Vehicle & Technical > Discovery

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gtomo2:
Hello, He is the way i look at things. he first thing i would go for is good tyres so you dont get stuck then underbody protetion eg diff sliders, steering guard tank guard. Then look at a lift if need be. just remember a lift will only lift the  disco your axles will be at the same hight. i have a 1" lift on mine with heavy duty springs and i didnt need a spring conpressor to do it just lift it on the chassic and the wheel will drop low enough for the spring to slid out easy and the new one to slid in. you will need new bolts for the front turret mount as these just snap off :roll: . As for a diy snorkel very easy to make just find some old 2.5 inch drain pipe and some flexi hose and route it though the inner wing with a mushroom top. but if you lift the disco up it will lift the airintake up as well so you may not need one. i have been through water half way up my doors in my disco with no snorkel on. just remember to raise the axle and gearbox etc breathers and you should be ok.

Budgie:
If I were you I would do the suspension lift first, then the tyres and the snorkle last.
The reason for doing the suspension first is, you don't want to get the tyres and find they are too large for the lift kit!  :wink:
If you do the lift then you know haow much room you have for new tyres.

+2" lift should be fine and should save you having problems with the steering. You need the springs and shocks for the kit to work, standard length shocks will restrict the suspension travel so they need to be +2" as well.
There is nothing special about doing the job yourself, but if you do then get a new pair of shocker turret securing rings as the studs on these are known to snap when you undo them.
Simply undo the front shocker at the axle end, undo the four nuts on the shocker turret and pull the turret and shocker out in one piece. Then you can release the shocker from the turret and put the new one on.

If you release the anti roll bars first, then you should be able to swap the springs without spring compressors, just make sure that the vehicle is secure with axle stands under the chassis!

If you find that the shockers are hard to get off the either use pipe grips to stop the shock from turning or cut the fitting off (providing that you're not using the shocker again!  :wink:

If you go for 33" tyres then you're looking at either a +3" lift and wheelarch flares or a +2" lift, body lift and wheelarch flares. If you start getting into a +3" lift then you're going to have problems with steering caster angle and the overall gearing is likely to to be effected in such a way that you'll be in one gear lower around town than you are now and it may struggle to get up hills that it used to have no problems with.

This is mine with 33x12.5R15 tyres and a +2" lift:


........and the same tyres with a +3" lift:


Don't forget that going for larger dia tyres will make your speedo read incorrectly as well!!

The wheelbearings will be fine with larger tyres, as long as they are maintained correctly. Regular checks on the pre-load and plenty of grease and there shouldn't be any problems. Mine have run fine with 33" tyres and wheel spacers for nearly 4 years now.  :wink:

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