To much lift! (Is there any such thing?)

[Pat The Rat]

Hi all,
First of all thanks to all who have contributed to the various suspension / shock / spring threads in the past, I have found searching through them very helpful.
Let me tell you where I am now at with my 110’s suspension.
I decided to go for a 3” lift, mainly based on the reasoning I thought I had a saggy 2” lift in the car when I bought it (bottom 4 coils touching on the front), and it’s fairly heavy (or so I thought) with full length metal drawers (its a 2 door hardtop), bulbar, side bars etc etc. Turns out is 2.2 tonne with ¾ of a tank of fuel and not much camping gear. I was concerned that buying 2” coils, then putting my 110 on them might only give say 1” of lift, which isn’t worth worrying about IMO. Also, 3” can nearly be managed with castor bushes, and some new shocks that are a tad longer (good enough for the weekend car that it is)...

So, in go my Dobinson C51-198V and C51-199V coils... I’ll let the measurements speak for themselves (averaged from D/S and P/S measurements) :

Initial front bump stop clearance: 65mm
New front bump stop clearance: 190mm
Front gain of 125mm ( 5” )

Rear initial BSC: 105mm
New rear BSC: 220mm
Rear gain of 115mm (4.5” ish)

If hub to guard measurements are better: front is now 600mm, rear is now 620mm roughly.

Now, I find myself in the position of having to get 6 degree radius arms, cranked rear arms etc etc just to get it looking somewhere near pointing up the road with any sort of accuracy.
My standing on the bulbar (simulating a 90kg! Winch) only drops the front 10mm or so..... So I have trouble believing the car is ‘underweight’ by too much.

Has anyone else used these coils, and have they given similar results? Or an I driving the worlds lightest Defender?

[BigJon]

IMO you don't want cranked front arms or castor bushes. You want slotted swivels. If you do a site search you will find all the info.

[landiematt]

They will settle down after a month or two, but i would expect about an inch not the two inch's you want them to drop.They always say every mod requires 2 more mod's to get it done correctly.

[Wal Rat]

Have you checked with Dobinson to find out if what you think you bought is what you actually got?

[isuzurover]

What big jon said.

Also - it sounds like the vehicle is set up for touring? IME 0-2" lift is the best option for a tourer, as it will avoid all the extra mods. Any larger lift is unnecessary for the application. I would get in touch with Dobinsons or the supplier.

For serious offroading the smallest lift you need to fit the tyres you want is best. Some have managed to fit 37" wheels on a defender with zero lift.

Apart from mud boggers - have a look at serious offroaders. All those that win (and/or don't roll over readily) have minimal lift.

[Pat The Rat]

IMO you don't want cranked front arms or castor bushes. You want slotted swivels. If you do a site search you will find all the info.

Thanks BigJon, I have thought of going the slotted swivels (looks to be signifigantly cheaper as a bonus!), do people worry about the bottom spring mount not being level?

I guess another bonus of the slotted swivels is that I won't need to find a DC front prop, as I would expect that to be causing problems if I did get the diff somewhere near level....

[Pat The Rat]

Have you checked with Dobinson to find out if what you think you bought is what you actually got?

Thats getting done today, I'll let you all know so we can confirm those part numbers one way or another.

[Pat The Rat]

What big jon said.

Also - it sounds like the vehicle is set up for touring? IME 0-2" lift is the best option for a tourer, as it will avoid all the extra mods. Any larger lift is unnecessary for the application. I would get in touch with Dobinsons or the supplier.

For serious offroading the smallest lift you need to fit the tyres you want is best. Some have managed to fit 37" wheels on a defender with zero lift.

Apart from mud boggers - have a look at serious offroaders. All those that win (and/or don't roll over readily) have minimal lift.

Cheers, sound advice. I will be getting in touch with Dobinsons (to re-confirm they are the correct springs), and the supplier (to ask for somthing a little lower perhaps )
It is basically a tourer, however I am realistic about how much 'touring' vs 'weekend with the lads' (we all only have a limited amount of leave each year ) type driving i'll be doing, hence getting a bit greedy with the extra 1" or so.

[ugu80]

Over 50m (2") at the front will also require adjustable panhard rod to bring the wheels back into line.

[JC Rover]

I have a similar lift in my 110 with Dobinsons. It has the cranked arms front and rear, adjustable pan hard rod and the double cardan joint on the front prop shaft. It really needs a double cardan in the rear too, as it grumbles between acceleration and deceleration, over 80km/hr. Other than that it handles like a race car