Basically the PO spent around $4k in 6 months rehabbing the system around 3 years ago. In that process, the fittings into the block under the passengers side have been changed. They're compression fittings I believe, but I'm not the best with hydraulics. One of the fittings started leaking, and I cannot get it to stop. It just dropped all the oil while driving, so I've bypassed the pump for now with a shorter belt. I notice the truck runs smoother without the ACE connected and I don't really want to pay a shop a lot of money for a short fix. So I am thinking of just removing the ACE system and putting in the standard rollbars etc. Am I crazy for thinking this?
Fwiw I still run airbags in the back and standard springs upfront.

 

I love an Ace truck, corners much better and has more articulation off road.

 

I wish I had one. I always see people who have them say they wouldn’t own a D2 without one. But yeah money part of it is important too.

 

ACE is great, so is SLS, but so is a simple truck. You can always swap in a traditional sway bar for now and just keep the parts in case you ever decide to change your mind down the road.

 

Probably not. I mean it's cool but what is your use case? If you are stock and running stock shocks then front axle articulation will not likely be your limitation. Are you corner carving with it? If not the stock fixed bar is sufficient. It's an hour drive from my house to the local off road park down winding back roads. I usually disconnect my front bar before leaving the house and drive the whole trip with only the rear bar. About the only time you notice it's gone is major abrupt maneuvers.

 

ACE is tricky when it starts to fail and leak everywhere, I will acknowledge that! I’m one of those morons who says “I’ll only own Disco’s with ACE!” hahaha... but I’ve never had to fix more than an ACE ram leak (sadly these are NLA I believe now).

The only ACE failure I’ve had was an ACE pipe fail in my front wheel well -- this literally shot fluid about 50 yards to the side of the car. Certainly eye opening.

It sounds like those fittings are just not done properly at the valve block? Is that right . If the ACE system works otherwise might be worth having someone with knowledge of hte connections redoing it. You might need a new valve body which would be a real terrible expense tho. If however the truck has really high miles and isnt that nice, you might want to convert to non ACE to save yourself the hassle, that’s what I might do. If it’s a “keeper”, I’d try to keep ACE.

 

My ACE system started hemorrhaging all the fluid at both ends. That was a couple years ago and just bypassed the pump with a shorter belt and have been running like that ever since. For my needs it had worked out fine.

 

That's what I am currently doing but I have EU-Kontroll in 2 days and I'm sure it'll fail doing that.

Thanks for all the opinions. I posted this just after it left me stranded on the road (the one day I don't have the sparebelt in the truck...). I like the system and it's very helpful as there isn't a straight road in this country. I'll probably get an estimate to put in a new fitting, then maybe look into longer term solutions.

 

I have an ACE 2000 Disco, 90% of the time, a daily driver, in town, highways, etc. Really appreciate the ACE for that driving. I had to replace the ACE block as the aluminum had begun to corrode. Found a vendor in the UK that made a redesigned block with new sensors and valves, rubber hoses. Works great.

You might go that route. Here's the web address: https://www.designdevelopmenteng.co.uk

 

I prefer the ACE system to the non ACE system. I've owned both and the ACE equipped is so much nicer to drive. I don't have a ton of $ to throw around so I tend to learn how to do the repair myself. It's worth learning.