Changing a Wheel - Disco 4

[Darron]

Yesterday I had my first flat tyre on the rear of my Discovery 4. Being new to LR, I looked at the owners manual to make sure I followed the right procedure and use the correct jacking points, but things still didn't go to plan...

As I jacked the car, everything lifted up except the wheel - due to the suspension. I quickly jumped on line and found a whole load of advice, including changing the access height and leaving the drivers door open etc... In the end, a helpful passer-by who was also a LR owner came to help and put a trolly jack under the car (it looked like it was delicately balanced on the rear suspension arm) and we were away.

Does anyone have advice on how this should have been done? This didn't look right, and pretty dangerous..

Second to this, I decided to keep my former 'spare' wheel on the car and put my old wheel with a new tyre as the spare. Getting it back onto the dangling down wire under the car was a nightmare and the tyre was pretty heavy to lift to the height where the cable could attach. Looking on-line, it seems some of the spare wheels are narrower than the full size and I'm wondering if again there is something I'm doing wrong or that I should know...?

Thanks in Advance. Darron

[scarry]

Welcome to the fun of owning a D4.

Have a search on here, there is a better jack,as you found out the OEM one is a heap of rubbish, and dangerous at times.

If you followed the manual, you were doing the right thing, the vehicle does go up high due to the wheel travel.

Putting the tyre on the fitting that dangles from the cable is how you did it, a full size spare will fit no worries, as long as its the OEM size very similar.

There is some sort of trick putting the vehicle in off road height when jacking,but I don't know what it is.

[WhiteD3]

Yep, its a pain in the arse but once you've got it worked out its no drama really, just hard work.

Unwind the spare until you can reach in and unhook the cable.
Off road height
Door left open
Chock the other wheels
If you have to use the OEM jack keep your limbs out from under. Yes it bends and distorts and is scary to look at but it does work. Better still buy a bottle jack (one with the correct reach) like the rest of us have.
Change the wheel
Reverse the above.
Put the spare back ensuring that some tension is kept on the cable until the wheel lifts. Impossible when you are by yourself.
Go home and have a cold beer.....you've earned it.


As for the spare, it should be the same as the other wheels. It can be a tight fit as it lifts up into the heat shields. Non-OEM (ie bigger) tyres make this harder still.

Yesterday I had my first flat tyre on the rear of my Discovery 4. Being new to LR, I looked at the owners manual to make sure I followed the right procedure and use the correct jacking points, but things still didn't go to plan...

As I jacked the car, everything lifted up except the wheel - due to the suspension. I quickly jumped on line and found a whole load of advice, including changing the access height and leaving the drivers door open etc... In the end, a helpful passer-by who was also a LR owner came to help and put a trolly jack under the car (it looked like it was delicately balanced on the rear suspension arm) and we were away.

Does anyone have advice on how this should have been done? This didn't look right, and pretty dangerous..

Second to this, I decided to keep my former 'spare' wheel on the car and put my old wheel with a new tyre as the spare. Getting it back onto the dangling down wire under the car was a nightmare and the tyre was pretty heavy to lift to the height where the cable could attach. Looking on-line, it seems some of the spare wheels are narrower than the full size and I'm wondering if again there is something I'm doing wrong or that I should know...?

Thanks in Advance. Darron

[101RRS]

Get a better jack and jack under the suspension wishbones.

HOWEVER if you just have the standard jack - chock the wheels. Raise the vehicle to offroad height. Put the jack into its spot in the chassis and lower the height and it should go into extended height then put it into super extended (see manual).

Then when you jack there will not be much lifting required to get the wheel off the road - however the car is unstable so extreme care is needed. The standard jack is a killer in my view - oh the manual says to only jack on level ground but how times do you actually stop on level ground - even if you get a flat on the highway.

I use a small high lift floor jack - I use the LR jack to just get the car high enough to get the floor jack under then jack up to full height on the floor jack.

Garry

[Macadamia]

Better still buy a bottle jack (one with the correct reach) like the rest of us have.

what should I be looking for in a bottle jack?

[WhiteD3]

I used one of these...

Toolex | Hydraulic Bottle Jack 12 Tonne 2 Stage Height raised 542mm lowered 232mm

You need to find or make an adaptor to lock the top of the jack into the chassis rail.

IMG_5174 resize.jpg


Cheers.

[twr7cx]

Strangely LR have a factory bottle jack for the D4 but it's only meant for the coil spring models. Strange that if this is the superior product to use on the air spring models that they didn't include it...

[WhiteD3]

Strangely LR have a factory bottle jack for the D4 but it's only meant for the coil spring models. Strange that if this is the superior product to use on the air spring models that they didn't include it...

My guess is it doesn't have the height for the air sprung models.

[Tombie]

My guess is it doesn't have the height for the air sprung models.

It goes under the arm. Spring or bag makes no difference.

I have been lead to believe it’s a safety aspect.

The Air suspension can alter heights and if jacked under the arm the vehicle does shuffle around.

I still use a jack under the arm, or a block of wood.

[101RRS]

The problem with bottle jacks under the chassis is that very few if any the full range eg those that can get low enough when the tyre is actually flat have trouble lifting a wheel high enough at full height. That is why I use the provided jack to just lift the car so I can get a hi lift floor or bottle jack under the chassis - or preferrably just use it under a wishbone.