Thread: Upgrading the suspension.

Suspension settle slowly. When you get your new springs they will settle over about 12 months depending on their scragging etc. If you add the weight at the front, assuming it doesn't go down to the bumpstops (I doubt it will) then who knows.

It doesn't matter if you put the winch in before or after. It will only alter the ride height by a little.

There is no problem using the suspension with or without your bar, winch, batteries etc.

You need to do the springs and shocks at the same time. OE shocks to co-operate well with lifted springs, notably the rears.

Cheers slunnie.
So would there be any issue with swapping out the front springs and shocks, and leaving the rear stock for a while?

Your headlights would be pointing into the sky and it would probably handle badly.

I'd do all of the suspension at once rather than half half. Doesn't matter if it comes before or after the bar, winch etc, though you'll just lose some clearance when the bar/winch go on.

Cheers slunnie.
Might hold of on one or two things and get the suspension done.
The bloke from suspension stuff said that the 2 inch kit will give a slight lift despite the extra weight, so it won't be 2", but slightly higher than original ride height.

I'll keep watching this thread as I'm about to go down the same route and replace the coils and shocks in my Td5.

The mechanic I use has advised to try and stay below 50mm lift as his experience (more likely his customers that have asked for a lift of 50mm or more) has been that the handling is compromised too much after the lift.

Sure, there are quite a few variables that come into play when making a statement about 'handling poorly after a lift' as he has said but in essence he said that as you get closer to 50mm the need for caster correction becomes greater.

Given that all I know about 4x4 suspension I learned by reading threads on aulro.com.....does this sound like sound advice he's giving me?

At the moment I'm looking at Lovells springs and Gas Legend 2 shocks - $320 for 4 + $440 for 4 shocks. I'd also considered the King springs and Bilstein shock combo but the difference in price is quite a bit ($350 for the 4 coils is ok but the shocks are more like $200 each for ones that will give the +50mm lift)

Sorry to hijack your thread a little here Disco Muppet...have you got any other info to share from your research?

Talking about Disco2's specifically and not other Rovers, when you get over 50mm then things become more complex and more expensive when setting everything up as it's not just a matter of shocks and springs. Front driveshafts dont last as long also. The castor on the D2 seems to be ok and people running over 4" lifts are still running without castor correction. For handling, it can deteriorate in the sense that it becomes twitchy in corners and under brakes. This seems to be related to the rear of the vehicle rolling and changing the suspension geometry as it does this. I was able to fix this by adjusting the rear swaybar, but it may not be straight forward in fixing it.

When you start getting over 50mm, as Slunnie said, other things need to be addressed, like lengthening the brake lines, etc.
Lift increases the wear on front drive shafts as previously mentioned.
I went to my local ARB and Opposite Lock stores, both quotes were for $1400 fitted, and that was non lift, just heavy duty.
Suspension Stuff I've found very good to deal with, they always replied pretty promptly and were happy to answer any questions I had.
It all depends on what you want it for.
I'm getting the 2" lift kits because that's what has been advised to use to deal with the extra weight, I wasn't looking to lift it up.
Give suspension stuff a buzz, they'll steer you in the right direction.

Originally Posted by bell1975

I'll keep watching this thread as I'm about to go down the same route and replace the coils and shocks in my Td5.

The mechanic I use has advised to try and stay below 50mm lift as his experience (more likely his customers that have asked for a lift of 50mm or more) has been that the handling is compromised too much after the lift.

Sure, there are quite a few variables that come into play when making a statement about 'handling poorly after a lift' as he has said but in essence he said that as you get closer to 50mm the need for caster correction becomes greater.

Given that all I know about 4x4 suspension I learned by reading threads on aulro.com.....does this sound like sound advice he's giving me?

At the moment I'm looking at Lovells springs and Gas Legend 2 shocks - $320 for 4 + $440 for 4 shocks. I'd also considered the King springs and Bilstein shock combo but the difference in price is quite a bit ($350 for the 4 coils is ok but the shocks are more like $200 each for ones that will give the +50mm lift)

Sorry to hijack your thread a little here Disco Muppet...have you got any other info to share from your research?

My experience was that as you get higher, the car 'jacks' a fair bit more (rocks forward and back more on acceleration and braking). 50mm appears to be a good compromise between lifting and not ruining the ride.

Bilsteins are more expensive for a good reason - they are damn good. Konis are also more expensive for the same reason. I had some on my Range Rover and never replaced them - they were as good when I sold them as when I got them. I put 50,000 km on the vehicle, and the shockies had been on the car for at least the same when I got it.

BTW: you need to be clear about why you are lifting the car. It gives the body more clearance for bigger tyres etc to be fitted and will stop the body from bottoming out on tracks, increase ramp over angle and approach / departure angles a bit, but if you are going to run the same size tyres, the diffs and all of the running gear are still at the same height (ie will still hit the same stuff on a rack). This is why some serious off roaders use hub portals to lift the whole vehicle up (ie differentials and the whole body up) without affecting steering or axle angles. It is effectively another set of gears in the hub - but they aren't available for many 4wds. The price is also a bit eye watering - Mark's Adaptors have GU Patrol adaptors at $16,000, but that is for a properly designed and engineered kit. Install is on top of this. Other costs will also occur, so change from $20,000 may be possible....