Bax03SE

After some trial and error it has been discovered that Land Rover coil springs are compatible with the R50s in the rear. There are several options, but these two part numbers below have successfully been installed in place of rear coil springs to provide lift and heavier load capacity. Both springs are options used on the defender 90. Part number NRC9447 175lb rate, 2.5 inches of lift with no cutting. Part number NRC9448, 225lb rate, 4 inches of lift uncut, 3 inches with one coil cut.

I ordered the cheapest, which was Brit Part Brand. I figured if I was experimenting I may as well see how the cheapest option worked out. Im no coil spring expert, but they seem like a well made set of springs to me! I also found a few reviews on LR forums saying the Brit part springs actually held up better than oem Land Rover against sagging so that was good enough for me to give it a shot.

Absolutely! I hope this can help others. Neilca and I used two different springs. NRC9447 is a front spring, Defender 90, 175lb rate, 2.5 inches of lift with no cutting. NRC9448 is a rear spring, Defender 90, 225lb rate, 4 inches of lift uncut, 3 inches with one coil cut.

MIne had what looked like the cat in the first picture, but it was hollow inside like a resonator. When I got my truck it had an exhaust leak on both sides because the cat/resonator was splitting at the seam. I first thought they were cats that would need replacing, but when I took one off and realized it was hollow I just cut them off and welded in some straight pipe. Its an 03 originally sold here in Delaware.

Nrc9447, he posted it in the original thread.

Man that sucks, I hate getting stopped up by a single buggered bolt like that! Hope you get it. Regarding the mysterious second cats/resonators IDK the details but it must either be a CA emissions thing or at least vary by model year? Like I said, mine definitely weren’t cats. And strangely, I can find both cats and resonators when searching for parts even for the same year? It’s weird. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ahhh, I didnt realize CA was different, although it makes sense. I removed the resonators on mine because they were leaking along the seems, and mine were definitely straight through inside with no honeycomb material or anything.

I just want to confirm it is definitely the cats and not the resonators causing the problem? Contrary to popular belief, R50’s only have one set of cats, which are tucked up closer to the manifolds. They should look like this. The other things further down that look like another pair of cats are only resonators, but many shops and even parts catalogs will mistake them for cats. The resonators are notorious for falling apart and leaking/rattling. Even if it is the actual cats, if there’s no more noise and no CEL then I’d say don’t worry about it until it becomes a problem. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Exactly, the issue isnt with being able to lift the front. There are plenty of ways to go a lot higher with springs and spacers. The problem is all in the CV angle. I have 2.5 inches on the front of mine and my CV angles are at the limit of what Im comfortable with. And I still put on manual hubs so I can disengage them to save wear and tear when 4wd isnt needed. To safely go beyond 2.5 inches in the front you pretty much have to do a subframe drop. Personally, Im happy enough with mine to not want to mess with the extra hassle of a sfd. I know some people dont like the rake in the back, but I like it for the functionality since I tow with mine and also carry people and gear in the back. I hate the look of a truck sagging in the rear when loaded.

I just checked mine and Im at 37 front 38 rear on ground to flair measurement. That matches up with Neilcas results pretty much spot on. We have about the same set up with spacers in front and LR coils in rear (keeping in mind I started with taller rear springs, but trimmed a coil off so the final length about matches the springs he used). Im on 33s and I think he has 31s so thats where the slight difference in height is comkng from between the two.

My 03 is the same way, so I second the vote thatvut is a normal side effect of the drive by wire throttle.

Glad you got it figured out!

Do you have the hitch already? Seems like the easiest thing would be to just get under there with the hitch and see where all the holes line up. If it installs like any of the aftermarket hitches then the factory tow hooks need to come off. Each one is held on by 3 bolts, and there is a 4th unused factory hole there as well, giving you a total of 4 mounting bolts on each side. That should take care of 8 of your bolts and have the hitch mounted to the truck. From there you should be able to figure out where the other bolts go if there are any additional holes on the hitch that line up with mounting points on the truck.

From looking at that chart Id say there is a good chance. I see a couple of springs with free heights of 16-17 inches and spring rates btw 170-200, which should give that much lift.

Tires are 285/75/16 (approx 33x11.5). I think the 175 on the same height as mine will be just right based on my experience with these. Or, for someone who wants the 225 rate they could get the passenger side springs that are .5 inch shorter than what I got. I figured I could always cut but couldnt exactly make the springs taller, so I went with the bigger springs to start. Hopefully my experiment will help others decide what they need. Its definitely nice having a good number of options with the LR spring selection.

Ouch! Im originally from Maine, so I get it. How does it look higher up around the top of the strut mount? Thats the area Id worry about. As long as that all looks solid you should be good to wait. It looks nasty, but if your guy is good with a welder and isnt shy about cutting out and replacing then its definitely fixable. Thats the one thing I dont miss about living up North.

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Ive been riding around all afternoon looking for bumps, train tracks, etc.. and I think it rides great. Its stiffer than stock, but softer than what I had before because with the air helper bags you have to keep 5-10 lbs pressure in them at all times to avoid damaging them. The combination of stock springs with the bags was really a bit too stiff for my liking. It was nice with weight in the back, but unloaded it didnt have much give to it.

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Looks like tapatalk is being weird with those last pics of the panhard modifications? They show up in tapatalk. Ill give it a bit to see if it fixes itself before I try posting them again.

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One other quick project while I was under there, I did a small panhard rod drop using the stock mount. I disconnected the bar from the bracket, and drilled a new mounting hole a little lower and to the right to bring the axle back to center with the lift. There is a small bracket that comes down at an angle to the panhard mount and uses the mounting bolt to attach to the bracket. It’s purpose appears to be to add support to the panhard mount. Since the new hole left this smaller bracket no longer connected, I solved that problem by welding the bracket to the panhard mount. It may not show up well in pics, but both sides of that angle bracket are welded directly to the main panhard bracket now. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk