24 replies to this topic

[yogibear47.lee]

hi what the best one to get but i have a tight budget, hope you can help

thanks

[BiggerBaloo]

guess it depends what you want to achieve from it? Is it just for cosmetic purposes? are you startting to build a challenge truck? Do you just want fat wheels? Do you want clearance? Articulation?

[yogibear47.lee]

i want clearance and get some bigger tyres on

[BiggerBaloo]

what sort of budget do you want to look at? If your on a really tight budget you could do well to look at Llama 4x4 which offers a forums discount. Or you can look at things like this from Island 4x4. There are much more expensive kits out there, and there's loads of threads and opinions around this forum. Have you done a search?

[yogibear47.lee]

will shock and springs be all right on there own

[yogibear47.lee]

will something like this be alright http://www.mm-4x4.co...t-kit-886-p.asp

[BiggerBaloo]

I'm not the right person to answer that one. I do know it's not normal, but I don't know how serious the implications are.

A grown up will be along soon to tell you why springs and shocks on their own is not ok.

[yogibear47.lee]

ok mate hope some one can answer it for me

[Pete Attryde]

Springs and shocks may be fine however I started down this route with mine and ended up changing a whole lot of other stuff too

You should be aware that a 2" lift could affect the high speed (50+mph) handling of your Disco as it will change the castor angle on the front axle making the steering feel very vague and less inclined to self centre. Not all do it but mine did.

If it does effect the handling you will either need to replace the bushes at the axle end of the front radius arms for castor corrected ones or buy new castor corrected arms.

Having corrected the castor you will then probably find that the front propshaft will have picked up a vibration which is cured by fitting a double cardon propshaft from a discovery 2 or a custom made one from the likes of propshaft clinic or devon 4x4 etc.

I also had problems with the rear propshaft as the steeper angle on the propshaft destroyed the rubber coupling at the axle end within about 3 months of me fitting the lift and then a second brand new one in about 6 months. To cure this I ended up fitting a high angle Universal joint at both end propshaft (from Devon 4x4) which involved changing the pinion flange on the diff.

I then also had to correct the flange angle of the rear diff as I then had a vibration on the rear this was cured by fitting new rear radius arms that were longer than the originals. You will also definately need to change the front brake pipes for longer ones and may also need to change the rear ones as well.

All in all in my opinion I (having done it on mine) would say that if you can avoid fitting a lift kit if at all possible do, as it could be a lot more expensive and a lot more hassle than just trimming the body work slightly and adjusting the steering stops.

This is just representative of the problems I encountered when I fitted a simple 2" lift to my 1996 300TDI discovery and may be different to other peoples experiences.

As I said not all do it and some people can/will live with the possible handling change I didn't want to so ended spending a load more cash than I wanted to originally. Mine is my daily driver so I wanted it right.

HTH

Pete.

[andyb]

I largely agree with what Pete has said, but some of the troubles are model specific and some are due to the Disco being a daily drive so some degree of road manners had to be retained...

...however, I have a 2inch lift in my early 200 Discovery and all I've done additional (with respect to the lift) is to fit extended flexible brake lines. These are stainless braided ones; I thought it made sense to go with a fit and forget option that also inproved my brake pedal 'feel'. I haven't done any castor correction nor have I fitted a double cardon front prop...I just except that fact that the UJ at the transfer box end will wear quicker than the others. There are other methods of castor correction other than arms and bushes, both of which IMHO are a bit half hearted. You can fit castor corrected swivels or have your front axle casing modified. Castor correction is something that you can decide upon once you've done the lift and driven the LR. It will handle differently but it can be a matter of 'taste'. Having said that....anything over a 2 inch lift and I would say that castor correction should be done as a matter of course.

As for cost...a mate fitted a Procomp kit for a 2 inch lift to a 90 for about £300 and another £70 for the braided flexible brake lines.....I went the Old Man Emu route which is about £200 more expensive. This was a few years back now, but I don't think the cost has changed much.

Also don't forget you will have to inform your insurance company...that can be another can of worms all of it own

HTH

[yogibear47.lee]

ok mate what about a 1 inch will that need as much work

[freeagent]

you can fit upto 33" x 12.5" x 15" tyres without a lift if you fit a flared arch kit and cut away enough of the bodywork... although you've got the cost of the arches to consider its possibly a better bet than messing with the suspension...

What about a mild bodylift - maybe 30mm?

Ok, its more work than just shoving on new springs but at least it won't upset the handling in the same way a suspension lift might....

[tempestv8]

Which part of the world are you in?

If you are in Australia, for about $1200 you can get a set of Old Man Emu springs and shocks to give you the 2" lift that you require.

Nice and easy.

[yogibear47.lee]

im in the uk and they only reason im thingin lifted kit is my back shocks are shagged

[clbarclay]

New standard dapes are less than a tenner a piece, so thats the cheap and easy option.

If your after bigger tyres then cutting wheel archs is the most effective way forwards, suspension lifts don't necciserily increase clearance and even a body lift only rearly increased clearance above the tyre. To clear the front and back edges of the wheel archs to fit much bigger tyes without cutting can result in very high lifts.

One option to consider if you still want a suspension lift on a budget is just fitting lift springs on their own and then fitting longer dampers, brake lines etc at a later date. This is basically what I did to one RRC with uprated lift springs, compared to the old springs its handling actually improved and is better for towing. Its still on standard length dampers and is fine for pay and plays without longer ones.

[andyb]

ok mate what about a 1 inch will that need as much work

No not as much. As mentioned elsewhere in the Discovery forum a set of Police Spec HD springs will give you a cheap and mild lift. You will need spacers for the rear springs to keep the lift level and a set of longer travel shocks. My personal budget favorite are Procomps and have a fairly wide range of lengths. You will not need any castor correction or likely to suffer increased UJ wear with this setup. It will allow larger tyre fitment. A bit of wheel arch trimming and straightening the rear quarter panel line back towards the rear bumper will also help with clearance.

HTH

[k9unit]

hi what the best one to get but i have a tight budget, hope you can help

thanks

try frog island 4x4

[yogibear47.lee]

thanks a my mates mate said just buy 4 2" front springs and use them will it be alright like that

[BiggerBaloo]

Fair enough, try it and let us know how you get on. In my limited experience I've heard of a few horror stories that have started similar to that, RaceFace120 being a prime example.

[yogibear47.lee]

who raceface120 and what he do