New suspension for the 90 - ideas required.

[nicks90]

hi folks,

my 90 is going to get some new springs for this year - as the current red/whites on the front and disco h/d on the rears are a few years old now and are starting to sag a bit. Especially at the back! And they are a bit too soft/rolly polly on the road.
i currently have procomp es9000 +2" shocks and want to retain these, mainly cos of cost and they are all in good condition and work well enough.
So i am after a new set of springs and want your opinions on what would be a good choice.


What i want is something fairly light duty and 2" lift, so it will flex all the way up to the bumpstops on compression and obviously drop the full way to the shock internal bumpstops (with or without dislocation cones which i will make if needed). But it also needs to be fairly sensible on the road, as its my daily driver.
so that rules out Bearmach blues (too stiff)
rules out red/whites (too soft)
rules out OME or terrafirma (too £££)

what do you guys use and what would work well with a fairly standard weighted 90?

and to top it all off, i'm going to change all the bushes - as the genuine metalastic ones are now completely shot. Fancy a set of plastic ones for ease of fitting (no access to a press), which ones are worth looking at that arent too stiff (limiting flex) and wont fall to bits (deflex )?
cheers
Nick

[repton]

You say Bearmach Blues are too hard but how about their part number BA2105? It's listed as a disco rear but if you compare the specs to the red/whites it looks like this:

Red/White rate 170lbs/inch, free length 450mm
BM BA2105 rate 194lbs/inch, free length 438mm

I reckon that would see you roughly at the same height as a red/white but with a slightly harder ride. (Guessing at about 500kg on each spring that would mean the red/white was about 285mm fitted, and the BA2105 was 294mm, so the BM would probably put you slightly higher but by less than half an inch.)

As far as bushes go, I've had genuine polybush blues on mine for over 4 years now and other than the panhard rod I've not had to replace any of them.

Hope this helps.
Paul.

[tecnick]

What are the polybush colours, I have red on the defender but cant remember what the colour code was. I remember Ferdie telling me he preferred a different colour but I cant remember which. Which should I buy to upgrade the current discovery I would, by the way, forget my own head if it was removable

Talking of the new motor, I have counted about fifteen really annoying rattles with all that interior trim bouncing around. On the plus side I have now got a cd player, that should fix the rattles

Cheers
Nick

[davew]

For springs I'm going to give Lovells a go on mine, probably with Pro-Comp shocks.. although I might try one Lovells and one Pro-Comp on each corner. Maddisons sell Lovells springs in the UK and they come with a 5 year warranty. I think I'm right in saying that BM blues are also made by Lovells although BM ones are made to a different spec to the ones Lovells sell under their own name/warranty.

Matthew has some new bushes that are reckoned to be good, I've got a couple of sets on the way for mine so I'll find out soon enough !

[repton]

What are the polybush colours, I have red on the defender but cant remember what the colour code was.

From memory the reds are the rock hard ones, the blues are softer. I was warned off the reds as some people seem to think they're so hard that you can end up damaging the holes in the suspension arms but that could well just be an old wives tale.

Paul

[nicks90]

For springs I'm going to give Lovells a go on mine, probably with Pro-Comp shocks.. although I might try one Lovells and one Pro-Comp on each corner. Maddisons sell Lovells springs in the UK and they come with a 5 year warranty. I think I'm right in saying that BM blues are also made by Lovells although BM ones are made to a different spec to the ones Lovells sell under their own name/warranty.

£60 for a pair of lovell springs....
that aint half bad when you consider the guarantee! Even to my yorkshireness thats a good price. Thats if i can match a pair to what i want.....