Thread: big lifts for defender 130

The question does seem to be that legality of haveing this sort of lift and tyres on the road. I am sure there is a way to make it legal through an engineer, it is just finding it. After all if you were to make it from scratch you would be able to register, and be legal as long as it met all the required rules and regulations. I think the best bet would be to ask the fellas in rocky who is approving there mods, if anyone?

I can also see how big tire can help, try following an AACO (44in tyres and 140in wheelbase) in a landrover.

Djextreme will you be at the CQ offroad comp in September? Would be nice to see some other landrovers there.
Dan.

If you must do it you'll want to up rate you're drive shafts. 37's locked will snap standard ones. Also I'd investigate brake upgrade if you can as braking will be dramatically reduced with larger diameter wheels. If you have heaps of spare money and really want something bigger have a look at this conversion in Land Rover Owner International May issue 6 2008 "Worlds Tallest Disco". Iknow it's not a 130 but they were doing these conversion for Defenders so it would definately work on 130 and would acheive everthing you want and more. Was having a cranky day yesterday after seeing yet another lifted disaster running around and might not have been looking objectively at all things whatever you do just make sure you don't half **** otherwise you'll end up dissapointed.

Now this is getting funny......AGAIN.

There are 2 aruments here, both with valid points, but first I'll start with the big tyre brigade.
A bigger rolling radius gives better obstacle climbing ability, diff clearance, and approach, departure and ramp over which in turn makes traversing terrain easier. It also allows you to go into more extreme terrain than would otherwise be the case. A case in point is the now current trend in Mountain bikes where wheel sizes are being increased from 26" to 29". NOT in width though. You notice the difference in tyre choice ALOT more when YOU are the engine. The larger tyre sizes(than standard) are fine on comp trucks and dedicated play vehicles. And here is why.
Fitting your larger tyres is not just a matter of throwing big rubber on and away you go. The down sides are you are greatly increasing your unsprung weight, and centrivical force generated buy the larger radius. This is not such a problem at low speeds, but is a different story on the highway, or what we like to call highways(think Gunbarrel). It also increases braking time and distance, reduces manouverability, slows acceleration and increases fuel consumption. All this extra weight leads to alot of extra stress on the components as they have been designed around a lesser weight. So you need to look at changing ALOT of stuff to accomodate this. CV's, axles, diff centres, diff gears, springs, shocks, trackrods and the like. Also your suspension component life is shortened. Your clearance under the arches is reduced, so a bit of body trimming is now needed, as well as the exra offset needed to accomodate the larger size as in alot of cases going up in diameter also means a bigger section width(I'll get to this later), so you need to widen flares and so forth.You are also loading up your outside wheel bearings. So far we are looking at ALOT of $$$ on top of the $4-500 you paid each corner for the rubber. This is fine if it is your thing and have lots of money to spend, but not all us do.
Now in most states, there are pretty strict guidelines as to what you can and can't do to your vehicle(without going through engineering) and to go outside this lends your vehicle to being deemed unroadworthy, henceforth becoming a target for police and the insurance minefield. Also, MOST of the cars with these mods done tend to push into the harder terrain more often where the panel damage occurs on a more regular basis, so tend to look more like POS(whether they are or not is not relevant)( I know your car is kept smick slunnie).
Then there is the tread lightly arguement in regards to extreme terrain and the question over whether you should be there and doing it in the first place.
I am going to upset a few here, but here goes,
the stereo-type I see most, of these type of cars with these things done, is that of the drivers being grubby, poorly dressed, flanno wearing grubs, who drive like they stole it, drinking all the while, tossing their beer cans and cigarette butts and all their rubbish out the window, who curse and swear all with a blatent disregard for everything, are too lazy to get out and repair a track so fit bigger stuff to just drive over it. This is what I as a four wheel drive enthusiest sees, what do you think the general public and police see. We are not all like that, but mud sticks. This is exactly what we saw at Beerburrum on Sunday. There are some very nice lifted rigs out there that do not fit this category(such as Shepp and the like) but these are the exception rather than the rule.
I run the standard size rubber on my vehicle, but I do so for very specific reasons. It is already in the vicinity of 31-32", I am mainly intersted in touring, though with the ability to tackle some pretty hard stuff, and have found I can go 99% of places on it. If not, I can go around, or track build(repair) and get through. I like a challenge as much as the next person. I'm not poo pooing your choice of tyre, but the big ones ARE NOT the be all and end all of off-roading. How would you go carrying 3 spares like I do, or bouncing over corrogations for 6 hours straight without busting something. Not picking on you Cal, but what size spare do you have hanging off the rear door? would a 37" break it.
From the trip report you would have seen me get hung up on my diffs, but so what, get out, 5 minutes with the shovel and away we go. The challenge is still there and what is the big rush that you don't have time to get out. As for the offer of money to go where you do. You are on, I may just take a little longer, get out and use a shovel or winch, but I will get there IF I NEED TO.
I'd be peeved at doing all that work, then a well driven stocker comes through afterwards.
CC


