Guys...I've tested it. It's all true!

 

You can fake high centering and fool the 3 into rising but it is not really a game I can recommend.

It is a bit tricky in that you have to do it right or you could punch a hole in the underside of your 3, the least of the bad things.

Basically, you put it at off road height, put a jack, (a trolley jack I would suggest), almost tight under the frame somewhere where there are not air compressors and other delicate parts and then initiate a down instruction with the flipper.

The 3 will start to lower, and if all is working properly, (and that is the catch), when the frame contacts solid with the jack, the 3 is supposed to sense the obstruction and rise to extended height. Then at that stage I guess one would see if the super extended feature exists.

Before I did that bit of experimentation, I would get the trolley jack out from under as I have had my 3 for no apparent reason, literally collapse from height back down to the stops.

We are talking milliseconds to go from high to the stops so you do not want anything under that could topple and punch thru. That also includes cats, dogs and children. The air release valve in the compressor just opens, there is a big hiss, a bang, and a bit of a bounce - scary.

Do not believe any of the stories about leaving a door open as what I described is not supposed to happen but I guess the software gets confused at times - glitch I think is the geek "technical" term.

The link shows my trolley and the adapter I had machined up to feed into the holes in the underside of the frame. The adapter makes jacking of the left rear near the air compressor less of a gamble.

The top pin is about 16 mm OD and about 10 mm high plus a 10mm high taper. The bottom into the trolley jack is about 30 mm but that depends upon the trolley jack. The big OD was about 2", whatever I used for stock and about 20 mm thick.

 

Wow so now I find about two secret settings , extended and super!

I doubt I'm going through the trouble of jacking it up to trick it.
I was hoping someone actually measured it.

1. Standard road setting we will call this 0
2. Offroad mode - Hmm cant remember high high this is 2" more?
3. Extended mode - ?? 2 more inches?
4. Super extended - ?? 2 more inches?

So from regular driving mode 6 more inches of clearance in super extended mode?

Whats the clearance of a LR3? 10 inches or so. So that would be 16" of clearance. Not bad.

I wonder if that is hard on the suspension have it blown up that high.

There has to be a reason why Landrover does not want people to go that high. Maybe just fear of highway rollovers and lawsuits.

 

I like my current 6 spoke 19" I see they have a 10 and a 5 spoke in the 18" size.

Other than looks what are the pros/cons of fewer spokes? I noticed all the 10 spokes seem to be brake dust collectors. Most LR4s with them have that black soot look on the sides. I never clean my 6 spokes, they don't seem to collect much grit. So I guess based on that I'd rather have a 6 spoke 18 if they make them.

Not a bad deal on these. Would they work on a LR3?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/18-Land-Rang...11192388316%26

 

If the question is what do I think, the answer is the wheels are I think from a DII and if so, they will be for one thing, too light of a construction for use on the 3.

I am also not certain as to the wheel stud circle and what one should use for lug nuts. The DII lug nut is different from the D3/LR3 lug nut and the details matter; well that is really the question, do the details matter?

To some, the details do not matter; if something can be attached, it must be OK. For me, the numbers have to work as well, and that may also include the dollars.

Review my post #11 in this thread on page 2 with reference to the load rating number of 940 kgs. There is no civilian Land Rover or Range Rover heavier than the 3 that takes a stronger wheel - well maybe the armoured 3's and of course the military Defenders.

There is the odd 18" wheel from a RR Sport that has the 940 kg rating but most of them are the lighter 900 kg number usually associated with the FFRR.

As to spokes and black dust, the number of spokes is a styling issue; if you want maximum strength, you look for a steel wheel, not alloy.

As to black dust, that is easily solvable; next time you do pads and rotors, install ceramic pads. I used Akebono pads; they seem to stop the 3 OK, and the black dust thing is history.

 

DII rims won't fit anyway, I tried years ago. The axle bore diameter isn't large enough.

Bbyer, the prose of your posts suggests that you simply do not believe that these height setting exist.

