tuffstuff Posted June 3, 2008 Share Posted June 3, 2008 I am just thinking out loud and hopefully i will get some advice from you guys in the know. I am intending on fitting larger tyres allowing me further ground clearance. I have got 2 inch lift on springs, 2 inch lift on the body. I am thinking along the lines of raising the spring by a further 2 inchs with spring blocks (advice & coments) Buying 33x12.5x16 tyres maybe £100 each (Advice & coments) Looking at buying a set of four alloys, i like the ZU alloys (advice & coments) Now the main question is, can i get the diff's changed to a beter ratio, which will give me better speed for towing the caravan, because we travel all over the country with the PORC club, When i had larger tyres at first i could not get the Beast into top gear when towing. I am looking at cutting my arches allowing me more clearance but need to know what is best to use to cut these out as well (advice & coments) I will thank you guys in advance because you always have answered my problems in the past. forgot to ask one last thing, I need to raise the ECU from under the seat, can i buy a kit for this or do i need to find a scrapper to use the existing wire to extend it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bishbosh Posted June 3, 2008 Share Posted June 3, 2008 OK, here's my take. A 2" lift with a 2" body lift is plenty. You can fit 35" tyres under that lot when you cut the arches - see pics of Jules' LSE. More spring lift and you will have serious proshaft issues and the handling will suffer considerably. For cutting the arches I think there is a link in the tech archive. When I did mine I used a combination of jigsaw and grinder. The jigsaw is good for accurate cuts but you have to cut slowly else the blade clogs with the Ali swarf. Grinder is good for the rear doors on 4 doors. 255 x 85 x 16 BFG muds are a good tyre size. Not as wide as you have suggested, but very popular with defender owners. Gearing wise you can swap transfer boxes relatively cheaply or go for new ring and pinions for the diff which will cost a fair bit. T - case from the classifieds, R&P from Ashcroft. Note that the t-case swap will not lower low range but the R&P swap will lower both. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T1G UP Posted June 3, 2008 Share Posted June 3, 2008 IMHO R&P's check out ashcrofts, can be changed relatively easily,lower high and low range as bish says Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pinkrover Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 I am just thinking out loud and hopefully i will get some advice from you guys in the know. I am intending on fitting larger tyres allowing me further ground clearance. I have got 2 inch lift on springs, 2 inch lift on the body. I am thinking along the lines of raising the spring by a further 2 inchs with spring blocks (advice & coments) Buying 33x12.5x16 tyres maybe £100 each (Advice & coments) Looking at buying a set of four alloys, i like the ZU alloys (advice & coments) Now the main question is, can i get the diff's changed to a beter ratio, which will give me better speed for towing the caravan, because we travel all over the country with the PORC club, When i had larger tyres at first i could not get the Beast into top gear when towing. I am looking at cutting my arches allowing me more clearance but need to know what is best to use to cut these out as well (advice & coments) I will thank you guys in advance because you always have answered my problems in the past. forgot to ask one last thing, I need to raise the ECU from under the seat, can i buy a kit for this or do i need to find a scrapper to use the existing wire to extend it? I've 33x12.5x16 tyres on my 3.5 auto, very difficult on road to keep constant speed as always going up and down gears, changed the transfer box for a 1.4 defender unit and it is a completely different motor on road and to be honest I have no problems off-road... wheels, I've put on some Mach 5's with a 100mm offset to get my steering lock back, hence the roccia arches... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orange Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 If you increase the lift by a further 2", you will, as Bish says, have significant stability and propshaft issues. Tyres - if you fit 33s under 6" of lift, they will look ridiculous. 35" as a minimum, I would say. Alloys - whatever floats your boat, but rember that if you bend one, you'll have to buy another. With steel you can at least take LR special tool number 1 to it and beat it back into shape for use as a spare... T-box is probably the cheapest and easiest way of sorting the gearing, but remember that if you lower the range, you'll be doing more revs in top gear and therefore using more fuel and creating more noise etc... With the ECU - there is a lot of slack in the existing cable. My advice would be to give it a bit of a tug and see how much spare you have in yours (knowing LR build tolerances, they're probably all different!!) then go from there. HTH Adrian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 Pretty sure you can pull the ECU loom back to under the dash, should give you about another 12-18" of clearance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HM Nut Strangler Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 The ECU loom starts by the lhs footrest, so it is fairly straight forward to unbolt the ecu and collect the loom to mount under the dash - somewhere Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuffstuff Posted June 5, 2008 Author Share Posted June 5, 2008 I've 33x12.5x16 tyres on my 3.5 auto, very difficult on road to keep constant speed as always going up and down gears, changed the transfer box for a 1.4 defender unit and it is a completely different motor on road and to be honest I have no problems off-road...wheels, I've put on some Mach 5's with a 100mm offset to get my steering lock back, hence the roccia arches... Are the T boxes hard to get hold of? did you need to change anything else like the front prop of mounts or low/high linkage? Was it loads of money? Sorry for all the questions but i must get this right I must admit yours is exactly what i am after. I know i have got to cut the arches, been praticing on a scrapper tonight! Thanks for the advice on the ECU guys! bloody great, i like when i can save money! