So, I have new brake pads and rotors to install, and am now thinking to do the whole project and lift the Disco II up 2 to 3 inches. I started by looking at the Old Man Emu kits, and don't know whether medium duty or heavy duty is the right choice, and what other kits to look at. I use the Disco for everything - towing cars and bikes, driving to work, highway travel, off road travel - but, I'm not yet really a rock climber... although I get in deep sand a lot. So... I started searching the forum to help me out, and for some reason - there is no thread here that just talks about our lift installs. So, I am starting one... and maybe some stuff will start to reside here to help others...
What are folks recommendations - and why? What do you have and like / not like about it? What kind of driving you using it for?

 

I tell everyone to go with 3”. I’ve had 2” and 3” RTE coils and the 3” gives you so much versatility are far as tire size and accessories. You can run 33”s easily with a 3” lift and if you don’t want tires that big now it’s no big deal, point is you can change your mind with a 3”. Do you thing you’ll get some bumpers and a rack down the road? It’s cool, you’ve got a 3” lift and won’t have to worry about tire clearance when you add all that weight.

As far as spring rate I made a mistake there,I went heavy duty. Medium would have for my needs better, no towing or super heavy loads etc.

 

Like Frank says, Don't make the mistake thinking that the difference between medium and heavy duty is robustness... The difference is load handling capacity. If you go HD and only occasionally load it up you will beat the crap out of your kidneys. As well an MD setup will tow or haul up to and above the limits of the vehicle just as safely as well as provide a smoother ride when not under load. It all depends on your intended use.

 

I have a pretty stout front bumper (Dark Crow) with a winch. I will be adding sliders and a rear bumper soon. I have the 3" TF HD springs. Harsh is certanly an arbitrary term. I don't think it is harsh but some might say it is

 

I am a fan of my RTE 3" coils. I'm running the +3" adjustable terrafirmas and they are eh okay. I will be upgrading those and going with even longer travel as I round out the suspension a little bit more, either run Fox or Bilstien.

 

I’m running the terrafirma HD springs and 2 inch lift. The HD springs lifted my disco 2 nearly 3 inches.
Ride is not bad either

 

THIS!

 

All depends on your setup MD is the most common lift sold. Once you add bumpers, winches, sliders, a roof rack, and load it down the MD will usually handle pretty close to OEM. Then re-check adjust your PSI in your tires as the final setup for your weight/config for the best ride possible. I've seen so many people buy MD when they should have gone HD or vise versa. A stock D2 on a MD suspension lift = steering will be lighter than usual, as the springs are setup for a certain amount of weight. If you are bone stock it will feel bouncy and jar you pretty good. Set it up with lighter duty springs and then load it down = soft ride, the life of the coils will suffer as they were not designed for that amount of weight. Picking the proper spring rate for your setup is definitely key.

 

I went with the terrafirma 2” kit. The reason I did this is because this is my daily driver of 50 miles per day (pre-covid) and wanted a somewhat comfortable ride. I was not disappointed and the system performed well off road too. Additional concern I had with going any larger was what some people were saying about having to change other components on the rig to accommodate the 3 inch lift.

in the end it all depends on what you’re going to use it for.

 

I’m happy with my HD springs