I may have to do this Disco1BFG..! It's quite a long track that's quite far from the nearest concrete road - but it may be worthwhile.

For now however, I may just continue to prepare my Disco for as much as possible. After all, is that not what it's all about?

Our lane is about a mile long. We are always working on it. Hardcore to fill ruts and sink holes can often be got for free. And we buy the odd load of crushed stone for tidying up.

If you just leave it, it isn't going to get any better, will just get worse over the wet season until you will need a tractor to get through. Which in turn will lead to even more damage.

My own thought would that if a road is too bad for a standard landrover, it is not fit for a house access. My Massey would go over anything, but what if you have visitors in cars, or want access for trade vehicles etc.
 
It's no use everyone trying to tell everyone off when everyone should be saying springs and dampers instead of shocks.

It would save a lot of confusion ;)

Yep the dampers stop the springs from bouncing up and down like Zebedee. Boing boing.
 
Blimey, as a new member and having been out of Land Rovering for a while I must say that the level of tolerance and friendliness has dropped a considerable amount, or is that just this forum? As for those who are fond of pointing out inaccuracies - I like to do that too sometimes - what we call a "shock absorber" is actually a damper. It damps the shock that the spring takes to stop the spring bouncing up and down. The shock absorber is the spring itself. The damper on it's own would be totally f***ed in two minutes without a spring (assuming you could get the vehicle to drive). The original poster is correct and obviously is not as much of a novice as some would suggest.
We are all novices at something and I thought that forums like these were where we could ask questions (dumb or not) and get pointed in the right direction? Or has that changed too?

For what it is worth I am running 2" lift with "75" tyres and the previous owner has (badly) modified the arches. However, it looks very much like they would run fine for all but extreme use if the arches were not modified, fwiw.
 
Blimey, as a new member and having been out of Land Rovering for a while I must say that the level of tolerance and friendliness has dropped a considerable amount, or is that just this forum? As for those who are fond of pointing out inaccuracies - I like to do that too sometimes - what we call a "shock absorber" is actually a damper. It damps the shock that the spring takes to stop the spring bouncing up and down. The shock absorber is the spring itself. The damper on it's own would be totally f***ed in two minutes without a spring (assuming you could get the vehicle to drive). The original poster is correct and obviously is not as much of a novice as some would suggest.
We are all novices at something and I thought that forums like these were where we could ask questions (dumb or not) and get pointed in the right direction? Or has that changed too?

For what it is worth I am running 2" lift with "75" tyres and the previous owner has (badly) modified the arches. However, it looks very much like they would run fine for all but extreme use if the arches were not modified, fwiw.

Northend,

I've made a few other posts and always had very friendly and helpful replies. Unfortunately the internet is open to everyone and it would appear that some people get satisfaction out of being the 'know it all' and making everyone else look stupid. Yes I'm a novice, hence why I've asked a question. Fortunately in amongst the crappy replies I have received a few helpful replies - so thank you to all you good guys.

As I will be running "85" tyres I am imagining I will have problems if I don't modify the arches... so I guess I'll have to have a look at some 'Camel Cut' guides on here.

I better not ask how to do them on the forum, as I'll only get told off !
 
See now this is the bit that upsets me.

There is a variety of answers and opinions, only one persons posts are derogatory. Their posts usually are no matter what the subject.

Please don't judge the forum because of one person who seems unable to share anything without being condescending.
 
I think you'll find that generally LandyZoners are a pretty friendly lot, but there are some questions which can and do elicit some fairly heated replies and opinions, and one of them is about lifting a Discovery, another one is about tyres but we won't even go there.
In this particular thread, the OP has asked about installing a lift in order to fit bigger tyres to his Disco so that he can drive up and down a rutted track to his cottage. All of the replies were really directed towards trying to get him to reconsider his approach to the problem. Ultimately he is going to have to repair the ruts in the track if he's going to use the cottage and then he'll be left with a Discovery with a chopped about body and possibly compromised handling characteristics because of poorly thought out and applied suspension modifications, after all, his mate had taken the bits off his Range Rover, rather than going out and purchasing the parts which would exactly meet his requirements safely and successfully.
If an owner has a good reason for applying a modification and is prepared to do the job properly using the proper parts and is prepared to do the research and willing to accept criticism, and yes, some ribbing then you'll have trouble finding a more knowledgeable lot than on this forum, but you'll also find that the comments can sometimes be a little "cutting" if it's thought that the owner is doing things wrongly and is not prepared to be told.
 