They do. ...and tricking the LR3 with an obstruction works. Of course now I don't need to do that since I have the IIDTool.

Rajod your math is a little off. The LR3 has ~9.5" of ground clearance in Off-Road Height. Extended is plus 2 and Super Extended is roughly plus 1. So that's about 12.5" of ground clearance....still very substantial for a stock 4x4. With 32" tires you get to 13.5" in Super Extended height.

 

No, it was not disbelief, it was surprise re the super extended rise feature.

The super extended feature, I must say, I have never heard about before. The extended, yes, I am aware that is on the MY2005, but the super extended, that really is news, but then I still have lots to learn about my 3. I appreciate those elevation numbers as well.

I drive my 3 primarily with the idea of staying on the road, actually that is why I purchased it, to stay on the road and yes, sad to say, as a grocery getter.

You have to pay me to drive off road. Fortunately, companies do, as driving off road and returning back each day without doing damage to a company vehicle is an art not as common as one might think.

I forgot about the hub circle re the DII wheels, but that is just another reason I think the wheels for a 3 should be LR wheels speced for the 3 and not something that is close. Wheels to me are tricky - there are alot of variables.

That is one reason I posted a fair bit about wheels in my album as just purchasing the ten spoke 18" LR wheels was I found to be a bit of an education. I found the link below to help identify all the variables. I even discovered the Japanese rating symbols and that often it was on the front side of the rim rather than backside as the E-DOT symbol most often would be. Ultimately, the simplest was if the wheel was rated at 940kg and had the Cromodora brand moulded on the backside of a spoke, the wheel was probably OK for the 3.

 

Yes I know there were off, I was just guessing and hoping someone with more knowledge such as yourself would fill in the blanks.

12.5" still pretty good.

Bbryer I think I will take your advise and stick with real LR3 rims vs getting something that is close. The 10 Spokes you have are fine with me. Even the 5 spoke is ok. What do you think a good price would be on used ones? 120 per rim?.

 

Re eBay USA, below is all I found for 18" LR3 rims. There was not even a single lonely 18" available; below are sets of four chromed and exchange.

There are lots of 20" and 22" rims, probably off LR4's. Either there are a lot of of LR4's in the junk yards or the current owners are running 18" rims, which I think is the reality.

As I said in previous posts, 18" rims here in the New World are hens teeth.

It appears you might beable to purchase a wrecked 3 with 18" rims cheaper than you can purchase the rims separately.

In that spirit, I would suggest you go to a local wrecking yard and ask them to go thru their data base and see if they can find you 4 rims. Give them part number RRC500250xxx or ALY72190U as LR part numbers for the 18" ten spoke rims. They were speced on some of the early LR3 SE models.

Exchange Set of 4 New Chrome 18" Land Range Rover LR3 Wheels Rims 72190 | eBay

Set of 4 New Chrome 18" Land Rover Range Rover LR3 Factory Wheels Rims 72190 | eBay


Another part number that might work for the 18" rim is RRC505360MNH or RRC505360xxx which were on some early RR Sports and D3's. The link below is from the UK, and more in your price range.

LANDROVER DISCOVERY/RR SPORT ALLOY WHEEL, 18" PN.RRC505360...7H221007BA | eBay

SET OF 4 LAND ROVER DISCOVERY 3/4 RANGE ROVER ALLOY WHEEL 255/60R18 PIRELLI TYRE | eBay

LAND ROVER DISCOVERY 3/4 18INCH GENUINE SE ALLOY WHEELS+TYRES, RANGE ROVER SPORT | eBay

and the list goes on.

Call up the eBay UK site and search for Land Rover rrc 505360.

There is also a five spoke 18 inch D3/LR3 rim looking somewhat like the six spoke 18 inch rim. The part number of the five spoke 18 inch LR3/D3 rim is RRC500242MNH or RRC500242xxx

ALLOY WHEELS TO FIT LANDROVER DISCOVERY 3 | eBay

You might find them on ebay USA as well but I did not.

Nothing Land Rover is easy.

 

agreed!