Yes, they exist. They are primarily only available in the Overseas markets. They are exceedingly rare in the United States. I think there were 27 shipped to the US total, all in the 2005 model year. Yes, lift options exist. There are 40mm springs, 50mm springs, and 65mm HD springs available from Peddars and KingSpring, both out of Australia. OME is rumored to have a spring out also, but I think it's only 40mm.
I have one. The benefits are excellent durability. There are no suspension issues, period. Also, because of the springs, the trucks are simplier electronically. It is not as integrated as a normal air-suspension equipped LR3. Fewer faults, fewer items to throw a fault. Other benefits include good load handling, spring rates tuned to match additions of steel bumpers, cargo drawers, winches, etc..., and no top end limit on speed in off road mode, because there is no off road mode. The lift is permanent, or relatively, because you need to swap springs to change the lift.
Lastly, because the lift or height is fixed, the alignment issues that wear out tires on air-suspended versions is minimal. I still get my alignment checked quarterly, but have not ever experienced any of the tire wear everyone else complains about. My alignment cycles are more driven by the amount of off road use my truck sees.
Cons: Much less articulation with the stock shocks than the air-suspension versions. Traction control does make up for this, but it's a noticeable issue. It has not stopped me, but does require more driver input and finesse to work through obstacles with 2 or 3 tires in the air. The solution is to replace the stock coilovers with a custom long travel shock, but I have not had the money to have that work done. The components, a-arms, sway links, everything, are the same as the air suspended versions, so getting 13" of articulation out of the rear is just a matter of upgrading the shock.
A less obvious issue is that the coilers are pretty much all Base models. The LR3 is sold as the Base, the S, the SE and the HSE, with only SE and HSE available in the US market. So the Base model lacks some of the electronic integration. It does not have terrian control for example (the rotary knob on the center console). It has all the traction and braking sub-systems, but they are not "tunable" using the TR system for Grass, Sand, Mud, Rocks, etc,,,, Again, not a real limitation, but it requires more driver skill to mimic the same effects the Easy Button produces.
I keep thinking about selling my LR3. It is now somewhat redundant in my fleet of vehicles, and so it's hard to justify the payments, particularly in a time when my career is in real jeapordy. If you are interesting in seeing more of my truck, it's plastered all over my websites:
www.nextstepdesigns.com or
http://nwoods.smugmug.com/Land Rover/198186
Cheers,
NW
