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Sand, Rubber and Disco 1 Sand, Rubber and Disco 1
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Equipping the Overland Vehicle Vehicle accessories - Making your home away from home comfortable, safe and reliable.
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Old 3 Feb 2009
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Sand, Rubber and Disco 1
Hey all,

I've read the various posts on tyres and Chris' book but thought I'd see if I can get a definitive answer here. I have a '95 Disco 1 that I am busy getting ready to take on the southern Morocco pistes. My initial plan was to avoid a lift, put HD suspension in and replace the standard tyres with 235/85s. On further reading though it seems there could be issues with getting 85s in a Disco 1 without modification.

So, would a pair of 235/70s be sufficient for a non-lifted Disco (with HD suspension) or must I just accept the fact I am going to need to do some cutting (and possibly steering stop adjustment) and get a set of 85s fitted (I'd far rather do this than enter the potential complication of a 2" lift).

Thanks!
Scott
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Old 3 Feb 2009
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Originally Posted by c-chaos View Post
Hey all,

I've read the various posts on tyres and Chris' book but thought I'd see if I can get a definitive answer here. I have a '95 Disco 1 that I am busy getting ready to take on the southern Morocco pistes. My initial plan was to avoid a lift, put HD suspension in and replace the standard tyres with 235/85s. On further reading though it seems there could be issues with getting 85s in a Disco 1 without modification.

So, would a pair of 235/70s be sufficient for a non-lifted Disco (with HD suspension) or must I just accept the fact I am going to need to do some cutting (and possibly steering stop adjustment) and get a set of 85s fitted (I'd far rather do this than enter the potential complication of a 2" lift).

Thanks!
Scott
Don't really know myself (landcruiser owner), but have a look at this forum in Oz. I'm sure they will be able to help you there.

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Old 3 Feb 2009
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Thanks for the suggestion although at present it seems the image authentication on that site is broken so I can't register (or post).
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Old 3 Feb 2009
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Sand, Rubber and Disco 1
I don’t have 1st hand knowledge of this (G Wagen owner here) and I know this is a popular fitment on Discoveries. The only word of caution I would throw in is that you are going to alter the gearing by fitting those tyres.
Unless you go the whole hog and alter diff ratio’s or maybe transfer box ratio’s you will certainly feel the power sapping effect. Last thing you want on long uphill road sections or indeed in soft sand. I think for every 1 inch increase you loose something like 10% power/torque. I’ve got slightly oversize tyres and I got away with but it has affected low ratio adversely (low 1st being a little too long now for delicate work).

I have seen standard Discoveries struggle with this setup, but that could have been due to them being 200tdi’s or tired 300tdi’s.

I’m a big fan of keeping things standard, just MHO
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Old 3 Feb 2009
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Disco 1 in the Sahara
Hi Scott,

The southern pistes aren't too extreme. Most of the rocky stuff is flat, just take it easy over the corrugations. You'll be fine with standars tyre size.

Jojo
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Old 3 Feb 2009
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235/85 will be too big for your arches - but you don't need to go this big anyway.
You shouldn't need anything bigger than 235/70 which will fit without modification.

By all means go with HD suspension, but have a think before going with a lift unless you actually need to lift your body further from the chassis for some reason.
unless you want to be able to get greater articulation (which you wont with HD springs) then you're just making yourself more unstable and putting extra stress on UJ joints and various other bits underneath. Your axles are still going to be the same height from the deck lifted or not.

new HD springs will probably make you sit a good inch higher anyway, so just go for 'standard' height ones - I got a set of Britpart standard height HD springs for my old disco and it went up by about 1.5"!!
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