For those that offroad their LR4...a few questions before I pull the trigger

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speedkills

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You'll need to figure out a way to deal with the rear wheel alignment if you use the proud rhino strut spacers. It will add a bunch of positive camber making your rig look silly. I'm trying to find a shop near Denver/Boulder that can resolve the issue as i already took it to JC's British in Denver and they said there is nothing they can do about it. @avslash did you have to do anything special to deal with your alignment? JC's told me once they exceed 1.25" of lift that they can't get them aligned but I do recall others saying with a bit of milling on some part they have gotten them bAck into alignment.
 

avslash

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You'll need to figure out a way to deal with the rear wheel alignment if you use the proud rhino strut spacers. It will add a bunch of positive camber making your rig look silly. I'm trying to find a shop near Denver/Boulder that can resolve the issue as i already took it to JC's British in Denver and they said there is nothing they can do about it. @avslash did you have to do anything special to deal with your alignment? JC's told me once they exceed 1.25" of lift that they can't get them aligned but I do recall others saying with a bit of milling on some part they have gotten them bAck into alignment.

Interesting. I probably read as much LR4 stuff as anyone, but I have not come across that before.

I will have an answer relatively quickly though, as mine is currently at my Indy getting poly bushes installed on all 8 control arms. He will be taking it to a buddy at the local LR dealer for an alignment before I get it back. I will ask him to print out what they align it to.

Mine has only been to the dealer for alignments, and I have never been told they couldn't get it into spec.

We will see.

Anybody have the spec ranges from the service manual handy?
 

iSurfvilano

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@avslash - I read that you were looking how to protect the exhaust...check this pic out.

Underbody-protection.jpg
 

avslash

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@avslash - I read that you were looking how to protect the exhaust...check this pic out.

Underbody-protection.jpg


I've seen that from Prospeed. If those pieces existed when I was doing mine, I likely would have gone that route to save some weight over the steel pieces I have now. Not worth it to me at this point to spend the money, though.

I always thought those control arm guards are interesting. They look cool, but I am not sure I have ever heard of someone breaking an actual arm. Strut mounts, yes, but not the actual arm.

The Asfir rear diff plate provides some protection to the exhaust, as well.

What I would really like it to either find a way to reroute those pipes (which I have been unable to do) or find some kind of flexible, compressible tubing to splice into each exhaust line. Something that could stand up to a temporary compression on a rock or other obstacle and then rebound into shape. I have thought about braided stainless with appropriate couplings, but I haven't gotten around to experimenting with it yet.
 

iSurfvilano

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I've seen that from Prospeed. If those pieces existed when I was doing mine, I likely would have gone that route to save some weight over the steel pieces I have now. Not worth it to me at this point to spend the money, though.

I always thought those control arm guards are interesting. They look cool, but I am not sure I have ever heard of someone breaking an actual arm. Strut mounts, yes, but not the actual arm.

The Asfir rear diff plate provides some protection to the exhaust, as well.

What I would really like it to either find a way to reroute those pipes (which I have been unable to do) or find some kind of flexible, compressible tubing to splice into each exhaust line. Something that could stand up to a temporary compression on a rock or other obstacle and then rebound into shape. I have thought about braided stainless with appropriate couplings, but I haven't gotten around to experimenting with it yet.

I will need to find the pic...but there is an instance where the prospeed center skid came down on a rock that was hidden by water on a drop and completely dented in and they had to cut the bolts to get it off...I think the steel is a better option regardless of the weight.
 

speedkills

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One issue with Prospeed gear to keep in mind is they aren't great to deal with in the US. You can go Lucky8 and get parts from them usually at more than it cost to just order from prospeed directly even after shipping and duty, or order from Prospeed and get boxes with missing parts and zero service. Nice looking parts though so even after my last experience with them I ordered more parts up but I'm currently in the not awesome place of having a hidden winch mount with no installation kit, no picture of the parts needed to assemble it locally, and Prospeed ignoring my daily emails for the past week. I may have to step it up to hourly phone calls to even get them to acknowledge me. In retrospect, I may have been better off ordering from Lucky8 even though they quoted me about a thousand more shipped for the parts than prospeed did.

For those of you with the strut spacer kit, has anyone else experienced broken limiter straps? I haven't even taken my LR4 off-road since installing the strut spacers, just put my truck up on the lift to install more armor and found one of the limit straps broken, either from a week of daily driving on pavement, or from the extension of raising my LR4 up on the lift. The metal bracket that bolts to the top of the strut just snapped in half.
 

Rkymtnman

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.....Rear heater hoses in passenger rear wheel well. You will see these when you address the body flange. These need to be cut and rerouted so that they are not abraded by the rear passenger tire when the suspension is compressed. The factory lines are aluminum, and require a tubing cutter. There is plenty of space to re-route 5/8 heater hose where it will not be in the way.

Heat gunning. Take a heat gun and re-shape the factory wheel liners where necessary.

With the above mods you can run 275/65R18 (32.1) without issue. I can verify this first hand, after running them for years, at this point. There are guys who are running 275/70R18 (33.2). These will be my next set, but I am relaying anecdotal experience here, not my own experience. 265/70R18 and 265/60R18 should not give you any issues either. I would be cautious going above a 275 width on an 18 inch wheel on these trucks. I also would not consider anything less than an E rated tire. These things are heavy, especially once you start modding them.

Well....I'm back. Got my LR4 then proceeded to spend the next 8? 9? months on the road every damn week. Zero time to do anything to the truck except gather parts. I finally have a set of LR3 wheels, 1.25 spacers and a GAP tool. Looking at the strut spacers next, then tires.

Tell me more about rerouting the heater hoses in the rear wheel well. How did you go about this? Did you have to flare new ends on them or did you make the connection some other way?

I'll be grinding off frame horns/welding in patches and grinding the rear mounting flanges over Christmas break....taking 2 weeks off...and will handle the rest of the trimming suggested...only one that has me still figuring an approach are these heater lines. Targeting a set of 275/65/18 BFGs.

Last question for now...regarding the limit straps. I have seen where guys swear they are an absolute requirement and others suggest they are worthless. What is your experience with them?

Also have a line on a set of LR3 calipers. Saw where @jwest replaced the stock LR4's with these and eliminated the need for spacers. I like that idea...seems cleaner. With stock LR3 18's, can I keep the existing rotors and just swap calipers or would I need to go further and replace more?

Thanks for all the insights around here.....I refer to this thread and others frequently despite not being able to actually turn a wrench for the past many months.
 

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