I have a leaking right front air strut. I'm leaving on a trip in a week and I want to save as much money as possible for the trip. Should I buy two cheap struts for around $250 or one Arnott for $350 then get the other when I get back? Does anyone have experience with cheap eBay air struts?

 

I have a long list of cheap parts I have re-replaced.

 

I think my only worry about cheap struts is longevity and ride comfort. I dont think then are a big issue when it comes to catastrophic failure, safety, etc. With that said, you are 100% certain is is leaking? Like did you locate the leak point? Because more often than not it is a valve block that leaks.

 

I second Dakota 's point about truly confirming it's the strut itself that is leaking. But if you're trying to economize, then I don't see a safety issue either with just doing one cheap strut before a trip. You can always return it after if it's within a 30 day or whatever return window if there's a problem.

Before you go with a no name one though, consider these:
A brand not too many mention is Aerosus, which I have found to be very good. They're a bit less usually than Arnott as well, and often have a 10% off coupon floating around. Pricing varies depending on exchange rates etc though. Those are made in and ship from Germany and are OE quality in my experience. Shipping can be a little pricy, but no tax if you live in the US. 2 year warranty too.
And I see that Partsgeek also has them from what they claim to be the OE Supplier (if memory serves that's BWI?) for $200 each. If so that's a pretty good deal. Who knows about warranty with them though. If they are BWI, I wouldn't be worried about needing the warranty.
But wait! There's more
Actually I see on Advance Auto's website that right now they have Arnotts for $230 each with a lifetime warranty- that's pretty hard to beat I'd have to say.

 

I'm starting to think I need to look at the air block again, I replaced it yesterday and still had a leak, however, I went out this morning and the truck was completely on the stops in the right front, whereas before it would have taken days to get that low. I might not have made the airline connections properly. I also used the old brass fittings since I was hoping not to mess around with the tiny fitting parts. I'll take it out again today and use the new fittings and see what happens.

 

Unless you use Land Rover oem valve blocks, it's better to rebuild them rather than replace by the way. Generally the consensus is that other or off brand valve blocks are not very good.

 

Ok, I reinstalled everything using the new brass fittings. I also noticed the front shock on this side is the original from 2006. The other front was replaced according to the service records that came with the truck. We'll see. Thanks for the input guys.

 

I've got cheap ones from eBay on 3 of the 4 corners on mine and nothing but solid performance for the past 2 years so far. I just look for 2yr+ warranty on them and contact the seller beforehand to get confirmation on everything before buying if I end up needing it. The first two had 10 yr () warranty on them so we'll see if they ever go out.

 

The problem with "warranties" on those is they are pretty much fake. The struts are made by no-name companies and sold by sellers that setup stores that last a year at best before it changes names.

 

Same with the warranty from Arnott, @DakotaTravler ?