lifting a disco advice pls

[wiltshire landy]

me mate wants to put a 2" lift on his 300 tdi disco 1,but he also wants a body lift.trouble is im getting loads of different advice,so im after someone whos done it..some questions we would like answers to please

is it worth it
does it affect the handling and make it top heavy
do we have to extend fuel lines,air hoses etc
would anyone whos done it,not do it again given the choice
should we just stick with the 2" lift and leave the body


any advice would be greatly recieved thanks

[DISCOVERY-CPL]

Land rovers are top heavy anyway a lift kit is ace off road but does GIVE it More Lean on road you will need longer brake pipes etc what are you looking for the lift to do offroad or just show ?? .

[wiltshire landy]

we only use em offroad,so the driving on road is only to and from the sites,not the school run,so it needs to work not just look pretty...ta

[bananahead]

to answer question 2
A group of offroaders were at a p&p site we were at. They were not idiots, they were sensible.. crawling around. I think all had body lifts and suspension lifts. One poor guy learned about top heavyness, and after seeing this i wouldnt personally body lift a disco i cared about.

[MadDan]

Body lift is only really necessary for huge tyres,your chassis,etc is still the lowest point
Traction is about wheels on the ground,not how high your roof is,you would get more benefit from you time,effort and money spent on the suspension
A lift kit gives you more clearance yes but what you are really looking for is suspension travel.
If you plan on keeping the vehicle buy a decent set of progressive lift springs,they so 'sag'so quickly and give much better ride

Please do use extended brake lines! cranked rear trailing arms are all but a must too(If you dont you will find that the chassis bushes split/fall out after a few axle twisting off road sessions)

Just my 2 cents

[300bhp/ton]

to answer question 2
A group of offroaders were at a p&p site we were at. They were not idiots, they were sensible.. crawling around. I think all had body lifts and suspension lifts. One poor guy learned about top heavyness, and after seeing this i wouldnt personally body lift a disco i cared about.
The only thing is how do you know a stock Disco wouldn't have gone over given the same circumstances?

[300bhp/ton]

me mate wants to put a 2" lift on his 300 tdi disco 1,but he also wants a body lift.trouble is im getting loads of different advice,so im after someone whos done it..some questions we would like answers to please

is it worth it
does it affect the handling and make it top heavy
do we have to extend fuel lines,air hoses etc
would anyone whos done it,not do it again given the choice
should we just stick with the 2" lift and leave the body



any advice would be greatly recieved thanks


First off there is a lot of choice when lifting a Disco, my main bit of advice would be to speak with David @ Llama 4x4 http://www.llama4x4.com/page4.htm he is very helpful and will do you a good deal. Say Matt with the ALRC spec Disco recommended him.

Then speak with Simon @ X-Eng: http://www.x-eng.co.uk/ and have a look at his X-Flex setup.

As for body lifts, well I'm no expert, but in the Jeep world they are frowned upon for off road use. Mainly because the body tub partly sits on the frame/chassis, lifting the body means all its weight sits on the body mounts, off road these are known to have failed, with fairly drastic consequences.

I see no reason why the same logic shouldn't be applied to a Discovery.

I also stuggle to see the point in a body lift. It does nothing for ground clearance, it only help ride height (the gab between the top of the wheels and bodywork), but without much trouble you can fit 235/85R16 tyres on a Disco or wider. With a little trimming on stock ride height you can run 33.11.50R15 (290/90 equivalent). If you fit wheel arch flares (which you'll need with any wide tyre to remain legal and not have the tyres sticking out of the arches) you'll trim this amount anyhow.

So there is no gain to be had except perhaps looks. A body lift can also be time consuming and a pain to fit, lots of siezed rusted bolts to undo and can require alterations to the rad, steering column, pedals, gear linkages, hand brake and seat belt mounts.

I'm not saying don't do it, just make sure if they do go for a body lift its for the right reasons and not just because they think its cheap.

As for lifts, well 1-3" should be ok, in the US more guys tend to run a 3" lift more often than not, but unless you are rock crawling it's probably not needed. I'm told a 1-2" lift should be fine with stock propshafts but may cause increased wear, so its worth bearing in mind that new wide angle props will be needed at some point.

I'm told not to worry about caster correction radius arms, LR's wander all over the road anyhow with big mud tyres and the axles are attached to the chssis via rubber bushes, so correcting something that is forever changing will make only a slight difference at best.

I'm also told not to worry about raising the centre of gravity, if a 2" lift causes you to topple over you must have been so close to the limit that it could have gone over anyhow.

Brake lines are something to look into, they are only £15 each from Llama 4x4. Depending on the setup you go for you may be ok, some Disco have long brake lines at the front. But for the price I can't see any reason not to do it.

