My Lift Kit Review

[Grum.man]

My recently acquired 2003 Discovery II is coming along. Rebuilt the engine, put in a 2004 transfer case, and finally a 2” lift kit. I agonized over what combination to use. I have no desire to load it down with gear so was worried the most common lifts would kill the ride quality. Ultimately this is the combo I ended up with. I really wanted to do 3” for the extra travel but couldn’t justify the price
RTE 2” coils
Fox shocks
TF steering arms
TF watts link
TF extended brake lines and ABS extensions
TF sway bar disconnect

The springs came a week before the rest of the kit so I put those on first. I was pretty happy with the ride on the OEM shocks. Since the factory springs had sagged an inch I ended up with 3 more inches of lift. I’d say it was 15% stiffer and you could feel the small road imperfections more but it handle the bigger bumps better as I suspect i was hitting the bump stops before. Today I put the rest of the kit on. I had to remove the inner fender piece next to the radiator on the driver side to clear the sway bar links which I’m not thrilled about. I had to clearance the rear shock mounts for the Fox shocks and they were a real pain to get in. Otherwise it was all pretty straight forward and took about 8 hours of work. Somehow the Fox shocks seemed to improve the ride even more despite feeling much stiffer while installing them. I was worried it wouldn’t drive well without getting caster corrected arms but happy to report it is improved if anything. With the sag of my factory springs it made the steering too slow and sluggish. Now it feels more responsive.
Lastly had to do a posser flex picture. Any higher and it picks the driver front tire off the ground. I plan to get wheels with more offset which will help the flex. The passenger side tire is about 21” in the air.

 

[jastutte]

i'm running the RTE 2" coils and Fox shocks, as well. overall, i'm happy with the ride quality.

though, after doing a bit of towing with a heavy trailer, i did throw in some one inch spacers on the rear.

 

[Grum.man]

I have a truck for towing. Honestly I couldn't imagine towing anything more than a lawn mower with this thing.

 

[kris812]

I have a TF medium lift and poly bushings everywhere.. And it rides like crap! First vehicle I've done poly bushings and regretted it.. Had a hot wheels race car inches off the ground with full poly that road better than this Disco..

 

[Grum.man]

I have a TF medium lift and poly bushings everywhere.. And it rides like crap! First vehicle I've done poly bushings and regretted it.. Had a hot wheels race car inches off the ground with full poly that road better than this Disco..

Yea poly bushings were a hard no from the get go.

 

[ERover82]

Looks to be in great condition.

 

[K-rover]

I have a TF medium lift and poly bushings everywhere.. And it rides like crap! First vehicle I've done poly bushings and regretted it.. Had a hot wheels race car inches off the ground with full poly that road better than this Disco..

I bet it's the TF springs. I had TF springs with Fox shocks and poly bushings. It wasn't great. Switched to RTE 4.5" progressive springs and now it rides pretty damn good! Well, better than you think for a D2 on 35s. It can do 70mph all day long with one hand on the wheel. My shocks, radius arms, and both panhard bars are all poly. The way my truck flexes, rubber bushings dont last long.

 

[jastutte]

I have a truck for towing. Honestly I couldn't imagine towing anything more than a lawn mower with this thing.

yeah. it's pretty rough. but, i drove diesel f250s and 350s for years and towed with them. if i never drive one again, i'll be just fine.

i enjoy driving my Discovery even with it's limitations and i'm willing to work within those limitations.

 

[kris812]

I bet it's the TF springs. I had TF springs with Fox shocks and poly bushings. It wasn't great. Switched to RTE 4.5" progressive springs and now it rides pretty damn good! Well, better than you think for a D2 on 35s. It can do 70mph all day long with one hand on the wheel. My shocks, radius arms, and both panhard bars are all poly. The way my truck flexes, rubber bushings dont last long.

Hey was your front end so hard with TF springs that whenever you push down on the bumper it doesn't really squat at all? The back moves some, front feels like it's got rubber blocks for springs! Curious!

