Mean Mother Manny's Mikem Coil Conundrum

[Mad Manny]

History & Background:

Fearless is a 2010 Fortuner, when I started wheelin' I quickly realised I need to upgrade the suspension.
My mate Rudolph had the same vehicle & went for the Ironman setup.

I decided to go to Mikem, for the following reasons:
* I rate the Bilstein's higher than the shocks Ironman was offering (back then).
* The Bilsteins are serviceable.
* I didn't want a 75mm lift (too high imho) - Mikem's lift was only 40mm.
* I really liked the Progressive Rear Coils that Mikem supplied.

Daryl gave me outstanding service & we even replaced the front coils a few times to get the right lift & comfort - this was because of the weight of the ONCA front bumper (40kg odd).

That was about 10 years ago. A few things have changed since then:
Firstly: The back of Fearless usually has 80 - 100kg of recovery equipment, chairs, compressor etc.
Then: when I go away, luggage a large cooler box/fridge etc, gets added, not to mention passengers.
Finally, I bought the Conqueror Conquest since the suspension was done.
It's not a light trailer & the back sags a bit, especially when the trailer & back of the Fortuner are heavily laden...

[Mad Manny]

The Problem:

Here is a pic of Fearless & Gearless taken en route to last weekends Carnage Canyon trip...
Note that Fearless had a massive Cooler full of ice in the back and was fairly fully packed.
Gearless was fully packed and had over 150L of water on board.
The Diesel Jerry cans were empty though.





I sent the pics to Darrel of Mikem... then forgot about it.

Earlier this week LesseW called asking for Darrel's number. It reminded me to go see Darrel sometime... then I forgot about it.

Today LesseW calls to say Darrel still hasn't sent a quote - he asks if I know Darrel well enough to intervene.
I call Darrel & open a can of Whooop Ass! within an hour LesseW had his quote.

Well this evening Darrel calls me, he thanks me for the LesseW lead (he got the job) & asks me to bring Fearless in so he can take a look see.

So, watch this space - seems Other Brother Darrel has a plan...

[Mike-PS]

Looking forward to hearing the plan - easy solution is stiffer springs but then daily ride is hard or you can put in Firestone bags but have heard varying success on these

I have similar problem - but opposite - daily ride is hard with 200kg to 300 kg iron man constant springs. Want to change to progressive but currently I hit my bump stops when loaded, so if I lighten springs it will just make it worse - might go visit your friend Darrel


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[Mad Manny]

No ways I'll fit airbags - if I wanted k@k in my life I'd buy a Land Rover....

[Wave]

When I got my EFS I got the uprated rear coils for towing (and uprated fronts for the bull bar), yes it was a little more choppy unladen but I was happy with the sacrifice as I knew I was towing heavy (as you do)
The EFS coils had minimal tail drop when hooking up the trailer, and towing stability was tops!
If I was you, as you do not use Fearless everyday, I would go for the uprated coils, you'll get used to the slightly harder ride unladen.

[BushWacker]

No ways I'll fit airbags - if I wanted k@k in my life I'd buy a Land Rover....

Landys are sold ‘at full complement’ … setting the benchmark standards for all the lesser manufacturers.
LRs are sold complete … Lesser Vehicles need a lot of
expensive ‘post-purchase’ completion, upgrading and ‘improvement’ to try and follow the leading cartracks off-road.

[iandvl]

No ways I'll fit airbags - if I wanted k@k in my life I'd buy a Land Rover....

Landys are sold ‘at full complement’ … setting the benchmark standards for all the lesser manufacturers.
LRs are sold complete … Lesser Vehicles need a lot of
expensive ‘post-purchase’ completion, upgrading and ‘improvement’ to try and follow the leading cartracks off-road.

Quite. I totally agree with this. It is probably the reason I had to drag a LR Defender out of the crocodile river previously. Same reason I had to assist two other peeps with their Disco in Namibia and accompany them to the border in case the vehicle continued with its overheating shennanigans. All with my relatively standard Datsun...

[Mad Manny]

[Saxj]

No ways I'll fit airbags - if I wanted k@k in my life I'd buy a Land Rover....

