Where my Land Rover guys at!

[jhewitt03]

So I have been debating on my next rig sadly had to get rid of my well loved disco 1 so I’m on the fence and biasedly leaning towards the lr3 I love the looks and the power but how reliable are they? And I recently have seen a spring conversation kit for it which I loved on my disco but how is it on the lr3? Does it affect the off road controls? Is the air suspension any good?


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[4xFar Adventures]

LR3 is good, but I'd expect some issue to pop up with the EAS at some point on the trail. An NCLR Club member had the marketing vehicle when the LR3 was introduced in 2005. It had coil suspension and it didn't perform as well as the airbags. I think in Europe there was an option to get coil springs from the factory but the NAS (North American Spec) trucks sold over here all had the air suspension. It's at the heart of the rig and will make the Terrain Response knob useless if you switch to coils. It definitely won't ride as smooth without the airbags, but you will have piece of mind that you won't get stuck on your bumpstops out in the middle of nowhere. That's not too much of an issue if you have stock tires, but any larger and you will probably rub against the fender well or the hard lines.

Before storing a wrench in the truck, every modern Rover owner should have this.

http://www.gap-diagnostic.com/products/iidtool/

There are some other tricks that involve pulling the compressor fuse after filling the bags. Oh yeah, the compressor can be a weak point too. There are a couple manufacturers of them. It seems like they can slowly die because of a bad drier.

These trucks are really good off road, you just need to know/plan for the bad things that can happen like any other vehicle.

 

[Steve]

Here are some of our members' Land Rover for you to enjoy. Maybe help push you over the fence?

Land Rover Registry

 

[jhewitt03]

LR3 is good, but I'd expect some issue to pop up with the EAS at some point on the trail. An NCLR Club member had the marketing vehicle when the LR3 was introduced in 2005. It had coil suspension and it didn't perform as well as the airbags. I think in Europe there was an option to get coil springs from the factory but the NAS (North American Spec) trucks sold over here all had the air suspension. It's at the heart of the rig and will make the Terrain Response knob useless if you switch to coils. It definitely won't ride as smooth without the airbags, but you will have piece of mind that you won't get stuck on your bumpstops out in the middle of nowhere. That's not too much of an issue if you have stock tires, but any larger and you will probably rub against the fender well or the hard lines.

Before storing a wrench in the truck, every modern Rover owner should have this.

http://www.gap-diagnostic.com/products/iidtool/

There are some other tricks that involve pulling the compressor fuse after filling the bags. Oh yeah, the compressor can be a weak point too. There are a couple manufacturers of them. It seems like they can slowly die because of a bad drier.

These trucks are really good off road, you just need to know/plan for the bad things that can happen like any other vehicle.

That’s what I was thinking coils won’t fail nearly as much as the air suspension but that’s what I was afraid of that if I switch to coils the terrain nob will be useless so if I switch to coils I won’t be able to lock my rear or center diff? The version I’m looking at comes with a rear locker and center is on all of them but I won’t switch to coils if I’ll lose the terrain nob I’ve also read about the lift rods that keep the lr3 at a solid 2.5 inches which is enough for me but will that effect the terrain controls as well?


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[El Solis]

There are a few options for peace of mind with the LR3/4’s in regards to off roading. A company out of Australia, Green Oval Experience, has lift rods that allow for stock height, lift, and emergency lift height. Yup, 3 position lift rod. It was perfect for me as the LR is my wife’s DD and she didn’t want it lifted all the time. Keeps the stress off the drivetrain too. Can swap to lifted height in a few minutes at any time. They also sell a kit to allow for the airbags to be inflated with an external compressor so if you break a line or an air valve block fails you won’t be on the bump stops. As bag failures as super rare, this is a nice piece of kit. I haven’t installed ours yet, on the winter to do list. Overall they are solid off road, nice and comfy inside, and carry a ton of gear and family.

greenovalexperience.com

 

[jhewitt03]

There are a few options for peace of mind with the LR3/4’s in regards to off roading. A company out of Australia, Green Oval Experience, has lift rods that allow for stock height, lift, and emergency lift height. Yup, 3 position lift rod. It was perfect for me as the LR is my wife’s DD and she didn’t want it lifted all the time. Keeps the stress off the drivetrain too. Can swap to lifted height in a few minutes at any time. They also sell a kit to allow for the airbags to be inflated with an external compressor so if you break a line or an air valve block fails you won’t be on the bump stops. As bag failures as super rare, this is a nice piece of kit. I haven’t installed ours yet, on the winter to do list. Overall they are solid off road, nice and comfy inside, and carry a ton of gear and family.

greenovalexperience.com

So my question there’s certain lift rods that keep the rig at a constant 2.5 inches does this like super stress out the air bag suspension? And if I cut the air bags out all together do I lose my off road controls?


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[El Solis]

Yes, keeping the truck lifted adds stress to the suspension and driveline(at least I’m pretty sure about the driveline). But people do it and seem ok. For us it was a matter of my wife didn’t want to lift groceries into the truck and our little kiddos would have had a harder time getting in.

Yes, swapping to coils removes a lot of the off road controls from what I have read. I don’t have any affiliation with the Green Oval team but love having the option for lift when needed and stock the other 90% of the time. Handling on the freeway to get to the trail is better.

I have a Defender 110 and although I love it, the LR4 is just better. It’s better off road. It’s better on road. It’s just better at everything except deep water (the D110 is a diesel) and trail rash hurts me more on the LR4 than the D110.