county hunter Posted September 9, 2007 Share Posted September 9, 2007 Hi All, thinking of putting a lift kit on my defender can anyone suggest the best ones to fit and what if anything should I look out for.Any tips greatfully received . Cheers steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gromit Posted September 9, 2007 Share Posted September 9, 2007 90 or 110? How high do you want to go and why? Do you have a winch which will make the nose heavier? In general, you can lift by up to 2" without needing to change many other components. Even at 2", you will have less steering self-centering, and your prop shafts will have a harder life. I've just lifted my 110 by 2". I used britpart springs, which people have 'mixed' views of. DeCarbon shocks. Extended brake lines Cranked trailing arms from Jez on here, plus a few shims correct the rear diff position. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smarticus Posted September 9, 2007 Share Posted September 9, 2007 If you want the lift to improve offroad performance, many offroaders choose Old Man Emu (OME) gear. The boys who take this game very seriously indeed (and whilst I do a lot of competitions, there are others who take it far more seriously than me) often fit OME and I really cannot recall anyone having had a failure in these items. Google their name and you will find many testimonials to a good, strong and reliable product. As one site puts it "In the world of quality offroad suspensions, there's Old Man Emu, then there's everything else". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwhitton Posted September 9, 2007 Share Posted September 9, 2007 With just a 2inch lift kit do the brake lines need extending? Whats the story on 2inch rear lift and 1 1/2 inch front lift - I have seen these advertised. When do you need the straps, or are these just for use with dislocation cones? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwhitton Posted September 9, 2007 Share Posted September 9, 2007 Just read smarticus' reply after I posted. What's peoples experience of Procomp, there seem to be lots of ads for them. See there are ES3000 and the slightly more expensive ES9000, is there much between them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gromit Posted September 9, 2007 Share Posted September 9, 2007 With just a 2inch lift kit do the brake lines need extending?Whats the story on 2inch rear lift and 1 1/2 inch front lift - I have seen these advertised. When do you need the straps, or are these just for use with dislocation cones? When I put in the lift, I left the standard brake lines in and put the truck on an axle twister to see. It is just borderline. At full articulation the pipe is straight with a sharp bend at each end. A few more mm and it'd be under serious strain, so I extended mine for peace of mind. Last thing you want is a fun day out straining the lines and have one go pop on the way home I've a rear one to go in, but haven't got around to it yet as its less on the limit. Don't know about the 2" and 1 1/2" thing, never heard of it. Where did you see this? Straps are only when you want to jack up the chassis and want to axle to lift too, such as jacking with a high lift. The straps are normally left disconnected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LandyManLuke Posted September 9, 2007 Share Posted September 9, 2007 What's peoples experience of Procomp, there seem to be lots of ads for them.See there are ES3000 and the slightly more expensive ES9000, is there much between them? Procomps are cheap, and OK, for the money. they don't last indefinitely, but they're only £30 or so and are available in different size/fitting combos. The ES9000 is nitrogen changed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
county hunter Posted September 9, 2007 Author Share Posted September 9, 2007 Hi All, Thanks for your comments,forgot to mention its a 90,and I will be using it for going from a-b and a lot of play time .All the pics Ive seen in the mags of 90's which have been lifted got me thinking mmmmmmmm I wonder what mine would look like.I only want to go 1 inch or 2 max. Cheers steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muddy Posted September 9, 2007 Share Posted September 9, 2007 personly i wouldnt lift it at all. If you are desperate for a lift then i would fit red/white range rover police spec prings for around a 1" lift as this wont upset your steering, props ect, if however you want to go off road dont waste your money on a lift kit with 'HD/uprated' springs as this will make your 90 worse offroad, go to llama 4x4 and buy the challenge kit, it may look expensive compared to a boggo £200 lift kit but the difference off road between the two is massive. Also if you dont lift your 90 and just fit the challenge kit its on road handleing will not be affected. These are just my opinions and i await to be shot down in flames Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goaty Posted September 10, 2007 Share Posted September 10, 2007 Hey, Is anyone able to shed some light on this?? 'Cranked trailing arms from Jez on here, plus a few shims correct the rear diff position.' Does Jez still make them and any more info on them, and what and where did you use the shims?? cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted September 10, 2007 Share Posted September 10, 2007 PM Jez (user name "dollythelw") he still has some cranked arms I believe - and you won't find stronger ones. They make the "extreme" stuff look a bit gay and poorly made. Mainly because it's a bit gay and poorly made I agree that lift is a bit over hyped, you can get great off-road performance without lifting a truck and all the hassle that it entails - you upset steering, propshafts, bushes, brake lines etc. even with a relatively small lift. And you're raising the centre of gravity (= easier to roll). For the money I'd stay with no lift or maybe 1-2" so you don't spend out on loads of new fancy bits, the spend the money on some bigger tyres (which gains you clearance under the diffs too). As has been said, some of the cheap "lift kits" are just very stiff springs, which means you lose flex and therefore compromise off-road ability in the name of looking cool OME is good kit, I've never heard a bad word about it and I've heard some very good words from people who know their stuff. And Reads90 The cheaper option is to use standard springs from something else - Trev's spring rate calculator will help you find the genuine part # for the springs you need (I think he has OME in there too). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveG Posted September 10, 2007 Share Posted September 10, 2007 There's a suspension backgrounder in the tech archive that gives pros and cons of lifting a Defender that worth a quick read (but I would say that ).. http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=12063 If you are desperate for a lift then i would fit red/white range rover police spec prings for around a 1" lift as this wont upset your steering, props ect, You must have a heavy 90 with a winch. On a standard 90 TD5 (rear fuel tank) hardtop red/whites will lift the front by about 2.5" and rear by about 1.5". So you must have ~250lb on the front and ~85lb extra weight on the rear. Also they are great off road, but in my opinion their 170lbs rating doesn't give the best on road handling. So if you use your Defender daily, as well as off-road, I wouldn't recommend them. As said above I would put bigger tyres on before a suspension lift. The increased height under the diff will be far more beneficial than improved angles from a lift. On a standard height 90 you could fit up to a 33"-33.5" tyre and with some minor trimming to the wheel arches you'll have no rubbing off-road. If you want to lift your 90 to fit bigger tyres without trimming a 1" lift will be fine for 33.5" tyres and as said above a 1" will avoid the potential castor angle, brake line, propshaft expense associated with a bigger lift. Cheers Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gromit Posted September 10, 2007 Share Posted September 10, 2007 Is anyone able to shed some light on this??'Cranked trailing arms from Jez on here, plus a few shims correct the rear diff position.' After I put the lift in, I had some mad vibration from the rear prop shaft, as the gearbox output and diff pinion were no longer parallel. I got Jez's cranked rear trailing arms to try cure the vibes. The crank in the arm corrects the downward angle which can be hard on the bush where the trailing arm mounts to the chassis. They helped a bit but didn't cure it. After much measuring and farting about by me, Jez made up some 6mm shims to go between the chassis bush and the arm, to move the diff pinion down. This cured the vibrations. Can take some pictures if it makes it clearer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goaty Posted September 10, 2007 Share Posted September 10, 2007 pics would help a great deal if poss please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
county hunter Posted September 10, 2007 Author Share Posted September 10, 2007 Thanks all for your comments,I think the new tyres and wheels will be the first option and see were I go from there,Thanks again for your comments. Cheers steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gromit Posted September 11, 2007 Share Posted September 11, 2007 pics would help a great deal if poss please. Cranked Trailing arms. Diff pinion is too high here. Shim fitted between the bush and the trailing arm to extend the arm and lower the diff pinion position. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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