Landys are sold ‘at full complement’ … setting the benchmark standards for all the lesser manufacturers.
LRs are sold complete … Lesser Vehicles need a lot of
expensive ‘post-purchase’ completion, upgrading and ‘improvement’ to try and follow the leading cartracks off-road.

If Land Rover's are so good in standard form and don't need upgrading, let's see one get to the Beach at Carnage Canyon.

[BushWacker]

Might have to borrow a New Defender and a set of those big Maxxis for that …. But the Beach does look a great site to camp or to go to for a picnic.
Unfortunately Ive been decommissioned as a driver for a while yet !
Struggled to climb into drivers seat Wednesday let alone feel adventurous enough to drive !

[Mad Manny]

OK, I went to Mikem today. Darrel & his dad were there.
They measured the rear ride height &then whipped out the old progressive coils & fitted new continuous compression coils.
Darrell warned that the unladen ride will be harsher.

Post install the rear was higher, but things were yet to settle.

Darrell & I then went for a drive, fortunately the urban decay due to corruption & mismanagement provided a nice test route.

Although unladen I found the ride smoother & Fearless felt better composed.
The ar.se felt 'better composed'.

On returning we measured - rear ride was 10mm higher.

I then convinced Darrell to take a banner advert & left.

The trip home (all tar) convinced me things are better 'sorted' at the back.

I obviously need to do some 'gravel travel' & a tow test.

I'll use this Thread to give feedback...

PS: Full disclosure - Darrell gave me a Mikem cap...

[LesseW]

My Prado is going in next week to get the progressive coil + Bilstein setup.

I can give proper feedback after a Bots trip end of April, but then again, anything will be better than the Camil (lite) I currently have on.

[Johannes]

Quite. I totally agree with this. It is probably the reason I had to drag a LR Defender out of the crocodile river previously. Same reason I had to assist two other peeps with their Disco in Namibia and accompany them to the border in case the vehicle continued with its overheating shennanigans. All with my relatively standard Datsun...
[/quote]

Ai Ian . Almal sit vas . Of nie. Ek het baie groot repek vir patrols . Maar hulle breek ook maar van tyd tot tyd .
Dit gaan maar oor onderhoud en diens .
Baie mense koop Landrover om te gaan "toer" . Dan misbruik hulle die goed en dienste word nie gedoen nie .
Maar soos die engelse sê " each to his own "

[iandvl]

From the horse's mouth, so to say. I merely mention this. Everybody runs into issues occasionally, but some more than others apparently. I reckon I'll stick to what I know.

Understand, I'm not anti-Defender. I have very fond memories of being in the back of the old man's Defender years ago. That said, a large chunk of LR's offerings leave me cold and I really do not like the "New Defender" / Pretender. Much as I'm not overly fond of the Y62 Patrol.

Maarnouwat - I'm sure I could make my life miserable in other ways (and cheaper too) than the LR thang...

On a side note: I've been recovered three times in my life, and it has not been for want of trying. Four times, if you include running out of gas once**... Once by another Patrol (Trollyfan here on this forum), once by a Ford Ranger (the shame). When I still had the NP300 I was recovered once by a Cruiser. The petrol incident was a friend's SFA Hilux.

I did get payback for the SFA - he burnt out his electrics a few weeks later, and I towed him back home... I have a photo of that somewhere too...

The occasions when I have had technical difficulties with the truck, I've either fixed en-route or lived with niggles until we were done. The one very serious occasion, I drove back from Bots with a non-electrical-functional truck. Customs/Immigration were nice enough to vet me at my vehicle on both sides of the border at Derdepoort so that I could keep the motor running on the way back home. If it had died then, I've got no idea how I would have got it started again...

** A Patrol does not have a low fuel warning light. It has a "there is no petrol and I will stop in 10 seconds" light. I was fairly new to the truck then.

[Mad Manny]

My Prado is going in next week to get the progressive coil + Bilstein setup.

I can give proper feedback after a Bots trip end of April, but then again, anything will be better than the Camil (lite) I currently have on.

Any feedback Wessel?