Springs and shocks dilema

Next on my list of jobs for my defender 90 truck cab is springs and shocks. The previous owner must have fitted extra extra heavy duty versions and the back end is that hard and bouncy. Apparent 2 inch lift but it appears more. 285-76-16 tyres fitted. Ideally Old man emu would be my ideal choice but unfortunately can't stretch to that. Vehicle mainly unladen, used as a daily drive and green laning.

Now I've been trying to commit to a decision for some time, with no luck. And eventually came to the conclusion of terrifirma light duty +2. Then turned up at my local land rover specialist who actually talked me out of the terrifirma package, they stated that they have had many unhappy customers with snapped and rusty shocks. Each option I research has an issue, and I want to replace the suspension, once and once only!

My options for springs?

- Britpart and bearmach springs apparently too stiff? (May suffer with it being unladen truck cab)
- terrafirma springs poor quality and poor paint finish
- OEM springs with lift blocks. Seems like the wrong way to do it?

Options for shocks:

- terrafirma plus 2 pro sport dampers, bad reports of snapping and poor paint
- delphi de carbon, haven't heard much about these? Wasn't sure what springs to pair them with?
- bilstein plus 2 dampers. Bilstein sound fantastic and reliable. Only rimmerbros and mm4x4 seem to sell these and not many details on them.


Can anyone help me please? Finding suspension hunting a nightmare, only want to do it once. And unfortunately OME isn't justified.


Thanks for reading.

I have delphi de carbon +2 shocks all round with old scorpion racing +2 springs they have lasted well 11 years and counting and would more than like replace with the same if i can get them seem great all round

Where did you read about the terrible terrafirma? Ive read nothing but good things...

richard_paradox said:

I have delphi de carbon +2 shocks all round with old scorpion racing +2 springs they have lasted well 11 years and counting and would more than like replace with the same if i can get them seem great all round

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Thanks Richard. I'm looking into de carbon again now.

bankz5152 said:

Where did you read about the terrible terrafirma? Ive read nothing but good things...

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It's all over the Internet, poor paint. Shocks snapping etc. Even in the recent LRO mag the td5 90 with terrifirma springs are just are just rust!

Hmmm I cant find anything... Seemed like a good deal gettig shocks and springs for £230.

bankz5152 said:

Hmmm I cant find anything... Seemed like a good deal gettig shocks and springs for £230.

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I back up the poor paint comment, these are 6ish months old:



The shocks are just as bad.

Though they do ride nicely.

What about the flatdog springs? They look pretty good.

Paint really much of an issue? Interested in this thread as I am looking to replace my shocks and springs. Currently have Britpart HD springs which are fine but just too hard! Shocks are getting a tad old now with 85k on them so the ride isnt amazing.

bankz5152 said:

Paint really much of an issue? Interested in this thread as I am looking to replace my shocks and springs. Currently have Britpart HD springs which are fine but just too hard! Shocks are getting a tad old now with 85k on them so the ride isnt amazing.

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I know what you mean, maybe I should turn a blind eye to the paint.

Which britpart springs have you got on do you know?

bankz5152 said:

Paint really much of an issue? Interested in this thread as I am looking to replace my shocks and springs. Currently have Britpart HD springs which are fine but just too hard! Shocks are getting a tad old now with 85k on them so the ride isnt amazing.

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Nah, it isn't the end of the world, just lets it down a bit when everything else looks new. I might have them powder coated as it rides well, lots better than the newish TDCI on the farm. Plus not many people seem to do medium duty springs. I want more than standard cos of the expedition gear, but not heavy duty as I think it would be too harsh.

Pretty much my musings as well. I had to change the original springs ASAP as the gear for two people camping for 4 days caused the rear to sag about 2"

Just Britpart Heavy Duty springs, quality wise they are fine, paints good etc... They hold the rear up and do help with body roll but going over speed bumps even at 10mph is like going over them at 40 in any other car! Just getting sick of it now!

I suppose but how often do you really see your springs n shocks? lol

bankz5152 said:

Pretty much my musings as well. I had to change the original springs ASAP as the gear for two people camping for 4 days caused the rear to sag about 2"

Just Britpart Heavy Duty springs, quality wise they are fine, paints good etc... They hold the rear up and do help with body roll but going over speed bumps even at 10mph is like going over them at 40 in any other car! Just getting sick of it now!

I suppose but how often do you really see your springs n shocks? lol

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For some reason even though mine are standard height you can see a lot of the springs above the tyre. I might go for 285s when I get new tyres a bit later in the year. Or just use some rubberised paint.

Mine still isn't great over speed bumps, but is a lot better than it was when it had 10 year old BP shocks on!

I am tempted with HD on the back actually, as it does roll quite a lot with the roof tent on.

True. Got 275/85 on mine so hardly see. Slap some hammerite on and jobs a good un!

I have pro comp +5s all round and light duty britparts....

Its harsh as #### over speedbumps and barely moves at the bck

Looking for lighter springs for the back while keeping +2 .

Although i might try just loading the back end up for a bit get the springs broken in that way , the front has clearly settled and the front works nicely over bumps

top drive said:

I have pro comp +5s all round and light duty britparts....

Its harsh as #### over speedbumps and barely moves at the bck

Looking for lighter springs for the back while keeping +2 .

Although i might try just loading the back end up for a bit get the springs broken in that way , the front has clearly settled and the front works nicely over bumps

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Thanks to all. I'm glad you said that top drive. Because I was deciding between terrafirma and britpart light duty springs this afternoon. And that's just made my mind up.

