Thread: Front springs for a 110....130's or 110HD

Originally Posted by jon3950

Is anyone here running the helper springs in the back of a 110?

I'm considering what to do with my suspension now. I don't want a lift as such, just to go back to where I started before I began bolting stuff on. I've pretty much settled on HD fronts but not sure about the rear. The ride is still good but its dropped about 20mm since new and another 10 or so when loaded for a trip. I'd like to get that back without sacrificing the ride.

Cheers,
Jon

Im running airbag man bags in the rear of mine. I have them inflated to 10psi when I'm empty (well not loaded up, have drawers etc permanently) and 30psi with the camper trailer on. Rides like stock but carries the weight much better!

I replaced the standard front springs in my car with 130 springs. Rose the front up 40mm, so now the front sits 20mm lower than the rear (unladen). Drives much nicer, and doesn't hit the bump stops anywhere near as often. The only extra weight is a factory LR bull bar and side steps/scrub bars

Thank you Mark, that's a generous offer. It might be a while until I get around to sorting this out as I want to get the winch in first. My original assumption was that it would be too stiff and I had been thinking about airbags, but I want to spend some time looking into spring rates and ride heights etc as I haven't thought it through properly yet. If it looks promising and is still convenient when I get around to it I'll take you up on it.

Cheers,
Jon

Originally Posted by jon3950

Thank you Mark, that's a generous offer. It might be a while until I get around to sorting this out as I want to get the winch in first. My original assumption was that it would be too stiff and I had been thinking about airbags, but I want to spend some time looking into spring rates and ride heights etc as I haven't thought it through properly yet. If it looks promising and is still convenient when I get around to it I'll take you up on it.

Cheers,
Jon

Jon, i got good service out of airbag man inner helpers for the reasons stated by Nate. For a touring truck its a great solution to varying rear end weight. Also have a just like new airbag kit under the house, again redundant to needs.

Originally Posted by MLD

the 130 inner helper springs are 110lbs/in. the standard 130 rear set up is 420lbs/in with the inner in place. Someone else might correct me, but i understand the 110 stock spring is the same as the 130 outer spring.

I'm not certain about the puma 130s, but the older 130s had a 330lb/in outer and a 140lbs/in inner spring. On the older 110s, the rear spring was the same as the 130. Somewhere along the lines the rear spring on the 110 wagons went to a variable 270-420lbs/in spring. See here - land rover spring specifications

In the front of my 130, I have King springs RRRS-02, which from memory are 230lb/in spring rate and 415/405mm free length. I also have the disco RBC100111 spring isolators, and this gives a front bump stop clearance of about 12cm, and it rides beautifully. The original 130 front springs NRC9448/NRC9449 have a rate of 225lbs/in and 388/376mm free lengths.

In the rear I still have the Terrafirma TF19 that the 130 came with when I bought it. These are 300lb/in with 435mm free length. Mine have sagged down to around 410mm free length, so I had some 25mm solid aluminium spacers made up to go under the rear spring lower coil seat. After this I had around 13cm at the rear bump stops. The car rides fantastic, nice and smooth and compliant. One day I might get a set of Dobinsons C51-019, which have a 320lbs rate and 440mm free length.

Picture below of my 130 loaded with 120l water, 160l diesel, food, gear etc for a trip away.

Hope this helps, Alan

Originally Posted by rijidij

It's common to uprate the load carrying capacity of a 110 Puma without raising the height as excessive lift can cause issues with the front prop shaft.
This is one option...........
You can fit H/D springs to the front as mentioned above, and you can fit 130 inner helper springs to the rear.
This is suited to a Defender fitted with a bull bar etc to the front, and loaded in the back for a trip.
Retaining the standard outer rear springs means little change to ride quality, but an increased load capacity with the addition of the helper springs.
Ride height remains close to standard.



Helper springs and retainers.


Cheers, Murray

I just got some detailed feedback from a customer who has fitted this combination of springs to his 2015 Puma.........great feedback with 'real world' measurements.

I measured the ride height of my 2015 110 with MTR’s from factory (measured from the bottom of rim to the top of the mudguard) and compared it to my LR Helper rear springs and HD fronts as follows:

Measurements.jpg

Mods fitted at time of testing above:

- ARB Bullbar

- Rear draws

- Rear tyre carrier

- Rear water tank (not filled for this test)

- Second battery under seat


Summary:

The HD springs and Helpers lifted the original car (when mods were fitted to that date) however the benefit were when loading the vehicle. Even after fitting mods and loading the vehicle for a camping trip, the front was still lifted by 25mm over OEM and the rear was the same.

Driving:

Firmer in rear with no load becoming compliant with a load.
Front is better all around as bullar caused the vehicle to have a nose down stance.

Subsequent:

Have fitted Warn winch and no real noticeable drop in nose.

Thanks for the feedback Dan.

Cheers, Murray

I have rear Airbag Man airbags in the 110 and they cope well with the weight of the drawers and fridge. I run them at 10 psi and pump that up to 15 when towing the camper trailer. Happy with that.
The front is standard + an ARB bulbar and Ironman winch and it is nose down a bit. I'm thinking of adding HD front springs. That seems a cheap way of getting a better front result and there's no need to change the rear setup, I think.
I don't want to make it too stiff as I want to retain the absorbent ride over bad roads, but I do want to get the front back to normal height.
I'm not after a lift at all as there is plenty of clearance already and I don't want to mess up the handling.