I will be looking for a new rover in the next month or 2 but instead of going in blind (I've been a disco man) I thought I would ask here. I am interested in a 99 to 01 RR but the air ride shocks have been scaring me. So the question is how do you check if they are bad or going out? is it obvious? Will it ride bad? And since I'm on this topic how much does it cost to fix it (I find ways to fix everything myself) so.. just parts and difficulty factor.

 

The first thing you do is put the truck in the different height positions to make sure it will change heights. Next crawl under the truck and look at the bags. See if they have any serious cracks or wear. (some minor cracks are ok and normal.) You can use a spray bottle with soapy water to visually check for leaks. When I got mine I did all new bags, air lines, rebuilt compressor, and new shocks. I went with high end upgrade parts and did it all for less than $1500. If you are just replacing the bags with standard ones you can probably do it for $500 to 600. Very easy job, did it in my driveway in an afternoon. If you can change your oil you can do this job.

 

The bags can be great on one position and then show a leak in another, that is why you should always run it through the different heights. It may also show if there is an issue with the compressor trying to air the tank back up. The good new like Krazz pointed out is that if you go with normal replacements they are fairly inexpensive and can be done in your driveway in very little time. Usually you will not have all four bags go out but you should replace them in pairs if you do not do them all at the same time. That means do both rear or front and not just one or front and back.

If all else fails you can convert to coils but if you can save the EAS then do so because you will enjoy it so much more. Since you are coming from Disco's then you are probably already aware of the possible head gaskets that you may need to do as well.

Good luck hunting for a good Rover.

 

well that puts me back at looking at them. I was like Air? suspension? That's got to be expensive.

 

It doesn't have to be expensive (unless you want to get carried away like me) and it is a very simple system to work on.