Series 2 Discovery

Wombat,
my first one had SLS and I had no probs with ride height or departure angle. My second one, now six months old, has no SLS. Towing heavy trailer made me realise this was a mistake. Recently fitted Polyairs and suddenly, Whoa, the bum is way up in the air. These cost $490 but not as nice as adjustable via panel switch SLS. Do the job though. Can send photos if you want'em.

Beware of giving the SLS a hard time.

I have standard coils and out bush not too much can go wrong.

I also have polyairs and they make towing a lot easier.

If a polyair fails, you still have the spring so not really that badly off.

If the SLS air bag fails then OOOOOPPPS

link text

I like your choice of vehicles, but!

As has been said if one of the air bags goes what a problem!!

I personally and through experience would not recommend that you buy your Disco with SLS, ACE,....

If you arn't convinced get under one that has SLS and have a look at the pipe work and the valving to go with it and have a think about the repair cost- replacement at some stage.

Less things to go wrong, without it,
My own vehicle has Rangie springs in the front and PolyAirs in the back and I am very happy with the setup, you let the polyairs back down after a trip and you are back to normal spring rates around town.

Cheers Aston

Last time i was at the Land Rover Service place in Parramatta, they had a Range Rover, about a 98 or so, with failed SLS.

It looked pretty good, if you wanted a doof-doof machine just 3 inches off the ground....

The rep mumbled something about $4000 to fix it. Damn!

Still, if it were me, $4000 would buy a pretty decent lift kit......

lol

Chris

Thanks for the feedback so far. I tend to agree that future out of warranty repairs is a concern that pushes me toward std.

Have spoken to dealer and checked out the owner manual and I plan to fit Hayman Reece bar and utilise my current adjustable hitch, as such I believe towing height and importantly weight distribution will be OK. (Ball weight in vicinity of 200 kg once loaded)

My concern in relation to departure angle which I now believe to be 21 degrees for std coil (although no one can state as fact as brochure gives 2 measurements ie sls) is just a bit light on for off road compared with many others (Cruiser 26, Patrol 36, Escape!!31)

Wombat

The difference in departure angle in the brochure is because the SLS has an off road mode, which means you have the choice to lift the ass another 50mm or so
if you need more clearance or a better departure angle. Your dead right, if you compare it with a Patrol or similar, the figures are not that flash. The rear bumper
sits a bit low and it will be the first thing you scratch. But keep in mind you have to go really hard off road to do that. The SLS system has been very reliable on Disco II. The olny downfall is the location of the compressor/valve unit which is on the chassis on the LH side. If you go trough a lot of water this can be a problem. Even with the air intake sitting behind the LH taillight which is approx 1.5m above ground, we experienced a few drowned units. This usually happend when vehicles got stuck in river crossings, so the water has plenty of time to run into the unit.
If you tow a heavy trailer, the SLS is the way to go, SLS obviusly standing
for self leveling suspension. You can basicly load your vehicle and the ass end will always be on the same level. Plus you can get a remote to lower and lift the ass end from outside the vehicle which makes coupling a lot easier.
Hope this helps...