P38A Should you lift a Range Rover? Air/Coil?

300bhp/ton said:

Road tested tonight. And shocks seem to have made a big improvement, which is good. I don't think the old ones were exactly knackered, but being lifted meant they were probably too easy to bottoming out. Anyhow, thus far pleased with the rears. I'll be getting the fronts on payday.

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You mean top out don't you.

Honestly, if I was going to mod mine for more dedicated off roading and not weekend warrior-ING. I would put springs on it and lift it. With some heavy duty shocks to keep it in check and proper knobblies on it but with very little road use at all. It then would end up being driven around on a trailer.
That would spoil my everyday use. So, I either beast it or find something else to beast. I would like to mod it and show the defenders and discos that the P38 can scrabble like the rest of 'em.

Mark Piercy said:

Honestly, if I was going to mod mine for more dedicated off roading and not weekend warrior-ING. I would put springs on it and lift it. With some heavy duty shocks to keep it in check and proper knobblies on it but with very little road use at all. It then would end up being driven around on a trailer.
That would spoil my everyday use. So, I either beast it or find something else to beast. I would like to mod it and show the defenders and discos that the P38 can scrabble like the rest of 'em.

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Actually, it doesn't do to bad on a standard setup either. If you don't like plastic bumpers that is..

My P38 can get to places on the farm Defenders and past Disco's could only dream of

I like 'em on Air

So I got around to fitting the extended brake lines on the rear yesterday after work.

Quite an easy job overall, although bleeding the brakes is a PITA, well getting to some of the bleed nipples under the bonnet certainly is!!! F'ing stupid design, but enough of that. I also unclipped the ABS sensor leads, I was hoping I would be able to slide the rubber grommets along that clip into the holder, but no amount of brute force and WD40 seemed to want to make them move. So I settled for just cable tying them to the upper bracket and along the new brake line.



I didn't bother changing the fronts, as I haven't replaced the front shocks yet.

We now have lots of rear axle flex!



Rear axle could do with a paint...


The front axle moves a lot less by comparison now. So I really should get round to doing the front shocks.



Of interest, I did find another air suspension limitation in terms of flex. We all know the stock shocks limit flex and then the air bags. Both of which can be replaced for longer examples. However it seems the ride height sensors are also an issue. I'd forgotten to remove one on the drivers side rear. And you can see, under flex it is pulled taught as anything. In fact as I proceeded round the off course, it actually sheared it off!





On the negative side. When I went to remove the rear passenger wheel to fit the brake lines, the rim was superhot and the studs way too hot to handle. It seems that since Sunday last week, the rear calliper has decided to cease!!!!!! So it looks like I'll be replacing the callipers now. Might as well do the discs/pads while I'm at it. And if I've then got to re-bleed the brakes, I might as well make enough to fit the longer front brake lines too. Ho-humm......

You have to extend the Height sensors if on Air..

Quite simple operation..

Hope he has plenty of spare Spicers.

300bhp/ton said:

So I got around to fitting the extended brake lines on the rear yesterday after work.

Quite an easy job overall, although bleeding the brakes is a PITA, well getting to some of the bleed nipples under the bonnet certainly is!!! F'ing stupid design, but enough of that. I also unclipped the ABS sensor leads, I was hoping I would be able to slide the rubber grommets along that clip into the holder, but no amount of brute force and WD40 seemed to want to make them move. So I settled for just cable tying them to the upper bracket and along the new brake line.

I didn't bother changing the fronts, as I haven't replaced the front shocks yet.

We now have lots of rear axle flex!

Rear axle could do with a paint...

The front axle moves a lot less by comparison now. So I really should get round to doing the front shocks.

Of interest, I did find another air suspension limitation in terms of flex. We all know the stock shocks limit flex and then the air bags. Both of which can be replaced for longer examples. However it seems the ride height sensors are also an issue. I'd forgotten to remove one on the drivers side rear. And you can see, under flex it is pulled taught as anything. In fact as I proceeded round the off course, it actually sheared it off!

On the negative side. When I went to remove the rear passenger wheel to fit the brake lines, the rim was superhot and the studs way too hot to handle. It seems that since Sunday last week, the rear calliper has decided to cease!!!!!! So it looks like I'll be replacing the callipers now. Might as well do the discs/pads while I'm at it. And if I've then got to re-bleed the brakes, I might as well make enough to fit the longer front brake lines too. Ho-humm......

Click to expand...

Cool pics mate, how have you not bent those steps yet
I removed mine after bending them oops.
I would love to do a spring conversion for off roading with dangly legs like that, lifted with removed drop links and tractor tyres just for off the road.. I may need to sell some of my other toys first. Really tempted to get a winch and metal bumper next. 1000€ for the whole assembly
Keep the pics coming

Done a couple of YouTube Reviews of the p38a here: