This was taken off the road around Waimakariri in Christchurch!
Best of road!
Off the road
Off the road – Following the Christchurch Earthquake, the Escudo got full of sand and silt. No water available to wash it called for some offroading at the closest river.
No more squeaks, crunches and the dampers work pretty well too 🙂
Escudo playing in the mud.
You will notice the red Pajero waiting to tow me me out..
Maybe Santa will bring me some lock diffs for Christmas! Please Please Please!
Replacing/Upgrading rear shocks on Suzuki Escudo/Geo Tracker 1.6, 2Door
Being in New Zealand, we have a fair amount of Holden’s on the road. Worldwide you will more commonly recognize the manufacturer as Vauxhall.
After a bit of reading I found out that the VL Commodore shocks are longer and provide more down travel and softer ride.
The total cost:
Shocks – $1 on Trademe (online auction).
Delivery – $15
Nuts and bolts – $10 Local shop
Objective: 13cm more drop.
Let’s begin; jack her up:
Note I used two jacks to maintain the height of the diff. 
The two pictures below only show the new shock installed but the principle is to remove the nut and bolt at the bottom, and up top the two nuts/or one lock nut.
Check out the drop 🙂
Mission complete. Now we are left with two new issues:
- Brake hoses – too short.
- Springs too short.
Stay tuned, I will soon document cheaper replacement springs and brake hoses extensions.