D3 Discovery 3 - Suspension Problem & Hawkeye Total

gstuart said:

i tried the XR8 kit and was good quality , main issues is if u can get the compressor apart without breaking anything , but u won’t know until u try

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Sounds ominous haha - Any tips on the more fragile bits...?

If using push fits try and get the brass ones a they last much longer and dont go fragile as they age.

lynall said:

If using push fits try and get the brass ones a they last much longer and dont go fragile as they age.

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Ok thanks - before I chomp into it though, do I cut it leaving enough plastic pipe from the compressor to push onto the remaining pipe or am I expecting to remove the fittings from the pump when I've got it off the car?

lhandrover said:

Ok thanks - before I chomp into it though, do I cut it leaving enough plastic pipe from the compressor to push onto the remaining pipe or am I expecting to remove the fittings from the pump when I've got it off the car?

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Ive never done a D3 compressor (hope never have to) just basing my experience with doing 100/1000s of air brake pipe repairs on trucks which run at much the same pressures.
In the old days replacing a dodgy valve fitting meant cut the pipe further along remove the valve refit all old fittings/pipes to new valve and stick back on with pushfits, now we keep most types, but nothing as small as the D3 runs.
Always try and fit pushfits on straight bits of pipe otherwise they will end up leaking.

Have you looked on ebay for pipe union kits for the compressor? or googled it to see what the pros do when replacing them?

lynall said:

Ive never done a D3 compressor (hope never have to) just basing my experience with doing 100/1000s of air brake pipe repairs on trucks which run at much the same pressures.
In the old days replacing a dodgy valve fitting meant cut the pipe further along remove the valve refit all old fittings/pipes to new valve and stick back on with pushfits, now we keep most types, but nothing as small as the D3 runs.
Always try and fit pushfits on straight bits of pipe otherwise they will end up leaking.

Have you looked on ebay for pipe union kits for the compressor? or googled it to see what the pros do when replacing them?

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Thanks
Yes I have looked at the pipe kits and they fall into 2 camps - One type with angled pieces of plastic pipe but with the flanges on, or pushfit connectors but with bits of short metal tube - both types appear to be assuming one has managed to remove the pipe from the VOSS fitting. If I'd done that, why would I cut it. Hence my confusion. I had a bit of a try when applying release oil on the bolts in readiness to get pump off, but they didnt budge for me.

lynall said:

Ive never done a D3 compressor (hope never have to) just basing my experience with doing 100/1000s of air brake pipe repairs on trucks which run at much the same pressures.
In the old days replacing a dodgy valve fitting meant cut the pipe further along remove the valve refit all old fittings/pipes to new valve and stick back on with pushfits, now we keep most types, but nothing as small as the D3 runs.
Always try and fit pushfits on straight bits of pipe otherwise they will end up leaking.

Have you looked on ebay for pipe union kits for the compressor? or googled it to see what the pros do when replacing them?

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did find it fidly when i fitted a new compressor , especially those connectors

i’ve actually bought a new air inlet silencer and intend to fit that in the summer , as when i remove my rear upper wishbones and fit new ones i thought that’s an ideal time to fit that, along with sorting out the slightly chaffed wire i noticed on the back loom , covered it for now

doesn’t matter if it takes me a few weeks , lol

lhandrover said:

Thanks
Yes I have looked at the pipe kits and they fall into 2 camps - One type with angled pieces of plastic pipe but with the flanges on, or pushfit connectors but with bits of short metal tube - both types appear to be assuming one has managed to remove the pipe from the VOSS fitting. If I'd done that, why would I cut it. Hence my confusion. I had a bit of a try when applying release oil on the bolts in readiness to get pump off, but they didnt budge for me.

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there are a few kits , ones are extenders , others are if you’ve cut too much pipe off

they are sods getting those 2 x pipes out

i did buy all new stainless steel bolts if ur talking about the bolts that hold the cover and pump onto the chassis bracket

gstuart said:

there are a few kits , ones are extenders , others are if you’ve cut too much pipe off

they are sods getting those 2 x pipes out

i did buy all new stainless steel bolts if ur talking about the bolts that hold the cover and pump onto the chassis bracket

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Good idea - I've put this on to get the old ones out. I've read people say this job takes 30 minutes, frankly it will take me that long to position a few axle stands haha.
The complexity of the car worrys me, especially the fragility of the suspension it seems. As they get older like they are, is coil suspension not a means of extending the life of these cars? I had a 7 seat D2 once and that had coils on it and the ride was fine. I'm not an offroader. Whats the situation on that, not as easy as it sounds?

lhandrover said:

Good idea - I've put this on to get the old ones out. I've read people say this job takes 30 minutes, frankly it will take me that long to position a few axle stands haha.
The complexity of the car worrys me, especially the fragility of the suspension it seems. As they get older like they are, is coil suspension not a means of extending the life of these cars? I had a 7 seat D2 once and that had coils on it and the ride was fine. I'm not an offroader. Whats the situation on that, not as easy as it sounds?

