2 inch lift - which way is best?

[optixelectrics]

Hi All,

I now have the puzzle of which to go for....

I have a 200tdi disco with winch and does quite a bit of towing. I have been told that I need to lift it 50mm (2") for the tyres that I want to fit (KL71 265/75/16's).

The question is how to do this, do I;

A) Lift the entire body 50mm with the spacer packs

B) put the 50mm spacers in the suspension (cheapest option)

C) put in shocks and HD springs with a +50mm (most expensive option)

It is used mostly on road to get to sites, where I then have to drive cross country to install micro wind turbines in remote locations (hence the tyres and the winch).

Thanks.

[doda456]

Either way so extented brake hoses will be needed, As the last thing you want to do is articulate a little bit and rip off a brake hose.

Heres my view on things:

Body lift-raises centre of gravity and not much real point unless you going to fit huge wheels

Spring Spacers- cheap version of a spring lift, It is much more effectife to fit new, larger springs, unless you know how old and how many mile your current springs have done,

Lift springs, wide choice on the market gain articulation and space for tyres. you could use existing shocks with minus 2 mounts put the best thing to do is correct size shocks.

You may also need to slightly trim the rear wheel arch by doing whats known as a camel cut.

Dan

[mudslingger]

for a 2" lift you dont need to extend brake hoses although a good idear though

[v8Dougie]

Hi, can I just ask, do you need to change radius arms or prop shafts or anything else when doing a 2" lift (except flexi brakes). If not how high can you go before needing to change more stuff?

Cheers

Phil

[M&S]

If the only reason you want a lft is to fit those tyres I'd be asking why I need hose tyres.

Have you considered the affect on your gearing, which could mess up your towing. Just a thought, but my Disco isn't lifted and gets everywhere my mates lifted Disco does, and I know which one is nicer to drive every day...

[redneck]

I would look for alternative tyres that fit.

I quite like the KL71 tyres, but if I was towing a lot I would stick with the standard size. The difference in acceleration from standard tyres is quite noticeable i.e. much slower, and the handling is compromised, obviously this depends a lot on your choice of lift but a good lift kit isn't cheap.

[Off Road Toad]

Change the springs and dampers, you can get very good deals these days, i have used bearmach stuff on my 90" for years and it is good qaulity and lasts. DONT use pro-comp dampers - they're cack.

I have a 2" lift on my 300tdi disco and its drives just fine, no need to change brake hoses or arms etc with a 2" lift - I've done 50,000 miles on the lift kit and the only problem was a rear prop donut went about 20,000 miles ago but to be fair it had done more than 150k at this point!

Regards the gearing, if your towing then just swap the transfer box for a Defender 1.4 ratio one and it'll pull the trailer with 265's better than it ever has done - and they're cheap as chips second hand.

Steve

[Phil B]

Unless your gonna put the transfer box on steer away from 265's I'm goin to STD tyre size as my disco noticeably slows down when towing as the drivetrain winds up, the 265's are spot on for mud but 235's will prob benefit more diggin in

[Escape]

Hi All,

I now have the puzzle of which to go for....

I have a 200tdi disco with winch and does quite a bit of towing. I have been told that I need to lift it 50mm (2") for the tyres that I want to fit (KL71 265/75/16's).

The question is how to do this, do I;

A) Lift the entire body 50mm with the spacer packs

B) put the 50mm spacers in the suspension (cheapest option)

C) put in shocks and HD springs with a +50mm (most expensive option)

It is used mostly on road to get to sites, where I then have to drive cross country to install micro wind turbines in remote locations (hence the tyres and the winch).

Thanks.

I agree with the majority, if you do a lot of towing try looking for smaller tyres and save yourself a lot of trouble and money. The 200Tdi will struggle taking off with heavier trailers, and you'll need to shift down a lot more.

The Kumho KL71 is a very nice tyre though, and also available in 245/75R16, which will give you less gearing problems (5% increase instead of 10%) and if anything you'll only need to trim the arches to fit them.

Should you decide to go for the bigger tyres, I'd first see how far you can get with enlarging the wheelarches in combination with extended bumpstops.

- bodylift is the most complicated route I think, for the least gain (I do disagree with Dan, because the chassis will remain at standard height, the center of gravity will actually be lower than when fitting longer springs).

- springspacers are the cheapest and easiest route, but you'd want to fit longer dampers as well to avoid bottoming out the standard ones.

