Co1 wrote:

Exactly right. The arbs stop the articulation. If you don’t have the spring compressors then unbolting the arbs would probably work. I thought of this in the 4th spring, having already compressed it!

It would've worked without the ARB  1993 200 Tdi 90 CSW
1956 Series 1 Hard-top
1958 Series 1 Soft-top

Co1 wrote:

Today I finished replacing the springs on my 90. It’s a 2013 with 50k and HD springs all round. I replaced both rears with progressive front passenger 110 springs and the fronts with discovery springs at 150lb. I found the details on the petrolheads forum and if anyone was thinking of doing it, do it! It has made hell of a difference and cost about £80 for the springs and isolator including the vat. Well worth it for small bump sensitivity and better on potholes as well.

One bit of advice though, lots of places say you can do it without spring compressors just using the articulation alone. This is far from the case. The rears can be done just, and I mean with just with a lot of brute force. There is no way you would manage it without them on the front. Other thing to note is that the rear sits about 10mm lower and the fron 10mm higher with this set up. I might shim the back up a bit if I can be bothered, but I can’t see it with my eyes.

just looking at this again as ive just replaced my springs and you can do it without spring compressors or removing ARB.
My drive is sloping so i cannot safely jack up both wheels.
!.Remove turret cover
2.Jack up car on chassis axle stands for safety
3. Remove wheel
4.Jack under axle(bottle) of side your doing and support axle only.
5.Remove botton nut of shock(bracing shock with mole grips)
6.Remove turret nuts
7.lift out shock ant turret
8.lower jack on axle and remove
9.Place bottle jack on flat surface of bump stop on axle and jack up against chassis (pushing the axle down in controlled way)slowly in a controlled fashion being wary of brake hoses,springs will fall out ..no levering .pushing or shoving this should work for all except very long springs.


Click image to enlarge


I was surprised how controlled it was and if i can do it anybody can.Obviously there is limit to the articulation due to the brake hoses but it should work easily enough on all but the larger springs.

LandymanStefan wrote:

I've can say the same, ive put 110 front progressives on the front and rear of my 90. It rides so much better! You can actually feel the axles moving over bumps. I would personally like it a touch stiffer for the corners so I'm going to put fox dampers all round which are gas shocks and should be slightly firmer than the knackered originals. These are being justified as I only spent £85 for all 4 springs brand new genuine take offs.

Dick wrote:

This is interesting, as im looking to replace my old, very rusty looking springs, with a set of the Britpart 'Light' duty 1" lift springs.

Very little information about or evidence of anyone that has used this kit.

Front lifts by 25mm, rear lifts by 40mm and the spring weight is about 5kg down on the 'standard' defender springs.

I have no 'accessories' pm the car to weigh it down and don't intend to be loading up particularly heavily.

Does my logic make sense in thinking that this will soften the ride a little?

Does anyone have experience with these springs?

I'm just hoping im not going to be wallowing round corners, but surely 5kg less wight rating over a 220kg spring isn't going to have much difference!