serious lift to a 95' range rover

[john doe]

hypothetical question: could you lift a 95' air bag suspended range rover 5" with new bags, then a body lift to clear 36" extream trekers ?
if you can, what kind of off road performance should one expect from a 95' model ?

in short, is a late modle range rover viable for serious off road modding, or do i need to buy a nissan ?

Thanks all,

[HSV Rangie]

can be done. its only $$$

other option fit coils to it.

Michael

[red90]

For 5" you'd need modified suspension arms all around. For 36" tires you'd need a full internal change out of the axles.

[TuffRR]

You'd also need to get friendly with the sawzall and destroy those lovely panels. But as Michael said it can be done, just need enough money.

[GRIMACE]

If you wanna go to coils I have some that will give you about 4.5-5" of lift

DO IT I tink it will look

[Hardy]

Only real tricky part is finding longer airsprings.

Calbah make some long ones that could be adapted to suit rangie but they're about $500 each.
Then there's Ogden Air in UK - suit Classic but not P38a.

Body lift could theoretically be done.
For seroius off-road modding the classic rangie has more parts and know how available than the P38a.

Please tell us all if you have any luck, I'm still looking on and off for longer airsprings too.

Hardy

[Aquarangie]

If you wanna go to coils I have some that will give you about 4.5-5" of lift

DO IT I tink it will look

There is a bit more involved in converting a 38A to coils thasn the old classic.

Mine was a straight forward job which can be done by anyone with moderate mechanical knowlwge economically, but the 38A has more ECU's to worry about. I heard that an American supplier sells a coil kit for 38A's but not sure who does. Also comes with anb air suspension ECU overide module I head.

Would be interesting though.

Trav

[HSV Rangie]

KIts avail in the US.

comes with a device to trick ecu into thinking all is well.

Michael.

[daddylonglegs]

I think for a 5 inch lift you would need a panhard rod relocating drop bracket, and I really dont think the composite material non articulating rear radius rods would like working at what is a permanent 5 inch droop.
Bill.

[ChrisC]

I have a 3" lift on my P38, and any more than that and you will have to start playing around with the radius arms and panhard rod.

It runs fine with this lift, (OME coils with some custom fabricated stuff and relocated mounts for the OME shocks), and I have 32" tyres. These don't rub, (I've also welded an extra inch onto the bumpstops), but as said above, for any bigger tyres, more lift you will have to make some serious changes to the rest of the undercarriage and drivetrain - re-gearing will be essential with tyres that big otherwise you will spend all your day driving in low ratio.

[only 1 tonka]

My mate has a slietly older one he has 3-4 inch and 2inch body only 33s he said if you want 36s carry lots of spare axles and diffs u will need them he stil has the occational problem with 33s he thinks gu diffs if your going that big a tyre but that will cost big

[suzidisco]

rover tym are about to do 5" spring setup it sounds like they have done some research but only the guinnie pigs will beable to tell us how well it works. http://www.rovertym.com/ , but like most are saying big tyres means more cv/axles im only running 34's and have managed 3 110cv in the past 18mths.

[Slunnie]

For the D2 which I understand to be very similar in many respects to the P38 RR, you can space the airbags 2" to for a lift, but some also just increase the pressure in the bags, though I'd expect a lose of articulation doing it this way. To get the height up ultimately though, its done by lengthening the arm that joins the ride height sensor to the radius arms and there is no mucking around with the computer itself. I would sus it out a bit and take some measurements, as with the D2, 36/37's go on with a 3" lift, guard/bar trimming and offset rims. No need for a body lift. If you remove the plastic inner guards to P38RR may also do this.

BTW, you can strengthen the rear end, but front CV's and half shafts are currently still a weak point until presumably the Maxi units finally come online.

[wilsby]

There are literally hundreds of airbags to choose from, so talk to you local vendor and ask for the catalog.

It is part of my long term plan to get taller air springs for my P38. I'm only running on 265/75-16's, so I'm not looking for more than a few "s increase in static height, I'm more after droop even in the high position.

I'm very fond of the airbags and the lo-on-hiway/hi-offroad adjustability.
The only real drawback is the limited droop in hi position with standard bags, and that can be fixed with taller bags. As said before, space the bumpstops some and tweak the linkage to the sensors.

The rear arms sit on rubber bushes at the chassis end will accept a lift without problems.

I put TrueTrac LSD's in mine to go with the auto and viscous center setup, and as a side effect I got more self centering. This, I think, will compensate for some loss of caster when lifiting.

With LSD's (incl new centers), MDE rear shafts, and 32" M/T's, I'm hoping for a relatively capable rig AND lasting axle components.

[hotrod4x4]

no offence guys

but i would still go NISSAN for cost and simplicity

RR with such a lift , altho if u have the dollars , it would b very nice
but essentially , not really viable
.......but thats mainly a later model

early model u wouldnt give a second thought to throwing some nissan diffs under ......like many have done.....very simple swap

[wilsby]

We don't do P38's for cost and simplicity.