Also think about what you want to achieve, gaining 2" in height but losing it in droop will not really aid off road ability (except for the inceased ground clearance). You want something that flexes well and allows plenty of travel both up and down.

There is one big decision to make. Do you ever plan to compete in ALRC events (Association of Land Rover Clubs)? If so, it will really limit your chioce as you can't run cranked trailing arms or dislocating suspension.

Sadly this is where I am. I've just bought a new setup (although not installed yet) which consists of Pro Comp ES9000 +2" shocks front & rear (although I'm told from a reliable source that the Pro Comps actually measure +3" if you put a tape measure to them ;) ) with Range Rover red/white stripe HD springs (facotry springs), extended brake lines and spring packers.

I'm hoping for more flex and a 1-2" lift over stock, it will probably be a but sqidgy on the road, but I can live with that, it also hasn't cost a fortune either.

Given free rain, I'd go +5" Rough Country shocks from Llama 4x4 with new rear shock mounts, new front shock towers, dislocation cones, some soft springs and either cranked rear trailling arms or the X-Flex setup from X-Eng. But to do this you are talking a lot more money than what I've spent so far.

This is my in its current guise, 33.11.50R15 Simex Jungle Trekker II tyres, wheel arch flares and fairly heavily trimmed arches, HD suspension of unknown origin or spec (but its about stock ride height).

I have no trouble with rubbing at full articulation and the bigger tyres have already given it a decent lift over stock (they measure about 34" tall, compared to stock Disco tyres being only 29" tall).

[MadDan]

For anyone thats interested,I am running
Scorpion +2" hd progressive springs(pricey but excellent)
1" Rr and 1 1/4" fr spring spacers
Hd spring retainers
Fr and rr dislocaion cones
Pro comp +2" shocks
Cranked rear arms
Cranked and castor corrected front arms
Modified (lenghtened) panhard rod
-2" rear shock mounts
-2" tubular front turrets
Modified rear A frame balljoint mount
Blue one piece polybushes
Extended bump stops
Goodrich +4" hoses
With the exception of shocks springs bushes and hoses,all these bits have been made by myself,not ordered from a catalogue.
We are currently working on rose jointed rear arms and A frame joint-Watch this space!

[MadDan]

Oh,and as for props Im on a custom wide angle rear (obviously no unflexy rubber coupling)and S2 Td5 disco double cardon front (rebuilt with greasable joints)
A standard front prop will not work with my set up.

[Stu2985]

I am read up a lot on this as well - seemed to me that anything over 2" you should really do trailing and radius arms and brake lines. Also you need to start looking at propshafts etc.

Up to and inc 2" should be ok to keep standard arms and props

If you just want a mud plugger toy (which reading your post seems the way you are going to use it) I would be tempted to go the 2" spring and damper route and not bother replacing anything else and saving my money till something broke then upgrade it. If you want disclocation cones then that opens up a whole new debate on disclocation vs options that stop the springs dislocating.

If you want your diffs to have more clearance then need to fit bigger tyres which as said already leads to arch cutting and new wheel arches (anywhere from £100 for defender ones to £170 flexi ones).

The problem with bigger tyres is you can cut down your articulation if you fit bigger bump stops or the tyres foul in side the arches.



is it worth it - Yes coz your springs and dampers prolly fooked anyway
does it affect the handling and make it top heavy - Slightly but not excessive. Just adjust your on road driving accordingly and learn to drive off road properly to compensate
do we have to extend fuel lines,air hoses etc - brake lines only
would anyone whos done it,not do it again given the choice - Would do it all over again
should we just stick with the 2" lift and leave the body - If you want cheap fun yes - if you want to spend a bit more dosh get bigger tyres. Leave the body alone unless you want to show off.


In truth you can lift it all you want if you got crap tyres on it you will get stuck. Get some decent MT if you just going to play off road with decent side walls (BFG have triple layerd side walls) which has saved me having to replace 2 tyres if I had bought cheapy ones.
Have fun and let us know what you do to it (and the muddy pictures of it)

[300bhp/ton]

Oh,and as for props Im on a custom wide angle rear (obviously no unflexy rubber coupling)and S2 Td5 disco double cardon front (rebuilt with greasable joints)
A standard front prop will not work with my set up.
Any pics of your Disco?? What size tyres do you run?

[MadDan]

Any pics of your Disco?? What size tyres do you run?
Theres some in the picture thread,what would you like to see?
I have 265/75 Bfg Mt's on deep dish boosts and 265/75 Bfg At's on freestyles for distance road work.
Only arch mods are camel cut and flattening of the inner lips on the rear,no rubbing at all