let the flood gates of hatemail flow in.

On regards the lift of the 130. You are already lifted 2 inches over a 110 with HD springs fitted, so a 4 inch lift for a 110 is only 2 inch on a 130 and legal. Am looking at doing this myself.

Dont know anything about the comp.where is it at? As i am not trying to build a comp. rig I do like to enjoy the weekend at this type of event.Im an out doors type guy love to offroad and what to be able to challange ovr the mntn-down to the beach and back home .Im not from Australia and would like to be apart of the offroad community as I was for my whole life in the U.S. This is why im trying to build my rig very capable as this is a chance of a life time for me....

Iv been looking at the equipe4x4 as you can gear up with a complete system from them seem $$$$$ But this is a must do thing as Ido understand of all the stress put on everything to go larger rubber..... Also yes we all must stick together....Looks like 35s will do for me with the right setup.

Originally Posted by Col.Coleman

I am going to upset a few here, but here goes,
the stereo-type I see most, of these type of cars with these things done, is that of the drivers being grubby, poorly dressed, flanno wearing grubs, who drive like they stole it, drinking all the while, tossing their beer cans and cigarette butts and all their rubbish out the window, who curse and swear all with a blatent disregard for everything, are too lazy to get out and repair a track so fit bigger stuff to just drive over it. This is what I as a four wheel drive enthusiest sees, what do you think the general public and police see. .

Yep, bit like Camo wearing pretend army dudes.............

Why do you people not accept, the fact that people have different expectations and needs from their 4wd and just because its what you own and do, doesn;t mean its fit for all????

I don;t expect people to fit 35's, but I don;t expect to be stereotyped by a pack of narrow minded *****s either, simply because of how I set my vehicle up

We all use the bush and all the retards who continually bag, big tyres/moto riders/mountain bike/horse/anything that their narrow minds think isn;t appropriate will be the death of more and more access rights for all, but they're to wrapped up in their own self righteousness, they isolate the bush users into small defenceless groups of

motobike, noisy, annoying, dangerou
Big tyres with all the "**** factor"
Hunters, bambie murderers
blah blah

OK - legality side of things...

In QLD, as the laws currently stand, the maximum legal lift you can do is:

2" Body Lift (must obtain prior approval from Qld Transport and only they can inspect/approve the lift - they will check the rest of the vehicle while they are at it).

a suspension lift of 1/3 the bump-stop to axle distance - but usually this is considered too hard to determione so people say 2" max.

Tyres are +25mm max. So 33".

That is it if you want to stay legal.

However - IMHO, I think lower is better. You can fit tyres whatever size you want just with some guard chopping. e.g. - how about 51's?

This has no suspension lift and no body lift.

The Haultech guys built a comp defender that ran 37's with no lift, I think Andrew e owns it now.

Mark2 - when you say you have driven all the hard tracks in SEQ - are you including tracks within 4x4 parks? or just state forests?

Originally Posted by isuzurover

Bet they're on standard rover diffs to, seeing as they're not weak