Coil Coverting LR3

[Rover De Land]

Dont get me wrong I love the Air suspension, but all great things will come to an end. At the moment I have a drivers front air bag leak. Been having this for months. No big deal really, just start the truck she inflates. I can easily replace the Air Spring, but then what? Whats next? The compressor? A solinoid another valve? Im currently running 285/60/18 Cooper Zeons with 2" rod lift. This is the biggest tire you can run and still limp home if suspension fails. I love the ability to drive normal height on interstate reducing body roll and raised height off road. Not to mention the ride it just SMOOTH and the whole lift thing is bad ***.

I do like to eliminate failprone parts and coils are more reliable. However I guess I would have to order the coil spacers to get my 2" lift back.

If I do this I will be using the Atlantic British kit. However, I wrote their tech support and they seem to know little about the kit.

Questions Id like to know,

Would I still loose alot of my flex?

Hows the ride?


One upside, is it would pretty much pay for itsself after I sold all the old parts on ebay.
One Downside, I would actually loose 2" offroad even with the coil spacer. Being that Im curretly lifted 2" in normal heigh and 4" offroad I will be stuck to 2".

Discuss.

 

[Rovertrader]

The computer interface is the big deal, not the hard parts. The LR3 being independant susp, actually tries to emulate a beam axle by pushing down(via the airbags) on the high wheel. Just an example, but remember, Oz gets coils so it is possible as is anything- but at what cost?

 

[Rover De Land]

The Atlantic British kit takes care of the electronics. And I thought the only reason the lr3 simulated a solid axle was because the airbags were cross linked.

 

[Mack73]

Bah just SAS it....kidding...... well only partly

I am pretty anxious to see someone in the US try the Atlantic British kit. I would suggest asking those on www.disco3.co.uk and www.aulro.com for their experience in Air vs Coils offroad. I am sure there are more than a couple people who have been offroad in both and could give you their opinion and experience.

 

[jdholder]

I ran the Atlantic British kit on my MKIII Range Rover for a little under 12 months. I recently reverted to air.

You lose travel, gain noise and certainly reliability. That being said, some LR3's were brought over as coil equipped, so I'm betting you can covert with factory hard parts.

There's also a company (GAP Innovations) that makes software and hardware solutions to manipulate the MKIII. I wonder if they have anything for the LR3?

Best of luck!

 

[nwoods]

I had a coiler. It was great, except for the articulation. The factory OEM springs were okay, but were seriously lacking in height. When I upgraded mine (5 years ago now! ), there were very few options. Peddars in Australia, and KingSprings in Australia, were the only two options. I tried them both. The Peddars were nicest, at +40 mm of lift, and excellent ride quality, but the 65mm KingSprings were rock hard, and totally overdrove the shock (which was still stock). I think ARB now has their own upgrade options, so other than limited height, I think the performance would be pretty good, and certainly better than what I had available at the time. Thank goodness for the LR3's amazing traction control, without it I would have been stuck countless times due to limited articulation.

What I loved the most though, was that I could go as fast I as I dared across the open desert, and didn't have the suspension giving me fits when I exceeded 30mph

 

[Disco2Guy]

The LR3 Nathan is referring to (shown in his profile pic) now resides with an NCLR member. On trips with that coiler and a NAS LR3, the coiler seems to struggle a little more than the bagger. I'd think you'd be better off sticking with the air bags. If you want a coiler to wheel, buy a D1 or a D2.

 

[spikemd]

I too have seen Nathan's LR3 in action at Death Valley this past year with new owner. While it is a nice looking LR3, it lacks ground clearance. The air sprung LR3s just walked up some large obstacles and the coiled LR3 struggled some more. I think the LR3s are great, but my P38 with stock air suspension had more clearance and was able to clear more obstacles. If you have air, I would stick with air. More versatile and more options.

I will be looking for an LR3 next fall with HD package...

 

[no-pistons]

I'm curious if anybody has converted their LR3 using the Atlantic British kit? Link here: http://www.roverparts.com/Parts/L319SRK-A.cfm

I seriously considered it before I ordered a couple of Arnott air strut replacements to replace a leaking front strut. I just couldn't find many reviews on it and if people were happy with the kit. Plus I was fairly reluctant to already rip out the air system on a 06 LR3 with 56K miles that we just got recently.

 

[Eniam17]

there is a good writeup and landroversonly.com from Roverandom in Canada. he converted using the AB kit and gives full details.
To the OP if it's simply about cost, converting to coils and being done with it will no doubt be cheaper in the long run. But if it's about function and ability, losing the cross linked air suspension, clearance, and articulation definitely isn't worth it in my opinion.

 

[nwoods]

To the OP if it's simply about cost, converting to coils and being done with it will no doubt be cheaper in the long run. But if it's about function and ability, losing the cross linked air suspension, clearance, and articulation definitely isn't worth it in my opinion.

As the former owner of one of the few coiler LR3's in this part of the world, I can confirm that Eniam's comments are right on the money. My suspension was rock solid (except for the universally crappy bushings), but I did not have near the compliance or articulation of an air-suspended model. I was able to run anywhere from a +40mm to +65mm lift with various coils, but at the sacrifice of ride.

 

[SteveMfr]

To the OP if it's simply about cost, converting to coils and being done with it will no doubt be cheaper in the long run.

If you have all work done at the dealers, yes. But if you are resourceful in sourcing parts and have an indy do the work, the difference need not be too much. The EAS in newer LR's is pretty robust (the RRC and P38 area different story...). Air bags are good for 5+ years at least and compressors often go when compensating for leaks but are generally good for longer. Other components rarely fail.