Tough Dog suspension
Built for your terrain, your load, your ride
Every Tough Dog shock and spring is engineered for a different job. Here's how to pick the right setup.
Which shock is right for your setup?
No two 4WDs are asked to do the same job, so Tough Dog builds more than one shock. A weekend tourer, a loaded-up tradesman's ute and a serious lift-kit rig all put very different demands on suspension — how hard it's worked, how much heat it has to shed, and whether the driver wants to tune the ride themselves. Here's how the range breaks down.
Foam Cell
Tough Dog's best-selling, all-round shock. A micro-cellular foam insert stops the oil and gas inside the shock from mixing into bubbles under hard use — the main cause of shock fade — so the shock keeps performing consistently over corrugations and rough tracks.
Best for: Everyday 4WDs, weekend touring, general off-road use
40mm Adjustable
Everything the Foam Cell shock offers, plus 9 stages of external adjustment so you can dial the ride firmer for towing and load, or softer for comfort, without swapping parts.
Best for: Vehicles that switch between touring, towing and work
45mm Adjustable
The largest-bore externally adjustable shock in the range, with a bigger 45mm bore and 70mm outer casing for extra oil capacity and control. Built for big lift kits — up to around 6 inches over factory on some vehicles.
Best for: Big lift kits and heavier, more demanding setups
TD-R Pro Remote Reservoir
The flagship of the range. A separate remote oil canister gives the shock far more oil capacity than a standard shock, so heat is carried away from the damper instead of building up during long, hard off-road runs. 8-stage rebound and 8-stage compression adjustment let you fine-tune the setup on the fly.
Best for: Serious, sustained off-road driving and heavy corrugations
Coil springs, leaf springs & torsion bars
Shocks control movement, but springs and torsion bars carry the weight and set the ride height. Which one sits under (or in front of) your vehicle comes down to the axle and platform it was designed around.
Coil Springs
Tough Dog coil springs are designed and made in Australia from German X5K spring steel, engineered to use less material while holding onto ride quality and load-carrying capacity. The spring keeps its original memory even after heavy loading, giving a lighter spring that's still tough enough for harsh conditions.
Each coil is shot-peened to relieve stress, scragged and load-tested, formed on precision mandrels, hot-formed to lock in that memory, and powder-coated for corrosion resistance. Raised-height options are available up to a 6" lift, and coverage runs from a 4-year recreational / 3-year commercial warranty up to 2"/50mm of lift, down to a 3-year recreational / 3-year commercial warranty above that.
Leaf Springs
Tough Dog leaf springs are a genuinely progressive-rate pack — each leaf sits slightly higher than the one below it, so the whole length of every leaf stays in contact rather than just the tips. Single-stage and two-stage packs are available depending on the application: on two-stage springs, the heavier second-stage leaves only come into play once the load compresses the pack, controlling sag without overloading the primary leaves or ruining the unladen ride.
Each pack is precision mandrel and die-formed, oil-quenched, hardened and tempered, military-wrapped for safety, accurately heat-treated, made from high-grade spring steel, fitted with anti-friction pads in most applications, pre-stressed to hold ride height, and finished with diamond-cut ends. Every pack is load-rate tested and backed by a 4-year recreational / 3-year commercial warranty.
Torsion Bars
Tough Dog performance torsion bars carry a spring rate around 30% higher than the factory bar. That extra rate stops the front end from bottoming out hard off-road and sharpens handling on the street. They can be installed with a moderate pre-load either to lift the front for extra clearance, or simply to bring ride height and handling back to standard as the factory bars fatigue over time.
They're especially worth fitting once bigger tyres or heavier front-end accessories like bull bars and winches go on. Regardless of which bar or accessories are fitted, at least 60mm of front suspension droop needs to be kept in reserve.
