Thread: Defender 130 Newbie enquiries

Originally Posted by Bushal

Hi.

For an almost 10year old defender with 100-200,000km, would the suspension have to be replaced still due to wear & tear?

I would consider a LR tank, but still fuel jerries might be needed for my activities.

Another question I can't seem to find an answer for is about longer trays up 1.8M or even 2M, do you just get an extended hitch for using the trailer?

thanks

As a rule of thumb I'd say a suspension might be OK for around 100,000, but it varies greatly. Does it bounce repeatedly when you push the corners down? Do the springs seem sagged?
Can't comment on the other items.

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Originally Posted by MLD

To see if your coils have dropped by a material amount these are the bump stop clearances for a 130. Keep in mind that the bump stops vary from the factory and on a 10 y/o vehicle will have been compressed over the years.

97 ? 15 mm
152 ? 15 mm

Coils and shocks are, relatively, cheap and if you are minded to carry weight it could be a sound investment from the outset.

As for the tray length:

- the 130 tub is sub 1700mm
- IMO a tray of 1800mm offers a balance between length and not having to have an extended tow hitch (with the associated weakness in a longer tow hitch) to give access to the ball. My tray is 1800 and as you will see from rear pics still has a bit of overhang.
- IMO 2000/2100mm is too long. Paul (iclick) had a 2100 tray and the overhang was considerable. A longer tray tempts you to load more and more to the rear where that puts the front tray mounts under duress. It also affects departure angle when towing and not towing (less so the later).

There was a post about 24 months back were people contributed to the pros and cons of various tray lengths. it was informative if not stimulating with competing views and opinions.

Thanks.

With any typical wagon 4wd one of the first mods is upgrade suspension, so for me I wouldn't mind with a defender as long as it's original heavy duty.
About the tray, it seems 1800mm long would suit me given that there are no wheel arches taking up space.