I think you'll find that generally LandyZoners are a pretty friendly lot, but there are some questions which can and do elicit some fairly heated replies and opinions, and one of them is about lifting a Discovery, another one is about tyres but we won't even go there.
In this particular thread, the OP has asked about installing a lift in order to fit bigger tyres to his Disco so that he can drive up and down a rutted track to his cottage. All of the replies were really directed towards trying to get him to reconsider his approach to the problem. Ultimately he is going to have to repair the ruts in the track if he's going to use the cottage and then he'll be left with a Discovery with a chopped about body and possibly compromised handling characteristics because of poorly thought out and applied suspension modifications, after all, his mate had taken the bits off his Range Rover, rather than going out and purchasing the parts which would exactly meet his requirements safely and successfully.
If an owner has a good reason for applying a modification and is prepared to do the job properly using the proper parts and is prepared to do the research and willing to accept criticism, and yes, some ribbing then you'll have trouble finding a more knowledgeable lot than on this forum, but you'll also find that the comments can sometimes be a little "cutting" if it's thought that the owner is doing things wrongly and is not prepared to be told.

Yes.

What the chap originally suggested was unlikely to lead to best results for him in the long run. So people suggested ways to go that might work out better for him overall.

Surely better than just telling him what he wants to hear, and then seeing the sad posts about how he has ruined the road manners and useability of his vehicle, and still cant get to his house! :)
 
Hi all, all points noted and agreed. I appreciate you all explaining the downfalls of lifting a truck, and this is all noted. Maybe my answer came across showing a disregard for your comments, but I was merely trying to question it all to get a better understanding. Now I do, and I wished I'd posted before I'd done the fronts - but as I was halfway there I decided to finish it off last night to see for myself. These were the tyres I wanted, and as I needed a new damper (and ideally two new springs) and these were cheap I thought to myself 'why not'.

I've only driven the car a couple of miles since, and other than slightly higher gearing because of the tyres, I can't say I've noticed much else. I imagine a few long trips and I'll understand your points, and at that point can determine whether I want to keep it raised up or whether I should just buy another dampener and two shocks and some smaller tyres.

Just for the record - the cottage isn't my home. It's a holiday home that is only ever used by a few of my family members. I guess I could fill in the ruts up to the cottage, but there is far too much land around for me to modify the whole terrain. I was just hoping that I could modify my Landy to make it as usuable as possible - after it, trips to the cottage is its primary use as this is not my daily drive.

I'll attach some photos now. You'll see that we found the chassis had oddly rotten behind one of the shocks - so every cloud!
 
IMG_7165.JPG
 
Brookstain, Here's a set up that worked well on my old D1.

2 inch blocks under the standard springs.
New britpart rear dampers plus 2 inches.
Tow bar spacers to extend the rear ARB mounts by 2 inches (needed ARB fitted for the MOT)
750 x 16 tyres on steel wheels
Minor camel cut

I believe that 750 x 16 are similar in diameter to 235/85/16 but may be a bit skinnier. They looked too skinny on a D1 really.
 
Vincemcdonald,

Sounds like a rather similar setup to mine then. Although my springs were 2" higher than the standard ones rather than the blocks.

Now this may be a newby question but... I haven't spaced my ARB mounts. Is this bad and is it something I should do?

At the moment it's looking like I may need a minor camel cut. No rubbing at the moment, but I guess the minute I go off road it will. I've had a look online and a camel cut looks easy.

Did you have any issues with the front wheels rubbing on the plastic side skirt? Mine is extremely close, so I may just remove the plastic side skirt as it seems unnessecary and I imagine it retains a lot of dirt (& water).

Cheers
 

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