P38 Coil Conversion Kit

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Originally Posted by karlz

The stupidist thing to do with a P38 is to swap to coils.
Why would anyone want to do that?

The system is quite simple once you know about it.
Its easy to fix, once you know it.
Why do trucks run air suspension?

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:eek: Methinks this may be a tad harsh.

I'm sure most owners would agree that they would prefer to have the fully functional EAS system, with no problems. However, in the real world of P38 ownership (if that is the real world at all) I can see that priorities may be different and the peace of mind that comes with a coil spring conversion, may mean a more enjoyable experience.

Previously, I had a 94 Classic which had a coil conversion done by the previous owner. Whilst I always wanted to know what it would be like with air, it had a beautiful ride and never gave me any trouble at all.

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Originally Posted by Hoges

Just to ignite further debate because I'm out of coffee :o:p

Interesting safety issues re. coil conversion. Have not seen stability issues mentioned previously wrt attachment position of coils vs airbags ...assumptions by castrators is that it makes no difference ...following article raises questions..

RangeRovers.net • View topic - EAS converting to coil spring warning**Deadly**

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im just gonna put it out there in relation to that article i have had my coil conversion in now for about a year...i travel a dirt road every day at around 40 - 100kmph and i havnt once come close to randomly rolling it over...i also have a 2" lift on it aswell....hrmmm sounds a bit dodgy to me

Mike

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Originally Posted by M.Allison

im just gonna put it out there in relation to that article i have had my coil conversion in now for about a year...i travel a dirt road every day at around 40 - 100kmph and i havnt once come close to randomly rolling it over...i also have a 2" lift on it aswell....hrmmm sounds a bit dodgy to me

Mike

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you are not trying hard enough Mike... I want to see action pics of your P38A drifting sideways on a dirt road at 80Kph+ ;)

I'd show you action pics of mine, but none of my mates non-LR's can keep up :p:p

Cheers, Paul.

i tryed that with my road tyres /still here .
see above pic did it in semi dirt mud on that trip /still here.
tryed on race track as well /still here but at a higher speed .
mike put some raceing slicks you might make it happen then , give paulie a thrill.
god you p38a guys are funny sometimes,love reading these .
oh just remembered dont have 2 " lift like mike, have std coil height maybe thats why still stable on mine.theres allways a reason.

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Originally Posted by 81stubee

Yes, but do they look as good as a nice set of 18's?:cool:

I don't think many people realise the difference (bad ride) that the 18's make, myself included. There was a discussion on rangrovers.net about how the rim size can affect the alignment. And apparently they wander more. I rang up AMV to say I had a wandering problem, he immediately asked whether I had 18's and had just had an alignment done? Reckons the 18's need slightly different toe setting.

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I was tempted by a newer P38 Range Rover that was for sale near here. One of the reasons I did not take it on was that on the test drive the steering was wandering a lot on both surfaced and unsurfaced roads. Also the ride was not as good. Am wondering now if that was just the difference of 18's over the 16's on mine which was more evident to me in a back to back drive?

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Originally Posted by 3toes

. Am wondering now if that was just the difference of 18's over the 16's on mine which was more evident to me in a back to back drive?

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It would probably have contributed.

Hi all,

I'm new to the forum but have been following it for some time now. I have had my P38 for about two years now. Seemed to have all the EAS problems you could ask for including being standard in Quorn, South Australia for four days waiting for a replacement pump when ours got a 1 mm chip out of the teflon ring. No repair kits / second hand pumps in SA at the time (and too new to the P38 to know any better) so $750 later, four lost days, and one cranky family taught me this just isn't good enough.

In the end after countless other faults, leaks, $$$ and hours mucking around with it I took the plunge and converted to coils. It is the OME, off road height, system and appears so far to be quite good.

I have read the threads from other sites, including the two roll-overs that occured with cars on coils and have found so far that the coils don't seem to offer any difference at all in ride difference from the airbags.

What did make a huge difference though was the choice of shocks I put on it. I replaced the OEM shocks with Bilsteins about eight months ago and found the Bilsteins were softer and this did affect the handling significantly, particularly on the freeway from Adelaide to Murray Bridge which I do every day normally.

Once I got used to the new shocks and take a little more care when changing direction I found the conversion to coils didn't change the behaviour at all. When I do spend more money on the suspension at some later stage I will probably upgrade to Rancho 9000s so I can dial in the firmness I want to improve handling.

If you are considering a coil conversion I think staying with OEM shocks or upgrading to shocks at least as firm will see you quite happy with it.

One thing is certain though; as much as I loved the ability to change heights with the EAS I sure feel much better knowing I can go bush or anywhere for that matter and not have to worry about taking heaps of spares. In fact, it is not so much taking spares that is the real issue, it is the time it takes away from your holidays trying to fix the EAS that is the real killer. Hoping your bag of spares includes the item that goes wrong became too big a gamble for me.

The kit is from British Utah: OME $575.00 + $350P&H without shocks. Took one week to arrive and three hours to fit myself. I have to say I am dissapointed to loose the ability to change the height setting but that is all. Hope this helps anyone who may be considering this option.

im running pedders coils at spring rate of 160kg rear and 130kg front with foam cell shocks at 0 bound/rebound. it does wander a fair bit and handle like a tinny on the open ocean but its sooooo smooth over the rough stuff its worth the handling. as for the roll over stuff with the sway bar disconnected in the bush ive had it on leans where you can touch the ground out your window and still never feels like tipping over.

Well if you ask me, changing a p38's suspension to coils is (in my opinion) is taking a step backwards and also removes what i think is a vital key feature of the Range Rover P38's off-road capability. Now without having too much of a dig at the japanese competitors, but when you see the likes of a patrol or landcruiser with their over stiffened coils go over a uneven steep hump on a track, you will notice that they tend to just about always lift a wheel into the air, hence the need for diff locks, LSD's etc. The Range Rovers, particularly the air bag models read the terrain far better and the BECM system will always try level out the vehicle letting the axle do all the articulation work, as the rise an fall of the air pressure in the airbags feedback information to the BECM. Now with coil you don't get any of that and you also notice how many of the japanese off-roaders bop and bounce over the terrain, all because the springs are not corresponding with the vehicle. If your going down the coil path, then you may as well not own a Range Rover and perhaps settle for Disco 1 or Defender. But as you will notice (as usual) other manufactures are slowly following suit i.e New Jeep Grand Cherokee, Volkswagen Toureg, M-B M class and GL have got air bag suspension. Even Toyota and soon to join New Nissan Patrol are moving towards adjustable suspension as they realise that future development in off road capability relies on newer spring technology.

The key i believe in staying ahead of problems with airbags is to learn a bit about their operation, also learn how to do basic repairs and last and most important thing of all is to regularly inspect the airbags, hoses and the pump and replace the air intake filter. Repair or replace any minor issues before they become a major one will ensure your Rangie will run at its optimum.

There, thats just my 2 cents worth.

Mine is castrated as you say, apart from the wondering about ride with air i am more than happy with springs. 2" over may need castor bushes in the arms to give it better manners it is a common thing with higher springs that the caster angle deminishes. you end up with the equivelent of a shopping trolly to drive. Caster angle bushes are available at most off road stores.

Frank
ps it does power slide well on gravel!:angel: