1999 Land Rover Discovery |
 |
|||||||||||||||||
PORTALED, BUT NOT POLISHED No spring lift here, but with Maxi-Drive portal hubs this Disco drives 5in higher than a stocker Words by Mark Allen, Photography by Robb Cox Geoff Potter, chippie extraordinaire, just isn’t happy with your ordinary run-of-the-mill 4WD. Standard height, standard gearing and standard rubber is just not his bucket of shavings - pine, oak or otherwise. So, when shopping for a 4WD some years ago, in the back of his melon were thoughts of how extreme he would be able to take his new toy. In settling on a 1999 Disco, complete with the factory 3.9L V8, Geoff knew there was a fair amount of scope to go wild, but on a slightly different route to most. Owning a Landy - almost regardless of which model - provides the brave-hearted an ideal starting point for developing all manner of off-road weapons. Geoff basically did all his shopping at one place that was well equipped at supplying everything from mild to wild for the Pommy brand. Maxi-Drive Engineering is well versed at manufacturing strengthened and innovative off-road products, which suited Geoff’s plans to a T. Maxi-Drive Engineering can supply everything from hardened, fine-splined axles, to reduction gearsets for transfer cases, diff locks, hydraulic power take-off winches and portal drop axles. Once Geoff had placed his order with Maxi-Drive, he had his new toys trucked to KLR Automotive (an expert Landy mechanical shop in Sydney’s outer west) for a bit of ‘R and R’ - ‘removal’ of the old stuff and ‘replacement’ with the new. Geoff does have a few plans for the future of his Disco. These include a bit of bastardisation with the panels to convert the four-door wagon into a ute, a roll cage to provide some protection and ensure the remaining body stays rigid, and whatever else the hip pocket can spare on mods. MAXI-DRIVES The drop box is fitted to the standard swivel housing at the front, while at the rear it’s bolted straight to the axle housing. All four drop boxes offer a vertical drop, meaning they don’t alter the wheelbase at all. The gearing inside the portal hubs features a 23-tooth input gear and 30-tooth output gear, which are both turned via twin 17-tooth idler gears. Although these portal hubs don’t come cheap, they provide a massive 124mm (5in) of lift, add 85mm of track per side (170mm wider all up) and provide extra low-range gearing all in one package. Geoff has stuck with standard-height ARB coils - deeming that 5in extra height gain from the portal hubs is enough of a lift for a Disco. ARB Old Man Emu shocks have been fitted all round, and both front and rear swaybars have been removed and left in the shed. DRIVELINE Maxi-Drive also supplied the heavy-duty axles, which offer a claimed 50-percent increase in strength over the original-equipment axles, as they are manufactured from aviation quality, nickel-chrome-manganese steel. Geoff also sourced a pair of Range Rover CVs to replace the Disco versions. While in the swapping mode, a pair of front Disco solid disc brakes was fitted to the rear end of his wagon. Although he did have discs at the rear, the front discs are of a larger diameter. To ensure that tough-as-nails look was enhanced even further, a set of 33x12.5R15 Mickey Thompson tyres has been fitted to 15x8in steel rims. While the portal hubs lifted the wagon as a whole, KLR Automotive also fitted 2in body blocks to help the Mickey Thompson rubber clear the guards. Once Geoff started playing with his newly transformed machine, he realised that although he had height and flexibility on his side, he still needed more room to shove the Mickey Ts right up into the guards on full flex. So, it was out with the angle grinder to trim the panel-work and then out with the plastic flares to help cover the protruding aggressive tread. OTHER STUFF BRIEFLY…
|
|
||||||||||||||||
