks are attached) is about 3-4 cm away from the rubber cv boots. now-as long as you fit ANY kind of spring-even 4 inches of lift- onto the original strut-it wont matter because the bottom of the strut will never go any lower than the stock position. but if you will fit a longer strut than the bottom of the strut will be lower-which in turn will tear your cv boot to pieces. I am currently facing the same problem because im using a 2 inch lift coil and a 3 icch spacer-the result is that the bottom of the strut has gone down (cause of the spacer). i think that if you will fit longer front struts you will have the same problem.... so take a good look and do some proper measurements before you extend the struts.

ps: why mess around with the front anyway? IFS has its limitations- and that is it. fit a drop kit to the rear-or get some REALLY long travel coils and shocks for the rear-and that should solve any articulation problems.

Thanks DamKia,

I will let him know.
They may take you up on this.

Would you mind PM me your number?

PM sent to you.
Cheers, Chris.

Hadtomer, the idea with those struts is that we could make our own offset forks and space the whole assy away from the d/shaft.

ideally, it would be nice to drop the front ifs dif down to accommodate the longer travel and lift of the new front struts. yes you will lose a small amount of ground clearance. having a tonne of rear articulation isnt always going to help if you encounter an obstacle that requires a little more in the front.
the next step would be the upper control arms and possibly some extended steering knuckles to help maintain proper camber and steering angles.

Even if we don't change anything regarding the length at least we get the ability to have an adjustable strut. Currently the only options for a strut in the front are Monroe, KYB, and Koni. The Koni's are fully adjustable and rebuildable, but I've never heard of any body purchasing them for the Sportage. At a cost of over $300.00 USD each I can understand. They are also built for street racing and not designed for off road. These sound really good if we can keep the cost low enough for us Sportage owners to afford.

Logansportage <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/patriot.gif" alt="" />

Well-making your own forks woulb be ideal. a friend of mine has a set of extended forks on his sporty and they work well. 300$ for KONI adjustables? you guys have it easy!!!!!!! they cost 600$ with taxes over here. but theb again...a 2001 sportage is 10-13 thosand $ so i guess it makes some sense.

$300 each was the price I saw last time I looked (~2001).

Logansportage <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/patriot.gif" alt="" />