I think I'm going to go for delphi de carbon shocks with terrafirma light duty springs.

As some of you have said, it's only paint. And in regard to terrafirma springs, I beleive it's only the paint that is a problem with the springs themselves.

I have just fitted Bearmach blue springs with Pro Comp shock absorbers. I love them but I think the ride is a little bit on the stiff side at the rear when empty (mine's a hard top). A few years ago, almost everyone I knew went for this setup until the new-fangled, ultra long travel setups came about. I had gone for Range Rover springs with spacers and Monroe shock aborbers and the ride was really comfortable. When I turned to my current setup a couple of months ago, I remembered why i hadn't used that setup 10 years ago - it's not as comfortable as the setup i had opted for back then.

ONE LIFE LIVE IT. D90 said:

Next on my list of jobs for my defender 90 truck cab is springs and shocks. The previous owner must have fitted extra extra heavy duty versions and the back end is that hard and bouncy. Apparent 2 inch lift but it appears more. 285-76-16 tyres fitted. Ideally Old man emu would be my ideal choice but unfortunately can't stretch to that. Vehicle mainly unladen, used as a daily drive and green laning.

Now I've been trying to commit to a decision for some time, with no luck. And eventually came to the conclusion of terrifirma light duty +2. Then turned up at my local land rover specialist who actually talked me out of the terrifirma package, they stated that they have had many unhappy customers with snapped and rusty shocks. Each option I research has an issue, and I want to replace the suspension, once and once only!

My options for springs?

- Britpart and bearmach springs apparently too stiff? (May suffer with it being unladen truck cab)
- terrafirma springs poor quality and poor paint finish
- OEM springs with lift blocks. Seems like the wrong way to do it?

Options for shocks:

- terrafirma plus 2 pro sport dampers, bad reports of snapping and poor paint
- delphi de carbon, haven't heard much about these? Wasn't sure what springs to pair them with?
- bilstein plus 2 dampers. Bilstein sound fantastic and reliable. Only rimmerbros and mm4x4 seem to sell these and not many details on them.


Can anyone help me please? Finding suspension hunting a nightmare, only want to do it once. And unfortunately OME isn't justified.


Thanks for reading.

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Some more food for thought. What are you wanting to achieve with a suspension change?

Are you wanting:

-lift
-more travel
-better ride
-better on road handling

Chances are, you'll not achieve all of them. As to promote one trait will be at the deficit of another.



In reality you shouldn't need to lift a 90 to make it good off road. And 285's shouldn't really rub either (might just catch the wheel spats).


Longer shocks will allow more downward travel. Although you may want to make sure your brake lines are long enough.

Standard springs ride quite well, but will fall out of the upper spring seat at the rear with longer shocks. So you'll need to fit dislocation cones or retain the spring (which will limit travel).

Fitting lift spring blocks/packers is a perfectly acceptable way of lifting a vehicle. However with standard shock lengths you'll find it'll cross axle easier. Not because you have less travel, the travel is the same. But because you will already be using more of the downward travel, so there is less available under flex.

Longer springs and standard shocks will result in something similar. Some people then use shock dropper mounts, which regain the downward travel, but will then loose the upward compression.



This is running Terrafirma 'medium' duty +2 shocks and springs. It seems to ride and handle on the road fine.


And it flexes pretty good for a fairly standard vehicle.

The owner also has some heavy duty springs as he often has a roof tent and the medium springs make it ill handling on the road with the extra high up load. However unladen the HD springs make it sit very high at the back and prevent the fully travel of the suspension. Parked in the same place with the HD springs it'll lift the front wheel off the ground.

For a pickup that won't be hauling you'd probably want the light duty springs. I agree the paint comes off, but performance wise it seems pretty good.


This one is running stock springs with +2 Terrafirma shocks (same shocks as the one above) and runs +1" lift packers at the rear and +2" lift packers at the front.


As you can see it stuffs the rear wheel further into the arch. And it appears to have slightly more droop on the rear too:


Be warned, standard springs will unseat with the longer shocks (rears, front doesn't really move enough extra due to radius arm design).

If you retain the rear spring top and bottom, you won't really gain the extra travel. The vehicle above is using a dislocating system. Not cones, but a similar home made concept. With cones you'd probably get a bit more downwards droop.

HOWEVER....

While the dislocating setup appears to offer more travel than the longer Terrafirma +2" springs. That doesn't tell the whole story. When the suspension dislocates you no longer have the spring pushing the wheel down, only the static weight of the wheel. On the terrain these Land Rovers are photo'd on. The dislocating setup would just about spin the passenger side rear wheel, despite it still being in contact with the ground, while the first Land Rover with the longer springs didn't.

That said, the longer travel shocks and dislocating suspension do offer better stability and flex over a 100% stock setup. So it is still a win and cheaper than a full suspension kit.

Informative and useful information that confirmed my initial research. Also now pretty set on the Terrafirma Medium set up.

I found that the rear springs dislocated with a standard set up!

bankz5152 said:

Informative and useful information that confirmed my initial research. Also now pretty set on the Terrafirma Medium set up.

I found that the rear springs dislocated with a standard set up!

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My springs have never dislocated, is that cos I haven't tried enough?!

Edit: though I do still have the ARBs on for the mentioned below.

I'm considering heavy duty on the back as it is pretty scary cornering with the roof tent and medium duty. Will it ruin the ride?

Ahhh first thing to go on mine where the ARBs! Much more flex! But i do more laning and off roading than expeditioning...

I dont like the HD springs had em on 14 months and lived with it. Changing soon as cash allows plus its a labour intensive expensive-ish job.