so i see a lot of information and how to's for converting the p38 air suspension to coil but not much on reverting it back to air suspension from coils. i watched a ton of videos on how to remove coil suspension on typical vehicles, some people use strut spring compressors and others removed the shocks first before removing the coils. wondering what people who have experience with this on the p38 would suggest as far as the procedure goes.


the car has only 78,000 miles on the odometer so the coil conversion kit seems pretty close to new whch means that i'll probably and most likely be keeping the terafirma pro sports unless someone can convince me otherwise. i hear mix reviews where people say to get the boge like shocks and others where people say just go terafirma. i would preferably like to to not spend money on new shocks.

 

I’m very happy to hear about someone switching back to air! It’s an amazing system. There’s a good reason why LR has continued to use air suspension.
I think all that’s done to go from air to coils is putting a dummy plug in at the EAS computer to fool the BeCM to not throw faults. In theory you would just connect the plug normally, put in new air springs and plug the hoses in. But I very much suspect the P.O. who put in coils was having issues, so it won’t be quite as simple as that.
There are varying opinions on shocks/dampers. I agree that you should keep your existing shocks and see how it goes.
My recommendation for springs would be Dunlops (the original springs). When I first got my P38 I put Arnott Gen 3’s in. I actually loved how they worked, but I had 2 of them fail catastrophically (different occasions). I then bought a new set of Dunlops and have had no issues. If you want Arnotts, I have a set that has just under 2 years on them (I live in British Columbia so likely wouldn’t be worth shipping them anyway).
Contrary to what most people think, most of the EAS issues are simple mechanical air leaks, not electronic problems. It’s not a terribly difficult system to work on or figure out. I really wish you luck. I’m no pro, but I’ll try to answer any questions you might have.
Harv

 

yup i’ve chased and tracked down the dummy plug sitting under the rh (passenger) seat. my question is mainly concerning the physical procedure of removing the coil springs and was wondering if anyone has experience doing so on the beloved p38.

 

I haven’t removed coils on a P38, but you will want to disconnect one end of each shock absorber so that the axle can move farther from the frame. If you’re lucky the spring might then come out without a spring compressor, but you’ll likely need to compress them a bit. If you search the Disco 1 or 2 sections in this forum, there are a number of threads on installing lifts, which explain how to remove and install coils.

 

sick! thanks bud.

i also noticed that the kit used was one sold by atlantic british:
https://www.roverparts.com/suspensio...ts/9520LBHDTF/

on their website they have a downloadable pdf on how to install this kit. i just downloaded the pdf and am going to follow it in reverse to remove the kit. wish me luck. really looking foward to bringing the airbags back. was looking at performance upgrades (torando chip, bosch gen 3 injectors, act carbon fiber trumpets) and figured i should probably bring back the air suspension prior to going ape sh*t on expensive upgrades. im sure that installing airbags will probably improve fuel efficiency which is always a a plus. ride height as is pretty tall and the front is higher then the rear which makes for terrible aerodynamics.

does anyone know if i have to adjust anything on sway bars or anything like that when i re-install the air bags?

also, i noticed these shocks have "2 inch spacers" do these need to be removed?

also something else i noticed is that bump stops were changed during the conversions. should i remove the update bump stops and install OEM ones or am i okay using atlantic british bump stops they provide in the kit.

 

You will want original sized bump stops but I have no idea if you need LR branded ones or not.
You will get better fuel economy with EAS, as it will be considerably lower when driving at speed on the highway. It’s not a direct comparison, but my P38 gets 2 mpg better than my D2 on the highway, even though I drive it faster.

 

Am thinking of doing the same myself, from the MANY searches i have done on various forums, this is about the best (in my opinion only) write up I can find.
link below
https://www.rangerovers.net/threads/...-remake.33788/

 

Thanks for the link Andy. I would highly recommend EAS. It’s awesome on and off road. The problems with it are generally mechanical air leaks, not electronic, so are not expensive, though they can be time consuming to figure out where the leaks are.

 

For those ditching coils, I am interested in the parts your remove from your truck.

I have done quite a bit to bring the system into good standing and it remains quite quirky. Parts are becoming difficult to find (height sensors). It is fairly simple, but there are too many fail points.