As Far as the Suspension goes i went:

-Fox shocks from LK8 (https://www.lucky8llc.com/collection...cks-for-2-lift)
-3" RTE lift springs already on vehicle
-Took out 2" coil spacer
-Stock front and rear spring perches
-RTE articulation cones on rear and front and rear hold down spring brackets
-RTE A-arm angle correction block, rear trailing arms, front caster arms, etc
Now onto some pictures. First things first when my friend was towing me to the shop the rear end of my Disco kept hopping and bouncing all over the place. I figured all the rear bushings were blown and the ball joint was probably broken but it ended up being that the shocks that were install were almost 3" too short for the lift that was installed!!




Always a good sight to see. For the two weeks leading up to the trip it seemed like i was was getting parts every single day.



Shocks was something i was debating for a long time and talked to many different people and shops about what to get. I was gonna go Terrafirma, then Bilstein, then decided to say screw it and go custom shocks to take full advantage of my axle travel but then i saw the price tag. Ultimately i only wanted about 3" of lift and i want to fit 35's with lots of travel. And you have to do a lot of cutting ti stuff 35's in with 12" of travel. So i went with these fox shocks that have around 9" of travel but LK8 says that are valved to match the weight of a Disco. I"ve had Fox shocks on Downhill mountain bikes, motorcycles, and our Can Am side by side has Fox 2.5" 3 way adjustable coilovers so i was expecting them to ride nice, but i was blown away how well these shocks ride. On the Dunes they just floated over everything and back home on my ****ty streets they just absorb the pot holes and it rides like a Cadillac. Shout out to LK8 for helping me make a decision and i could not be any happier.


Got the Disco on the lift and pulled the rear shocks and springs off. I'm glad we went with two screw jacks instead of a single trans jack under the pumpkin because the shocks were limiting the axle and as soon as i loosened the nuts for the rear shocks the back up the vehicle raised up almost 2". You can also see the spray in foam i put in the rear doors. When one of the previous owners cut the fenders they also cut way up into the door, so for the sake of having heat i threw in some expanding foam


You can see here just how much shorter the Rancho's are, which were made for a 2" lift, than the Fox shocks, which were made for 3-4" lift. And this truck had a 5" lift installed!



So after an ensuing mess, many trips to home depot for bolts and nuts, and the unboxing of new Atlantic British spring perches i was able to assemble the rear suspension.


Woo! Also went ahead and changed out the rear A-arm balljoint while i was back there.



Here you can also see the extended brake lines, hard line for the axle breather, and the Blue ARB air locker line. Big surprise but there is no ARB locker! After doing some maths and tire spinning it turns out there is the stock 3.54 in front and rear. Visual inspection when i was changing the fluids confirmed this. It's almost as if someone took off expensive parts before selling it . Can't say i blame them.

 

So now it's on to the Front Suspension. This is where even more excitement happened!



Supported the front axle and removed the Springs, and the Dual front shocks. The Driver front Shock tower was actually cracked where it met the frame so I wanted to get it welded up while we had the suspension apart.


You can sort of see the crack here. So With all the Suspension off i prepped the metal and called over my friend to throw some metal on it.


So he welded it up as best he could and then i put on the terrafirma HD Spring retainers and put it all back together.


So here is how it sits. Knowing i was going to the Dunes i figured i was going to lift of the front and didn't want to blow my new shocks so we cut up some chains and installed them where the front shocks in the dual shock setup would go.


Here's a better pic of the front shock with limit chain installed. They definitely did their job but the bracket isn't as strong as i thought it would be and its starting to bend up so i'm going to try and see if my friend can weld in some support brackets to beef it up. I'm still trying to figure out where to mount rear limit straps so any ideas are appreciated!

 

That's going to have an insane amount of articulation.

 

So far I'm in love with suspension. Rides great on road and is even better off road. Just absorbs the bumps flexes pretty good. There's plenty of guys out there with a lot more travel than me but eventually ill get there. All it takes is money lol.
Here's some shots from today when i was seeing how much snow was left on our local trails.

 

Went to the dunes again this year and beat the crap out of the DIsco.



But she decided to fight back.....

Stripped all the teeth off the pinion gear and destroyed and chunks out of the ring gear. And i was 400 miles from home and had to go to work the next day. I ended up pulling out the rear axle shafts, removed the rear driveshaft, and drove it the 400 miles in 4 high locked. Was interesting because it got 14mpg while in front wheel drive mode. But since i had plans to go camping i bought an ebay diff and swapped them out.

Now the plan is Ashcroft HD 4.75 gears with reverse cut front for added strength.
Also i ditched my limit chains because i got tired of hearing them clank all the time and ended up ripping the mount out of the passenger front shock. Talked to Lucky8 guys who were super helpful and basically said that even though the shocks i got are for a 3" lift the RTE springs flex so much that i need more shock travel.


So i ended up putting Monroe Magnum shocks from a chevy kodiak 4500-6500 In the front. They have 10.5" travel with a bigger shock bore than the Fox's and so far they havent broken and ride pretty nice. AS soon as my Terrafirma long travel rear shock mounts get here i'll put the Magnums in the rear as well. Also at $50 a shock from Oreilly i wont be as mad if i break these.

 

I also just picked up an R380 with pedal assembly and shifter.


Currently on the hunt for a v8i flywheel so if anyone has one let me know! its the last piece of the puzzle i need for my manual swap. ALso i'm thinking about getting 1.4:1 transfer case gears for 4 High, but not sure if i'll need them with 4.75 diff gears and the manual trans. IF anyone has experience with running different transfer case gear ratios i'd love to hear it. But while i'm waiting for parts we keep taking the Disco camping and besides running hot she hasn't let me down.


As for today I'm doing brakes and wheel bearings all around. Got some brembo rotors and pads(from rockauto) for rear with Atlantic british wheel bearing rebuild kits. And got Pagid rotors with Brombo pads for the front(also rock auto) and again Atlantic british wheel bearing rebuild kits. I also got a 180 degree thermostat to put in instead of the 195 i currently have in there in the hops that it will help lower my coolant temps. I did the chevy 4.6 fan clutch mod but i just noticed the fan clutch has been leaking so i might replace that with the severe duty version since i do a lot of slow driving in high temps.

 

Just catching up, that sand can be hard on components. I know folks hate mud, but l'd take mud over sand any time...at least the tires are slipping...not fighting never-ending amounts of packed sand. You've almost got the wrong tires for sand, in my opinion. Mudders dig to much in sand, you need a tire thst floats on top and throws very little sand. What do you air down too? When l saw the picture of you chucking sand...thought..."oh boy, this isn't going to end well"...then scrolled down a few pictures and my thought were confirmed. That's a huge tire to turn in sand like that, something had to give.

Anyhow, keep on keeping on. Enjoy following along on your build and adventures.

 

I agree with you on mud over sand, I mostly wheel in mud and snow and like you said it is way more forgiving by allowing the tires to spin. This was from a yearly trip to the Oregon dunes i do with my friends who all have triple locked lad cruisers so i went a little extra. I know my diff's have been on borrowed time and i've already replaced the front one but hopefully the 4.75 HD gearing will help but i'm sure i'll probably start breaking axle shafts. I'm gonna drive it the way i want and upgrade it to suite. I run about 15 psi when we go to the dunes and i agree these tires arent perfeftly suited for sand but i mostly wheel in mud and snow and my KM2's havent let me down yet. They don't clean as well as the grabber X3's i had previously but i think their dry grip and sidewall grip is better. I'll go down to 10psi in snow and have gone down to 5 a couple times with no issues. Also I'm jealous of your defender.