- longer springs don't have to be that expensive and can give you added advantages when towing or carrying stuff if you chose a higher srpingrate.

Greetz,

Filip

[Stu2985]

Been running 265/75/17 bgf at on my 300tdi with standard height bearmach blue springs and monroe adv shocks.

I have modular wheels. I have entended bump stops. Its got winch, bumper guards etc as well.

How do I find it ?

Good points - feel very nice on the road and rolls less and handles well. Good on side slopes

I had to do the camel cut on my rear arches. A m8 of mine had the same setup but on standard D1 wheels and he had to cut out less of his arches as the modualrs push the wheels out furthur. Never had an issue following friends defenders or discos anywhere. Deoesnt matter what I throw into or onto it it sits level as well.

Bad points - Down side is it will feel sluggish and slower with 265/75/16 wheels. Also ride is quite hard and can "skip " sometimes.

When it comes to lifting 2" it should be ok. However friend of mine lifted his (MHE mechanic) so hes fairly switched on. He has pulled one of his trailing arms bushes out while greenlaning and also tore the rubber donut on his rear prop off as well. I was following him had no issues. We both put that down to the 2" lift. The thing that put me off the most was watching him on slide slopes. Leans over a lot more and looks lot scarier.

I guess it depends what you want to do. We use my D1 for greenlaning around wales, taking 4 kids camping for the weekend (roofrack. roofbox blah blah)and daily run around so that setup suits me. If i was permanantly towing i woudl go with 245 as i think thats biggest you can do without having to modify anything.

[Range Rover Blues]

I would say the least grief long term comes form a body lift, that way the centre of gravity stays fairly low and you won't need anything expensive or risk any failures. You do need to extend a fair bit of stuff though.

Lifted suspension can cause other problems, poor handling the most obvious. The front prop is under a lot more strain and often fails quickly due to the increased angle on the gearbox UJ. Also you can get the propshaft pulsing causing a noise as a result of the new propshaft angles, plus the steering will tramline because of thr loss in castor angle. Fix the castor and likley as not the front prop will become a whole lot worse.

If you don't fit longer shocks you actually loose articulation, fit longer shocks and you will need longer hoses.

The anti roll bars will need spacers, the front one hits the propshaft and the back one flips upside down.

I certainly agree that big tyres don't help with the towing! and whatever you do don't fit spring spacers to tired old springs. As it is spring spacers risk getting coil bound unless you fit bigger bump stops and worn out old sprinsg will nto control body roll, most lift springs are 25% or more uprated to control the bodywork on the bends.

Been there, done that, spent a small fortune but happy enough with the results.

[optixelectrics]

Thanks for all the replies. I ended up getting the KL71s on ebay, but as a 245/75/16 (barely used with steel modulars for £350!!). I have fitted extended bumpstops (+30mm) and done the camel cut. It now doesn't rub at all. The acceleration is slightly slower, but it looks so much better with proper size tyres. It looks like I wont have to go for a 2" lift, which suits me, as the breakover angle is now slightly better than it was, and the diffs are another inch or so off the ground.

[Stu2985]

Its good that you got yoru setup that you are happy with.

To "Rangeroverblues"

The anti roll bars will need spacers, the front one hits the propshaft and the back one flips upside down

It is good to find someone else who actually knows about that problem. Exactly the same thing happend to me on my rear anti roll bars after a day at Bala off road. I now have spacers fitted. The landy specialist I use couldnt understand how I had managed it seeing that I have standard height springs and shocks (although being HD springs the Disco sits about 1 " higer") when unloaded.

I have mentioned this problem before to others but always get puzzled looks.

[Range Rover Blues]

That's odd, it's common knowledge on Mud Club along with the easy fix, towball spacers are just the right size

I spaced the ARBs on my LSE to get them level when in standard height, normally they slant down at an angle which is far from perfect. Also if you space the mounts they get very slightly closer to the axle.

When MC comes back up I can post a link to some pictures.

[Stu2985]

Ahh I am not on Mudclub forums. I got a mate of mine to knock up some spacers for my rear anti roll bar and its not been a problem since. Nice tip about mudclub site though ty

[fatbloke]

I reckon the best way to go with a lift is......up.

And incedently, you don't need longer hoses with a 2" lift. I've been running mine for 3 years, extended shocks, disslocation cones and cranked arms without extended hoses with no problems at all.