^^ Sounds like maybe “it’s time,” but I understand your reluctance to scrap an 11-year-old truck. But maybe you wouldn’t need to avoid newer tech altogether (let’s face it, cars from 1975 and earlier sucked so bad it was unbearable. Yeah, they could be fixed easier, but you were ALWAYS fixing them.) Anyway, perhaps you should look for a newish truck from another continent (say one 180 degrees around the globe from Europe), rather than from another era. I’m just sayin’. I don’t see people scrapping many 11-year old Land Cruisers for any reason other than being totaled in an accident.

 

Thanks for the replies, looks like air suspension it is.

 

NoGaBiker:

I hear ya -- vehicles pre-80s were really not great at all. And for decades my daily driver was one of many Hondas. Even so, I could never bring myself to own a personal transportation pod (Toyota).

I am just struggling with the un-necessary fluff which seems to start with the LR4 : No dipstick to check engine oil level. No method to check the transmission fluid. And not being able to open the door and back up the Defender? -- I mean really? (!). The very essence of the vehicle to accomplish its core mission to start and roll under its own power should not be over-ridden by a computer or the driver taken out of the loop on the manual fundamentals -- like oil.

Maybe my farm could host a series 80 Land Cruiser -- or even the dreaded pick up truck? It is a fair idea.

Enjoy !

 

. Maybe it doesn’t have to be quite so boring.





Mind you, lest you think me a Toyota Fanboi, I’ve owned one, count-em, one Toyota out of 44 cars, and it was No. 4, a 9 year old 1977 Celica GT Liftback, and I wasn’t impressed at all. But I’ve had five each of Hondas and Mazdas and a few Nissans and a Kia, along with mostly European or US vehicles, and in my experience the hype has been true for the Asian cars.

That said, I last had an Asian car in, lessee… 2014, the second of two unbelievably useful Honda Elements. But they were purchased not because of reliability desires but because nobody before or since has made a passenger car with that kind of space efficiency, coupled with an all plastic/rubber hydrophilic interior. But if it had been a MINI I’d have still bought it. (I did buy a Clubman shortly after and had great service from it for 3 years.) So I don’t put my own money where my mouth is as far as buying Asian goes.

 

Looks like JLR is running ahead of schedule on air suspension parts. I called my dealer about the front air suspension parts and they have them, so I'm dropping it off tomorrow morning. They were going to schedule me for next week, but I told them I didn't need a loaner vehicle. Despite earlier discussions, I hope this sorts the issue and I can have less to worry about on my upcoming Badlands road trip.

 

Get it. I have it on my 23 D90S and LOVE IT. Much better ride than coils and access height is very useful. Also, it’s just f-ing cool!

 

It sounds like you may be better at diagnosing issues than my dealer. They replaced the front air suspension last week and while I haven't driven a lot, it has both dropped overnight AND adjusted while I was driving it, so I guess they replaced $2000+ in parts for no reason. I'm not sure what I'll do at this point. I'll probably call the original dealer and see what they have to say. I leave for a very long road trip in just under two weeks and I'll still go as-is, but it would be great to have it fixed. I don't think it's losing pressure at a rate that would cause major issues, but it's still not "right", for sure.

 

Final (for now) update: Dropped my Defender off at the dealer on Thursday and after nobody was answering the phone in service, I went to get it late Friday afternoon. Now they say the adjustment while driving is normal operation (so... they replaced the front air springs for nothing?). When they pulled it around, since I arrived unannounced, it still had painters tape with measurements written on it stuck to each fender flare, so they were measuring and testing, at least.

I'm just going to take it on my road trip and enjoy it. At worst I don't expect it will strand me anywhere due to the suspension, and then I may need to find a new dealership if anything gets worse. Still love the thing and glad it's back in my garage!

 

I wouldnt be able to get into my garage without air suspension and roof rack and then be able to clear stuff while off roading so its pretty critical to me. If I had a big garage id probably go coil and lift it to worry about less components but air is nice on road trips and washed out roads too.

 

The ride is much better than coil.

Air suspension is not only useful for off roading, but it also provides superior ride comfort and stability and performance for on road driving.

Additional benefits are access height for easy ingress and egress and navigating in garages with low ceiling to name a few.