Hello everyone :waves:

I know this forum leans more towards Freelander 2's being driven on road more than off so this might not be of interest to the majority. We have had our MuddyMods lift kit on for over a year now and did the Billing Off Road course at standard height and now with a lift kit. I know that before we took the plunge to buy the lift kit, we asked around to the people that did have it to see if it was worth it or not. But it was hard for people to convey in words what it's like.

So I put together a video for anyone that is thinking of lifting their Freelander 2:

https://youtu.be/BbZWuSny5xE?si=p4y5X4aGEBcFCPtY

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

Is road handling noticeably affected ? Jules

Hi Jules. We got MuddyMods to fit the kit, so while it was there we gave them 4 KYB shocks and 4 Sachs springs to fit. To us it seemed like good preventative maintenance to do seeing as that would've no doubt needed doing in the time that we owned the car anyway.

So in answer to your question in short I'd say that it didn't affect the cars handling on the road. Maybe we gained a small amount of extra roll and yaw in the car because of the lift kit and then negated it by putting new suspension on who knows. I also think that putting wheel spacers on helped the handling of the car by pushing the wheels out 30mm on each corner and giving it a wider footprint on the road.

For safety reasons, I am surprised that altering the suspension has not been brought into the scope of the MOT.
Unfortunately gone are the days when a modern car can be regarded as an inert 'go kart'.
It is best to regard the FL2 as a 'system' and altering any part may have unintended consequences in another unless necessary steps are taken to correctly offset those changes.

Below you can see that the attitude of the car effects many other systems including the ABS, DSC and Roll Stability.
for example - will a modified suspension be protected from Roll Over, or will ABS still work at maximum efficiency.

From Repair Manual - SENSOR CLUSTER
The sensor cluster is installed beneath the centre console and is secured to the transmission tunnel with 2 studs and nuts.
The sensor cluster is a compact unit that provides the ABS module with inputs of yaw rate, roll rate, longitudinal and lateral acceleration. The ABS module broadcasts the input values on the high speed CAN bus for use by other systems.
When the ignition is in power mode 6 (ignition), the sensor cluster receives an ignition power feed from the ABS module.

The sensor cluster is also connected to the ABS module via a private CAN bus.

The sensor cluster is diagnosed by the ABS module. If a sensor fault is detected the ABS module stores a related DTC in memory and illuminates the appropriate warning indicator lamps, depending on the system functions affected (DSC/ETC, ABS, EBA/EBD, HDC). A warning chime is also sounded to alert the driver to the fault condition.

For vehicles installed with a high-line instrument cluster, a message is displayed in the message center, only if the fault affects the HDC function. FL2 XS SD4 Auto 2010 2012-2017 (21k - 91k miles) (MY2011)
FL2 Metropolis SD4 Auto 2014 2017- (16k - 76k+ miles) (MY2015)

Why 40-50 and not 40-40 or 50-50?

When I used to take mine off road, I considered lifting mine, as it was the only thing that let it down. But that was only because of the deep ruts left by the others with the higher ground clearence.
I did think that, to compensate for any change in the road handling, I would also need to spread its feet wider.

IanMetro. I can see where you're coming from in your post. Without doing something like "The Moose Test" I think it's called with a standard height Freelander Vs a lifted one, we may never know the full answer. But from normal driving on road everything works as it should and when the systems are put under pressure offroad, there have been no concerns. Even when it's only got 2 or 3 wheels in contact with the ground at a pay and play site it's all working as it should.

DEG5Y, I believe that MuddyMods do a 40:40 lift kit. The reason for the 40:50mm is that the weight on the front with the engine is unlikely to change. The boot on the other hand is an open space where weight will always change. Once you've loaded it up with anything weighty, it'll then be down to 40:40mm all round.

IanMetro wrote:

For safety reasons, I am surprised that altering the suspension has not been brought into the scope of the MOT.
Unfortunately gone are the days when a modern car can be regarded as an inert 'go kart'.
It is best to regard the FL2 as a 'system' and altering any part may have unintended consequences in another unless necessary steps are taken to correctly offset those changes.

Below you can see that the attitude of the car effects many other systems including the ABS, DSC and Roll Stability.
for example - will a modified suspension be protected from Roll Over, or will ABS still work at maximum efficiency.

From Repair Manual - SENSOR CLUSTER
The sensor cluster is installed beneath the centre console and is secured to the transmission tunnel with 2 studs and nuts.
The sensor cluster is a compact unit that provides the ABS module with inputs of yaw rate, roll rate, longitudinal and lateral acceleration. The ABS module broadcasts the input values on the high speed CAN bus for use by other systems.
When the ignition is in power mode 6 (ignition), the sensor cluster receives an ignition power feed from the ABS module.

The sensor cluster is also connected to the ABS module via a private CAN bus.

The sensor cluster is diagnosed by the ABS module. If a sensor fault is detected the ABS module stores a related DTC in memory and illuminates the appropriate warning indicator lamps, depending on the system functions affected (DSC/ETC, ABS, EBA/EBD, HDC). A warning chime is also sounded to alert the driver to the fault condition.

For vehicles installed with a high-line instrument cluster, a message is displayed in the message center, only if the fault affects the HDC function.

That last picture of the rear looks a bit extreme, it looks like way more than a 50mm lift? Landrover - turning owners into mechanics since 1948

2014 Orkney grey Freelander SD4 GS.
2004 Zambezi silver Discovery 2 Td5 (Gone)
1963 Surf blue Morris Mini Minor Super de Luxe (my little toy)

That picture was taken when I was taking off the "off road" wheels and tyres to get rebalanced and putting on it's "road wheels" to get to the garage which are the standard 235 profile tyre. I probably didn't take the handbrake off to let it settle once I'd changed the wheels and dropped it off the jack probably makes it look like it's standing taller. Coupled with the fact that the shocks and springs had less than 8,000 miles put on them at this point so didn't have the warn it "sag" that they develop over time probably makes it look lifted more than it is in that image.

Yeah most likely. 👍 Landrover - turning owners into mechanics since 1948

2014 Orkney grey Freelander SD4 GS.
2004 Zambezi silver Discovery 2 Td5 (Gone)
1963 Surf blue Morris Mini Minor Super de Luxe (my little toy)