Disco 2 Have I done something wrong on my lift?

Apologies for the long post but I thought the more info I can provide the better answer I might receive. And I'm expecting the normal 'have you read the other threads' comments and my answer is yes, but I'm not sure it's cleared anything up, rather its made me wonder have I made a mistake!

After going green laneing earlier this year and going again in a few weeks I have on Friday just gone lifted my D2 with the following

• Front HD springs
• Front +2" shocks
• Rear 2" spacers underneath the SLS bags (bags replace about 6months ago)
• 2" 'riser' plate for the SLS height sensors.

The reason for lifting with the above is that I was grounding when laneing and all advice from those at the event and others when discussing have said a lift and new wheels are what is needed. I am currently running on Grabber At 255/88 r18's Which were fitted when I bought this March last year, however looking to replace these with 265/75 r16's , possibly not in time for my next trip out however dependent on appropriate advice.

One thing I have noticed is that the ride is now as if there is no suspension at all on the rear as in if I go over any form of bump, speed hump, pot hole, the front has settled to take these in it's stride with some stiffer movement than before (I expected this) but the rear 'bounces' over as if I have replaced the rear suspension with a solid metal bar. To the point the ride is pretty much unbearable and I'm half regretting touching the original set up and wondering if the car is still drive-able!?

I have checked the SLS height sensors work which they do (I have new ones on order in any case as the rubber connections have perished) and managed to have the manual riser button work the rear suspension albeit this doesn't seem as effective as it was as I think the rear bags are already inflated too much (I'm guessing here!!). I have also added some weight (about 60-70kgs) to the front on a winch plate as a temporary measure while waiting for my new HD bumper to arrive (hopefully this week) in the hope by pushing the front down the rear would level out however this still hasn't resolved the issue. It's had a small effect but not to the extent I had hoped for. I had read somewhere that with the standard bumper on the front (which I have currently) the front HD springs would lift the front in excess of the 2" wanted so weight was needed as they are designed for around 100kgs...whether their is truth in this is another matter.

I'm after any suggestions on what I may have done wrong or if there is anything else I need to do to stop the bounce at the rear and make the SLS more to what it was. Do I need to replace the shicks? Will more weight on the front help (the HD bumper plus some weights / winch which is on the desirable list)?

Again apologies for the long post and if this has been asked many times before however I have looked and being a novice at all this and learning as I go along, I've come away with more question that answered reading other threads.

Thanks all!

what make of dampers are running?

Pawl said:

what make of dampers are running?

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Hi Pawl,

Terrafirma All Terrain Front Discovery 2 Shock Absorber - TF118

The Disco 2 on air suspension can and will handle almost any legal green lane in the UK in its stock set-up.

When you say that you found that you were "grounding", what was grounding, an axle or the body? The air suspension has an automatic emergency action which can sense body grounding and apply a temporary extra lift to put the wheels back on the ground. It's automatic and there's no driver input for it.

On the D2, just as on any vehicle there's a right way and a wrong way. Check out this post by @300bhp/ton, a well respected off-roader:-

https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/lifting-a-d2-properly.300573/#post-3749057

brian47 said:

The Disco 2 on air suspension can and will handle almost any legal green lane in the UK in its stock set-up.

When you say that you found that you were "grounding", what was grounding, an axle or the body? The air suspension has an automatic emergency action which can sense body grounding and apply a temporary extra lift to put the wheels back on the ground. It's automatic and there's no driver input for it.

On the D2, just as on any vehicle there's a right way and a wrong way. Check out this post by @300bhp/ton, a well respected off-roader:-

https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/lifting-a-d2-properly.300573/#post-3749057

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Thanks Brian, had seen this post which got me thinking that I may have done something wrong. On descents it was the towbar catching which I need to keep as I tow the scout trailer and raising the SLS manually did help 90% of the time. In some situations it was the diffs plouging through the mud when the ruts where fairly deep(ish). Quite happy with the height etc. now it is the ride on the rear bags which I am concerned about really...it's like pogo-ing on a scaffold tube!

If the rear end is bouncing then it would point towards the dampers, the ones on the back end.

brian47 said:

If the rear end is bouncing then it would point towards the dampers, the ones on the back end.

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Thanks, I did half think it may be them. I've not touched these, do these need to be +2 aswell to suit the rest of the mods?

SteJ said:

Thanks, I did half think it may be them. I've not touched these, do these need to be +2 aswell to suit the rest of the mods?

