Disco I Upgrades.

Well my little Discovery has been my pride and joy since I bought it. I have taken it offroading on what amounted to little more than bad fourwheeler/quadbike/whateveryoucallthemthingsacrossthepond trails and have been amazed at its capabilities with relatively non-aggressive tread tire.

Now someone decided to go out and buy a big lifted hummer just to sit it next to my 'ol trail rash stricken Disco to make it look dinky in comparison. I am also tired of looking like some rich kid running around in his father's old SUV(which I am most certainly not). I actually bought the old girl because they wanted too much for the Ford I was trying to buy.

Now on to my questions. My Disco is completely stock, it still even has the damn mudflaps attached to it. I would like to put a new wheel/tire package on it as the land rover alloys on it are pretty scrapped up from the previous owners, and I would like a fatter, more aggressive tire to deal with the sticky ass mud around here.

Tips and suggestions for wheel and tire packages for Disco 1? I do live in America, so if possible I would like suggestions of items that I can find here.


Lift kits, I would like to get the thing a few more inches off the ground for various reasons. What is the largest lift I could put on the Disco without compromising handling and fuel economy. Right now I'm looking at 2"-3". What are some trust worthy brands or websites? Any information on heavy duty coil springs?


TLDR:
Want to make 98' Disco I look more rugged and increase off-road performance. Any suggesting as to wheel and tire packages. I also would like to install a small lift, suggestions? Sway bar delete, what are the gains and drawbacks?

Use search for each in turn the info is on here if you look

gazdav said:

Use search for each in turn the info is on here if you look

Click to expand...

I know it is. I just didn't have time to sit and look, was hoping someone would put up links to threads with the info.

If you just want springs and shocks I would say +2" is the max you should go,you can get +4" but then you will need castor correction arms to put the steering geometry back to what it should be.

As for tyres with a 2" lift you will get 265/75/16 (32") on with a little arch trimming. It is possible to fit 35" tyres but you'll probably need a 4" lift and extended arches

hope this helps

Jon

It probably doesn't matter what anyone says in UK, you need to seek out LR owners in US as it's unlikely that what we use here will suit what you over there. I mean, most of ours are setup for green-laning and Pay 'n Play sites, mostly wet, muddy stuff etc ... Most American stuff appears to prefer rock-crawling with ultra-low gears and a completely different chassis/suspension approach.

I'd also suggest that brands we get here are probably not even available over there.

Before you start looking, find out how you want to use the vehicle and buy kit to suit the applications. If all you want to do is measure up to a Hummer, well, who gives a flying feck what you fit, just buy big ****e .. OTOH, you say you want wheels and tyres to suit mud, so I'd suggest Mach5 wheels with Simex 35"/38" tyres ... Trouble is this'll mean modifying wheel arches and probably other suspension mods so you'll have to do some work on your own and search .. It's not like you need it immediately ...

Thanks for the info.

I found a pic of what my ultimate goal would be:



But for now I think I want to try for a 3" lift and I really like the black powder coated steel wheels. A two inch lift doesn't really seem worth the trouble for me. I'm thinking 33" inch tires that are on the thinner side. How much extra stress will the 33" tires put on the drive train? Will I have to upgrade any drivetrain components?

The conditions I normally take my Disco on range from deep loose sand to weird slippery/sticky mud to nice hard-pack ground. Usually all encountered on the same trip.


I did finally found an allegedly decent 4x4 shop and I'm think about stopping in and looking around after I go see the air force recruiter on Monday.

With a 3" lift you may encounter issues with your propshafts bindings, plus the strain on the radius arm/trailing arm bushes will be significantly increased over standard. You could combat this by fitting modified/corrected radius arms and cranked trailing arms and fitting spacers to the propshaft flanges.

Not sure what your access to parts is like over there but in the UK you would be talking somewhere in the region of £350-400 for that lot I would have said.

Ben

This is mine with 32" tyres and a 2" lift and that's all I've done to it,no castor correction no wide angle props, only thing i did was turn up the fuel pump for more power as the larger diameter tyres altered the gear ratio











articulation is pretty good and it's still got the anti-rollbars (swaybars) on so could be even better.

I know you said you want more than 2" lift but this gives you an idea of what to expect from just fitting a lift and not all the other expensive mods that you need for a 4" lift

Thanks for the pics.

As hard as Land Rover parts are to find around here I might be better off going with the 2" lift. I also forgot to take into consideration I have a 13 foot long ocean kayak I have to put on the roof.


EDIT:


I've figured out what I think I want.

Lift kit: LAND ROVER PARTS - PRO COMP SHOCK+SPRING KIT DISCOVERY I '94-'99 STANDARD
or
LAND ROVER PARTS - PRO COMP SHOCK+SPRING KIT DISCOVERY I '94-99 HEAVY DUTY

Wheels: Something similar to Series 97, Size is 16X7, Bolt Pattern is 5X4.75, Finish is Black, Back Spacing is 4 - Rock Crawler Series 98 16" - Off Road Unlimited

Tires: something similar to Dick Cepek Mud Country 265/75R16

Have a look at this there's some good pics

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f8/some-pics-my-disco-d-122445.html

V8jon said:

This is mine with 32" tyres and a 2" lift and that's all I've done to it,no castor correction no wide angle props, only thing i did was turn up the fuel pump for more power as the larger diameter tyres altered the gear ratio

articulation is pretty good and it's still got the anti-rollbars (swaybars) on so could be even better.

I know you said you want more than 2" lift but this gives you an idea of what to expect from just fitting a lift and not all the other expensive mods that you need for a 4" lift

Click to expand...

Are these 265/75/16? I've got Insa Special Trak's in that size and I had to cut back the front bumper end cap and plastic sill trims to stop them fouling lock to lock

arienol said:

Are these 265/75/16? I've got Insa Special Trak's in that size and I had to cut back the front bumper end cap and plastic sill trims to stop them fouling lock to lock

Click to expand...

Yes,265/75/16 insa traction tracks,I trimmed the front endcaps too as they were catching but the rear of the front arch seems to be ok