 

[K-rover]

Hey was your front end so hard with TF springs that whenever you push down on the bumper it doesn't really squat at all? The back moves some, front feels like it's got rubber blocks for springs! Curious!

Honestly I don't remember. They were pretty stiff though. Especially compared to the RTE as they are a progressive rate spring.

 

[terryjm1]

I have a TF medium lift and poly bushings everywhere.. And it rides like crap! First vehicle I've done poly bushings and regretted it.. Had a hot wheels race car inches off the ground with full poly that road better than this Disco..

I wouldn’t put poly bushings on a vehicle where comfort matters. I also would not put them on an off road vehicle as in my experience they are prone to breaking and or wear quickly. They don’t flex like rubber, either.

A small sports car where you don’t want it anything but as horizontal as possible and don’t care how hard the ride is… yes I would use them and have them in my TR7s and TR8s. Land Rovers get OEM rubber.

 

[kris812]

I think it's possible the sway bar bushings are holding the bar really tight and making for a rough ride.. When I get around to it I'm going to pull off both front and rear sway bars, then do something to the front to make smoother..

 

[K-rover]

I wouldn’t put poly bushings on a vehicle where comfort matters. I also would not put them on an off road vehicle as in my experience they are prone to breaking and or wear quickly. They don’t flex like rubber, either.

A small sports car where you don’t want it anything but as horizontal as possible and don’t care how hard the ride is… yes I would use them and have them in my TR7s and TR8s. Land Rovers get OEM rubber.

I challenge that statement as I've had my front radius arm bushings for 10yrs now and they're still perfect. And the truck can flex more than most. I tried rubber on the rear arms. They lasted one off road trip before they were destroyed.

 

[special ed]

I use poly on Annabelle but the One bushing i keep rubber is radius rod to frame point. Thats where you want flex and rubber is the way to go. Poly just cant do that without cracking. the rest of it all holds up since its not movable points.

 

[K-rover]

I use poly on Annabelle but the One bushing i keep rubber is radius rod to frame point. Thats where you want flex and rubber is the way to go. Poly just cant do that without cracking. the rest of it all holds up since its not movable points.

Ive been running the blue (soft) poly on the radius arm frame side. The axle sides are orange (medium). They've held up great over the last 10yrs. At some point I might move to the Adrenaline 4x4 arms with heims instead of bushings at the frame end.

 

[Jimmy]

The blue Polybush bushings are softer than rubber. I get more flex with them compare to rubber and they held up very well... longer than replacement rubber has (the reason why I switched). But, they're soft enough that the front was more prone to a touch of wobble from the dynamically balanced tires.

 

[Grum.man]

I don't think bushings are what's limiting my travel but who knows. The rear seems to get full travel even with the sway bar still connected. On the front I suspect the spring stiffness is working against it. Since my original post I did loosen and re-tighten the radius arm bushings on the frame to allow the rubber to re-set to the new ride height which should help. I also ordered new wheels with 30mm offset which should also apply more leverage on the axle. If I did it over again I probably would have done spacers and fresh stock springs. All the "lifted" springs seem to just lift due to spring rate and not longer springs. I would have rather kept the stock spring rate if I'd known the new springs wouldn't be any longer. Due to the smaller spring diameter I could have gotten more up travel with stock springs than the lifted ones and maintained a better ride.

 

[K-rover]

The RTE coils are a progressive springs. It's night and day difference in rife with them. These are my old TF springs vs the new RTE. The TF were 3" D1 coils that net 4" on a D2. The RTE are 4.5" lift but the truck sits exactly the same height with the RTEs as it did with the TF.

 

[Grum.man]

Their 4" coils may be progressive rate but my 2" ones are not. I emphasized that I wanted the softest coil but Simmon isn't the open book ever. He never really provided any options.

 

[Grum.man]

It’s hard to tell by the pictures but after relaxing the bushings I gained about 2” of travel. The car lift is now at 23.5” with the front sway disconnected and the stock rear. Both the front and rear tire now leave the ground at the same time where as before it picked the front tire up first. I think the shocks have a bit more up travel left but the springs are too stiff to get full travel.