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One would have thought so. Read the posts on the link I gave you and you should then understand what's going on. But excessive bouncing is usually an indication that there is a problem with the dampers aka shock absorbers.

brian47 said:

One would have thought so. Read the posts on the link I gave you and you should then understand what's going on. But excessive bouncing is usually an indication that there is a problem with the dampers aka shock absorbers.

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That's great, thanks for your help!

SteJ said:

That's great, thanks for your help!

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BTW congratulations on retaining the air suspension with the lift. So many people seem to think that they must tear the air off and replace it with steel before a lift can be fitted.

brian47 said:

BTW congratulations on retaining the air suspension with the lift. So many people seem to think that they must tear the air off and replace it with steel before a lift can be fitted.

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Thanks. I find it too useful to do without and after replacing the bags less than a year ago I know it's in decent working order and works. Just need to sort this small hic-cup out and it'll be all rosey again

I hadn't noticed initially you'd not mentioned changing the rear shocks. On that basis my question was irrelevant - lol.
Your later post confirms you haven't, so dependant on what shocks you have on the rear, it's possible that with the 2 inch lift via the airbag spacers / sensors your standard length rear shocks are getting to "full hang" as the wheel drops into any pothole - this would not feel good in the car & would significantly reduce the life of the shock & mountings - especially if the shock is already tired / ineffective due to old age.
Does the rear ride ok over small road irregularities or is it very bad then too ?
With any lift over an inch if you expect to get some benefit from it when off-roading, the shocks need changing to suit.

Why not look at swapping to a NAS style receiver. That way the drop plate for your tow ball could be removed as and when with one simple pin. Thats what I will be doing in the coming months anyway.

What @Pawl said ... You added 2" of height to the springs but doing that won't work properly unless you add the same height to the shocks. I'd swap the rear shocks for +2" shocks. You effectively lost a lot movement from the rear axle. The reason it's bouncing is it's almost at full extension and it's only the tyres providing any damping, which they don't! Similarly when the axle tries to lift, the springs are already using up some of their available movement, you've effectively stiffened and shortened them between the limited range of movement of the axle droop and the bump stop.

The other option is to use a plate to lift the shocks 2" too, but that will still limit travel somewhat.

The only time, I feel, that you'd use lift plates on springs is when the axle and available space are maximised for more than full spring travel and you're simply 'filling the gap' to keep springs in contact at all times instead of using re-location devices ... which can add a whole new dimension to lifting.

madmonky said:

Why not look at swapping to a NAS style receiver. That way the drop plate for your tow ball could be removed as and when with one simple pin. Thats what I will be doing in the coming months anyway.

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I know people do this, but I thought they weren’t type approved in the UK?

There's a cutoff date..... which i cant remember which if i understood correctly means before this you dont need the approval.

They are not Type Approved for use in Europe on D2s (all were produced after the cut-off date), but lots use them anyway, as they work well & are approved for towing 3.5t (in the US, if Land Rover branded). Technically, they could invalidate any insurance if something went wrong while you were towing with one. However nobody appears to have reported any problems with that happening or problems with the Police in the 6 years I've owned our D2
I have 1 fitted, but it's main use is for off-road recovery with occasional towing.
The concept is the same as the LR design used on many D3, D4 & RR tow bars.

Pawl said:

I hadn't noticed initially you'd not mentioned changing the rear shocks. On that basis my question was irrelevant - lol.
Your later post confirms you haven't, so dependant on what shocks you have on the rear, it's possible that with the 2 inch lift via the airbag spacers / sensors your standard length rear shocks are getting to "full hang" as the wheel drops into any pothole - this would not feel good in the car & would significantly reduce the life of the shock & mountings - especially if the shock is already tired / ineffective due to old age.
Does the rear ride ok over small road irregularities or is it very bad then too ?
With any lift over an inch if you expect to get some benefit from it when off-roading, the shocks need changing to suit.

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Thanks Paul

I have ordered some rear shocks to replace the ones at the back and hopefully this will sort it out. Can't say for definite if small bumps are ok or not but big ones are definitely worth avoiding for the time being! Fingers crossed the new shocks solve the problem otherwise it's thinking caps back on!

Thanks, Ste

Hi Ste,

What springs did you use for the front?

TF118 is a standard lenght shock, not a +2" (although it doesn't have the same measurements as the stock one, see below)

Discovery 2 shock lengths:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/discovery-2-a/212310-discovery-2-front-rear-shock-length-list.html

For the rear you will probably need to move to a longer shock, for example TF128 or TF147

Thanks all for your input. Fitted +2 shocks to the rear today and it has solved all the problems. Seems not doing the shocks in the first place was restricting any movement and giving the horrendous ride.