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plasticbadger Posted June 6, 2008 Share Posted June 6, 2008 I am thinking along the lines of raising the spring by a further 2 inchs with spring blocks (advice & coments)Buying 33x12.5x16 tyres maybe £100 each (Advice & coments) Looking at buying a set of four alloys, i like the ZU alloys (advice & coments) Now the main question is, can i get the diff's changed to a beter ratio, which will give me better speed for towing the caravan, because we travel all over the country with the PORC club, I run +2" springs, +2" body lift and +2 2/2" block lift and I'm running 37" tyres with only slight rubbing at full compression, so as the others have said, you don't need to go higher to get 33" in. I've had problems with brake lines, props, stability, etc. so you don't want to go this high if you still drive it normally. Cutting the arches, as per Bish's comments, combination of jigsaw and grinder, use a new cutting disc though if you've used it for steel before. For gearing the 1.4 transfer box from a 110 is and easy swap and will solve everything. If you already have an LT230 transfer box fitted the Defender unit is a straight swap and should cost you £70 to £100. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pinkrover Posted June 6, 2008 Share Posted June 6, 2008 Are the T boxes hard to get hold of? did you need to change anything else like the front prop of mounts or low/high linkage? Was it loads of money? Sorry for all the questions but i must get this right I must admit yours is exactly what i am after. I know i have got to cut the arches, been praticing on a scrapper tonight!Thanks for the advice on the ECU guys! bloody great, i like when i can save money! I bought a complete Gbox/transferbox off fleabay and sold the gearbox on to cover the cost, just be patient. there is nothing to change BUT to make the job easier for myself I fitted the 2"lift spacers to the body mounts to give easier access to remove the linkages and I also removed the exhaust, ( I was changing it for a new 3.9 version anyway), with the y-piece off you can easily access the linkages. I used a wide ratchet strap round the Tbox to the rear axle to pull the Tbox off and made up two 125mm M10 studs to put in the bolt holes on the Gbox help relocate the new Tbox onto the gearbox. One thing nobody mentioned on the forums re body lift was the gaiter on the high/low lever was pop riveted to the body, had to make a new one from an old piece of HD inner tube......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teslo Posted June 6, 2008 Share Posted June 6, 2008 hi, i have 2" lift springs, 3cm bodylift and cutted arches( with extended flares). I run 33*10.5 tyres on disks with ET around -40( 7cm outer than standard disk) and there is no rubbing at all...also LT230 with 1:4 ratio. i have no issue with propshafts and stability. steering is "normal". No problem with high speeds on highway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuffstuff Posted June 7, 2008 Author Share Posted June 7, 2008 One thing nobody mentioned on the forums re body lift was the gaiter on the high/low lever was pop riveted to the body, had to make a new one from an old piece of HD inner tube......... Mine has been raised by 2" already but i have not looked at the linkage gaiter let alone changed it! Thanks for all of the help guys. Now just need to buy a T box. oh and the wheels oh and the tyres oh and the arches oh and tell the wife well maybe i'll leave that bit till last Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clbarclay Posted June 8, 2008 Share Posted June 8, 2008 One significant point of transphere boxes is that the 1.2 and 1.4 only referes to the hi range ratio, both the range rover and defender transphere boxes have the same lo ratio range of around 3.3:1 I first cane across this greenlaning with a range rover before I got 32" tyres crawling a long in first low, the denfender behind me had to keep de clutching to maintain the same speed. Consiquently a transphere box change won't help you off road, unlike a ring&pinion change. It looks a little silly but I still use a set of 205r16 all terrains for on road and around the farm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuffstuff Posted June 10, 2008 Author Share Posted June 10, 2008 I have moved the ECU today along with the relays. when i started cleaning out the mud i noticed the ABS unit under the other seat! if i placed a tiny bit of silicon over the hole, can i leave this unit under the seat? I know that i will have to place all of the relays and fuses in a plastic box but the ABS units is too complicated. The other problem i found was that the rubber seal where the ABS wires enter the floor has perished. How do i remove the sensors from the rear hubs? I have order a manual so won't be asking all of these questions soon, i promise Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bishbosh Posted June 11, 2008 Share Posted June 11, 2008 The ABS ECU is just as vulnerable as the engine ECU so I would look to moving it or get spares (I have two up for grabs if you are interested!!) The ABS sensors are a push fit into the axles. A pair of waterpump pliers, some WD40 and a gentle twisting motion as you pull freed them for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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