Style, comfort and capability, maybe. Did I mention comfort?

[hotrod4x4]

i agree on the comfort levels

but if u r wanting STRENGTH and reliability for anything serious offroad

they always seem to fail , or need big $ to make even reasonably reliable strength


spose depends on the outright purpose

[wilsby]

I don't think we know much yet about the true limits of P38's, too few are flogging theirs. In a few years we should know better.

Failures? My LR mech have never heard of halfshafts breaking on P38's, but that doesn't say much.

The engine is nice, the turning radius is excellent. The rest, well, we'll se about that.

[muppet_man67]

It is part of my long term plan to get taller air springs for my P38. I'm only running on 265/75-16's, so I'm not looking for more than a few "s increase in static height, I'm more after droop even in the high position.

I'm very fond of the airbags and the lo-on-hiway/hi-offroad adjustability.
The only real drawback is the limited droop in hi position with standard bags, and that can be fixed with taller bags. As said before, space the bumpstops some and tweak the linkage to the sensors.

.

Cant you just put spacers under the bags so it will droop more at high and you will have the option of extra high.

[wilsby]

Spacers don't add much. You want longer stroke bags.

[Hardy]

Wilsby - have you had any luck finding longer stroke air springs?
I would love it if it was a simple as 'visiting my local vendor'

I know what I need but trying to decipher catalog lists has proved beyond me. Plus I've only ever really looked online.
But's that what Ogden Air in UK did for Defender and Classic. Looked at a Firestone cat then worked out what would suit. I might call the AirBag Man again...

So as far as general mods go for p38, we all agree on the following:
3" spring lift no real problem.
Spacers can work with std bags.
Rear composite radius arms suss for big twists.
Panhard rods up for lengthening (already my LHS wheels stick out, RHS suck in)

I'm prepared to go spacers but would dearly love to locate longer bags first. All this airspring talk is getting me gee'd up again...

Hardy

[wilsby]

What I need to do is remove one front, one rear bag and take them to my local airbagman for comparison. He can get any Firestone bag on the market, but we need the originals to go from.

I'm putting this off, because I know it will cost me! I had long discussions with them re putting airbags under my Defender before I got the Rangie. This time I will need to follow through, and with my luck it will not be the cheapest bag I fancy.

[daddylonglegs]

Does anyone know why Rover chose the cheap low tech panhard rod for the expensive Rangerover instead of the more expensive High tech
Watts linkage as used on the cheaper Disco's.
Bill.

[wilsby]

Nope, but I'd guess is has something to do with the cost of the hi tech carbon fiber trailing arms.

[Slunnie]

The Disco2 trailing arms are still steel.

[Landrover Luke]

you will have to modify you panard rods to stop bump steer, you will need to put drop boxes on on for your suspesion arms, front and rear, your caster plates will need adapting, as well as your brake lines, think what your gunna use the car for, if its just for comp, dont worry bout the airbags, otherwise if you still wanna do some touring in it then keep the air bags, you my have to get adaptor plates to put on the end of you drive shafts,your body lift may also require the engine to be lifted as well, and also the bullbar will need to be lifted, lots of $$$$$$$$$$
Hope this helped a little

[Hardy]

I'm getting somewhere with replacement air springs.

New Firestone 9011. About 3" more travel, sleeve style construction, robust bag material, ability to customise pistons. Not yet sure on load capacity though.
Still $600 AUD each, but apparently already been done on SLS Disco II's.

The other trick I looked into was having new replacement aluminum pistons machined up, extended over original by 2". Easy as poo to do and install, retains spring rate but won't do much for increasing travel. Will open up more options for longer shockies though. Not too exxy either.

Lazy man option is still looking good though. 50mm x 75mm box section slabbed straight onto spring and bump stop perch, coupled w/ sensor extenders.

Stay tuned....

[sixshooter]

I know this is an old topic, but is there any progress ?
I"m thinking of converting a P38 to coils and putting a 2" bodylift in, any ideas what would be the maximum tiresize I can fit ?

[Hardy]

A little progress.

But I'm only working with airsprings.
Gen III's offer some good travel, especially when coupled with spacers and longer shockies.

No offence but I think if you want to go coils, body lift and massive tyres then stick with a Classic.
No one has done a body lift on a P38 - which doesn't mean it can't be done but just perhaps unecessary. The rear chassis cross-member would need to be cut/shut to make the most of a body lift and same for the tow hitch receiver.

A permanent 2 inch lift (body or spring) will allow 33"s no probs.
Coil conversions up to 3" max over std are acceptable without any other changes required.
Any bigger/higher and you'd need to relocate the mount points for radius/trailing arms down (& fronts forward a tad) to under the chassis.
Then you's also need to look at CW&P gearing for anything over 32"

Hardy

[sixshooter]

Thanks, I'll start with a 3" coillift and 33's. We'll see what happens, but I'm silently dreaming of a narrow 35" tire.
You're going to stick with coils ? No problems with humidity or mud for the EAS module ?