Newbie here - so, the rear shox are about toast along with the springs on my TD5 110 2002 defender.

Looking for some recommendations with the following in mind:-
I do not plan on serious axel twisting mud plugging off roading in the foreseeable future. I run a few green lanes and farm tracks but nothing serious to test the 110. I use the vehicle each day running about, occasionally loads of logs to fill the boot but mostly just me n the dog. Annual trips to the highlands of a 2000 miles loaded up with 4 adults plus 2 dogs and kit to suit - at least thats the plan as its what Ive been doing in my disco 3 for past 10 years - planning to add a trailer later.
So do I replace with stock aftermarket original type spec' springs and shockers or bite the bullet and upgrade - as I say, I cant see me making a huge deal of use for +2" lift UNLESS it makes the travel on road more 'predictable' as the current worn out parts have some interesting tendencies at over 45 mph !

I've had a look at the terrafirma set ups and cost asside, got puzzled as to the medium load v's light load ratings and what would suit. As I say newbie to defenders so play nice !

Go for OEM standard springs and shocks. For your use there is no need to upgrade to anything fancy, doing so will just give you gains in one area at the expense of another. If you have "interesting" road manners I would aslo be looking at the bushes all around, you may find the springs and shocks are fine and these are the actual problem.

OEM springs (Twisted will sell you four new “take off” for about £120)
Terrafirma adjustable dampers (£60 each)
Adjust for better ride quality or firmer when loaded up
Make a significant improvement over the OE dampers.

lightning said:

OEM springs (Twisted will sell you four new “take off” for about £120)
Terrafirma adjustable dampers (£60 each)
Adjust for better ride quality or firmer when loaded up
Make a significant improvement over the OE dampers.

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Looking on the Terrafirma website ref TF173 - the only adjustable dampers I can see for 110 standard height are £96 each .... unless Im looking at a price for a pair ? ' Stage 4 adjustable shocks' ? Ignore that, Ive just found the same thing for £65 on line ! cheers.

Lurk said:

Annual trips to the highlands of a 2000k miles

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2000000 miles wow - that is some summer trip, how long does that take?

Lurk said:

Newbie here - so, the rear shox are about toast along with the springs on my TD5 110 2002 defender.

Looking for some recommendations with the following in mind:-
I do not plan on serious axel twisting mud plugging off roading in the foreseeable future. I run a few green lanes and farm tracks but nothing serious to test the 110. I use the vehicle each day running about, occasionally loads of logs to fill the boot but mostly just me n the dog. Annual trips to the highlands of a 2000k miles loaded up with 4 adults plus 2 dogs and kit to suit - at least thats the plan as its what Ive been doing in my disco 3 for past 10 years - planning to add a trailer later.
So do I replace with stock aftermarket original type spec' springs and shockers or bite the bullet and upgrade - as I say, I cant see me making a huge deal of use for +2" lift UNLESS it makes the travel on road more 'predictable' as the current worn out parts have some interesting tendencies at over 45 mph !

I've had a look at the terrafirma set ups and cost asside, got puzzled as to the medium load v's light load ratings and what would suit. As I say newbie to defenders so play nice !

Click to expand...

Go full standard replacement of good brand. No point in anything else. You are using your landy for what it was designed to do. People love to toss their cash down the drain for pointless "upgrades" when half the time the whole setup it already suitable!

You will notice a difference on your old tired set.

Did you actually fit these parts on to your Land Rover?
The Terrafirma dampers are a pretty good improvement over standard, if you are looking for better ride quality.

I know this because l actually fitted them to my 110 and have done over 30,000 miles with them fitted.
I also fitted them to my missus’s 90 TD5 and she said it was noticeably better.

Both with standard OE springs. (On position 2 of 4 the dampers are equivalent to the OE, if you want standard settings)

So l am just relaying my actual experience with these parts.

OK so 2k miles not 2000K ! well spotted.

I like the idea of the adjustable dampers - had them on a motor years ago just not a 4x4. Standard springs makes sense as they have coped well in its former life just well rusted now and 'soft' on the near side.
Bushes all need a going over as I work through from rear to front. - the dog gets priority of comfort before me !

Looks like they’ve biffed up the price of the adjustable dampers, it’s a worthwhile improvement for the £250 l paid but not sure l would pay £400

What’s a “shox”

By way of an update. I replaced the rear coils for standard 'New take Offs' (£50 delivered), fitted the adjustable dampers as recommended (c£120 inc Del') and new spring seats as the originals were toast. So far Ive only run a couple of hundred miles on roads including a bit of motorway, Got the speed up to 65mph and she sits and rides lovely. Well happy. However, once I got the 110 off the ground to have a proper look underneath, I found the front off side swivel housing was well rusty and the vertical play on the wheel was around 3/4" so that got stripped out and new swivel and pins / bearings installed. While I was at it swapped the new rear tyres to the front and got them balanced. They require quite a lot of weight to bring them into balance.
So, to sum up, I suspect the death wobble at 45mph+ was more to do with the swivel. The rear springs and shockers were making for a crappy ride, the wheel balance added to vibration. New oils everywhere, that in the diffs was pretty clean, but 5 years old according to the records I got with the motor. Found a few drainage holes to sort out in the footwell and rear tub now.
Thanks for the suggestions on shockers and springs - the new take offs saved me enough to reduce the oncost of the fancy shockers. So I will look to do the front when needed.

300bhp/ton said:

What’s a “shox”

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That was what I experienced when I checked the Terrafirma price for the adjustable shock units, shox being plural as I needed 2 off..