Hard suspension

Hi, I am a new member to LZ but have been a Landie owner for over 15 yrs. My latest landie is a Rangie P38 4.6HSE which I acquired from my son (free!). Just before passing it on to me he had new airbags fitted new shockers and superflex bushes. The resultant ride is bone shudderingly hard. He had taken it back to the local independant garage who fitted it and they have told him it is the bushes. Another independant has told him that the shockers are suspect. Without stripping it all out and starting again has anybody experienced this before?

jai_landrover has got "comfort" polybushes and sez there ****e.General concensus on hee is poly bushes are a waste of tim, money n effort stick with oem rubber.They last longer too.

If the ride's that bad though, it must be something other than just the bushes? Having said that though, I've no experience whatsoever with Polybushes. Can they really make that much difference to the ride quality? What were the shockers that were fitted?

I've a poly bushed vw and yes you could nail it compared to rubber bushes, but definitely transmits more vibration.

also consider that rubber bushes have a omni directional damping effect, dampers only vertical.
So Yes poly bushes are prime suspect.

People who poly bush suspension usually fit uprated shocks in my experience. Bin the poly bushes and fit OEM shocks.

Thanks, I did suspect the polybushes, though my son polybushed his Defender and that seems OK. He can't remember where he go the shockers, it was off a 4 x 4 site on the internet, but he did say they were cheap. I think I will got the whole hog and change both bushes to rubber get some decent shockers.

alan4693 said:

Thanks, I did suspect the polybushes, though my son polybushed his Defender and that seems OK. He can't remember where he go the shockers, it was off a 4 x 4 site on the internet, but he did say they were cheap. I think I will got the whole hog and change both bushes to rubber get some decent shockers.

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are the shocks britpart by any chance.

They could very well be Britpart, yes!

Shockers are shockers. Expensive shockers are cheap shockers at inflated prices. The OEM shocks at £55.00 each are more than likely made on the same line as the £18.00 ones.

so on that note, i will not bother with polybushing my RR, the bushes are showing signs of spliting, was thinking of the comfort ones, but now, hmm not so sure.

You describe that ride as hard not harsh.

That would point squarely at shocks not bushes. At worst, if he fitted 'performance' bushes they will be stiffer, less compliant meaning a choppier ride over smaller road surface issues like corrugations and the like, but not a 'hard' ride. The other polybushes available are generally more compliant than rubber bushes.
But a 'hard' ride, where it crashes in and out of potholes etc can only be spring rate or damping. Since no one has ever complained of ride comfort from Arnott bags and OE Dunlops would not affect the ride then that only leaves shocks. A'performace' shock that is not matched to the spring rates can only mess up the ride.

The other thing to watch for is tire pressure. Any chance your son had the tires pumped way up to get a few more mpg out of that 4.6 in these recessionary times?

Yep I agree did my 38 with polybushes about 3 months ago just about to bin them and go back to rubber

ah meant to say depends on wheels too I run on 19 in and about to go back to hurricanes with fatter tyres - getting old and need the comfort

Hi,

I've got to say that my 2001 DHSE is also a pretty hard drive. It does seem to crash in and out of potholes etc. I've only had it two weeks now, but was expecting the ride to be more refined from air susp. I used to drive a few of these 10 years ago when they were new and i'm sure it was a softer ride than mine is.

What I wondered is that maybe as the air springs on mine are probably 9 years old (by the looks of them) do you think the rubber looses some of it's compliance so the ride gets harder as they age ?

Kungfu0210 said:

Hi,


What I wondered is that maybe as the air springs on mine are probably 9 years old (by the looks of them) do you think the rubber looses some of it's compliance so the ride gets harder as they age ?

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Yep, they go hard horrible and then leak Change them before they let you down. Aftermarket shocks from some suppliers seem to be bad also.

I've just replaced my original (12 years old) air bags with Arnott Gen 2 and the ride seems much superior. However, perhaps that was also to do with riding on the bump stops for a few miles when one of the original bags burst......Not recommended!

I've got a leaky front bag, and have decided to go for Arnott's to replace em, where did you get yours? and did they have Gen 3's avaialble too?

Got mine from P38 Spares. Can't remember the exact price but somewhere around £330 I think give or take a few quid. This was for the 4 bags, set of clips and some airline connectors. They had the Gen 3s but they were over two hundred quid more. I don't use mine on a daily basis so I couldn't jutify the extra. It seems debatable whether they're that much better from posts on here.

From what I've read I don't expect a better ride from the Gen 3's, but the extra 2" lift is always useful.

kernowdragon said:

I've got a leaky front bag, and have decided to go for Arnott's to replace em, where did you get yours? and did they have Gen 3's avaialble too?

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Arnott Gen 2's unless you are doing serious off roading Gen 3's are not worth the extra in my opinion. I got mine from P38 spares via Ebay and paid £268 for the four.