DISCO TYRES

Whats the biggest tyre size i can put on a disco 1 unmodified?
If i put higher springs on to lift it a bit would this give me access to
bigger tyres.?

Jason Hall

"Jason Hall" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Whats the biggest tyre size i can put on a disco 1 unmodified?
> If i put higher springs on to lift it a bit would this give me access to
> bigger tyres.?
>

I don't know about the tyre size, but just sitting here and having a think
about lengthening the springs poses two possible problems that I can see -
well, three now that I've had a few extra seconds of thought....

Longer springs will probably need longer reach shock absorbers so that they
don't "bottom out" too early.

There may well be issues with the axle trailing arm/hockey stick to chassis
bushes and the amount of give available in them to accommodate the greater
amount of "down" angle at full extent.

The flexible brake hoses to the axles may well become the only thing
preventing further down articulation of those axles.

Oh yes, I've thought of a fourth possible problem.....

The articulation angles of the propeller shaft joints.

So, it seems to me that it's not just a case of whacking on longer springs
to be able to fit bigger tyres. You'd also need different shock absorbers,
specially shaped axle arms or bushes, longer brake hoses and maybe different
propeller shaft joints.

Steve

On or around Sat, 18 Dec 2004 11:20:14 +0000, Mr.Nice.
<mr.nice@*nospam*clara.co.uk> enlightened us thusly:

>On Sat, 18 Dec 2004 10:03:30 GMT, "Jason Hall"
><[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>Whats the biggest tyre size i can put on a disco 1 unmodified?
>>If i put higher springs on to lift it a bit would this give me access to
>>bigger tyres.?
>>
>>Jason Hall
>>
>
>According to the chart here the standard tyres for the disco are
>205/65 or 215/65.
>Also the 245/75 will fit as standard.

ITYM 245/65... standard tyres AFAIK are 205R16, 225/75R16, 235/70R16.
205/65 would be considerably undersize...

the 3 listed above are all approximately the same diameter.

bigger ones such as 235/85R16 will need an inch or two of lift, I should
think.


--
Austin Shackles. www.ddol-las.fsnet.co.uk my opinions are just that
"Pereant qui ante nos nostra dixerunt"
(confound the men who have made our remarks before us.)
Aelius Donatus (4th Cent.) [St. Jerome, Commentary on Ecclesiastes]

On or around Sat, 18 Dec 2004 11:22:21 +0000 (UTC), "Steve"
<[email protected]> enlightened us thusly:

>So, it seems to me that it's not just a case of whacking on longer springs
>to be able to fit bigger tyres. You'd also need different shock absorbers,
>specially shaped axle arms or bushes, longer brake hoses and maybe different
>propeller shaft joints.

if you only go for 2" lift, then you shouldn't need more than springs and
dampers, and/or some of "llama" David's nice lowered damper turrets. BTW,
the MOT bloke was much impressed by them.

BTW, you forgot one: if you lift it too much, the steering geometry is
wrong. Someone makes replacement swivel housings with altered geometry to
correct this. ISTR hearing that 2" is about as far as you want to go
without changing this.

The rest of the suspension is probably OK, and the brake pipes can be
checked for length before actually venturing into extreme terrain.

--
Austin Shackles. www.ddol-las.fsnet.co.uk my opinions are just that
"Pereant qui ante nos nostra dixerunt"
(confound the men who have made our remarks before us.)
Aelius Donatus (4th Cent.) [St. Jerome, Commentary on Ecclesiastes]

Jason Hall composed the following ...
> Whats the biggest tyre size i can put on a disco 1 unmodified?
> If i put higher springs on to lift it a bit would this give me access to
> bigger tyres.?

I have BFG AT 31 x 105's on and they just scrape the paint off the rear
wheel arches at the very bottom four inches or so. After a particularly
hard 'landing' we did slightly curl up the nearside rear bottom section.
There have been so such problems at the front.

If you put bigger springs on, put longer shocks on too, to allow extra
travel to be used ..

--
Paul ...
http://www.4x4prejudice.org/index.php
(8(!) Homer Rules ...
"A tosser is a tosser, no matter what mode of transport they're using."

Jason Hall wrote:
> Whats the biggest tyre size i can put on a disco 1 unmodified?
> If i put higher springs on to lift it a bit would this give me access to
> bigger tyres.?

Lifting it will make them fit while you're stationary but longer springs
won't help much in a crossaxle situation offroad as once they're
compressed you'll still find the tyres and bodywork come into contact.
The only surefire way of keeping big tyres clear it to carve some metal
out of the wheelarches. I'm told this isn't too bad to do on a 2door but
on a 4door the rear arches are tricky to modify as the rear door skins
form part of them.

Paul

--
Paul Everett
repton at repton dot org
http://www.repton.org/

In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] (Austin Shackles) wrote:

> bigger ones such as 235/85R16 will need an inch or two of lift, I should
> think.

And adjustment of the lock stops probably.

--
Niamh
4x4 Cymru
http://www.4x4cymru.co.uk

On or around Sat, 18 Dec 2004 21:48 +0000 (GMT Standard Time),
[email protected] (Niamh Holding) enlightened us thusly:

>In article <[email protected]>,
>[email protected] (Austin Shackles) wrote:
>
>> bigger ones such as 235/85R16 will need an inch or two of lift, I should
>> think.
>
>And adjustment of the lock stops probably.

might get away without that, they're the same width as 235/70, after all.
Depends how tight they're adjusted to start with.

Niamh Holding wrote:

> In article <[email protected]>,
> [email protected] (Austin Shackles) wrote:
>
>> bigger ones such as 235/85R16 will need an inch or two of lift, I should
>> think.
>
> And adjustment of the lock stops probably.
>

Gut feel is that 235/85s would be too large. My motor has a 2" lift on it
and 235/75s are about as large as I'd want to run, and even then I still
foul the radius arms on full lock - the lock stops cannot be adjusted
enough to prevent this.

P.
--
If Mind over Matter is a Matter of Course
Does it Matter if Nobody Minds?