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it took me a few days , but only because i painted the chassis with the compressor removed, time ordering new bolts, clips and a new bracket

not 100% , but i believe u mustn’t fit coil for the 7 x seater model , ie ins etc , @lynall may know better than myself

i wouldn’t change to coil, find the air suspension to also be superior over coils, but that’s my own preference

gstuart said:

it took me a few days , but only because i painted the chassis with the compressor removed, time ordering new bolts, clips and a new bracket

not 100% , but i believe u mustn’t fit coil for the 7 x seater model , ie ins etc , @lynall may know better than myself

i wouldn’t change to coil, find the air suspension to also be superior over coils, but that’s my own preference

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Im sure if you fitted coils the chances of anyone actually finding out even in a fatal accident have to be very slim, especially as some D3 were factory fit with coils, must be aquite rare in the UK I would imagine.
I personally like the air ride, it was a massive revelation on the trucks 20 odd years ago and its the same with cars.

lynall said:

Im sure if you fitted coils the chances of anyone actually finding out even in a fatal accident have to be very slim, especially as some D3 were factory fit with coils, must be aquite rare in the UK I would imagine.
I personally like the air ride, it was a massive revelation on the trucks 20 odd years ago and its the same with cars.

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didn’t realise that at first where they fitted coils to the 5 x seat D3s

couldn’t agree more ref the air suspension , had a nice run out the other day and the ride and comfort was fantastic , don’t know if it also contributes to how quiet it is inside the landy

lynall said:

Im sure if you fitted coils the chances of anyone actually finding out even in a fatal accident have to be very slim, especially as some D3 were factory fit with coils, must be aquite rare in the UK I would imagine.
I personally like the air ride, it was a massive revelation on the trucks 20 odd years ago and its the same with cars.

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I suppose its what comes of reading too much on forums - Most probably don't have a problem but looking at the prevalence of failures on here I can see it writing off cars in the not too distant future - fixing something for several hundred pounds on a regular basis is not a lot on a 50k car. but when its worth what D3's are now it must become less viable. Fitting coil spring suspension would be the end of those woes, make it more reliable and only cost about £350 when all said and done. Its a consideration I suppose..
I've only driven this on normal height and it felt a bit floaty, but for off road capability, height raising etc I imagine its a great boon

lhandrover said:

I suppose its what comes of reading too much on forums - Most probably don't have a problem but looking at the prevalence of failures on here I can see it writing off cars in the not too distant future - fixing something for several hundred pounds on a regular basis is not a lot on a 50k car. but when its worth what D3's are now it must become less viable. Fitting coil spring suspension would be the end of those woes, make it more reliable and only cost about £350 when all said and done. Its a consideration I suppose..
I've only driven this on normal height and it felt a bit floaty, but for off road capability, height raising etc I imagine its a great boon

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imagine like ur goodself having previous landies and got to admit this is my favourite so far

think the full coil kit costs around 8-900 , from a personal point of view mine certainly doesn’t wallow or wander round corners , inc at 70 mph down the motorway , stays where it’s supposed to

trouble is i’ve found is when people just don’t maintain these vehicles , then having to pay out even more to fix it

paid virtually peanuts for mine but knew it had issues when i bought it , ive had to go through the vehicle with a fine tooth comb, even the compressors bracket was broken and someone had tried to use cable ties, inc the cover

took me a long while having to resolve all the bodges out

to buy a half decent D3 these days ur looking around £7-8k

properly maintained and looked after i think there an awesome motor, off road they really are capable motors

know it’s disheartening for now but once up and running u will notice the difference with how it should drive

plus don’t forget plenty of us here to help

Coils were fitted to base models, tried one for a few days, reminded me of a transit van, air is a different level of ride and quieter interior

gstuart said:

don’t know if it also contributes to how quiet it is inside the landy

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From my experience, it does. The air spring, being made of rubber is a very good insulator and damper combined, in terms of said noise getting into the vehicle structure, and also in terms of vibration from the road. Quite a contrast from the solid spring steel bar a coil spring is made from.

