Hello everyone, quick question from someone who's never upgraded suspension before.

If I was looking to completely overhaul the suspension on a SIII 109 (and hopefully add a little more ground clearance,) what would I be looking at doing?

Here's what I know so far - New leaf springs. Add 1 tonne shackles? (I read that these can give the ground clearance?) Get new shocks. Which ones are good and which ones aren't? I have no idea. And that's the limit of my knowledge.

Overall objectives are durability, handling and ground clearance. If I can achieve some of this I'd be very happy. Also any comments on wheel/tire combinations would be gratefully accepted.

Thanks in advance

The only way to gain real ground clearance is to fit taller tires or portal axles or both. Extended shackles can help with under body clearance. Any of the above push the centre of gravity up making for more body roll on the road and less side slope stability off road. If springs/shocks old and flat a new set will help a lot.

One option is parabolic springs. Lots of different opinions about parabolics on here and I haven't tried them myself, but they will give you some increase in body ride height and a softer ride, with maybe some loss of load carrying capability. Lots of info on here if you're tempted to go that route.
The military/1-ton shackles will give some extra clearance, but they effectively rotate the axle slightly backwards, which changes the propshaft UJ angles, although I believe you can get correction wedges that you fit between the springs and the axle to fix this. The steering geometry will also change without these correction wedges on the front axle.
Whatever route you take to get more clearance, you need to get longer shocks to suit. I've heard good reports on the Pro Comps, but I've had no problems with the Britpart 1-ton ones I have on my 109 military (which has the long shackles). I think the Britpart ones are made by Armstrong.
Bear in mind that changing the springs will only raise the body ride height. The clearance between the diffs and the ground will remain the same - if you want to increase that, you need bigger tyres....

I think the first question to ask is "why?" Suspension "upgrades" are not the same for on-road and off-road and the standard set up is hard to beat as its a good compromise. If you want upgrades then there are quitte a few things that definately repay the effort:
getting the brakes sorted and fitting the biggest servo you can
oiling the springs and getting all the rod ends and steering is good nick so it works as it should
sound proofing, quite a lot of work but makes it much nicer to drive
up dating the wiring to realys, better earths, more fuses and LED lights to reduce the load
getting the heater working!
An overdrive, or high ration transfer to get a decent criusing speed.
I've now driven around 10,000 miles in my 109 and so far we have never ran out of ground clearance. I run 235/85 tyres which is roughly a 7.5, they look right on a LWB and give reasonable speed.

OK thanks everyone. I think I'm gunna get this - http://rockymountainspares.co.uk/product/109-british-parabolic-suspension-combo/ Cheers

Don't forget to check your flexi brake pipes are long enough for any extra height.

Col

The R M kit comes with all you need including flexi brake pipes.

It sure does, seems like the sensible option.