Disco II tire question

[cdavis3361]

So I am a new owner of a spiffy 04 disco II and am looking at adding some 33' tires to it. I live in Colorado and am looking for more axel clearance for the perpetually rocky trails. How much lift is necessary to do this?

The RTE kit looks great but $$$.
ARB looks great, but light on lift.

Thanks for the feedback. I also don't want my truck to look like a goofy jacked up pick-up, do I need to back off on tire size?

 

[HillbillyfromAL]

I've got the OME 3in suspension and a 1.25in body lift the tires will still rub a little at full flex. if I were doing it again I'd spend the money on a 4in kit. Here are 2 shots of mine sorry they don't show everything better they are the only ones I still have on my iPhone

These were taken on a trail off Gold Camp Road near COS

 

[cdavis3361]

Al, thanks for the reply. What's the story with drive shafts? At what point do the need to be replaced with longer to account for the lift?

 

[HillbillyfromAL]

After you go past 3in you need to replace the drive shafts. I wouldn't let that scare me away from it though. Tom Woods are reasonably priced and alot stronger than the factory setup, you can get rid of the flex plate. It may just be the rear that needs changed too, not both.

 

[HillbillyfromAL]

What part of CO are you in?

 

[mongosd2]

I ran 33's on my D2 with a 3" lift, only rubbed on the front radius arms. Did you extend your bumpstops? It's always seems to be forgotten about when lifting a truck...Not a fan of body lifts, especially on the D2 because you can fit up to a 35 without having to cut or trim.

 

[HillbillyfromAL]

I wouldn't say I forgot to add them. I choose not to extend the bumpstops because at full stuff the spring limits it before the shock would be damaged. Now if they rub it is only on the radius arms, at full lock. If the shock was limiting it I would have extended them. I'd rather have more flex both ways than just down. If someone put 35's on with a 3in lift, without trimming or rubbing then I'd bet they don't have much up travel due to the extensions. When I put it together I tested it out on some nice pitchy areas to make sure it was all setup right. The body lift ain't bad on the D2 just a slight gap at the front bumper. The rear was easy to relocate. It was a PIA getting all the carpet out. I doubt I'd change mine now everything is working great as it is.

 

[Howski]

I fit 33's with 2" RTE springs but have since added 1" spacers. I got some occasional rubbing without the spacers and almost none with them. It's a bump up from the standard 2" but less than the RTE 3" which actually sits over 4". This spring set up with the TerraFirma 2+ shocks would be a very economical and capable set up

 

[Rovertrader]

I like a 3" front, 2" rear lift on a D-II which allows 255/85-16 like it was made for it. Check the sold page on my website for several trucks so fitted.

 

[LtFuzz]

Thanks for the feedback. I also don't want my truck to look like a goofy jacked up pick-up, do I need to back off on tire size?

In my opinion, Discos are svelte expedition vehicles that quickly lose their class when built like "HardKore Krawlers."

 

[cdavis3361]

What part of CO are you in?

In Golden, just made the switch from 2 to 4 wheels. Had to reprioritize when the family grew by 1.

 

[dcwhybrew]

So I am a new owner of a spiffy 04 disco II and am looking at adding some 33' tires to it. I live in Colorado and am looking for more axel clearance for the perpetually rocky trails. How much lift is necessary to do this?

The RTE kit looks great but $$$.
ARB looks great, but light on lift.

Thanks for the feedback. I also don't want my truck to look like a goofy jacked up pick-up, do I need to back off on tire size?

Congrats on your family additions (baby and DII)!!

Why do you want 33" tires? Is this for looks or off road performance? Is this your first experience with a LR? Assuming off road performance, do you know how it will perform in stock form with good AT or MT tires?

My questions are sincere. For my initial comments I'll assume this is your first LR reading in to your question and comments. If so, then if I were you (I have owned 7 LRs), I would just drive it first and get a feel for what it will do in stock form. Then start planning your lift. Generally speaking, once you get past 2" in LRs you start adding suspension geometry issues and related corrections. Obviously that add's $$$. The popular basic lift mod is 2" with a 265/75 tire.

I have owned 3 discos (2 DIIs and 1 D1). I have driven mine in stock form quite a bit when I lived outwest and back here in the mid-west. I found that I could run most medium rated trails with no mods and quality AT tires. If you want to start crawling over stuff, then yes you'll need to lift it a bit. Like I said, most people who do lift their Discos find that 2" is plenty unless you want some sort of dedicated rock crawler (which you dont seem to want based on your family comment).

