landrover598 Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 I'm in the process of trying to improve my landy (defender 100) for road use/towing/traveling. I need to change the springs (and maybe dampers) as it's crashing/bouncing about on the road, and very harsh on rough tracks. I've currently got 170 lb/in front and 210 lb/in rear with ES9000 dampers. Weight is 58% front / 42% rear, (1500kg sprung weight) Any suggestions on spring rates, do i go softer or harder Not worried about flex, just a bit of comfort. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LR90 Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 What you have are very near stock rates. For a gentler ride I'd put softer springs in the back (mine are 150's). But... the stiffer springs you have in the rear now would be much better for towing, lugging loads, and also give better on road handling. You could just stick a couple of bags of cement in the back when you're not towing or otherwise carrying heavy loads? Hmm, all about compromise again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark90 Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 My 90 had 200ish lb on the front and 170lb on the back and that felt very wallowy on the road but gave good articulation and a very good comliant ride over rough tracks, Bish will testify to that. But I wouldn't want to tow much with it, far to soft for that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonr Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Depends if youre poor ride is due to you hitting the bump stops? If so then harder springs will improve the ride no end. Try taping an empty match box to each of your bump stops. Drive for a bit & see if they have been crushed. You can calculate the spring rate with reasonable accuracy. As a rule of thumb, your axle should hit the bump stops with between 1.5 and 2 x the normal un-sprung weight bearing on it. Jack up a wheel and see what the distance between the axle and bump stop is? Lower it again and measure again. The ratio of the first to the second measurement gives you the multiple of the vehicle weight required to hit the bump stops. If it is less than 1.5 then go for stiffer springs. If it is greater than 2, go for weaker. Somewhere in the middle - you decide! Normal, road going cars use about 1.5. Rally and race cars use 1.8 to 2.0. The precise value you choose depends how keen you are on nailing it over speed bumps.....err....I mean....bumpy ground....Officer! Si Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicks90 Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 you could just stick red/whites all round, 170lbs/inch which is probably what you have on the front already by the looks. but i found them too soft for the back of my 90 csw, very comfy in a straight line, but the back end dived on fast corners. Very disconcerting. So i swapped the rear springs for hd disco 300tdi rears. These are progressive springs which i believe ar 180-230lbs/inch. so the first couple of inches is nice and soft and then firms up lovely. handling was transformed. Only thing was i needed to put an inverted spring cup on the back to level the truck, as the front was about 1/2" higher. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daan Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 I would change them back to front, because static deflection would be about right for balanced suspension. It is pretty much what I am running, I have a set of stiffer springs for the rear which I fit if I am going somewhere fully laden (say 300 kilos load), but in most cases, this setup works really well. Daan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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