James's rebuild thread

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james6546

Well-Known Member
Posts
3,043
Location
Ashbourne
Right, so it is time that I got this started if I am going to have it back on the road by the end of summer.

I have a budget of £3000 to do a chassis replacement including suspension and a new transfer box.

Please bear with me, I am a complete novice at all of this and I will ask a lot of questions!

I am planning on ordering the chassis on Tues, but need to finalise some stuff first. I think I am going to go with a Richards chassis as they are a slightly higher thickness steel and I won't have to re-tap the threads. But I will collect it and it is a lot father away than Marshalls, which isn't ideal.

Just trying to decide whether to go for the gearbox crossmember as well. I think I am going to get the TD5 tank mounts too and make some kind of dual tank system.

Any recommendations for suspension brands? I guess I need HD springs as the final idea is for it to be expedition spec. Or medium duty if I can find some.
 
Keep in mind heavy duty springs are for supporting extra weight, if you wont be carting more weight than a normal sprung landy is designed for there really isnt much point, you will lose articulation and have a harsher ride.
 
I actually got a better ride fitting the HD ones, buy the 1.2 or 1.5" lift springs too and you wont have any issues but it'll look better. Thats what I have on my disco, 1.5 front and 1.2 rear and it levels itself out nicely
 
East Coast Rovers did a very good write up regardiong heavy duty springs.

SUSPENSION MISCONCEPTIONS
Stop buying heavy duty springs for everything! Over and over and over we get calls with "I just put in OME (Old Man Emu) heavy duty springs and now my ride is rough, my truck handles poorly." Well dah... that is because you likely just installed the wrong parts. In the USA the words "Heavy Duty" are synonymous with "High Quality". Some Madison Avenue advertising agent figured that out years ago, so no matter what the product, you for sure do not want the standard one, you want the "Heavy Duty" one. Well in buying a suspension spring you likely do not want the heavy duty.
Here is an example for a Range Rover:
The OME760 offers about 1" of lift for the front of a stock Range Rover. A good choice if you have no winch or heavy front bumper, maybe a little light.
The OME761 offers 1.25" of lift and carries an extra 50 to 110 pounds. This is a good choice for most applications.
The OME751 offers 1.5" of lift, but it is set up for an additional 110-250 pounds. That means you better have a really heavy front bumper and winch hanging out up there.
So most folks look at the lift and say, "Ok, I want the most lift I can get, so I want a OME751 as it offers 1.5" of lift". Wrong. The only reason you would want a OME 751 is if you have a huge bumper, large winch, etc etc. The spring is designed to carry extra weight. It needs the extra weight to make it flex correctly. If you put on OME751 on a Range Rover without all that heavy gear up front, you will get lift, but you will loose articulation off road as you have no weight to make the spring work. You'll also be tossed around inside the rig on the trail like a rag doll. You will also loose on road handling as the springs will have no give and it will input a short choppy/ bumpy feel into your cabin. Flex is the key to a coil suspension, not lift. Lift is nice, but a flexible suspension will out drive a stiff lifted one 7 days a week. A better set up would be to go with a medium spring and use a small lift block. This would keep your suspension flexible, and give you your desired 1.5" of lift.
So consider your real needs and do not always buy "Heavy Duty" just because it says so on the box.

ECR Articles

Lifting a vehicle on its springs wont give you anymore ground clearance under the axle, the OP mentioned expedition spec, that would be keeping parts such as suspension , brakes, steering etc stock so as to have no issues aquiring spares. There is a big difference between an expedition vehicle and a mud plugger.
 
East Coast Rovers did a very good write up regardiong heavy duty springs.
...

Lifting a vehicle on its springs wont give you anymore ground clearance under the axle, the OP mentioned expedition spec, that would be keeping parts such as suspension , brakes, steering etc stock so as to have no issues aquiring spares. There is a big difference between an expedition vehicle and a mud plugger.

Thanks, good point about the parts. The plan was to keep virtually all of it standard anyway. I am going for the rugged, but mostly standard look!

The thing is I don't really want HD springs as the ride is harsh enough anyway, but then I plan on having a roof rack, tent, winch etc. on it and I don't think that standard suspension would be up to the job.

Hmm...

Maybe something like the Terrafirma medium duty stuff?

Just compiling a list of things I think I will need to get for this project.
 
Ok, so my list is:

Chassis
Brake pipes
Engine mounts
Gearbox mounts
Clutch kit
Springs
Shocks
Bushes
Paint
Bolts
Service items (gearbox oil, diff oil, fuel filter, air filter)
Rear floor
Cam belt kit
Suspension bolts
Shock turrets
Shock retaining rings

Have I forgotten anything?
 
Ok, so my list is:

Chassis - £1000
Brake pipes - £20
Engine mounts - £10
Gearbox mounts - £8
Clutch kit - £120
Springs/shocks - £350
Bushes - £5
Paint/under seal - £100
Bolts - £30
Service items (gearbox oil, diff oil, fuel filter, air filter) - £50
Rear floor - £10
Cam belt kit - £40
Suspension bolts - £10
Shock turrets - £30
Shock retaining rings - £10
Half decent transfer - £100

Have I forgotten anything?


