Suspension

[Fausto79]

Ok, so i've finally managed to figure out what springs i have. i have a set of raised lovells. they have sagged a bit. i did notice though that the rear springs have a part number of rrr-8. on the lovells catalogue and other suspension places, these springs are shown as series 2 springs from 99 on. the equivalent for my car is rrr-18. there is definately no 1 in there that's rubbed out. is this a trick i'm not savvy to? or did they put a spring that's not meant for a d1 on it? are d1 and 2 springs same size? could it be a way of getting a heavier duty spring for a d1 but for the price of a standard duty one?

shock absorbers are koni heavy track 30-1615. i asked about re-building them but the koni guy in oz said those are sealed units. he said as long as not leaking and working ok then all good. i did notice one was making a slight funny sound when i was under vehicle. when i go over a bump the car wobbles a bit.

i have been thinking of getting king springs and billstein shocks. was now thinking maybe just getting kings progressive and leaving the konis on there except change the bushes. i always thought my springs were hd because ride seems a bit harsh. could this be because they are d2 springs? or could it be the bushes? the sag? or the koni shocks are set to stiffest setting? would the shockie make such a difference in harshness?

sorry for all the questions. one more, how do i tell if the shocks are still good? and my rear a frame ball joint is leaked and rubber split. would this make much of a difference to ride quality?

[redmond]

replace a frame ball joint will make a difference check price of new konis will make youre eyes water .

[AK83]

.... when i go over a bump the car wobbles a bit.

....

wobble over bump could be a few things.
bushes(as in radius arms), I guess you've checked/renewed the panhard rod bushes, these may be the worst offenders.
I only ever use polys in the panhard bushes, I reckon you're lucky to get more than a few months out of rubbers. Also renew the bolts with panhard bushes too.
Back onto the wobbles over bumps .. could also be preload on swivel pins too.
Also track/draglink(ie. tie rod) ends.
My drag link tie rods all looked fine, and I could rock them smoothly to a certain point and they'd stop there, me thinking that's their swivel limit .. but I use the drag link to help me under the car when doing stuff, and one time I moved smoothly as normal, but then it dropped past what I thought was it's normal end point.
Always got a wobble when the LHF tyre hit a large bump, on a fast LH bend. No other symptoms. Hand it in mind that the drag link ends were the issue, but they felt tight(up until I finally noticed it 'drop' the way it did).
Panhard bushes helped a lot, same with steering damper bushes too. But still had a few annoyances in some situations.
Thought to try to cushion the impact of the road surface, by lowering tyre pressures down from the mid 30's to the mid 20's! Whoa!! .. I then got the death wobbles.
Did all four tie rod ends, problem solvered! [thumbsupbig]
Now I can run as low as 20psi .. not that I ever would .. with no problems.

And! .. the damper definitely makes a hell of a difference to the ride comfort of the car.
Mine rides harshly too.
One of the previous owners fitted 'RidePro' springs, and some king-terra-road-busta(actually, just made that up!) .. or whatever crappy brand hydraulically locked up dampers they fitted too.
Just to be sure that it's not the ridepro springs causing my D1's hard ride, I ran around the block without the front dampers a while back(I had to replace my shock towers due to a busted bolt on the retaining ring and some rust).
So while I was at it one day, I thought to put it all back without dampers to see how badly those dampers damp! .. and yep ride nowhere near as hard as with the shocks.
The ride wasn't RRC soft, just floaty-ish ... around the block at my place = ~40k/h or so.
But definitely, the dampers fitted by a previous owners to my D1 make it very hard/harsh.

I live about 15mins from LRA, so my spring choice is pretty much easy, and will go with Bilsteins .. just have to work out which springs I want for my D1 at some point in the future.

One thing I've always found with worn shocks, even if they're not leaking.
Pull it out and if it's gas it's pressurised and want to maintain an extended position.
You pump it down, letting it back up on it's own multiple times, and not always letting it fully extend back before pumping it back down.
If you feel any slackness in the motion(ie. not fluid motion back down) there's a good chance that it's not 'optimal'
Also, floatiness over continually bumpy roads. Shock may not leak, but floatiness could be bad damping rates, and or worn shock.

rear a frame ball joint obviously has grease to keep it lubed. split rubber lets that grease out, so the leak is inevitable.
if it's worn, you get a click/clunk noise over some bumps, or when braking/accelerating, and you may get sidestepping from the rear(like it wants to oversteer) from the rear over bumps.
On my RRC I ended up 'wrapping' and strapping a piece of protecting rubber over the last balljoint I replaced to help with durability .. they were a never ending failure point on my RRC over the years.
Major PITA to replace if you don't have appropriate tooling to do the job, like a press. I used to take my A frame out, and take it to the local motobike mechanic who had a press, and he'd charge me $20 or so to press it out and press in the new one.
Not an easy job to line it all up when refitting either, just takes time, and handy if you had a helper to operate the jack to lift/lower the rear axle to line up all the bolt holes.

[Fausto79]

Sorry when i meant wobbles. Probably explained it wrong. Yes when on highway n you move steering a bit it sorta does the motorboat wobble thing. But what i meant with wobble is more like a bounce. When i go over certain speed bumps when you come off them the car sorta bounces a few times n engine revs go up n down a bit, probably due to foot moving with bounce. But she’s not usually very bouncy, just on certain bumps.

