LR4 off-road upgrades

[kj217]

hello everyone,
i off-road my 2011 LR4 almost every week on dry dirt, rocky roads and sand.
i wonder what sould i consider to upgrade in regards to wheels, tires and, ofcourse, suspension. i started to believe that oem suspension is too soft and weak as i have had different issues every other trip especially with struts.

thank you all in advance.

 

[ryanjl]

There is no upgrade to the suspension, unless you want to swap out the air suspension to springs. You can buy Bilstein shocks to use with the air struts, but reviews are mixed on those.

Regarding wheels, the best off-road upgrade is to go to 18" wheels. Your options are either Compomotives or LR3 18" wheels with 1.25" wheel spacers.

 

[NASdiesel]

I will say from personal experience, the Bilsteins are crap and not worth the $$. just replaced two front assemblies, one failed completely, the other was failing after less than a year. Back to stock which lasted far longer and without a severe failure in the field as the bilsteins did. Very disappointed in them.

 

[DouglasH]

By far the biggest offroad mod you can do is 18" tyres with decent rubber.

Then it's just protection really. The LR4 is already a very offroad capable vehicle.

 

[Waterndirt]

I've had a great experience with my Compos and larger sidewalls, 265 65 18s off road. Most comfortable ride I can ever remember having. I've done rocky Eastern Sierra, Desert Reno, and general trail runs. I have to save the serious rock climbing stuff until after my wife's done with the vehicle as her daily driver.

What types of problems are you having with the struts?

 

[Mcb14230]

Anyone run the old man emu set up (spring with 2" lift) i love the ride on road with the Air suspension and hate to lose that. But I do wonder about the strength of that system when off road. I'm not sure why OME hasnt offered a 3 or 4 in spring strut combo..Unless its fear of changing the handling dynamics on road.

 

[DouglasH]

Anyone run the old man emu set up (spring with 2" lift) i love the ride on road with the Air suspension and hate to lose that. But I do wonder about the strength of that system when off road. I'm not sure why OME hasnt offered a 3 or 4 in spring strut combo..Unless its fear of changing the handling dynamics on road.

The air suspension is just as strong off road as it is on road. Using the IIDTool i've had no issues gaining and extra 2.5" lift when going offroad and have had no issues.

 

[jwest]

Anyone run the old man emu set up (spring with 2" lift) i love the ride on road with the Air suspension and hate to lose that. But I do wonder about the strength of that system when off road. I'm not sure why OME hasnt offered a 3 or 4 in spring strut combo..Unless its fear of changing the handling dynamics on road.

Now how do you suppose you could increase height by 4” full time and retain any decent control arm and axle cv joint geometry ? If there were a diff-drop kit then it could work as it would realign the half shafts and ease the cv joints. As it is, these areas are only to be at max angles for brief periods.

It would basically get all effed up sitting at Plus 4 before even adding in down travel movements while on a trail.

 

[jwest]

I will say from personal experience, the Bilsteins are crap and not worth the $$. just replaced two front assemblies, one failed completely, the other was failing after less than a year. Back to stock which lasted far longer and without a severe failure in the field as the bilsteins did. Very disappointed in them.

You should post what specifically occurred. Dampers rarely “fail” and I’ve had them in a Disco 2 for several years without issue. These struts have a damper inside the air spring. Factory air springs have given people trouble as well. Hardly ever the damper though.

 

[Mcb14230]

The air suspension is just as strong off road as it is on road. Using the IIDTool i've had no issues gaining and extra 2.5" lift when going offroad and have had no issues.

@ Douglash thank you. That helps and saves money for many other upgrades. I need to order my iidtool.