suspension advice

Good evening 
Really need sum advice on what I should do with my suspension at the min I have terraferma all terrain shocks and springs 2" lift with terraferma front and rear arms I have never had any problems at all with it but sum people on a diffrent site have said to get rid of it. Problem being don't want tell the wife that the £1000 + we spent last year has to go and the over site was not a over land site am so new to this part of land rovers and don't wanna spend money if I don't need to so any help would be grate 
Many thanks nick

Forget what people say, the problem is often vanity and buying the branded products just because they are branded, and in vogue at that particular time.

If it works for you then F**K what people say, over the years I have found many lesser products which do the job just as well and for a fraction of the price, but remember suspension systems are a balance of components which need to work in harmony, and if something isn't working in harmony its no good, irrespective of brand or current brand kudos.

I think the only ones worth paying money for are the Iron Man & ARB EMU suspension.
Horses for courses really, rough country, rough rider, pro comp, skyjacker all use the same kit, its just got a different name, most of these are cheap.

I bought a chep one for my truck for 6 months, it them started to sag and feel rough, replaced it with a more expensive one, TJM, and worked fine for 5 years until i sold the vehicle.

De Carbon shock absorbers are Bilstien in all but name ... but half the price. Seems that two business partners fell out, and while the one with the controlling interest kept the Bilstien brand, the other had to start all over again.

Interesting one this I've always been of the opinion of spend the least you can get away with, I pride myself on not 
Being moulded by marketing of brands etc.
On my Fronteras I've always gone for Rough Country as Llarma 4x4 have always been Frontera and Jeep friendly 
And not pushed brands who align them selves with Land Rover.

I am at the moment in a quandary on the suspension on my D2 for my Morocco trip later in the year.
On the preparation I have added diff guards front and back and steering gaurd to protect the underside if the going gets
Rocky this has had an effect on the suspension due to extra weight and has caused a bit of drooping on the front the rear
Isn't a problem due to raiseable and self leveling air suspension.
Most of the replacement updated spring give a lift which I'm not keen on as I don't want to raise the centre of gravity too much
And I'm a little worried if I fit standard spring the extra weight of underbody armour and extra kit for a prolonged trip will leave me where I 
Started 

Help me Obi Wan 

From what we have seen of the pics/videos of the area we will be heading it looks like it is mostly rocky/ gravelly. If you didn't have the underbody protection I would say go for ground clearance. But with the protection you should be fine.

That was kind of my thinking might just go for new standard spec springs on the front and replace shocks at the same time might look into 
The diff lock modification instead of spending loads on suspension

Cant really go wrong with diff locks...

wideformat4x4 wrote:

Interesting one this I've always been of the opinion of spend the least you can get away with, I pride myself on not 
Being moulded by marketing of brands etc.
On my Fronteras I've always gone for Rough Country as Llarma 4x4 have always been Frontera and Jeep friendly 
And not pushed brands who align them selves with Land Rover.

I am at the moment in a quandary on the suspension on my D2 for my Morocco trip later in the year.
On the preparation I have added diff guards front and back and steering gaurd to protect the underside if the going gets
Rocky this has had an effect on the suspension due to extra weight and has caused a bit of drooping on the front the rear
Isn't a problem due to raiseable and self leveling air suspension.
Most of the replacement updated spring give a lift which I'm not keen on as I don't want to raise the centre of gravity too much
And I'm a little worried if I fit standard spring the extra weight of underbody armour and extra kit for a prolonged trip will leave me where I 
Started 

Help me Obi Wan 

Heavy underbody protection equates to you being (a) a chepskate ... which you're not - it's obvious you go for what you think is the right gear, or (b) you bought the wrong stuff. Me, as weight is the No.1 piority, would go for the alloy underbody protection every time. Therefore no problem suspension-wise.

What shocks you actually go for is a matter of choice, but alloy is the only metal to go for if finances allow ... sometimes we have to compromise as we don't have the choice. Such is life.

undefined wrote:

Quote :

And I'm a little worried if I fit standard spring the extra weight of underbody armour and extra kit for a prolonged trip will leave me where I 
Started 

Help me Obi Wan 

Heavy underbody protection equates to you being (a) a chepskate ... which you're not - it's obvious you go for what you think is the right gear, or (b) you bought the wrong stuff. Me, as weight is the No.1 piority, would go for the alloy underbody protection every time. Therefore no problem suspension-wise.

What shocks you actually go for is a matter of choice, but alloy is the only metal to go for if finances allow ... sometimes we have to compromise as we don't have the choice. Such is life.

Am thinking of the same has wideformat4x4, is alloy strong enough if you hit a rock, you can not see because of sand???

Is alloy strong enough? I would say yes. It would be different if you're travelling at speed, as in a competitive rally, but you're not. If a rock attacks you it will be a relatively low speed, so an alloy sump guard will be plenty strong enough.

Again, weight is paramount in sand, the less the better.

Wideformat:

False economy spending the least amount possible, always go for the best value possible and not the cheapest.

