 | Home > Maintenance & Modifications > Gwyn Lewis Cranked arms |
 
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| geobloke Member Since: 06 Nov 2012 Location: Nottinghamshire Posts: 4405  
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15 or is it 18 years on and they are still superb
 Must have covered 175k miles or more now.
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20th Aug 2023 4:33pm |
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| bear100 Member Since: 22 Mar 2010 Location: South Wales Posts: 1867  
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Is there an advantage or disadvantage on standard suspension? 2016 Range Rover Autobiography 4.4 TDV8
2010 110 XS Utility 2.4TDCI 2010 Range Rover Sport TDV8 (gone) 2007 Discovery HSE TDV6 (gone) 1993 110 csw 200 tdi (gone) 1994 90 HT 300 tdi (gone) 1994 discovery 300tdi (gone) 90 hybrid 3.5 v8 (gone) Range rover bobtail 3.5 v8 (gone) |
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20th Aug 2023 4:52pm |
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| jimbo55 Member Since: 15 Jul 2020 Location: Midlands Posts: 385
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I run them on my 90, had them at standard height for c. 1year, 2”lift for 3 years and now it’s on air it’s approx -1” for day to day driving.
Even with it lowered, the bush sits in a totally neutral position as the arm is now parallel to the bush. This will help the life of the bush significantly, I would definitely recommend it I also still have castor corrected radius arms as a hangover from the lift, but it helps the self centering of the steering a lot as well, although if I was doing this again I would just use castor correct led swivels |
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20th Aug 2023 4:58pm |
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| NickMc Member Since: 01 Oct 2014 Location: Norn Iron Posts: 1570  
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Thanks, I know the bushes don’t sit great normally, so I wondered how they’d affect it with the standard set up. I’m going to fit the isolators all round so it’ll be slightly higher.
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20th Aug 2023 6:34pm |
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| Chicken Drumstick Member Since: 17 Aug 2020 Location: Near MK Posts: 542
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While this is true, the stock bushes last what, best part of 100,000 miles and cost very little to replace. I don't think wear rate is an issue no matter what you do really. |
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20th Aug 2023 9:12pm |
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| Chicken Drumstick Member Since: 17 Aug 2020 Location: Near MK Posts: 542
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What are you trying to achieve? Do you have modified suspension with extra travel and longer shocks? Do you use it for serious off road work? I'm not saying there aren't potential benefits, but you are only going to see them at the more extreme end of the off roading scale with a modified vehicle. If you are running stock suspension then I don't see why you would fit them tbh. |
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20th Aug 2023 9:14pm |
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| NickMc Member Since: 01 Oct 2014 Location: Norn Iron Posts: 1570
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Because they’re much stronger than the standard ones which aren’t very good I’ve changed plenty of them, broken or bent.
They’re hard on the chassis bushes, the quality of them is pretty poor now. I’m rebuilding the whole vehicle, it’s also getting super pro bushes all round, new A-frame ball joint, with poly boots,Bilstein shocks, sumo bars, standard genuine springs, but isolators all round. It will tow 3.5 ton, some off-road, quarry work, field/farm work and work for a living. |
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20th Aug 2023 10:22pm |
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| Chicken Drumstick Member Since: 17 Aug 2020 Location: Near MK Posts: 542
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Bent or broken stock ones? Are you competing in trials events? I've done some pretty serious stuff and only bent the thin solid ones. The think hollow ones are strong enough to do some fairly serious competition work. If you are bending and breaking (never seen a broken one on 30 years of trials events). You must be doing some very serious.
I admit I have some non cranked HD ones on mine now, but I probably didn't need them. Didn't go cranked as most trials events don't allow them. The X-Eng X-Arms look interesting, I think they would be a better bet than cranked ones. |
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20th Aug 2023 10:50pm |
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| Dinnu Member Since: 24 Dec 2019 Location: Lija Posts: 3209  
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For the record, the earlier tubular trailing links are thicker than than the later ones. 1988 90 Hard Top, 19J Diesel Turbo, Shire Blue - Restoration ongoing
2012 90 CSW, 2.2TDCI, Santorini Black |
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20th Aug 2023 11:03pm |
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| geobloke Member Since: 06 Nov 2012 Location: Nottinghamshire Posts: 4405
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The biggest advantage to fitting the cranked rear trailing arms to any defender is that they do not crush the chassis bush. If you look at any standard setup you will see that the lower portion of the bush is pinched. This means there is less available downward movement in the arm when articulating and the likelihood of increased bush wear when you do off-road. The crank repositioned this into a neutral position allowing for equal upwards and downwards movement of the trailing arm and probably increased bush life as well. The fact that the arm is stronger being double walled is a bonus as I have seen trailing arms bend on green lanes. This usually happens when reversing into a step-like obstacle, even a relatively minor one. The only downside is that they are at least twice as heavy as the OEM item, so if unsprung weight is a problem for you then bear this in mind. Is it an essential modification? No probably not, but it is an excellent supporting mod if and when someone decides to either re-bush a vehicle or add a suspension lift to it. |
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21st Aug 2023 9:20am |
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| Mo Murphy Member Since: 01 Jun 2008 Location: Letchworth Garden City, Herts Posts: 2079 
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^^^ what Geobloke said 👍
Mo The Land Rover 90 - Many are called, few are chosen. |
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21st Aug 2023 12:20pm |
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| Chicken Drumstick Member Since: 17 Aug 2020 Location: Near MK Posts: 542
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Agreed, although only lifted vehicles tend to have the arm at an angle. On stock suspension or ride height it is much less of an issue, hence Land Rover never used cranked arms on any production model. I also have doubts to the bush wear rate as mentioned above. And a new bush is only a few quid and very easy to change. In the lifetime of the vehicle you'd never recoup the cost of the arms on the chassis bush alone. And the down travel is far more likely to be limited by the shock length (or retained springs) than it is by the bush. You'd need a fairly extreme setup for the bush to really become the limiting factor IMO. |
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21st Aug 2023 12:57pm |
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| NickMc Member Since: 01 Oct 2014 Location: Norn Iron Posts: 1570
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You’ve never done work for cattle farmers I guess  they’d break a tank with a soup spoon. |
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21st Aug 2023 2:52pm |
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| Chicken Drumstick Member Since: 17 Aug 2020 Location: Near MK Posts: 542
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Why not go for something like this:
https://foundry4x4.co.uk/index.php?route=p...;limit=100 Or this: https://gwynlewis4x4.co.uk/product/rear-tr...eavy-duty/ |
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21st Aug 2023 3:10pm |
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