Impressions after installing OME spri...

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Author Message   John Friederichj Posted on Wednesday, January 08, 2003 - 10:57 pm:    Spent last Saturday installing OME springs (779 front and 781 rear) and shocks on my 2001 Disco SD. Sunday was spent 'testing'. Here are my impressions... 1) Steering: even with power steering, it seems to require more force to turn. 'Self-centering' seems to have decreased to non-existence. This will take a little getting used to. Any chance a wheel alignment is needed after the install? Street feel has gone from understeer to slight oversteer. Off-road feel is, uh, just right. 2) Handling: Street, good, less body roll for sure. More butt impact on bumps, but not too bad, even for my wife. On washboard gravel, at speed, it is a big improvement over stock. Over rocks, the jury is still out. I've read about a decrease in articulation over stock, but over a familiar stretch, it felt very good. I like the extra clearance (even if just an inch or two). With no sliders, it give more confidence. 3) Noise: more. I hear things I never heard before, probably due to stiffer springs / shocks. I can live with it. I'm glad I've got an SD without more noise producers like sunroofs. All in all, I'm feeling like it was money (and a day labor) well spent. -John F   muskyman Posted on Wednesday, January 08, 2003 - 11:02 pm:    john , the reduction in self centering is due to the reduction in positive caster that you have with the taller springs. an alignment will have no effect on this. thom   Pete B (Downunderdisco) Posted on Wednesday, January 08, 2003 - 11:29 pm:    Thanks for the feedback John. Very handy for someone like me who is considering the same. My biggest handling gripe on mine (stock suspension and tyres so far) is that on corregations on gravel, the thing actually seems to float. If you end up where you want to go its more accidental than anything. The whole car will swivel about its centre it seems and point in a complete other direction and it needs constant correction on the wheel. Most off putting.   perroneford Posted on Thursday, January 09, 2003 - 07:04 am:    Pete, That's your shocks. Replace them and that will go away to a large degree. -P   Michael Noe (Noee) Posted on Thursday, January 09, 2003 - 08:20 am:    Upgrade you steering damper too.   Ron Ward (Ronward) Posted on Thursday, January 09, 2003 - 08:56 am:    Anti-sway bar quick disconnects will improve axle drop and articulation off road. Did you re-install the rubber ring spacers on top of the rear springs when you swapped them out? If not you may be hearing some vibration from them. Happened on my Classic. Ron Ward   Jess Alvarez (Jester) Posted on Thursday, January 09, 2003 - 11:00 am:    You know, I installed the OME HD set and the OME shocks on my 02D2, and it feels great off road when aired down properly. On road, if the tires are aired up too much (like after vehicle service when they think they should air up your tires to 40-45 psi), it feels pretty funky, but at 34 front and 30 rear, it seems just right. The only thing I noticed is that when I am offroading and going over rocks and such where articulation would be required, it sounds like the springs are coming off of the bottom cones in the front. I left the rubber dampers on the top. Does this sound at all familiar? Is there a cure for this? Rubber dampers on the bottom, perhaps? Any advice would be great.   scubaman99 Posted on Thursday, January 09, 2003 - 02:41 pm:    Hey all i had a stock 95 which i upgraded at 118K with OME MD springs and shocks all the way round. here is what i saw...(i've since put 123K on it now). 1. eventhough the MD's are only supposed to be a 1" lift... initially i ended up with about 2.5 in the front and 3" in the rear... This is due to the OLD springs (118K on them) having sagged more then i realized. initially it was so bad that i had to flatten all four tires and LOAD my rig down with tons of shit in order to get it out of the garage once i was finished!!! 2. "on road driving" flat out... the rig rides a)much higher (minor irratance to the wife... problem for old folks = : - 0 b)much flatter in the corners, night and day diff c)much more bumpier over rough roads d)i have a slight vib??? when the speedo hits speeds over 70mph (65 actual via GPS) for a split second when im accelerating or just as i start to slow down... i get a vibration/noise that sounds just like im driving over rough pavement... ive been told that this is the normal "driveline vibration" from taller springs 3. now that i've driven about 6K miles and have wheeled about 3 times on the new suspension, ive ended up with about 2" (over the old height). in any event inorder to pull into the garage i had to remove the stock roof racks. regardless, if the gas tank is less then 1/2 full the roof still scrapes. pulling in the garage with less then 1/4 tank sounds like fingernails on a chalk board. oh well... 4. i made rear swabar disconnects and "on road" cant tell the difference when cornering (AKA my disco corners FLAT with or with out the rear SB connected) kind of nice feeling. "Off road" ive noticed the rear articulation is WAY better with SB disconected. i think the (SB disconnects) were the single biggest BANG for the buck in off road handling(cost about $20). having