200tdi Suspension Upgrade Options

[lrnewbie]

Hi all,

I've recently bought a 5 door, 7 seater K reg Discovery 200tdi as the new familymobile. So no real offroading, but we will be using it for camping trips, a bit of greenlaning etc. The rear shocks look a bit tatty with the top part looking rusty and beginning to split. I've bounced on the rear bumper and to be fair it steadies pretty quickly but I'm thinking that they will need replacing soonish. Which led to me thinking about upgrading the ride in general, more for better onroad manners without detracting from it's basic offroading capabilities so I'm looking for advice on my options:

1. What brand of shocks would you recommend for my needs, both front and rear (front is currently fitted with britpart, they're black in colour but that's all I know)

2. I've seen some front and rear anti roll bars on ebay, with ball joints etc. would this be a simple matter of bolting on to existing holes in my chassis and would it make much of a difference to the ride? Does anyone have any pictures or examples of this being retrofitted?

3. Poly bushes; seen various sets available, do they really make a difference, is it worth doing for what I want?

4. And any other suggestions, simple to do and relatively cheap to improve the ride?

Ta very much in advance for any responses.

[iceshj]

Hi,

First thing first, if you are not going to do anything tuff going in this car then replace bushes with OEM parts. YOu would not notice the difference if you swapped to Polybush. The anti roll bars (ARB) would make the biggest difference to you. They will stop the excessive body roll you get going round corners. It won't by any means eliminate this roll but will reduce. Make sure you have the connections on your axles as well as the body. I think you can get the items to retro fit them to non compatible axles???

If you have a large family and really load the car up when taking camping trips and this is a regular thing, then I would recommend upgrading the rear springs to heavy duty ones. This would stop the rear sagging and also add to the stability along with the ARB's. Shock absorbers are really down to a matter of opinion. I would recommend you change from oil to gas shocks if it isn't already. I wouldn't bother with a lift kit as you are probably going to keep the standard wheels and tyres on there. This would only add to the stabiity issue anyway. If you are going to greenlane on a regular basis then get some good AT tyres as road tyres wouldn't get you far if it was a bit damp.

I hope this helps a bit.

Regards

Dave

[lrnewbie]

Hi,

First thing first, if you are not going to do anything tuff going in this car then replace bushes with OEM parts. YOu would not notice the difference if you swapped to Polybush. The anti roll bars (ARB) would make the biggest difference to you. They will stop the excessive body roll you get going round corners. It won't by any means eliminate this roll but will reduce. Make sure you have the connections on your axles as well as the body. I think you can get the items to retro fit them to non compatible axles???

If you have a large family and really load the car up when taking camping trips and this is a regular thing, then I would recommend upgrading the rear springs to heavy duty ones. This would stop the rear sagging and also add to the stability along with the ARB's. Shock absorbers are really down to a matter of opinion. I would recommend you change from oil to gas shocks if it isn't already. I wouldn't bother with a lift kit as you are probably going to keep the standard wheels and tyres on there. This would only add to the stabiity issue anyway. If you are going to greenlane on a regular basis then get some good AT tyres as road tyres wouldn't get you far if it was a bit damp.

I hope this helps a bit.

Regards

Dave

Cheers for the advice, like you said I'm not going to be off roading in any serious way so lifting the suspension isn't what I'm aiming for. I've seen various brands of gas shocks kicking about, Monroes seem reasonably priced, are they any good? I'm assuming that I probably won't notice the difference between cheap and expensive gas shocks with my planned use. There's a 2nd hand front and rear anti roll bar set from a RRC on Ebay (see piccie). It looks like it has the fitting brackets as well. Should this fit on to my 1993 Disco? Also, not sure what I'm looking for in terms of my axle, or even body for that matter, should there be square brackets underneath + bolt holes? If there aren't any fittings is it a matter of drilling the appropriate holes and welding brackets?

Thanks again

[iceshj]

Cheers for the advice, like you said I'm not going to be off roading in any serious way so lifting the suspension isn't what I'm aiming for. I've seen various brands of gas shocks kicking about, Monroes seem reasonably priced, are they any good? I'm assuming that I probably won't notice the difference between cheap and expensive gas shocks with my planned use. There's a 2nd hand front and rear anti roll bar set from a RRC on Ebay (see piccie). It looks like it has the fitting brackets as well. Should this fit on to my 1993 Disco? Also, not sure what I'm looking for in terms of my axle, or even body for that matter, should there be square brackets underneath + bolt holes? If there aren't any fittings is it a matter of drilling the appropriate holes and welding brackets?

Thanks again

Hello again,

monroe shocks are fine for the type of use your gonna do and you are correct in saying you wont notice the difference hardly at all. To fit those ARB's you will need to check your axles front and rear for the connection area. If they are original then I doubt you will have them. The RR axles you have seen will fit straight on. The only difference could be that they have different calipers on (if they are still fitted). This would not be a problem as you could just swap them for yours. They are all the same fitment anyway. The ARB's seem to have the chassis fixtures there for you to weld on already so that is good. I think the best thing to do is take some measurements off a Disco with ARB's fitted and mark it on your chassis. I guess you could connect the front end and see where they hang but I don't know how accurate that would be.

I'm not sure what year they introduced ARB's but it would definately be a massive improvement to your Discos handling. You may even find the chassis fitment already there.

Regards

Dave

[Disco-Ron]

K reg Disco will NOT have either the chassis brackets, or the ones on the axles, i think i'm right in saying, that the 24 spline axles had the arb mounts..... although 'some' of the very late 10 spline one might have had aswell.....

[tombo]

K reg Disco will NOT have either the chassis brackets, or the ones on the axles, i think i'm right in saying, that the 24 spline axles had the arb mounts..... although 'some' of the very late 10 spline one might have had aswell.....

I've just bought a K reg 200TDI as my M reg 300TDI is going to be scrapped,I have taken the ARB's off the 300 and they fitted straight onto the 200 as it had the mountings on the axle and chassis, which has made a great improvement on the handling

[Disco-Ron]

In that case i'll re-phrase it, 'MY' K reg 200tdi does NOT have either axle or chassis mounts for arbs......

[lrnewbie]

In that case i'll re-phrase it, 'MY' K reg 200tdi does NOT have either axle or chassis mounts for arbs......

Mine's a 93 K reg., was there a 92 K reg and if so maybe that's the difference and later K reg. vehicles had em fitted. It'll be a couple of weeks but I'll get under there, have a butchers and update the thread.