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Suspension advice needed


gobby

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Hi All,

Having just got hold of a 1992 3dr 200Tdi due to missus not wanting to drive my 110, it seems to rock'n'roll all over the place. Checked underneath and it doesn't have anti-roll bars.

How can I best tighten up the suspension? Is it worth putting a heavy duty standard kit on or is there other cheaper ways that can be used?

Any help appreciated

Ian

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Hi All,

Having just got hold of a 1992 3dr 200Tdi due to missus not wanting to drive my 110, it seems to rock'n'roll all over the place. Checked underneath and it doesn't have anti-roll bars.

How can I best tighten up the suspension? Is it worth putting a heavy duty standard kit on or is there other cheaper ways that can be used?

Any help appreciated

Ian

Hi

Ihave a 94 300tdi and it was soft on the suspension. I replaced all 4 springs and shocks with heavy duty ones. The old shocks were completely shot. I think that just replacing the shocks would help you.

The difference in the ride both on and off road was surprising.

stu.

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It was in 1993 that anti-roll bars were introduced on the disco, so a 1992 disco will not have them fitted, but bolt on kits a available to upgrade.

As for springs, replace them with a standatd set for comfort unless u are going to do a lot of towing then replace them with a heavy duty set and for dampers go for the gas pressurized ones and it dosen't end there.. there's all of those bushes to replace.

I see that Britpart do a matched spring/damper kit.

Regards

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Thanks for all the responses,

Looks like I'll be putting a HD set on first to see how it is before thinking of adding the anti-roll bars - just that lot amounts to pretty much what the trucks worth :(

Cheers

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Be careful when replacing springs as my rear axle spring mounting plates "fell apart" as soon as i tried to undo the spring plate bolts - resulting in a replacement 2nd hand rear axle. The replacement axle did not have mounts for anti roll bar (off a 200tdi i think) - so the roll bar was removed, but with H D springs and shocks you don't get much roll anyway.

Good luck.

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Followed a mates 90 once and it was all over the road. On inspection the panhard rod bushes were completely shot and you could literally move the body sideways an inch without any affect on the axles. He hadn't long replaced them! Definitely worth looking at.

Another thing i noticed on the disco was when going down hills and backing off the power she would self steer towards the kerb. This turned out to be excessive wear in the rear trailing arm bushes at the chassis end. Trouble with bush wear is its not always evident unless the thing collapses. However. A bit of wear in all the bushes on the axles/links (13 of em!) through time will undoubtedly have a major influence on "tautness". Would also be worth checking swivel hub preload if its not been looked at for years.

Change the shocks as a matter of course too. Springs too if you want but I find the current truck on standard springs tows better than the last one on HD springs. It doesn't however inspire confidence through the twisty stuff anything like as well.

And lastly, tyres will make a huge difference to the feel of the truck.

I guess all I want to say is changing just the springs and shocks in isolation may not be the panacea you are expecting...

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I've got stiffer Old Man Emu (OME) springs on my Discovery; mainly for the suspension lift when fitting a winch and carrying recovery kit, but a side effect has been much better cornering. A mate in a V8 RRC on std springs has trouble keeping up in the twisty bits on the tarmac.

Can't remember the OME part number off the top of my head, but can look it up if you are interested. OME are possibly the most expensive setup but well worth the money. PM me if you want the OME p/n. :)

HTH

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Hi

Ihave a 94 300tdi and it was soft on the suspension. I replaced all 4 springs and shocks with heavy duty ones. The old shocks were completely shot. I think that just replacing the shocks would help you.

The difference in the ride both on and off road was surprising.

stu.

Stu,

What springs/shocks did you use? I only manage to get off-road every other weekend at the moment so Im mainly tarmac but I think the shockers are Fkd - maybe springs aswell, anyone know what the standard ride was like (land rover shocks), its rockin abit and Ive snapped two Rear lower links (some call them radius arms) in 6 months.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Regards

Sime.

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Stu,

What springs/shocks did you use? I only manage to get off-road every other weekend at the moment so Im mainly tarmac but I think the shockers are Fkd - maybe springs aswell, anyone know what the standard ride was like (land rover shocks), its rockin abit and Ive snapped two Rear lower links (some call them radius arms) in 6 months.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Regards

Sime.

Sime,

I spoke to frog island 4 x 4, they were very helpful and supplied me with the springs and shocks.

I have a winch bumper, steering guard and winch fitted to the front, all this extra weight lowered the front by approx 25mm. the new suspension has corrected this and given me approx' 1" lift all round. I didn't want any more than this as I off road every other weekend as well.

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Sime,

I spoke to frog island 4 x 4, they were very helpful and supplied me with the springs and shocks.

I have a winch bumper, steering guard and winch fitted to the front, all this extra weight lowered the front by approx 25mm. the new suspension has corrected this and given me approx' 1" lift all round. I didn't want any more than this as I off road every other weekend as well.

Stu,

Thanks for the reply, I may have dropped on a set of bilsteins (shocks & springs), not sure of the spec so I'll have a dekko at the weekend, if theyre right I'll avem if not I think I'll plump for Britpart they seem to get a decent write up unless someone knows different...........bush renewal after that.......then summat else etc etc etc

Sime

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I can't seem to find anyone to speaking up about the "hot set up" for shocks. I don't want something cheap and would like to know what a couple of the best types for the Disco are based on experience here. I know Koni, Bilstein, Spax from my car ramblings but am not sure what has the best reputation on the Discovery 1 for combined on and off road use.

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I can't seem to find anyone to speaking up about the "hot set up" for shocks. I don't want something cheap and would like to know what a couple of the best types for the Disco are based on experience here. I know Koni, Bilstein, Spax from my car ramblings but am not sure what has the best reputation on the Discovery 1 for combined on and off road use.

jUST MAYBE IT'S BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT WORTH THE MONEY COMPARED TO THE OTHERS

Damn CAPS, sorry.

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