130 suspension too hard?

[madandmuddy]

My 130 double cab with standard HCPU rear is just horrible to drive at the moment. Was recently converted back from a tray and is worse now than it was but wasn't great before. Have had defenders for years so I am not talking about usual harsh defender ride quality :-) Have just replaced the shocks as they needed doing and just wondering if it's just over sprung in the rear with the inner coils? I don't carry a great deal of weight in the back.

Can anyone comment on the ride difference without the helper springs or make any other suggestions? Everything else seem to check out.

Just a bit over the excess bounce!!

Cheers

[rainman]

My 130 DC (before I pulled it apart) had an aluminium tray with 21mm diameter wire coils along with the inner (helper) springs. The ride was really good, but am comparing it to a 110 single cab. The height of the spring and number of coils in the spring also affect the rate, but I'm afraid I don't have those details with me (right now).

When the vehicle goes back together it will have a steel checkerplate tray so I anticipate having to go up to the 22mm diameter spares I have.

If you want a harsh ride, try 22mm diameter coils on the back of a 110 single cab with no load on the tray .

[rick130]

My 130 double cab with standard HCPU rear is just horrible to drive at the moment. Was recently converted back from a tray and is worse now than it was but wasn't great before. Have had defenders for years so I am not talking about usual harsh defender ride quality :-) Have just replaced the shocks as they needed doing and just wondering if it's just over sprung in the rear with the inner coils? I don't carry a great deal of weight in the back.

Can anyone comment on the ride difference without the helper springs or make any other suggestions? Everything else seem to check out.

Just a bit over the excess bounce!!

Cheers

What year model ?

Prior to about '05 or so the rear springs are 330lb/in mains and 140lb/in inners.

Pop the inners out if you drive it mostly unladen, then you'll have it the same as a 110 HD rear end.

What can happen with the stock dual springs is that when unladen the OE dampers are nearly topped out. Depending on what you have replaced them with you may well be running zero droop and this can create a harsh ride as the dampers are either topped out or are topping out on rebound. (most shockies don't have near enough rebound for a 130 rear, being valved for a RRC or Disco)
The OE 130 rear dampers also have a fair bit of low speed bump valving, which can make the ride harsh too.

[roverrescue]

But Rick if you put longer shocks on you lose the built in 130 "antiroll effect" of having to pick the inside corner up with spirited driving!!!!

But seriously, may be worth swapping the inner coil for coilrite/polyairs... when unladen low pressures will give nice ride and when loaded you can increase the air helper pressure.

Or just go full rear airspring!

Steve

[rick130]

But Rick if you put longer shocks on you lose the built in 130 "antiroll effect" of having to pick the inside corner up with spirited driving!!!!

[snip]

Steve

Nearly mentioned the anti-roll benefits of nil-droop, (and the reduced pitch under brakes) but thought it was getting a bit too race car engineeringish

[madandmuddy]

Haha, yes it does corner well at the moment :-) It's a 2001 TD5, of course I am assuming the spring set up is OE but not being the original owner there is no guarentee. Certainly looks it though.

Time to pop the inner springs out then and see where that gets me. Maybe I need to find some heavier things to carry in the back as well :-)

[rick130]

If OE the springs will have paint splashes on them to designate the rates.

Colour codes are here land rover spring specifications

and yes, some weight certainly helps, I have around 500kg in the rear at any one time, and the rear dampers I'm using a quite a bit softer in bump than the OE ones too.

[madandmuddy]

Ok, so removed the helper springs at the weekend and didn't really make much difference. A bit better at lower speeds around town but still as bad as it ever was a speed on the highway.

Following on from previous comments though I am wondering if the shocks aren't long enough even though same lenght as OE. It is RAW nitro on at the moment and they did seem pretty much at the end of the travel when I had the wheels off but axle sitting at normal height. Helper spring removal didn't drop the rear any under the weight I carry so didn't help from that respect. Looks like I might have to revisit the shocks again

Anything else I may be missing??

[87County]

Ok, so removed the helper springs at the weekend and didn't really make much difference. A bit better at lower speeds around town but still as bad as it ever was a speed on the highway.

Following on from previous comments though I am wondering if the shocks aren't long enough even though same lenght as OE. It is RAW nitro on at the moment and they did seem pretty much at the end of the travel when I had the wheels off but axle sitting at normal height. Helper spring removal didn't drop the rear any under the weight I carry so didn't help from that respect. Looks like I might have to revisit the shocks again

Anything else I may be missing??

How much air have you got in the tyres???

(IMHE the manufacturer's nominated pressures are generally far far too high)

[madandmuddy]

How much air have you got in the tyres???

(IMHE the manufacturer's nominated pressures are generally far far too high)

Down to about 38 in the rears at the moment. Had new Maxxis Bighorns fitted a couple of months back and the garage put them at 55psi on the rear!! Solid as a rock and not touching the ground at the edges. I aired them down until they looked right and put a chalk line across the tread to check even ground pressure. Seems about right.