[donh54]

Sorry when i meant wobbles. Probably explained it wrong. Yes when on highway n you move steering a bit it sorta does the motorboat wobble thing. But what i meant with wobble is more like a bounce. When i go over certain speed bumps when you come off them the car sorta bounces a few times n engine revs go up n down a bit, probably due to foot moving with bounce. But she’s not usually very bouncy, just on certain bumps.The "bounces a few times" bit sounds like shock absorbers (at least one, if not more) have hit their use-by date. I've heard quite a few people over the years complain about the life of supposedly rebuildable Konis that they couldn't get rebuilt.

[Fausto79]

Mine are definitely the non rebuildable ones. Got in contact with the one place which rebuilds them and gave him the part number. Said that’s a sealed gas unit n not rebuildable. They are heavy tracks. Forget the part number.

[cripesamighty]

About three years ago I ended up going with Bilstein dampers and King Springs (2" lift), which seems like the default setting for D1 mods. They have been pounded over some pretty rough bits of Australia and have served me well. That combo is also affordable compared to some others out there.

[Fausto79]

About three years ago I ended up going with Bilstein dampers and King Springs (2" lift), which seems like the default setting for D1 mods. They have been pounded over some pretty rough bits of Australia and have served me well. That combo is also affordable compared to some others out there.

can you remember the actual part numbers of the springs. i wanted to put KRFR-03T on the front and KRRR-04HDT on rear. this is listed on the kings website and also spoke to them on phone and they recommended this setting from what i told them. nobody seems to be selling them though or listing them wrong.

LANDROVER DISCOVERY 1991 - 1/1999 - Fit your Vehicle - King Springs Automotive Aftermarket Springs (https://kingsprings.com.au/catalogue/vehicle/823/landrover-discovery-1991-1-1999)

i wanted to get billstein shocks too but might take a while to save up for them. was thinking getting king springs because affordable and pairing them with terrafirma pro comp shocks because more affordable than bills

[cripesamighty]

I will have a dig through my receipts and let you know. I got the package done at Ape Suspension on Gnangara Rd in Landsdale. As I sponsor the Variety Club Bash every year through one of my customers (which Ape sorts out the suspension on their Bash cars), I got mine sorted for a reasonable price with a 2" lift thrown in. My only stipulation to them was it had to be able to survive the Gibb River Road, so they fit what they thought would best do the job - which it easily accomplished!

Edit: Just had a quick look but all my old paperwork has been packed away. I am out that way tomorrow so might pop in and ask what they installed for me.

[deadfishdisco]

hi val,
got +2" king springs and bilsteins for my 96 manual disco (tdi) about 5 years ago...through smiths in albany ....the springs were "medium" not heavy duty/ and are fantastic...done a few desert runs /and rough roads...maybe 30000 km on them. with this in mind I then put bilsteins on my 96 auto tdi disco for desert camping runs about 20000 km ago, kept the old (unknown) springs but think they are Heavy duty king springs....all good but ride is a little harsher than the medium duty....

so...highly recommend bilsteins ...no matter what cost, always puts a smile-on-the-dial whenever i am driving.

keep up the good work, robbo

[Fausto79]

hi val,
got +2" king springs and bilsteins for my 96 manual disco (tdi) about 5 years ago...through smiths in albany ....the springs were "medium" not heavy duty/ and are fantastic...done a few desert runs /and rough roads...maybe 30000 km on them. with this in mind I then put bilsteins on my 96 auto tdi disco for desert camping runs about 20000 km ago, kept the old (unknown) springs but think they are Heavy duty king springs....all good but ride is a little harsher than the medium duty....

so...highly recommend bilsteins ...no matter what cost, always puts a smile-on-the-dial whenever i am driving.

keep up the good work, robbo

had a look through their site though and there doesnt seem to be light, medium or heavy duty anymore. they just have non raised, raised with no extra weight added, and raised with 100-300kg extra weight. all are progressive, some are tapered too. the tapered ones are called "comfort design"
the guy from kings basically said the tapered (HDT) is still HD but feels a bit less harsh than just the HD. he had the HD ones in his old 4wd which said when he went camping it was perfect ad made the car handle nicely with the extra gear. he said was a little harsh on road with nothing in car but he only used it to get to work and back mostly. which is the same as me.

i have winch and bull bar so definitely need the front raised 03T (50-100kgs) the rear i'm still unsure. if i just put the raised rear will ride nicely to work but might sag a bit when camping and not give the proper 40mm lift. i can get the HDT comfort design (100-300kgs) extra weight. also take into account that i have long range fuel tank, rear drawer system and full length roofrack permanently on. id say that would bet close to at least 50+ kg in the rear constant.

[Rick1970]

I have the raised kings in the rear of mine, and find them harsh with just a fridge in the back, ok loaded tho. My other d1 has raised dobinsons, and i find them worse. The big bore terrafirma shocks are probably not helping ride comfort tho.

[cripesamighty]

Went to Ape Suspensions and found my King Springs codes. Note that my D1 also has rear helper airbags. They only sold one type of Bilstein damper for D1's.

(Raised Coil)
Front = KRFR-01
Rear = KRRR-04

[Fausto79]

Went to Ape Suspensions and found my King Springs codes. Note that my D1 also has rear helper airbags. They only sold one type of Bilstein damper for D1's.

(Raised Coil)
Front = KRFR-01
Rear = KRRR-04

But do you have winch and bullbar? Or anything in the rear?

Feel free to say no, but would you be willing to drive my car and tell me how you think it compares in the harshness rating and how you think the suspension is?

[cripesamighty]

I have a rear bar with spare wheel carrier and double jerry can holder, so it's a bit heavier than normal. The guys at Ape suspensions yesterday said the springs I had installed were 20% stiffer than original if that helps.