Advise on raising my disco

JONABOY88 · Jun 22, 2015

Hi All

New to the forum so bear with me.

I have a discovery 1 (300tdi 1998) and i am looking to lift the suspension. It is currently standard. I have been reading up and 2" lift sets seems popular ?. is this ok to do ? or do i have to change other parts as well as springs and shockers ? and also does anyone recommend a specific make of springs and shocks?

appreciate any feed back and advise.

haigy · Jun 22, 2015

2 inch springs and shocks will be fine.britpart supergas and hd springs have always been good for me. Ive also fitted dislocation cones on mine and hd spring clamps to hold in place. Removed anti roll bars and all is good on handling and offroad is good.

You could extend the brakelines if you wish but its up to you.maybe as a safety measure i did mine but it doesnt need doing

JONABOY88 · Jun 22, 2015

thanks for the quick response haigy.
would it pass a MOT with the anti-roll bar ?.

haigy · Jun 23, 2015

Ive never had any issues on it passing with them removed.you could always remove properly and keep them mot time fit them for the day or so n them remove again. It just restricts when off road but my hd springs theres no roll on the road

Marmaduke · Jun 23, 2015

First of all why do you want to raise it?

deanog · Jun 24, 2015

I've just bought my first disco and posted about some mods I wanted to do which included a lift. I was surprised that most people say a lift is not needed if the right wheels and tyres (and a camel cut on the arches) are fitted then the truck will go anywhere. I may fit one in the future but for now I'm just going to sort a few niggles out then trim the arches as I've already got the wheels and tyres then I'm going out with a few pals to see how it fairs up.

ronsealdeath · Jun 24, 2015

Read Treweys sticky first about lifting.

chrisstdt · Jun 24, 2015

A lift isnt essential for off roading as your lifting the body and its the axles that will catch in ruts first

My disco was lifted on HD springs when i got it and i put standard defender springs on as the ride on the road was unbearable

If you want more clearance id advise bigger wheels

300bhp/ton · Jun 24, 2015

chrisstdt said:
A lift isnt essential for off roading as your lifting the body and its the axles that will catch in ruts first

Ruts aren't the only off road obstacle and a suspension lift "can" be beneficial.

Turboman · Jun 24, 2015

300bhp/ton said:
Ruts aren't the only off road obstacle and a suspension lift "can" be beneficial.

Can be a total pain in the arse as well, specially going under low branches!

300bhp/ton · Jun 24, 2015

JONABOY88 said:
Hi All

New to the forum so bear with me.

I have a discovery 1 (300tdi 1998) and i am looking to lift the suspension. It is currently standard. I have been reading up and 2" lift sets seems popular ?. is this ok to do ? or do i have to change other parts as well as springs and shockers ? and also does anyone recommend a specific make of springs and shocks?

appreciate any feed back and advise.

Why do you want to lift it?

If your answer is "dunno" or similar. Then don't!!! Not until you know why you want to lift it.

And a statement such as "making it better off road" doesn't count. Because lifting it, will most likely not do this.

There are many different types of lift, or different ways to lift a vehicle. Before you do anything, you should understand the different ways and the pro's and cons of each.

Also understanding what the current suspension limitations are is extremely important and knowing what you want to achieve specifically at the end of it.

Just slapping on some ****part +2" HD springs and calling it done is one sure way to:

-make it worse off road
-make it worse on road
-make the steering worse
-promote prop binding
-ruin the handling & ride.

For 90% of the people in 90% of the off roading conditions they are likely to do, 100% standard suspension is likely perfectly sufficient. And will offer a good compromise of overall ability, on and off road.

This isn't to say lifting shouldn't be done. It can be very worth while to do, but do it for the right reasons. And don't run the risk to wasting money to end up with crap at the end of it.

Turboman · Jun 24, 2015

300bhp/ton said:
Why do you want to lift it?

If your answer is "dunno" or similar. Then don't!!! Not until you know why you want to lift it.

And a statement such as "making it better off road" doesn't count. Because lifting it, will most likely not do this.

There are many different types of lift, or different ways to lift a vehicle. Before you do anything, you should understand the different ways and the pro's and cons of each.

Also understanding what the current suspension limitations are is extremely important and knowing what you want to achieve specifically at the end of it.

Just slapping on some ****part +2" HD springs and calling it done is one sure way to:

-make it worse off road
-make it worse on road
-make the steering worse
-promote prop binding
-ruin the handling & ride.

For 90% of the people in 90% of the off roading conditions they are likely to do, 100% standard suspension is likely perfectly sufficient. And will offer a good compromise of overall ability, on and off road.

This isn't to say lifting shouldn't be done. It can be very worth while to do, but do it for the right reasons. And don't run the risk to wasting money to end up with crap at the end of it.

I agree!

Standard suspension is a pretty good all round compromise, and I have found it very capable in my thirty years of mainly farm and forestry use.

My observation would be that the skill of the driver is a big factor.

As OP is a novice, he might do better to spend a few years improving his driving to the point it is up to the capabilities of a standard landy, before wasting time and money on mods.

300bhp/ton · Jun 24, 2015

JONABOY88 said:
thanks for the quick response haigy.
would it pass a MOT with the anti-roll bar ?.

Technically it might fail. But it's not a clean cut answer.

The MoT look for:

G. Suspension arms and Linkages, Sub-Frames etc

Check the following components and any attachment brackets or linkages, for presence

A suspension component or its attachment bracket or linkage:

-missing where one is fitted as standard
MOT information - Suspension

What this is saying is, check for an anti-roll bar and linkage and fail it if it is missing.

And some testers will do this. As they assume it should be there by standard.

However, not all Discovery's were fitted with anti roll bars, although usually they didn't have the brackets either.

But I'm lead to believe that some Discovery's did have the axle brackets but no anti-roll bar as standard from the factory. Should the MoT tester want to fail it on this, it would certainly be a point for a discussion with them.

Easiest route is probably just go to another MoT place if the first does kick up a fuss.

Advise on raising my disco

JONABOY88

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haigy

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JONABOY88

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haigy

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Marmaduke

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deanog

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ronsealdeath

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chrisstdt

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300bhp/ton

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Turboman

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300bhp/ton

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Turboman

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