I'm guessing at things like the cam belt kit and shock turrets but the rest is about what I pay for bolts/oils and I sold a low mileage transfer to bitch tits on here for £95 82k was on that one. With new cross drilled input gear and bearings
 
I had it as:
Chassis £1400
Brake pipes £25
Engine mounts £20
Gearbox mounts £20
Clutch kit £100
Springs £120
Shocks £150
Bushes £100
Paint £100
Bolts £40
Service items
(gearbox oil, diff oil, fuel filter, air filter) £50
Rear floor £130
Cam belt kit £55
Suspension bolts £25
Shock turrets £80
Shock retaining rings £40
Transfer box £500

But that was with a reconditioned transfer box from ashcroft
 
You're budgeting a lot for box and engine mounts! They're a fiver each if that for all makes ones!

Bushes I forgot about the arms tbh, I was just going for shocks

Bolts you're going crazy with too :eek: where are you buying from!

Rear floor is just a sheet of ally.......doesn't cost much in sheet to make your own or have one folded


Transfer.........don't buy from ashcrofts
 
Where do you plan to go? A lot of expedition work , in fact most of it will be on tarmac. When you are 1500 miles from home you wont be doing any extreme off roading unless you really really have to.

I have standard springs on mine and never had any issues when out and about, but I kept my weight down as much as I could, not only so as not to overload things but also for fuel consumption, no point in pulling loads of weight if you dont have to.

Get a list of all you will carry, weigh it or take an educated guess, add a few adults and a full tank/tanks of fuel then work your suspension requirements from there. Keep in mind a standard 90 can carry a fair bit of weight as standard anyway.

I think people can overdo an expedition vehicle, it doesnt have to be complicated or heavy. You also prepare the vehicle for the trip, preparing it for anything and everything gets expensive, heavy and overly complicated.
 

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You're budgeting a lot for box and engine mounts! They're a fiver each if that for all makes ones!

Bushes I forgot about the arms tbh, I was just going for shocks

Bolts you're going crazy with too :eek: where are you buying from!

Rear floor is just a sheet of ally.......doesn't cost much in sheet to make your own or have one folded


Transfer.........don't buy from ashcrofts

Ok. Would you just go for a used transfer box? I guess I could sell mine then too, as there isn't anything wrong with it.

Problem is I don't know anything about gears or boxes or anything...so I wouldn't know if I wa putting a decent one back in or not.

I have bought a chassis bolt kit from A2 stainless (don't think they are stainless bolts though), and then some other random bolts.

Yeah, I did overbudget on the floor, but that was with the rear seals and retainers and maybe the supports too.
 
Where do you plan to go? A lot of expedition work , in fact most of it will be on tarmac. When you are 1500 miles from home you wont be doing any extreme off roading unless you really really have to.

I have standard springs on mine and never had any issues when out and about, but I kept my weight down as much as I could, not only so as not to overload things but also for fuel consumption, no point in pulling loads of weight if you dont have to.

Get a list of all you will carry, weigh it or take an educated guess, add a few adults and a full tank/tanks of fuel then work your suspension requirements from there. Keep in mind a standard 90 can carry a fair bit of weight as standard anyway.

I think people can overdo an expedition vehicle, it doesnt have to be complicated or heavy. You also prepare the vehicle for the trip, preparing it for anything and everything gets expensive, heavy and overly complicated.

Good point about them being designed to carry weight!

I would like a winch on and a few guards aswell as I would like to do some more green laning at some point. Nothing OTT though.

So I guess when you work it out there wouldn't be much that was particularly heavy.

Which companies make Medium duty springs other than Terrafirma?
 
Ok. Would you just go for a used transfer box? I guess I could sell mine then too, as there isn't anything wrong with it.

Problem is I don't know anything about gears or boxes or anything...so I wouldn't know if I wa putting a decent one back in or not.

I have bought a chassis bolt kit from A2 stainless (don't think they are stainless bolts though), and then some other random bolts.

Yeah, I did overbudget on the floor, but that was with the rear seals and retainers and maybe the supports too.

If you can afford an Ashcroft box do it, I wouldnt trust an EBay box on a long trip, unless I ran it for a few months first and got confident with it.
Having a bust tranny box half way up a mountain trail in some far off land is anything but funny.
 
Good point about them being designed to carry weight!

I would like a winch on and a few guards aswell as I would like to do some more green laning at some point. Nothing OTT though.

So I guess when you work it out there wouldn't be much that was particularly heavy.

Which companies make Medium duty springs other than Terrafirma?

Landrover do, look for land rover spring colour codes on google.
 
If you can afford an Ashcroft box do it, I wouldnt trust an EBay box on a long trip, unless I ran it for a few months first and got confident with it.
Having a bust tranny box half way up a mountain trail in some far off land is anything but funny.

Ashcroft only renew the bearings and input gear :rolleyes: no point in buying on for a blown up price
 
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