OME MD's and OME shocks made it even better 4. "off road" driving is way better... a)i went wheeling with a buddy that has a stock 96. the additional height DEFINATELY helps approach and departure angles. its amazing how much diff a couple of inches makes?!?!? b)off road ride is kind of bumpy, what i do notice is that i can drive faster and i never bottom out... get the shit shaken out of me, but never bottoms out c)crawling flexi trails is much easier... trails that i had to take slow, i can cut through with ease overall... if "garage height" and "spouse/family ingress and egress" wasnt an issue, i'd post my MD's for HD's in a minute (assuming the HD's are everthing the MD's are and more)   Al Oliveira (Offroaddisco) Posted on Thursday, January 09, 2003 - 03:33 pm:    What kind of bumper do you have on your D2?   R. B. Bailey (Rover50987) Posted on Thursday, January 09, 2003 - 04:12 pm:    I'm still about six months away from getting new shocks and springs. I like the OME's on my Series truck, so thanks for the info on what it is like on the Discovery. But could one of you do the same type of review for the Bilstien/Rover HD or MD setup? I would like to compare/contrast. http://landrover.mrbaileyshistory.net   John Friederich Posted on Thursday, January 09, 2003 - 09:02 pm:    I've noticed the noise that sounds like springs bouncing around over rocky places (I kept the rubber spacers on the rear). Sort of disconcerting. Don't know quite how to troubleshoot this problem, I may have to hang on a front / rear bumper while wife drives. Muskyman - any way around this 'self-centering' issue? Is it a sign there may be bad effects in the future on other components? I feel like I have perfect control over washboard gravel at high speeds, where before the install I felt all 'floaty'. I'm still a little concerned about loss of articulation, although I noticed no real ill effects on the rocks I was on this last weekend. Anyone have recommendations on sway bar disconnects, or should I just remove the rear? Or both? I was very sore (shoulders, mostly) after the install. Broke a 3/8" socket (rear calipers) and a ratchet, boy were they tight. Everything was very tight. I had to use a floor jack under a breaker bar to break loose the rear drivers side radius arm bolt (necessary to get enough articulation to install the rear springs uncompressed.) I'm still a little sore. -John F '01 Disco (an SD)   Jess Brandt (Disco285) Posted on Thursday, January 09, 2003 - 09:20 pm:    curious on the cheap rear quick-disconnects....i would love to do this on mine...but i am running stock suspension currently and do not want to fully remove now... thanks Jess feel free to e-mail me...thanks again...   Jess Alvarez (Jester) Posted on Friday, January 10, 2003 - 04:12 pm:    Al, If you were talking to me, it is the stock one right now, because I am waiting on shipment of the $G one. Once that is on, I am hoping that it is heavy enough to hold the sucker down and keep the springs from popping off the cones. Does it sound like a weight (or lack thereof) problem to you? Thanks   ken nishikawa (Scubaman99) Posted on Friday, January 10, 2003 - 04:47 pm:    as for cheap quick disconnects... i basically looked at the discoweb tech section under Aedofab quick disconnect... as you can see there are 4 key parts 1. the main pin 2. washer 3. cotter pin 4. copper tub. i reused the existing rubber bushing and all of the other parts can be had at your local hardware store... actually i had to drive to 2 different stores cause one didnt have all the parts... but bottom line, i was able to put together all the parts for about $20 dollars... and eventhough its "home made" it works flawlessly   Jess Alvarez (Jester) Posted on Friday, January 10, 2003 - 06:01 pm:    Hey, FYI, I emailed John Lee with EE about my spring unseating problem, and here is the response I got. Hope it helps all interested. Thanks "Jess, It's common to have the front springs unseat, because they have a shorter freestanding height than the factory springs. It is not something to worry about. John Lee"   John Friederich Posted on Friday, January 10, 2003 - 08:52 pm:    Hmmm - The 779's I put on the front were an inch or so taller than the stock ones I took off (10k on the stock springs.) I still hear the noises over rocks, and not big enough ones to disconnect the springs, it seems... That being said, I agree that it is probably not something to worry about. John F John F   Jess Alvarez (Jester) Posted on Friday, January 10, 2003 - 11:41 pm:    I hear ya, John, but what am I to say? As long as I dont have to worry about it as per the guru's advice, I wont. Happy trails.   John Lee Posted on Saturday, January 11, 2003 - 11:31 am:    Jess, John is right. I was thinking of the 751's when I told you the factory springs were taller. The 779's are in fact slightly taller than the factory front D2 springs, as shown here: http://expeditionexchange.com/disco2frontcoils/DCP_1100.jpg I suspect the springs' unseating is coming from the longer OME shocks. It's not anything to worry about so long as the springs don't actually separate from the spring perch or spring seat. When I was running 751 front springs with my LTR05F's, the front springs would always unseat slightly at full articulation. This is actually quite common and nothing to worry about.