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Discovery 2 in Mongolia suspension/tire help!
This is an incredibly long story so I will keep it as short as possible but this will help with context. I am an American, my wife is Dutch. I have a 2000 Discovery 2 V8 stock with switched out airbags for coils. The car is Dutch drove it from Holland to Mongolia a few years ago. We live in middle of nowhere Mongolia as in mud/brick homes and majority of people without running water so next to no tools but what I brought and next to no available parts in the country for my car. There are no paved roads connecting us to any where else.
My 4 standard stockish tires are destroyed obviously, I recently ordered Cooper Discoverer STT Pro 4 265/75R16 tires from the capital and they are being hauled across the Gobi Desert on a flatbed and they will be here soon. I am not a car guy and understand these are as big as I can go on a stock Disco 2. Ideally I would need a 2' lift for this to fit nicely but Discovery 2 parts are impossible to get here. My father will be flying in from the states soon so what he can carry in his suitcase is what I get. I considered 2' spring spacers to give the tires some clearance but I understand to do that I would need to replace the shock absorbers and extend the brake line. Spring spacers would only be about 12-15lbs but shock absorbers are much heavier and would be another 40lbs and more money. I saw lucky8 sells 1' spring spacers for the front and rear. Would that be an option to help give a bit more clearance for the tire? If I did that would it save me from having to switch out to 2' shock absorbers and moving the brake line? Forgot to mention I converted the airbags to coils a few months back so those are still relatively stiff in the rear. Mongolian government wants the car out of the country ASAP so this setup won't be perfect but at least will get the car back to Holland. |
Sounds like you have yourself a hell of a situation- hoping you’re on a cool adventure. What brought you to Mongolia? just wanted to add my 2 cents- I had 265/265 18 Tires on my 2002 Disco 2 prior to installing a 2 inch lift. These tires are exactly the same size (heigh and width wise) as the ones you have ordered. They fit fine (tightly) for most all driving without the lift. Unless you are getting yourself into some major off-road terrain, I’d be willing to be you could drive all the way back to the Netherlands. Really up to you. Spacers would be fine as well but you’d have to find a way to get them in there. Best of luck! |
I don't have any personal experience with lifts, but I recall reading on here that people have added 2" without needing to extend the brake lines or ABS cables, or adjust the driveshaft geometry.
I'm not really sure that you will need a lift. Your wheels are 16" rims with a 75% profile; I have 18" rims with a 65% profile. Both our sets are 265mm wide. I have a very small amount of rubbing on the inside of the wheel wells at close to full lock but it doesn't impede the use of the vehicle at all. |
BKCO - Thanks so much for the response! Thats comforting to hear, my tires will be here tomorrow and for all the hassle to get them out here I was panicking that they wouldn't even fit. My wife and I visited Mongolia a few years back and saw how horrible the living conditions are in the rural villages so we decided to move from Europe and come out to Mongolia to do community development projects.
Mollusc -Thanks as well for the reply...good to hear that. |
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