Trewey
Cockernee, Pasty munchin bastid.
- Posts
- 20,079
- Location
- Kernow - Near England
To be honest, my main motivation for wanting to lift me deepender was for the looks. Yes, there are some minor advantages to be gained when off-roading, but in many many years of landy driving, I'd never got stuck or failed to get to where I wanted to go for the lack of a lift.
Anyway, after much reading up on various forums, I was convinced that a 2" lift was simply a case of fitting the relevant springs and shocks, and no further modifications were necessary.
I was sooooo wrong.
Yes, my Landy is 16 years / 93,000 miles old and many of the components were old and tired. However, it can't be coincidence that so many parts failed / detriorated quickly after fitting the lift..
Rear trailing arm bushes and body mounts.
Radius arm bushes and body mounts.
Steering damper and bushes.
All 3 track rod ends.
Both diff input bearings and oil seals.
Swivel bearings.
Front hub bearings (rears had been replaced just before fitting the lift)
A frame ball joint.
A frame upper bushes.
Panhard rod bushes.
Most or all of the above failures were, I believe, caused directly or indirectly by the additional stresses put on these components by the unnatural angles imposed by lifting the suspension.
In addition, the handling went to pot after fitting the lift and severe transmission vibration was introduced.
In order to restore the handling and performance back to something like normal / acceptable and to prevent further premature failure (whilst maintaining the lift) I had to do the following...
Replace all of the components listed above.
Fit cranked rear training arms.
Fit castor corrected radius arms.
Fit an adjustable panhard rod.
Fit wide-yoke propshafts front and rear.
The cost of all this was about 3 times what the lift kit cost me.
So, the moral of my story is - If you must lift your landy, be prepared for a lot more expenditure than the cost of the springs and shocks, or be prepared to put up with pretty poor on-road handling and orrible transmission vibration!
Anyway, after much reading up on various forums, I was convinced that a 2" lift was simply a case of fitting the relevant springs and shocks, and no further modifications were necessary.
I was sooooo wrong.
Yes, my Landy is 16 years / 93,000 miles old and many of the components were old and tired. However, it can't be coincidence that so many parts failed / detriorated quickly after fitting the lift..
Rear trailing arm bushes and body mounts.
Radius arm bushes and body mounts.
Steering damper and bushes.
All 3 track rod ends.
Both diff input bearings and oil seals.
Swivel bearings.
Front hub bearings (rears had been replaced just before fitting the lift)
A frame ball joint.
A frame upper bushes.
Panhard rod bushes.
Most or all of the above failures were, I believe, caused directly or indirectly by the additional stresses put on these components by the unnatural angles imposed by lifting the suspension.
In addition, the handling went to pot after fitting the lift and severe transmission vibration was introduced.
In order to restore the handling and performance back to something like normal / acceptable and to prevent further premature failure (whilst maintaining the lift) I had to do the following...
Replace all of the components listed above.
Fit cranked rear training arms.
Fit castor corrected radius arms.
Fit an adjustable panhard rod.
Fit wide-yoke propshafts front and rear.
The cost of all this was about 3 times what the lift kit cost me.
So, the moral of my story is - If you must lift your landy, be prepared for a lot more expenditure than the cost of the springs and shocks, or be prepared to put up with pretty poor on-road handling and orrible transmission vibration!