Regarding the drive shaft; even if you dont lift your truck you should still have your front drive shaft checked out. DII's front drive shaft front u-joint have a tendency to fail at high mileage and take out the transmission. So have it inspected and have it inspected often. It's cheaper to have it rebuilt or replace it with a serviceable u-joint as a preventive measure than to replace a transmission. I have only had to replace one front drive shaft in the two DIIs that I owned, and I just had it rebuilt. Worked fine.

Congrats again on both the baby and the new DII. If this is your first LR, you'll either hate it or will be hard pressed to own another vehicle. I have owned a MB E320 and a Ford F350 KR concurrently and inbetween some of my Rovers and I while I miss my MB and Ford Super Duty, I missed my Rovers more!!

 

[cdavis3361]

hmmm

Congrats on your family additions (baby and DII)!!

Why do you want 33" tires? Is this for looks or off road performance? Is this your first experience with a LR? Assuming off road performance, do you know how it will perform in stock form with good AT or MT tires?

My questions are sincere. For my initial comments I'll assume this is your first LR reading in to your question and comments. If so, then if I were you (I have owned 7 LRs), I would just drive it first and get a feel for what it will do in stock form. Then start planning your lift. Generally speaking, once you get past 2" in LRs you start adding suspension geometry issues and related corrections. Obviously that add's $$$. The popular basic lift mod is 2" with a 265/75 tire.

I have owned 3 discos (2 DIIs and 1 D1). I have driven mine in stock form quite a bit when I lived outwest and back here in the mid-west. I found that I could run most medium rated trails with no mods and quality AT tires. If you want to start crawling over stuff, then yes you'll need to lift it a bit. Like I said, most people who do lift their Discos find that 2" is plenty unless you want some sort of dedicated rock crawler (which you dont seem to want based on your family comment).

Regarding the drive shaft; even if you dont lift your truck you should still have your front drive shaft checked out. DII's front drive shaft front u-joint have a tendency to fail at high mileage and take out the transmission. So have it inspected and have it inspected often. It's cheaper to have it rebuilt or replace it with a serviceable u-joint as a preventive measure than to replace a transmission. I have only had to replace one front drive shaft in the two DIIs that I owned, and I just had it rebuilt. Worked fine.

Congrats again on both the baby and the new DII. If this is your first LR, you'll either hate it or will be hard pressed to own another vehicle. I have owned a MB E320 and a Ford F350 KR concurrently and inbetween some of my Rovers and I while I miss my MB and Ford Super Duty, I missed my Rovers more!!

Great info!

All of your assumptions are correct, this is my first LR and I do see myself having a hard time finding a comperable vehicle, I love the Rover.

My next questions are in regards to the 2" lift, I am mostly thinking of raising the axel due to the rocky trails in colorado, I really don't want to start hitting that on rocks. I also wanted to improve the approach and particualarly the departure angle. How much of this needs to be done with a lift and how much is just good trail driving?

I did see that a popular way, or at least recommended way to go is to do ARB shock upgrade with RTE 2" springs. any thoughts on that?

The Drive shaft thing does seem to be discussed quite a bit and sounds like a good investment to save a major repair.

I am also running the stock 18" rims, is this a mistake? Should I find a set of 16s?

All the info is great, I really appreciate it all. I am looking to make this as capable an allroad/offroad vehcile as possible, however I am not looking to conquer the hardest/ gnarliest stuff out there. The rig is my daily driver and I love the comfort, so I don't want to ruin it. I love the look of the vehicle, however like most offroad capable trucks it looks like it would be better suited a few inches taller with a slightly larger tire. feel free to correct me if I am mistaken.

 

[HillbillyfromAL]

In Golden, just made the switch from 2 to 4 wheels. Had to reprioritize when the family grew by 1.

I hear you there. I'm down in the Springs and usually head up by Woodland Park/Divide to go wheeling. You've probably got alot more stuff alot closer to you though.

 

[HillbillyfromAL]

For the majority of FS roads and the like I agree that a lift and stuff isn't really necessary for the most part. There's only so far you'll get in ruts dug out by 33" tires if your running 29" tires. When your wheels are off the ground you ain't going nowhere fast. I know where I like to camp in the winter most of the trucks that go up there have 33-35" tires so going smaller wouldn't be a good idea unless you really like shoveling snow. However, those same trails can be run with much smaller tires when there's not a foot of snow/ice on the ground. As for the harder trails the 33"s will let do most of them taking the bypasses on the really hard stuff. If your going to be going crawling I'd start with underbody protection. In stock form you'll find that it will outperform most Jeeps on the trail, and any Jeep on the ice If you haven't had a chance to drive when the roads are starting to ice up pretty good yet you'll be blown away when you do. The TC is absolutely awesome. Oh keep the stock rims by the way