Thread: Wow.. Another suspension question.

Nice and clean for after 100k km

The most comfortable ride would be to fit air springs. Kits are available from Airbagman and others.

Originally Posted by isuzurover

The most comfortable ride would be to fit air springs. Kits are available from Airbagman and others.

x2.


But I think one of the best options for std height defender with a winch is LR HD fronts and std rear springs with a decent set of shocks. I would use bilstien or Koni. They can be sourced from the usa for a very good price and I beleive them to be a supireor product over terrafirma

I wouldn't use Terra Firma shocks. MR fitted them and King Springs +2" to my Discovery 2.
After a trip to the Cape and some others with lots of dirt roads I was going to sell the car. The ride on corrugations was terrible.
Terra Firmas info says that their shocks are designed for "fully loaded expedition Landrovers".
I travel alone with minimal camping gear.
I have after 10,000 ks of a far too firm ride on dirt roads and even bitumen, gone to Old Man Emu Nitrocharger on the rear and Ironman on the front.
It now rides like a Discovery should - comfortable and quiet.

Originally Posted by isuzurover

The most comfortable ride would be to fit air springs. Kits are available from Airbagman and others.

I do like the sounds of this, and always have. Taking into a count the cost of parts/compressors and install costs its always stopped me looking into it too far. Can you have a guess at what the cost of this set up would be?

Originally Posted by Benny_IIA

x2.


But I think one of the best options for std height defender with a winch is LR HD fronts and std rear springs with a decent set of shocks. I would use bilstien or Koni. They can be sourced from the usa for a very good price and I beleive them to be a supireor product over terrafirma

I put HD Fronts on my first Defender, and it did the trick of leveling it perfectly. Knowing that Bilstien reportedly give a firmer ride + leaving the original rear springs in, I think I will be back at square one - Rough (or rougher) ride.

Originally Posted by moretonisle

I wouldn't use Terra Firma shocks. MR fitted them and King Springs +2" to my Discovery 2.
After a trip to the Cape and some others with lots of dirt roads I was going to sell the car. The ride on corrugations was terrible.
Terra Firmas info says that their shocks are designed for "fully loaded expedition Landrovers".
I travel alone with minimal camping gear.
I have after 10,000 ks of a far too firm ride on dirt roads and even bitumen, gone to Old Man Emu Nitrocharger on the rear and Ironman on the front.
It now rides like a Discovery should - comfortable and quiet.

Ill voice this concern with them over the phone. I was quite clear in my Email about my objective of making my ride softer and that I carry little to know weight in the car. Do you know what Range of shocks they gave you?

Thanks for the advice guys. Appreciate it!

From the pic, your front springs are obviously progressive rate.

In case you aren't aware:

Progressive springs have some coils with a closely wound pitch and the other coils wound on a greater pitch. These are designed so that at normal ride height all of the coils are 'active' (able to contribute to spring deflection). When the spring compresses a certain amount, the close wound coils touch each other and they become non active, and only the coils at the greater pitch remain active.

Spring rate is inversely proportional to the number of active coils. So at ride height there are a large number of active coils and the spring rate is the lower value (comfortable ride). As a bump compresses the spring so the close coils become solid, the spring rate becomes the higher value, so absorbing more energy from the bump before the axle hits the rubber bump stops.

Compared to linear rate springs, progressives usually lower rate during the first stage and higher rate in the second stage.

Looking at this pic, the static load on the front springs is too high for these particular progressive rate springs. The closer wound coils are solid at ride height and so your spring rate is the higher value at normal ride height.

You effectively have the equivalent to a shorter linear rate spring with a high spring rate.

From memory, which needs to be verified, you might look at using the standard progressive rate coils from the rear of a Defender 90, for the front of your 110.

The rear springs are another issue, and for your use (rarely carrying a load) you can fit longer springs with a lower spring rate. However I support the air spring suggestion from Isuzurover as your best option.

With shockies, I also support the comments by the other posters, regarding Koni vs TF

Originally Posted by isuzurover

The most comfortable ride would be to fit air springs. Kits are available from Airbagman and others.

Just comparing a steel coiled rangie to an EAS rangie. The EAS appears better at taking out ripples, but the steel coils do far better in the mid-stroke.

However, I put this down to the limited air volume of the comparatively short length factory EAS bags. Longer bags would be less progressive and give a far better mid-stroke.
I hope to try some one-day.

Optimising a steel coil setup will be the cheapest way out and give a very good result. You need to start by weighing each end of the vehicle. The weight is the starting point to choosing spring-rates, then spring lengths for ride height.

Originally Posted by Aaron

I do like the sounds of this, and always have. Taking into a count the cost of parts/compressors and install costs its always stopped me looking into it too far. Can you have a guess at what the cost of this set up would be?

That largely depends on what you buy and who does the work. My total cost was ~$300/axle (I have only done the rear axle) - which was basically the cost of the springs alone from truckspring in the US (I fabricated my own brackets, etc...).
A complete kit from one of the suppliers will of course be a lot more. However, most of the cost is in the control system, so you can save a lot of money by opting for a system where you manually set the height of each corner - to be legal you must not be able to adjust it while driving.

Originally Posted by Dougal

Just comparing a steel coiled rangie to an EAS rangie. The EAS appears better at taking out ripples, but the steel coils do far better in the mid-stroke.

However, I put this down to the limited air volume of the comparatively short length factory EAS bags. Longer bags would be less progressive and give a far better mid-stroke.
I hope to try some one-day.

Optimising a steel coil setup will be the cheapest way out and give a very good result. You need to start by weighing each end of the vehicle. The weight is the starting point to choosing spring-rates, then spring lengths for ride height.

I am much more impressed by the firestone air springs than the LR items. As you say this is probably related to volume, but also possibly piston shape.