Freelander suspension

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Russell Jupp

Russell Jupp

New Member
Posts
242
Location
Devon
Hi,
anyone got any info on stiffening the ride / lowering the height on a FL1 please? its a 2000 W millenium edition, and mildly tuned so is faintly exciting. The ride, however, reminds me of cross channel ferry....:eek:
Cheers, Russ
 
Without adding some sort of supplemental spring there's not much you can do to stiffen torsion bar suspension, but lowering should be fairly easy if you rotate the bars in their mounts. I took 2" out of the ride height on a Marina/Ital way back when, in this way, but why you'd want to lose ride height in an off-road vehicle???? Uprated/adjustable dampers would proably be a better way to go to tame your 'wild' ride.
 
Agreed, sounds like the dampers are shot. They may not be leaking but the internals can be away. It'll pass an MOT but it's out on the road when you notice it. Be wary of lowering a car thats supposed to have a bit of height. The system is designed more to extend rather than compress down. Think ball joints, links, drive shafts being run at positions away from the standard setting for extended periods. Ok at low speeds for short times but anything longer than a short play on the rough stuff then expect trouble.
(Ever seen a boy racer car which has lowered front springs without shortening the bottom arm too? Check the camber angle of the wheel, 95% of the time they sit in at the top.)
 
hippolover said:
Agreed, sounds like the dampers are shot. They may not be leaking but the internals can be away. It'll pass an MOT but it's out on the road when you notice it. Be wary of lowering a car thats supposed to have a bit of height. The system is designed more to extend rather than compress down. Think ball joints, links, drive shafts being run at positions away from the standard setting for extended periods. Ok at low speeds for short times but anything longer than a short play on the rough stuff then expect trouble.
(Ever seen a boy racer car which has lowered front springs without shortening the bottom arm too? Check the camber angle of the wheel, 95% of the time they sit in at the top.)
Click to expand...

Most of the time boy racers run with negative camber as the ones who know a little bit about grip tend to know the tyres grip more on sharp corners with negative camber, whether lowered or not. The camber can always be corrected to a certain degree, and if it needs to be corrected more correction pins are always available.

You could always fit stiffer springs but that would mean less sag and higher ride height.

One of your best options maybe to fit an oversized anti roll bar (have seen rear ones available for the freeby). It's amazing how much flex there is in the rear anti roll bar as the original is quite thin, the oversized one would made quite a difference in cornering.
 
If you want to make it look lower, just buy some 35mm wheel spacers. You won't actually lower the car, but because the wheels are futher apart, it'll look lower.
 
Thanks all.....I really want to make it feel better on the road. Its not used at all off road, so height etc is not an issue.
But it just wallows a bit. I guess its because Ive been used to 3 MG's and a Skoda Fabia VRS, all of which were really, really hard but handled superbly. The freebie feels like it might fall over!
Cheers, Russ
 
If wallowing is your problem it's what hippos are best at :D

The oversized rear anti roll bar would definitely stop it wallowing so much, but you might also want to check the bushes on your front anti roll bar and of course your droplinks.

The front anti roll bars can also weaken over time as they're only steel and can corrode and at the point where they bolt to the drop links is quite thin already, might be possible to strengthen it a bit?
 
Freelander Td4 Sport is believed to run stiffer suspension, though the standard setup should be fairly good. You could also upgrade with a Polybush kit (not Britpart though), - apologies if another member has mentioned this, as I've not read the other posts too thoroughly.
 
freebiker said:
Most of the time boy racers run with negative camber as the ones who know a little bit about grip tend to know the tyres grip more on sharp corners with negative camber, whether lowered or not.
Click to expand...

.....and those who don't know just cut off a few coils because the car looks "well good like" :blabla: without realising what they have just done. Go over a bump, extend the strut and boing goes the spring out of it's seat. Then it gets interesting when it hits the ground again. :eek:

Just an example of what I have seen when I had to check one over (and rectify it) after a complaint about the handling...............

frightening. :doh:
 
kernowdragon said:
Without adding some sort of supplemental spring there's not much you can do to stiffen torsion bar suspension, but lowering should be fairly easy if you rotate the bars in their mounts. I took 2" out of the ride height on a Marina/Ital way back when, in this way, but why you'd want to lose ride height in an off-road vehicle???? Uprated/adjustable dampers would proably be a better way to go to tame your 'wild' ride.
Click to expand...

I thought the Freelander was on coils.
 
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