sparg

Active Member
Sorry, I've searched, can't seem to find much on road comfort (perhaps unsurprisingly!).

My problem:

An '03 defender 110 double cab p/up, TD5, 100K on clock, almost all road use (it's not even scratched!). I've run it for the last 24K round France a couple of times, bit of Spain, used every day for work (100mile round trip)
In many ways, quite civilised compared to may last (90 with +2", terrafirma prosports, straightthrough exhaust, 33" wheels - knicked off the Drive.) BUT...

It does roll more (it's a pre antiroll bar model), and though the 110 doesn't suffer 'nodding dog' syndrome like the 90, it's on-road behaviour ought to be improvable. It's on standard tyre size, General Grabbers (32psi front, 35 rear), good turn in, someone's put poly bushes in rear trailing arms (whatever you call 'em) but not everywhere else (the rest of the set are in a box in the garage). Fairly modest procomp replacement dampers just before I got it

Mostly, though, I 'm dissatisfied with: a)suspension - bumpy corners, the front axle bounces a few times, sometimes the vehicle changes direction - on certain interesting potholes, at 50mph, the back end can hop slightly sidewise, pointing me elsewhere than originally intended by a few degrees.
Also, it does 'fall down' every pothole, bouncing and thumping along.
I know, it's a defender... but my question is: can defender suspension really not be improved upon?
Is it underdamped, or overdamped? - ride comfort on undulating but undamaged roads is fine. But potholes make the axle bounce a few times, which would sound like the axle was underdamped. But if the shocks were firmer, the springs would tend to be even less adaptive to the contour of bumpy roads.

I'm wondering whether, for my use (usually lightly laden, very rarely towing), I might be better with actually softer springs and see if I can get AR bars retrofitted to counteract roll? - or might progressive springs be a decent route?

I'm prepared to take a while investigating this, as it's non-urgent, but it seems to me that the standard criticisms of defenders' ride are justified. The 'one size fits all' agricultural suspension pays little more than lip service to comfort, but could it actually be tailored to suit?

Lastly, of course - even if it could, I wonder to what extent it could be made adjustable - I know that's what air suspension is supposed to be about, but I have a car with that, and I'm not a big fan,
 
Change the springs and dampers for more road biased ones, add anti roll bars, put a terra firma RTC steering damper on and replace bushes with rubber not poly as I find poly bushes are a harder ride. Someone may have some better ideas or options though. Hope this helps.
 
My 93 200tdi 110 was shocking when I bought it 18 months ago, with all the same symtoms as you describe:(
I cant pin down exactly what I did to improve upon the ride, but basically I changed ALL the shocks, springs, all ball joints, all bushes and added a front ARB. All standard except for a disco conversion to the steering drop arm with an OME damper! I believe the main improvement came from replacing and tightening up correctly the front swivels, this improved the pot hole problem. The rear end overtaking the front was actually the front radius arm bushes and the panhard rod bushes. whole job took a weekend but handling has been great since.:)
 
Sorry, I've searched, can't seem to find much on road comfort (perhaps unsurprisingly!).

My problem:

An '03 defender 110 double cab p/up, TD5, 100K on clock, almost all road use (it's not even scratched!). I've run it for the last 24K round France a couple of times, bit of Spain, used every day for work (100mile round trip)
In many ways, quite civilised compared to may last (90 with +2", terrafirma prosports, straightthrough exhaust, 33" wheels - knicked off the Drive.) BUT...

It does roll more (it's a pre antiroll bar model), and though the 110 doesn't suffer 'nodding dog' syndrome like the 90, it's on-road behaviour ought to be improvable. It's on standard tyre size, General Grabbers (32psi front, 35 rear), good turn in, someone's put poly bushes in rear trailing arms (whatever you call 'em) but not everywhere else (the rest of the set are in a box in the garage). Fairly modest procomp replacement dampers just before I got it

Mostly, though, I 'm dissatisfied with: a)suspension - bumpy corners, the front axle bounces a few times, sometimes the vehicle changes direction - on certain interesting potholes, at 50mph, the back end can hop slightly sidewise, pointing me elsewhere than originally intended by a few degrees.
Also, it does 'fall down' every pothole, bouncing and thumping along.
I know, it's a defender... but my question is: can defender suspension really not be improved upon?
Is it underdamped, or overdamped? - ride comfort on undulating but undamaged roads is fine. But potholes make the axle bounce a few times, which would sound like the axle was underdamped. But if the shocks were firmer, the springs would tend to be even less adaptive to the contour of bumpy roads.

I'm wondering whether, for my use (usually lightly laden, very rarely towing), I might be better with actually softer springs and see if I can get AR bars retrofitted to counteract roll? - or might progressive springs be a decent route?

I'm prepared to take a while investigating this, as it's non-urgent, but it seems to me that the standard criticisms of defenders' ride are justified. The 'one size fits all' agricultural suspension pays little more than lip service to comfort, but could it actually be tailored to suit?

Lastly, of course - even if it could, I wonder to what extent it could be made adjustable - I know that's what air suspension is supposed to be about, but I have a car with that, and I'm not a big fan,

I would change ALL bushes with OEM ones, then take it from there.
 
Change the springs and dampers for more road biased ones, add anti roll bars, put a terra firma RTC steering damper on and replace bushes with rubber not poly as I find poly bushes are a harder ride. Someone may have some better ideas or options though. Hope this helps.

The current spring/dampers are pretty standard; would road-biased ones actually translate to softer springs with anti-roll bars?

Take the point about poly bushes, which can bang a bit.

but what about this axle-bounce? I'd thought it was a problem with high unsprung weight, inadequately damped - thoughts anyone? - can it be exacerbated by tired bushes?
 
Change the springs and dampers for more road biased ones, add anti roll bars, put a terra firma RTC steering damper on and replace bushes with rubber not poly as I find poly bushes are a harder ride. Someone may have some better ideas or options though. Hope this helps.

I'm all for terrafirma steering dampers, though I'm not getting lots of steering wheel shake. It does have a relatively new, but procomp, damper, and I'm concerned that just uprating the damper might be concealing, rather than curing the problem, 'specially if it's swivel shims or panhard bushes.
 

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