When I said spend the least I can get away with, I didn't mean buy the cheapest I meant spend only what you need to
I can't see the point in spending extra £££ just because something has Land Rover stamped on it

Got to say my 110 did have a 2" lift but took it off and then when standard height HD Genuine springs, ok but did sag a bit when fully loaded. So then got rid of then and when 130 Genuine Springs all round (doubles on the rear) Front and rear anti roll bars. And now it is great, best 110 I have driven Loaded or unloaded, Still very good off road (did think the anti roll bars would hold it back off road but still has lots of travels) and great on it. (There is a large Safety device Roof rack Awnings x2 Kayak x3 three and oz tent and lots of gear on top and it drove very well on our last trip)

Land Rover spent a long time and lots of money getting to work well why mess with it.

spider wrote:

Land Rover spent a long time and lots of money getting to work well why mess with it.

How true is that. There is a good reason that 'standard' suspension takes a lot of beating - it is forgiving. Too solid and it'll rattle your filling out of your teeth when hitting corrugations, too soft and you'll tip the thing over at a certain speed. Okay, when fully loaded the standard kit will need a little help, but folk really do go OTT.

"130 Genuine Springs all round (doubles on the rear) front and rear anti roll bars" seem like a great modification for a fully-laden 110, not at all OTT and utilising standard LR kit, albeit for a different model. Makes perfect sense.

I agree... Standard set up works fine for me. Only slight difference is I also have double springs on the rear. Never needed a 'lift'.

We also have to consider use, how many people with 4X4's actually use them off road, the towing fraternity use them for their weight and towing ability and don't need ground clearance as they are predominantly used on road and ground clearance may only be an issue for caravanners clearing grass which moves anyway.

Multi purpose use with a combination of on road and off road use becomes a balance of ground clearance for off road use, and not too high a ground clearance that it becomes unstable on road, and farmers and agricultural workers such as forestry often need to consider this compromise.

Pure off road vehicles do need as much ground clearance as possible, hence the lifts to avoid underbody damage, and larger wheels to increase clearance under the pumpkin of solid axles.

As we can see it is as with most things, a compromise; a compromise between specific uses and the reason many standard 4X4's are tending to have less ground clearance as they are predominantly used on road and manufacturers know this and build their vehicles accordingly.

If you look at some modern 4X4's we see there are some with less ground clearance than a standard car.

Had a long travel kit on my 110 when i used it hard for off road pay day/comps, and when i rebuilt it , went for the 130 with anti roll bars set up.
Thinking it would be crap off road (but better on), it is still get used hard on play days etc and it still very good (the ARB in the rear has been used to get me out of the s**t a few time (and also into it).
It just works the best for eating up miles and them playing when you get there.

I used to keep our various L/Rover products more or less standard-----the last one we had was a 110 CSW----it had a huge roof-tent and loads of kit fitted full-time----on a trip to the south of France while overtaking a truck in very windy weather we were almost dragged into it----very close thing------first thing when we got home was +2" De Carbon shocks and heavier springs---these made a HUGE difference to road stability------at this stage we didn't 'play' off-road so that was never an issue for us.

We now run a Dodge 3500 and are keen to keep it bog standard if possible even though it is permanently carrying a heavy camper -----if (when) the springs sag I will replace with as close to stock as possible-------when it starts to wallow I will have to consider heavier shocks----but they seem OK at the moment-------------------------on our previous Dodge I fitted very special shocks, but I noticed about 18 months later when we sold it, one was leaking, so expensive is not always better.
BUT NEVER underestimate the importance of good shocks
Nigel & Pamala

Nick,
I agree with assassin - no need to get rid of something that works.
Once you feel that your suspension set-up doesn't work any longer (starting to get worn) then you can look at alternatives.
VE

Just to update 90 has gone and have a 110 and just about to change the springs to land rover own looking at putting nrc6389 and NRC 6904 and the back and NRC 9448 and NRC 9449 at the front dose that sound about right ?

Tom Mc wrote:

Is alloy strong enough? I would say yes. It would be different if you're travelling at speed, as in a competitive rally, but you're not. If a rock attacks you it will be a relatively low speed, so an alloy .

That will depend on the ALLOY. Steel is quite strong but so are a lot of the aluminium alloys. Then look at the aerospace alloys like Titinium...

For a sump guard. Then you can think like Audi and use Carbon Fibre.

I once bought a set of alloy wheels and was shocked to discover they weighed nearly twice as much as the steel ones    could have been something to do with the price I suppose!

Peej wrote:

I once bought a set of alloy wheels and was shocked to discover they weighed nearly twice as much as the steel ones    could have been something to do with the price I suppose!

What was the alloy ?
I use alloy wheels. Discovery ones made from alloyed steel.

There are very few metals used today that are not an alloy.

aluminium
steel
brass
solder

there are four metals there. Which one is not an alloy ?

gemini wrote:

Peej wrote:

I once bought a set of alloy wheels and was shocked to discover they weighed nearly twice as much as the steel ones    could have been something to do with the price I suppose!

What was the alloy ?
I use alloy wheels. Discovery ones made from alloyed steel.

There are very few metals used today that are not an alloy.

aluminium
steel
brass
solder

there are four metals there. Which one is not an alloy ?

Well I'm guessing but by the weight of them I'd say they were aluminium alloyed with a substantial amount of pig-iron!