I picked up a 2000 Discovery II that is in pretty good shape for $600, it has 141K on it and a few problems but for the price I am pretty happy.

I need both front corner lights as one is smashed and the other is cracked, I also need the driver headlight as that is cracked. This should be about all I need to do to get an inspection sticker on it. I found those lights on eBay for a decent price. It does seem to have a few other issues, one of the coolant lines leaks, has an ABS light on and some other funky lights that I have no clue what they mean. I am not really concerned about fixing all the lights.

It drives great, seems to have lots of pep, especially compared to my Excursion which is a total pig.

I want to put some lift to it and put the 315/75R16 tires from my Excursion onto it, then I want to put 38" tires on the Excursion. I read some posts on here and on other sites that I can't go over 2" of suspension lift without lots of drive line and steering mods. Also I've heard it is not at all recommended to run 35" tires with the stock axles and gears. If I was to get some wheel spacers 2" of spring lift and 2" or more of body lift and I'm not afraid to trim the fenders massively could I cram those tires on there? I am also planning on removing the stock bumper and just fabbing up something with a big old piece of steel tube, so bumper clearance shouldn't be an issue.
I realize that this is not a good idea, that it is not practical, and that I'll probably break stuff. I am also not too concerned about being able to turn lock to lock without rubbing.

How much body lift can I do? All the posts on the forums talk about 2" body lifts, but I saw a kit on eBay that claims 4.5"

I don't do super crazy wheeling, light adventures on class 4 roads, I don't care if it drives like crap.

Basically I want to see if I can cram the on the tires that I have for around $1000 parts: spacers, springs, body lift, cutting.

What do you guys think about that?

Here are some pictures of my toys.

 

Before you start worrying about the toys, get the necessities done. DiscoMike has a high mileage service/maintenance checklist sticky at the top of the forum. Get started on that ASAP. I have a 2000 D2 SE7 that I thought was in great shape and wanted to jump right into the suspension and bumpers. I got started on the checklist and realized just how much is involved in these trucks. I love working on mine and am now getting to the point where I can start with the fun stuff. To get started, accomplish all your fluid changes, new plugs and 8mm silicone wires, and your front driveshaft. I'm sure the guys will chime in and say about the same thing.

 

Looks like it has new plugs and wires, I'm definitely going to do some fluids. I run Mobil1 in the Excursion, I was gonna buy some for the Rover, unless there is some specific brand of oil that works better.

I'll have a look at the checklist for the rest of it.

 

Check to see if you can tell what kind of wires you have, grey or blue. I have 8mm STI's but I know Magnecors are a favorite, too. Check the color of your coolant. The orange/reddish stuff is Dexcool. I flushed mine and replaced with the green Peak. Change out your tranny fluid, transfer case, front/rear diff, power steering....you get the drift. For oil I use the Shell Rotella, 15W40 during the summer months and the synthetic T6 during winter. Definitely go with larger capacity filter like the Mobil 1 301.

 

15W40? The Mobil1 site says 0W40... I trust you guys but that seems like a big difference.
How many quarts does this thing take?

 

0W40?? I'm nowhere near one of the experts on the forum but I haven't heard anyone running with that. Like I said, winter months I'll fill up with the T6 synthetic which is a 5W40. For summer, once it starts getting hot, I'll change out for the heavier 15W40. I don't have my RAVE here so I can't remember the exact quantity but 6 qts will cover you.

 

You are now driving a Rover and there are things that work well with it and things that don't so ask before you do things like Mobil 1.Shell Rotella 15/40 with a Mobil 1-301 oil filter is a far better way to go, changing it every 5000 miles because of how rich the Rover engines run.
As for my service list, do it all before you go wheeling, that list is from years of Rover experience.
Make sure you check/rebuild or replace the front drive shaft before it fail if it hasn't been done yet.
Down load a free copy of the Rave CD, shop manual, the link is in my signature section.
Sounds like you want to play hard with this truck, and that is good, but don't be in such a hurry that you put the wrong stuff on to get the job done. First you will need a 3" lift, not a 2" plus 2" spacers, you will need lockers to replace the very weak Rover, s spider gear set ups, gears, H.D. axles and Do a CDSL mod. on your t/case so you can lock it and run the lockers.
Before you go buy anything ask us for some advice on what and where to buy.
Stay away from the 35"s, that Disco would be soooo top heavy you would hate it, 33" max with the right lift and not one of the cheap ones either.
As for your used parts, call Paul Grant at his number listed in my signature section, he can help you there.

 

Hmm. I was mostly thinking of 35" tires because I have five on them on my other truck that have 4K miles on them. I want 38" or 40" tires on the Excursion. So rather then selling the 35" tires I figured I could just smash them on there. I won't get back much selling barely used tires that I just paid $1,200 for, maybe $600 tops.

A 3" kit from RTE costs like $2K, the truck cost $600 and I'm not entirely sure how long it will last.

I may just skip the lift and tires all together, do some maintenance and take it out as is. Maybe find some slightly larger take offs and just do some trimming.

It has 255/75R16 now, what is the biggest I can cram on a stock truck if I am not afraid to trim fenders?

If everything on the Rover was sound I'd feel a lot better about dumping real money into the drive-line and suspension.

I appreciate the advice about being top heavy but I've heard the same thing about my Excursion and haven't had a problem yet. Other people tell me it is too big for wheeling, to which I reply "only if you care about the paint"


Oh yea, what is the backspacing/offset on those stock 16" rims? They appear to be 8" wide, is that correct?

 

You don't NEED everything in the RTE 3" kit, but I'm sure it makes things a lot nicer. The D2 will handle a 3" lift (just springs and shocks) without a LOT of other stuff better than a D1 will. The extra stuff in the RTE kit will get you your handling back and return a lot of travel to the suspension that would otherwise be lost in the "cheap" springs and shocks only lift.

I bought just springs and shocks, and I'm going to slowly address the other stuff when or if I find it gets in my way.

 

so you have the RTE 3" springs? If not what springs do you have? And you didn't replace the front driveshaft either? and what shocks did you get?

With the 3" springs and some longer shocks can I trim the fenders and put the 315/75R16 tires on? I know it is a bad idea but the question is can I do it?