Disco1BFG said:

From my experience, it does. The air spring, being made of rubber is a very good insulator and damper combined, in terms of said noise getting into the vehicle structure, and also in terms of vibration from the road. Quite a contrast from the solid spring steel bar a coil spring is made from.

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thks, was just curious and it does make a lot of sense when u explain it like that , that explains then why it’s considerably quieter down the motorway at 70 than my hippo ever was , no comparison

wonder if coils were retro fitted if the DSC would still work ,

freelance said:

Coils were fitted to base models, tried one for a few days, reminded me of a transit van, air is a different level of ride and quieter interior

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didn’t realise that at first on the 5 x seater having the coils , so u found it that much different then in the ride quality , or lack of it as the case may be

gstuart said:

imagine like ur goodself having previous landies and got to admit this is my favourite so far

think the full coil kit costs around 8-900 , from a personal point of view mine certainly doesn’t wallow or wander round corners , inc at 70 mph down the motorway , stays where it’s supposed to

trouble is i’ve found is when people just don’t maintain these vehicles , then having to pay out even more to fix it

paid virtually peanuts for mine but knew it had issues when i bought it , ive had to go through the vehicle with a fine tooth comb, even the compressors bracket was broken and someone had tried to use cable ties, inc the cover

took me a long while having to resolve all the bodges out

to buy a half decent D3 these days ur looking around £7-8k

properly maintained and looked after i think there an awesome motor, off road they really are capable motors

know it’s disheartening for now but once up and running u will notice the difference with how it should drive

plus don’t forget plenty of us here to help

Click to expand...

Understood and agree with the maintenance - I could use mine now without doing anything to it, and I am going for the compressor repair option.

Just by way of considering fixes however, it would be a shame to discount the options available to those viewing suspension problems as we are discussing here. I think I overegged the cost of going coil, its actually less - and much less if I were not to be concerned about retaining terrain response so I've only factored out what I think needs to remain on the car. If going to coil I would have available to sell at least Front and rear air springs at 50 each, compressor 125, bracket 25, clamshells 25, reservoir 50 if all working of course, and I've picked the lower of sold prices on Ebay, it could be more. I'm assuming that height sensors, valves and ecu's would need to remain even after going coil but I'm not certain, if any of that becomes redundant then it further narrows the gap. Dunlop full shock/coil kit or Terrafirma with the smart box to stop error messages etc comes in at 675 less what you can sell. For all that, I am going to stick with Air - but if it were to fail again in the near future its coming out..

Here I found an excellent guide to doing the job for what its worth

http://www.roverparts.com/resources/videos/air-coil-suspension-conversion-range-rover-sport-lr3/

and here is one of the kits, Dunlop BA2236

https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/2533189653...=9044998&device=c&campaignid=974959912&crdt=0

lhandrover said:

Understood and agree with the maintenance - I could use mine now without doing anything to it, and I am going for the compressor repair option.

Just by way of considering fixes however, it would be a shame to discount the options available to those viewing suspension problems as we are discussing here. I think I overegged the cost of going coil, its actually less - and much less if I were not to be concerned about retaining terrain response so I've only factored out what I think needs to remain on the car. If going to coil I would have available to sell at least Front and rear air springs at 50 each, compressor 125, bracket 25, clamshells 25, reservoir 50 if all working of course, and I've picked the lower of sold prices on Ebay, it could be more. I'm assuming that height sensors, valves and ecu's would need to remain even after going coil but I'm not certain, if any of that becomes redundant then it further narrows the gap. Dunlop full shock/coil kit or Terrafirma with the smart box to stop error messages etc comes in at 675 less what you can sell. For all that, I am going to stick with Air - but if it were to fail again in the near future its coming out..

Here I found an excellent guide to doing the job for what its worth

http://www.roverparts.com/resources/videos/air-coil-suspension-conversion-range-rover-sport-lr3/

and here is one of the kits, Dunlop BA2236

https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/2533189653...=9044998&device=c&campaignid=974959912&crdt=0

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absolutely with ref to the coils, it’s down to each individual of what they prefer , think it’s a great shame when air is ripped out but alas that’s not my call

plse let us know how u get on with the compressor

Try and find one on coils, and drive it before being too rash just because the numbers add up ! IMO