Lift kit reduction query !!!

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hawky666

hawky666

Well-Known Member
Posts
1,662
Location
Calllington, Cornwall
Hey folks.
My 90 has a 2" lift. As a vehicle for green laning and mainly hunting etc, i'm thinking that i don't necessarily need it so high.
adding to this consideration is the fact that it has been done without a corrected radius arms (front) and without a wide angled prop (front) and it seems to be straining and vibrating to hell. Now sounds like something wants to judder loose when not under power.
All things considered, it will probably be better for me to drop it down again... BUT.. can i simply change the springs to a standard height and leave the shocks as they are???
If so i would only have to change the rear equivelent of the radius arms and i could leave the rear wide angled prop as it is. JOB DONE.
 
Are the shocks definitely +2inch?! And does it have extended bump stops?

The only issues I see with leaving the longer shocks on is that the will bottom out quicker as you are reducing the upward travel. If it doesn't have extended bump stop then this could also damage the shocks more often than with the longer springs.

I don't see an issue with a wide angle prop being run at a lower angle. However I'm not so sure about the correction arms. If you wanted to go standard I'm sure someone would swap standard for corrected!
 
I honestly have no idea if the shocks are deff correct for a lift kit. God knows everything else on tis thing has been wrong in one way or another. The local garage call it the mongrol, it's got that many bastardised bits on it.
I'm not even sure how to tell, or what else it does or doesn't have on it. What do the bump stops look like?
 
I had the same dilemma earlier this year and decided to remove my 2inch lift.

All I did was replace my springs with normal height for my vehicle. I retained the 2inch lift springs. Once there on the way out I,ll replace them with normal height springs.

They don't bottom out ( I have a 300tdi 110csw) and the most that goes in the back is my 2 dugs and tool boxes. Not done much green lanning this year mind.

An judging by yur photo the rear bump stops are the larger type , mine are much smaller than that
 
hawky666 said:
What prob's were you having with the lift kit that made you decide to change bigvinnie !!
Click to expand...

When I bought the defender back in jan I wasn't doing any off roading/greenlanning. I also found for driving road North Yorkshire it waddled and rolled horrendously on country roads. It just didn't handle right. At the time I was driving a wee 90 van on normal height and it felt more secure to the road. Plus the Wolfs I use aren't raised and they handle cross country fine.

I then started doing more home work and it had been lifted but no work had been done to the prop, the radius arms, the trailing arms and so it was putting unnecessary strain on components.

The stealer I bought it from did some quick remady work to sell on rovers and I think this lift was one of them. It just hadn't been done right.
 
I'm actually amazed at how well this one handles on the road. It's solid. But the vibrations are horrible, and you almost need a ladder to get in and out. Let alone reach anything on the roof rack.
 
If there's a lot of vibration, do consider the propshaft joints too. They don't last forever and I find when mine are getting loose there's a good deal of vibration at about 50 mph. Also in finding the UJ that's wobbly it helps if you jack a wheel up and take the handbrake off, and then it's much more easy to feel by hand.

I'm interested in those red tubes on the back of your axle. Are they just there to clip the brake pipes to? Or do they do something else?
 
Last edited:
does it have yellow shocks as well as springs and shocker come in either std or 2 inch lift kits ,anti roll bars improve handling too
 
Shocks are white, although i think i have one on their that's a different colour.
I'm pretty sure it doesn't have anti roll barss.. the handling is actually very good and doesn't bother me. It's just the vibration. Currently feels like something is skipping the coggs when you are in slack gear coming to a standstill, or under power going up hill in low revs. Never has been right.
I seem to remember seeing a blue sleeve on one of the white shocks.
 
hawky666 said:
Shocks are white, although i think i have one on their that's a different colour.
I'm pretty sure it doesn't have anti roll barss.. the handling is actually very good and doesn't bother me. It's just the vibration. Currently feels like something is skipping the coggs when you are in slack gear coming to a standstill, or under power going up hill in low revs. Never has been right.
I seem to remember seeing a blue sleeve on one of the white shocks.
Click to expand...

in that case if prop ujs are good i wouldnt worry about lift but locate worn parts
 
I've changed the front diff already. Also changed the front prop a few times including doing uj's on one. I've not tried a brand new prop, and i know that the trailing arms are standard (so i've been told). The prob just seems to be gradually getting worse.
I understand that i would need to change the prop for a double carden one, and sort the trailing arms, in order to get it all right. But that's going to cost a fair bit i guess. No idea what a double carden would cost.
 
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