7 seat spring conversion legality

As above basically, I got chatting to a local mechanic today and he rose the subject of replacing the airbags on a 7 seater disco 2 with springs because they do kits to do this,Ive seen these kits but I thought the airbags had to be put on if you had the rear seats but you can buy 5 seaters with springs as standard?

D1s 7 seaters are on springs, I believe it's a LR design thing giving comfort and SLS that 7 seater D2 were supplied with air suspension.

d2 wer on air due to rear over hang they lenghtened the arse end to turn seats round.Also something to do with eu laws changing to strings can cause insurance problems.

Yep, airsprings for Self Levelling Suspension (SLS) on the 7 seater was done to cope with the prospect of passengers in the rear, so all 7 seaters are SLS.

I do know NFU will insure 7 seaters which have been coil converted, but many won't cover you so you need to check before doing the conversion. Conversion is very simple to do as well. You do need diagnostic to tell the vehicle the SLS has changed to coils, which is very straight forward on T4.

So you can do it to a 7 seater as long as your insurance company agrees. What about the EU Law? did LR fit all 7 seaters with airbags because of that law or just to provide more comfort/better road manners etc?

think it was to do with weight issue and the air can adjust to the different weights put in it.You need to look in to the new mot reg as well lots of changes don't no if this will come into it ???IMO they used air for a good reason so air mine will stay.

I was advised by LR Tech support that DII's were only type approved as 7 seaters with air springs,so on an individual basis owners should ask their insurers BEFORE converting a 7 seater to coils.Seeing how fussy insurance companies are its probably a good idea to tell them if you are converting a 5 seater to coils aswell.....

eightinavee said:

I was advised by LR Tech support that DII's were only type approved as 7 seaters with air springs,so on an individual basis owners should ask their insurers BEFORE converting a 7 seater to coils.Seeing how fussy insurance companies are its probably a good idea to tell them if you are converting a 5 seater to coils aswell.....

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or the better option just keep the air suspention system..

i've just converted the coil springs back to air (previous owner fitted coils)
and what a differance it has made to the ride and handling, why would anyone want to fit coil springs??
ok coils might be cheaper and easier to sort out an electrical fault or compressor but it's so much better on air

Having had d1's and a d2 I would much prefer air suspension. Only disadvantage is when you want to do serious off road and need much more height than the suspension can give as standard.

Let's face it the d2 in standard trim is not a rock climbing animal but it is a great all rounder and with air suspension it is very comfortable.

There are bad points to SLS. Namely a stance like a ****ting dog without any warning, but these issues are easily fixed and against some beliefs, you don't have to consistently replace bags all the time.

Insurance wise - yes as mentioned before the 7 sweaters were type approved with air suspension. Fitting springs has a lot of complications if your insurance company won't play ball.

Mine was a five sweater and I looked at converting it to 7 seats but even then the insurance company and DVLA wanted me to take it through an SVA test afterwards.

sparky steve said:

or the better option just keep the air suspention system..

i've just converted the coil springs back to air (previous owner fitted coils)
and what a differance it has made to the ride and handling, why would anyone want to fit coil springs??
ok coils might be cheaper and easier to sort out an electrical fault or compressor but it's so much better on air

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I dont give a toss if owners want to keep their SLS or convert to coils - all that interests me is that they are able to pay for whichever they ask me to do.

If it came from the factory with 7 seats and coils then its fine, but if you,re converting from air to springs, then I think your insurance company will need to know. ( and you COULD order a 7 seater from the factory without air springs ).

Del.

I have just changed ours from air to coils, best thing I have ever done. Air was totally unreliable, going down whilst towing on the M1 wasn't funny. The ride is no different and I can once again trust my D2! Ps it gets used on and off road, tows and usually has a decent load in the rear.

Just jumping on the bandwagon here --->

Converted mine from air bags to coils - completed by the Land Rover agent here in NZ. Whole job took about 1.5 hours. No difference to the ride quality in my opinion. Insurance company didn't mind as the work was completed by LR, didn't require certification either as they said it was a factory option.

Noticed that there are different part numbers for the rear shock absorbers between air and coil.... do coils require stiffer shocks maybe?