How much lift?

This site contains affiliate links for which LandyZone may be compensated if you make a purchase.

tom1979

Well-Known Member
Full Member
Posts
2,191
Location
East of England, UK
morning all, can anyone tell me what’s the best way to determine how much lift my Defender has? As in where to measure from and too.

I have not touched the suspension in the 6 years I’ve owned it other than replacing the rear shocks. I know the 33 tyres will put it up a tiny bit too.

Cheers

EE2C1EFB-FFA9-4DE6-AEEC-5819872AAEF3.jpeg
 
Measuring lift. You need to define what you want to know.

Eg

From the ground to the axles
From the ground to the chassis
From the axles to the chassis
From the chassis to the body
From the axles to the body
From the ground to the body
Or the wheel arch gap

The reason for this is. There are many different ways to lift a Vehcile.

And it all depends on what your question is and why you want to know :)

Also there is a huge variance even with standard Land Rovers depending on the year, engine and body configuration.

The poster above recommended measuring from the stops. If you crawl under the chassis. There should be a rubber block mounted to the underside above the axle on each chassis rail. 4 in total. If you measure from the bottom of these to the tops of axle tubes it will give you a datum point.

You’ll need to be on perfectly flat ground. As any sort of slope or uneven ground will make all of the gaps different as the suspension slightly flexes.

Other issues are. Bump stops are sometimes missing. And they might not all be the same size. Some pattern ones might be shorter or taller. Mounting tabs can get bent. So may not be a perfectly reliable point to measure from and there are longer after market bump stops too.
 
Measuring lift. You need to define what you want to know.

Eg

From the ground to the axles
From the ground to the chassis
From the axles to the chassis
From the chassis to the body
From the axles to the body
From the ground to the body
Or the wheel arch gap

The reason for this is. There are many different ways to lift a Vehcile.

And it all depends on what your question is and why you want to know :)

Also there is a huge variance even with standard Land Rovers depending on the year, engine and body configuration.

The poster above recommended measuring from the stops. If you crawl under the chassis. There should be a rubber block mounted to the underside above the axle on each chassis rail. 4 in total. If you measure from the bottom of these to the tops of axle tubes it will give you a datum point.

You’ll need to be on perfectly flat ground. As any sort of slope or uneven ground will make all of the gaps different as the suspension slightly flexes.

Other issues are. Bump stops are sometimes missing. And they might not all be the same size. Some pattern ones might be shorter or taller. Mounting tabs can get bent. So may not be a perfectly reliable point to measure from and there are longer after market bump stops too.

Cheers. The reason I want to know is that I might like to lower it by a couple of inches at some point. I suspect axles to the chassis will be the most reliable measurement. Failing that I may be able to measure the springs and compare to new ones.

I’ve kept the suspension the same since buying it 6 years ago but it is excessively high I think. Previous owner was going for extreme off roading !
 
Use the measurements to decide what to do. Good response from @300bhp/ton by the way!

Measuring springs will be unreliable mostly 'cos you don't know what the spring rates are.. OK, many yellows and Britpart HD's, many Blue springs are Bearmach HD ... but you can't guarantee anything regarding make. Different spring rates/makes will make the vehicle sit at different heights simply due to more or less 'sag' in the system.
 
Well, I am not scrolling all the way back up there.

Cheers
Thanks do you mean between the body and the axle ?

Sorry yeah I meant bump stop, measuring from centre of wheel to arch or some other measurement can be less accurate, as others have said make sure your measuring from the same datum points each ones on each side to get an accurate measurement.

Mine isn’t lifted in anyway so can measure my bump stops to axles if you want a reference. I fitted new standard springs a year or so ago. I could also measure any other bits you want, if it helps
 
Back
Top