Body Tilt In Corners

Napalm00

Technical Excellence Contributor
You're going to have to figure out exactly what weight but for your ask I would probably go with ome standard height heavy-duty rear springs and ome standard height medium duty front springs. I don't think you need secondary inner coils in the rear right off the bat, if you end up still squatting and wallowing underweight then yeah you can spring for the extra coils or inner airbag system.

I personally would remove and toss the original boge self-leveling system as it sounds like yours is shot anyway and they're extremely expensive to repair/replace.

Ome or koni raid shocks

And a complete polyurethane bushing overhaul. SuperPro is supposedly the best I actually use the cheap yellow britparts and they have held up for years for me.

All the bushings include:
Radius arms front and rear
Trailing arms front and rear
Rear a frame upper
Panhard bar
Shock bushings
Maybe some I'm forgetting


MEASURE the width of your front radius arms before you order anything. Don't end up like these guys with mismatched parts.



This is going to be like ordering pizza for a group of 20 people... You're going to get a lot of opinions.
 

acheck

Well-known member
lots of cooks in the kitchen here but i just wanted to point out, the boge self leveling unit is a really clever piece of kit and often unfairly dismissed. i'd love to have a functioning one on any coil sprung land rover.

the unit has a calibrated "ride height" which is set to match the unladen ride height of the vehicle. and, an internal "pump" which uses the force of the suspension oscillating to essentially "jack itself up". for example, you put 600 pounds of camping gear in the back of the 110 - it sags below the boge ride height. then while driving, the suspension moving up and down will cycle the internal "pump" in the boge and it will eventually pump itself back up to the calibrated ride height. an internal relief valve means it will never exceed this ride height.

they dont work on lifted vehicles because the boge calibrated ride height is no longer in sync with the actual vehicle ride height.
 

Uncle Douglas

Well-known member
Callsign: delete
I'm thinking new springs, shocks & bushings will make it feel like a new ride. Are inner springs noticeable in the ride quality without load? If so, I can add inner springs in the future if needed. After checking out the inner outer springs set up - I like it. Now for the hard decision part - Heavy Duty, Triple Rate, OME, Old Man Emu, Types of bushings, Types of shocks, o_O!?! I am new at any suspension work. I have a 110 that will carry a few hundred pounds all the time (Inner cage, Front Runner rack, Drifta cargo slide drawer, extra fluids, Ostrich Wing Awning, tools) & occasionally carry 4-6 MTB's, camping gear, 5 adults & a great dog. Not planning on lifting, but lockers are in the future. I trust the experience on this site. Not looking for cheap options - What is a good set up?
My 130 with stock suspension-front and rear swaybars and the inner outer rear springs. Was the best driving defender I have owned. I'm not a fan of harsh which is what you get with high spring rates, hard shock valving, and poly bushings. Stiff suspension = reduced off road ability.
 

Red90

Well-known member
poly bushings.

One small thing to add to this. The Superpro bushings use a polyurethane that is the same stiffness as stock rubber bushings. So if you want longer lasting without increasing stiffness, they are a good choice. They also utilize a more flexible design than stock for the chassis end of the trailing arms and radius arms. For whatever reason, nobody seems to be able to supply rubber bushings that last these days.
 

Tbaumer

Technical Excellence Contributor
Thank you for the shopping list Napalm00. Now I have a direction to start looking.
Good explanation of how the load leveling unit works acheck. It sounds like it's an either/or with the Boge self leveler & inner springs. As in - you wouldn't want both set ups. The advantage to the load leveler (when it works) would be it's ability to adjust to different weights & still get the same ride height. The inner outer springs could ride high or low if I don't get a good measure of the unladen weight. Does that sound correct?
... Stiff suspension = reduced off road ability.
Then there is this. I don't do any hard offloading (yet), but want avoid anything that will decrease my capability on the trails.

I'll post my list up for inspection/advice before I pull the trigger.
 

erover82

Well-known member
Unless inner springs are not compressing until a certain amount of travel (which I doubt), then they must increase overall spring rate. I see little difference between that and the simpler, less mud holding option, of using slightly stiffer coils. If the commonly referenced data is correct, the two coils in parallel would act as a single 320 lb/in spring.

Replacing worn bushings is a given. Moving on.

Does one repair a Boge unit or use stiffer springs? The Boge unit will level the ride once moving and retain off-road flex, but will do little to counteract sway. Stiffer springs will level the ride when loaded and counteract sway, but will reduce off-road flex. I'd try to address both with a repaired Boge and slightly stiffer coils.

Which coil option is appropriate? Factory 110s with load levelers have 180 lb/in rear coils. If static load increased by roughly 10% I'd look for 200 lb/in coils, but options are limited. NRC6904 (330 lb/in) are slightly stiffer than the theoretical inner/factory coil combo, but more simple. OME 2752 (175/200) are a hair softer initially, but perfect at secondary rate. RKB101111 (270/420 lb/in) are closer to ideal than NRC6904 at primary rate, but much stiffer at secondary rate.
 

Tbaumer

Technical Excellence Contributor
This standard kit looks like it has the OME 2752 in the rear - https://www.roversnorth.com/parts/omed110k1_ome_suspension_kit_d110sw_standard_duty&type=3
Description says it is for oversize tires (do not have) & winch bumper (have). Says it will lift the body 1.5" & be a little stiff on road. Does it make sense that I will be able to remove the Boge leveling unit, if I don't repair/replace it? Or add the inner rear springs later, if needed.

