Strengthening suspension on a discovery?
 

Hi there.
After a few years on standard suspension, on my Disco 1 300 tdi, I wish to replace the springs and shocks etc. How do i calculate what i need, considering the extra weight that i always carry?
This is a storage drawer system, engel and a roof tent.
As you can imagine, there is always the camping, cooking and spares etc that goes in before a trip. So the best i can hope for is a compromise. Does anyone know who i can speak to? Or, has someone had some work done like this in the past?
Just to get you in the picture, the roof tent sits over the drivers area, and opens over the bonnet. The storage drawers are the ally and steel ones from MSS, and are in the boot as you would expect. The Engel sits on top of the drawers.
So, any ideas or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Nick.

I spoke to Brookwell's in Bovey Tracy a three years ago when I did mine. I have a roof tent on the rear, metal sliding drawer, and Engel, and when we travelled to Tunisia, for the last 3 years, all the kit imaginable for me, wife and 2 teenage children, consequently 4 up.
I never upgraded the front springs, just the rear. The wire size on the rear springs is, I think, 17mm, I upgraded to 19mm. The springs were described as HD, 2" lift, 100 lbs, ie they were supposed to allow 100lb extra weight at all times. I replaced all the shocks with De Carbon's. The first year while in the desert we carried 60 litres of diesel in jerry's in the back.
This set-up coped well, however when working on the car back in UK some time later I noticed that the weld in the centre of the chassis rail was splitting open due to the extreme pressure from bouncing around the dunes.
The springs were probably produced by Britpart, they were not expensive about £60 a pair. Now I guess some would shy away from anything that cheap,
especially if not produced by some expert trip prep company, but I'm impressed, they are still on the car and still doing well. Even with the gear in the boot, the car still looks like it's sitting as it should.
Pics at Home page.
Hope this helps,
Kevin

Go for britpart/bearmach or if you're feeling a bit spendy, some OME springs.

Or even just some 90 HD rear springs. they'll fit into the same spot the disco rear springs live, and they're cheap (although i'm not sure what length they are, try and find out)

Thanks
 

Thankyou to you both.
Checked out your site Kevin, and your Disco is almost the same as mine!
Going to treat myself to new springs and shocks from britpart.
Not too expensive either!
Cheers,
Nick.