... after I lifted our DII it was harder to drive at highway speeds. You definitely had a learning curve to it. I didn't mind it so much as most of our driving was at slower speeds.
Hey,
A. what did you mean by "harder" to drive the D2 after lifted and
1-harder in just feeling in control or harder in that it felt a little more "lumbering" due to larger tires and more spring travel?
B. what parts were used specifically to lift it? I ask because there are 3 physical lifts and then the added effect of larger tires almost always included regardless of lift parts used.
The 3 basic lifts would be:
1-new springs and dampers (ranging from 1.5-2" which do not require other mods, higher requiring minor mods such as longer brake lines and tall requiring other physical parts such as radius arms, etc)
2-simple spring spacers (cheap route)
3-body lift which is usually in combination with proper spring lift
I ask these because the mild lift I put on the 2004 D2 is Old Man Emu medium duty springs and damper kit for a ~2" gain, maybe more like 1.75" after adding a rack and gear. It felt so much better when running the factory 18" wheels and sized tires. Any negative change in the feel of driving only came when I switched to E load range BFG AT KO on 16" rover wheels. The combo was both much, much heavier but also a stiffer tire and more contact patch.
It was actually very cool to feel the difference between spring lift first without the big heavy tires. Like I said, the handling was actually more precise but the springs were stiffer than factory and it had no big steel bumpers to offset them. The dampers being new and better also added to the overall improvement.
Our LR3 is often used for our family trips and our interstate speed limit here is 80 mph. The last thing I want is a vehicle that is harder to drive because of a lift. So those of you that have a lifted LR3/LR4 I would like to hear what your experience is with a lifted vehicle traveling at 75-80 mph vs a stock height vehicle?
For these stated purposes alone, I would 100% avoid driving on constant lift. The slower you drive, the less it would feel troublesome.
If almost all the time, you'll be on pavement or basic forest roads and on tires no larger than 265/65x18 (31.5" diameter), then there is absolutely no need for ANY additional lift.
IF you go off road, the highest available suspension extension can be "induced" by placing blocking under the sill and lowering onto it, which causes the system to automatically engage the "extended height mode". You won't even need this unless really playing in rugged terrain.
Next, the IIDtool is plenty quick enough to engage a higher setting at a trail, and then undo upon leaving. It's cost can be justified by the other very useful tools such as clearing a code or resetting a system failure.
The LLAMS tool can be justified by it's super quick and easy "on the fly" access which is great both off road and in the city for parking structures when you have a roof rack, roof cargo box, or roof tent. Guess what a rod lift does for that situation....it's called street parking only.
The IIDtool could allow you to choose a very small standard running lift, like 10mm or just enough to compensate for larger tires like 32" if you don't want to go through the trouble of fender liner mods but honestly, the "right" way to do that is make the mods if you plan to run larger than 31.5" but it's more from a "what if" perspective than a requirement for normal day to day function.