The kits are nice for someone like me, who questions every part ordered.
I'm only seeing a Superpro poly bushing kit for D90's, not 110's. Is there a difference?
 

Napalm00

Technical Excellence Contributor
That kit will lift your truck. You can just remove the boge

If you're going to lift the truck choosing parts is going to be a lot easier. And the ride quality will be better on a slightly lifted truck than trying to get standard ride height with uprated load capacity.

if you do lift you are going to have to run a spacer for your rear sway bar. And possibly brake lines. And possibly a drive shaft if you get a whole ton of vibration.

I would recommend not buying a kit. do the research and buy the parts individually, imo.
 

erover82

Well-known member
Shocks can greatly effect ride quality. I've never tried those, but they're typically calibrated for heavier loads, which means more vibrations and impacts will be felt on a vehicle less laden. However, stiffer shocks also have great benefit to safety and handling when laden. Compromise is hard.

That kit may work well for your desires and setup, but it's hard to guarantee as there as many variables involved. The kits are designed as approximate solutions to a range of configurations. The risk I see with the OME 2752 is that being slightly longer and minimally stiffer, they may not offer the correction to on-road sway you desire. It's hard to say definitively though.

If you go with an aftermarket coil on the front and find it lifts more than desired, you could fit D2 spring seats to lower by about 5/8". Alternatively, if you stick with factory front coils and find the height to be trailing the rear, you could add D2 spring isolators to level it and add a bit of vibration dampening.

If I was in your shoes and had to buy something today, I'd try the RKB500300 triple rate coils. It's a relatively small initial investment in what is, like many Defender tweaks, an experiment. If you find it sags more than desired in the rear when loaded with 600lb, then I'd look into addressing the Boge unit. If the coils don't work out, there's likely someone else out there who could use them.
 
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Tbaumer

Technical Excellence Contributor
Thanks Napalm00 for showing why I'm not interested in lifting this truck. I'm starting to think the safest bet for me is to just order all original parts.
erover82 - I keep seeing this description for RKB500300 -
RKB500300 Rear Spring 110 130 from 7A Not Station Wagon
Defender 07 on - 110 ONLY All models from (VIN) 7A000001 on except station wagon - Rear, both sides

Doesn't it mean this spring should NOT be used on my 1986 110 County Station Wagon? Or am I interpreting this wrong?
 

erover82

Well-known member
Thanks Napalm00 for showing why I'm not interested in lifting this truck. I'm starting to think the safest bet for me is to just order all original parts.
erover82 - I keep seeing this description for RKB500300 -
RKB500300 Rear Spring 110 130 from 7A Not Station Wagon
Defender 07 on - 110 ONLY All models from (VIN) 7A000001 on except station wagon - Rear, both sides

Doesn't it mean this spring should NOT be used on my 1986 110 County Station Wagon? Or am I interpreting this wrong?

They were intended for the lighter pickup configuration, so if you were on the assembly line, they would be the "incorrect" part to fit. Length, rate, diameter, and quality is what really matters. You can even run a coil from a different make/model if all the specifications match.
 

Tbaumer

Technical Excellence Contributor
I already have two new radius arms (ordered a while back because I have tire wear on the originals), with bushings in them. I can press them out & put in SuperPro or leave them as is (new) & replace as needed.

IMG_3598.JPG IMG_3597.JPG

I'm going to stay with original Land Rover springs, but go heavy duty front & rear as listed:

NRC6904 - LH Rear HD W/O leveler
NRC6904 - RH Rear HD W/O leveler
NRC9448 - LH Front HD Variable Rate
NRC9449 - RH Front HD Variable Rate

Trying to get educated on shocks - Bilstein, Koni, OME,.... I see adjustable shocks available, but have no idea how you would determine adjustment need/accuracy. Sorry, choosing shocks is a mystery to me & I could use some guidance here - With the above springs in mind, stock height, a few hundred extra pounds all the time load.
 

CDN38

Well-known member
There will be as many opinions on shocks as there are options. Overall, I would suspect the most common, tried tested and true, and reliable for general use would be the OME shock.
 

Tbaumer

Technical Excellence Contributor
OME shocks & the springs listed above - just arrived! As soon as I get a free weekend I'll be replacing the bushings, shocks & springs. By doing it all at once, I guess I won't know where the bulk of the tilt really originated from. With heavy duty springs, I expect it will feel more like the tractor it sounds like.

IMG_3603.JPG IMG_3600.JPG
 

mgreenspan

Founding Member
I doubt it’ll feel as bad as you think. I always preferred the ride of OME medium duty springs over stock on my Discovery 1 and my 110.
 

Napalm00

Technical Excellence Contributor
The front springs *may* be handed. Sometimes as much as 20 mm taller on the driver side spring. Put them side by side and put the tall one on the driver side.
 

MountainD

Technical Excellence Contributor
Airlift. It is the best choice for people with variable loads. You will be able to add 1400 pounds with no change in ride height and it will help the sway as well. I use them in my 110 and run around 1100 pounds extra on the rear axle between normal empty and setup for camping. Add a bit of air and the ride height stays the same. I have a heavy truck at 6950 lbs loaded. I also have front and rear sway bars and body roll is acceptable.

This the the kit for a 110.

Do you have a rear sway bar?
I’ve been wondering what solution for when I tow. This is perfect. Thanks, Red!
 
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