Thread: What did you do on your Defender today ? (well, this week anyway)

Ouch, that'd hurt. probably not a huge repair, but very inconvenient.
Don

Fitted new suspension this weekend. I went for LR HD coils in the front with Airbag Man bags in the rear and Bilstein shocks.

Very happy with the result so far. Rides nicely, not too stiff but well controlled and a lot quieter over bumps.

The front springs put me about 10mm over std height - about 80mm clearance at the bump stops which is still within tolerance. I expect that will settle slightly over time.

Currently running 20psi in the rear which gives me 130mm bump stop clearance in the rear which is spot on standard height. This is with the drawer fully loaded and fridge in but no other camping gear. I expect I’ll be up to 30psi when loaded.



Mounted the valves for the airbags on a bracket mounted to the underside of the crossmember. Protected by the towbar so shouldn’t come to any harm.



Big test comes next week when we load it up for a few days in the High Country.

Sounds good. Be interested to hear how the HD front springs go for you on rough roads.

Installed my $10 ebay net. The elastic on the sides is way too weak so I picked up a stronger line from Bunnings. Will install it this weekend


roof net.jpg

PS. Visible is the picture my patented "door-keeper-opener"

Originally Posted by jon3950

Fitted new suspension this weekend. I went for LR HD coils in the front with Airbag Man bags in the rear and Bilstein shocks.

Very happy with the result so far. Rides nicely, not too stiff but well controlled and a lot quieter over bumps.

The front springs put me about 10mm over std height - about 80mm clearance at the bump stops which is still within tolerance. I expect that will settle slightly over time.

Currently running 20psi in the rear which gives me 130mm bump stop clearance in the rear which is spot on standard height. This is with the drawer fully loaded and fridge in but no other camping gear. I expect I’ll be up to 30psi when loaded.



Mounted the valves for the airbags on a bracket mounted to the underside of the crossmember. Protected by the towbar so shouldn’t come to any harm.


Big test comes next week when we load it up for a few days in the High Country.

Sounds good to me. Very similar to what I've been pondering. A price would be nice, if possible.

Airbags were $345 delivered from Airbag Man
Front springs were $126.70 delivered from Karcraft
Front shocks were $522.50 delivered from Heasmans
Rear shocks were $406.15 delivered from Graeme Cooper

Total investment $1400.15 plus about 20 litres of water and a 6 pack of Young Henrys Newtowner Pale Ale - I picked a very hot day to do it.

I went to GC because Heasmans had no rears. I should have got the fronts from GC too as they were a bit cheaper - I'd forgotten how good GC were to deal with. I wish they were in a more convenient location as I'd really like to go back to them for servicing when the warranty runs out on the Defender.

Cheers,
Jon

Finally got a soft spring +2" lift on the D90

Have had the TF medium kit on for a long while, great when loaded up to the max, terribly stiff at all other times. Now settled on RRC police springs up front, and TF015 in the rear. Measurements and spring rates attached.

Replaced the water pump and gasket last Saturday