Body lift advice please
 

Hello all.


I am weary of reading the hypothetical, whimsical, hopeful, "I want to put a rocket engine in my land rover and jack it up 10 inches and turn it into a limo, but I don't have enough money for new tires" posts. This is not one of them. I need a little concrete advice on body lifts for Discovery II's.


I have a 2000 Discovery II that is fairly stock with the exception of the suspension (true, measured 3" lift: longer MD coils--Terrafirma-- +2 shocks and + 4 brake lines), wheel spacers (2 inch, for turning radius and stability), removed fender flares, and tires (Toyo 33x11.5x16). I do not do offroad and I have owned my vehicle long enough that I figure I can do whatever I want to it without doing violence to the brand; this is just how older 4wd vehicles look where I live. It rides great (if a little stiff, a little jumpy, and very desirous of a quick turn) and, except as chronicled elsewhere in the forums, runs great, too. I have had it since new in 2000.


I spent a few minutes on this very fine Veterans Day finding the points where the body connects to the frame, considering a body lift. My problem is that at half turn the tires rub the plastic wheel well liners if I hit a bump; and this exactly what I do a couple of times a day when I arrive home to my driveway, and sometimes as I drive around town. My goal is to eliminate that problem (I am tired of making 90 degree, military parade turns and creeping up to every turn followed by a bump or incline) and make extra room for a planned diesel and transmission swap as soon as my current swapped 4.0L gives up the ghost or I am ready for the new swap, whichever comes first.


For the curious I have a well running, low mileage OM617 that is begging for a new home and bigger fuel pump/turbo right now (petite wife won't ride in the brown, 32 year old Mercedes... she calls it the "rolling turd" and can't see over the dash; kids have picked up on that name and would rather walk than drive it when their cars are in the shop; sigh) but I am leaning toward a 4BD1T or may go all out and get a surplus GM 6.2 (with the obligatory, outrageously, offensively expensive Banks turbo setup) with an American transmission. I've seen all of the videos and read all of the forum posts from every nation on the planet. Yep, expensive (but I will have two spare LR engines to sell and a Mercedes 300CD to part out or sell outright). Yep, hard. Yep, has electronic implications and requires welding and fabricating. Yep, never pay for itself (but people said the same when I traded my 6 month old pickup in for a humongous loss for the Land Rover, and here I sit 14 years later). Yep, requires new suspension, gears, and maybe even axles. Yep. Yep. Yep. I am going to do it anyway. I've been lurking on this project for years. After 14 years babying and not wrecking the same vehicle over 120,000 carefree miles it is basically a free vehicle, I still like it and enjoy like making it unique and even little jackassed. This won't be MUCH more expensive than buying something else (that will also require insurance in addition to the Rover, Mercedes, etc. etc., and maintenance, probably look like something from Mad Max, and definitely cause a bigger traffic jamb in the shop and driveway) that will occasionally tow our 5000 pound travel trailer (it has electric brakes) with ease (The Disco currently looks like it is straining to lay an egg and has to stay one gear below where it should be on the occasional, short move-the-trailer-around jaunts), and get better mileage the rest of the time. The problems are many, the solutions are few if at all, but I can't be stopped. Please don't try to talk me out of it. With any luck I will have a stroke and forget about it, but my hope is that my tires won't be rubbing that day.


My question is whether a body lift is the way to go as opposed to a greater suspension lift, bump stops, or cut fenders--my least favorite option--in consideration to what I already have and, if so, how much body lift (on top of the 3" suspension lift I already have) I can put on without running into major problems, and what those problems might be. For instance, the steering linkage, the brake lines and linkages, the bumpers and trailer hitch, and the exhaust all leap to mind. My maximum desired body lift is 2 inches. But have I already stretched anything to its potential with the 3" suspension lift? Other than the brake lines, I just unharnessed ABS lines and anything else I thought was too taut with the 3" lift. I did not make a study of the changes. If so, any suggestions on where to find the parts for, say, a longer steering linkage or whatever else needs a stretch? Once I have this in place I will have hopefully solved the rubbing problem and can take measurements from the differential to the frame, and from the frame to the hood, and focus my engine swap on whatever (read: "the biggest that") will fit.


Thanks for any input!


Best,


Charlie V

Please don't put a body lift on your Disco, there is no need and it's a silly modification if it's not necessary.

I have a headache.

Haha. Coors, that was singularly helpful except insofar as it gave me a laugh. <br />
<br />
ZG you know the problem. Any ideas for another solution other than cutting the fenders or buying new tires (mine are still new and were more expensive than I want to admit). I figured a tiny 2 inch body lift would make headroom for the new engine (they are all taller than stock unless you make a new oil pan, at least).

almost 1000 words in that post btw :)



I would go with HD springs or 1" spacers, or you could take off those wheel spacers!

Why do people always knock on the body lifts?

By the way, TL/DR.

Sorry about the long post. I do go on and on sometimes.

If I remove the spacers I lose turning radius by quite a Bit. It turns in a dime as is.

I have thought about coil spacers. Easy to put in, but when I chose the lift I was told by numerous sources than anything over a 3 inch lift (meaning an actually three inches since some 3 inch lifts are up to 4 or more) I would have to have castor correction, a different driveshaft, and an adjustable panhard rod. As is I got by on just the springs, shocks, and brake lines (all of which I planned to replace anyway at that time, so I spent a tiny bit more to get longer of each over stock).

After reading about lifts for a long time I gathered that suspension lifts were for articulation and body lifts were for tires. I understand the hostility to them because I have seen some really bad ones... With bumpers hanging too low, frame visible, etc. Buy I'm just contemplating a little one for a specific purpose.

Aside from the tire issue, which I do want to resolve, all but one of the diesel alternatives present a problem; they hang too low for a stock suspension (om617) or stick up too high for a stock hood (GM 6.2 with turbo). So raising the body from the frame would solve the second clearance problem, just barely.

Is 2 inches too much? Has anyone done it with a suspension lift of 3 inches? I'm just curious if I do that whether there will be any hose, linkage or line problems. If so, I may forego it and just remove the plastic wheel well liners or take some other course. If there are no such issues, though, a body lift looks trivially simple.

I have a 3.5" lift on mine, my buddy has a 6" lift, it can be done.


BTW that "dime" you're turning on must be the size of a bus :)

3" is typically fine, but you can potentially run in to castor issues and axle orientation issues, not super common though and won't ruin your day.

I can't speak to the DII specifically (my body lift is on a D1), but the DII is body on chassis also so it shouldn't be much different. It seems you're aware of the potential issues, brake lines and ABS wires. I had to get a longer fuel filler line, for the D1 a 12" hose from NAPA.
Obviously the bumpers won't match up to the body afterwards so you have to address that if it matters to you.

A 2" body lift with keep your CoG lower than an additional 2" suspension lift. A body lift will also have zero affect on your driveline or steering geometry, so no need to open that can of worms.

After living with mine for about 10 years I never had the thought, "Damn, I wish I'd never installed the body lift."

Body lifts are a decent addition. But should not be your only lift. I added a 1" body lift to my 3" suspension lift. It was really cheap and really easy. I have aftermarket front and rear bumpers though.
If you keep it under 2" I don't think you'd see any performance issues. When you start putting 3" + body lifts on trucks they can get top heavy and it also makes them look like crap.