“Modern Land Rovers can’t be modified” = @jaustonfab “hold my beer”.
I was browsing the interweb the other day (well, the Unsealed 4X4 team is working from home) and the phrase “Modern Land Rovers can’t be modified” = @jaustonfab “hold my beer” caught my eye. But it was the accompanying photo that just about jumped out of my screen and grabbed me around the throat! After all, how many current-generation Range Rovers have you seen with a massive lift and big off-road rubber.
A bit more investigation (read: excessive screen time) led me to the J. Auston Fabrication website where I found this awesome six-inch lift kit for the Rangie.
But wait… there’s more! As well as Range Rover, the J. Auston Fabrication bolt-on kit works on the Range Rover Sport… and the Discovery 5.
Of course, the ground clearance benefits of a six-inch lift go without saying – as do the resultant improvements to approach, ramp-over and departure angles – but of even greater benefit has to be the extra space under the wheel arches allowing you to fit some decent off-road rubber, with a proper Light Truck (LT) carcass instead of that low-profile, high-speed Nürburgring lap-record-breaking rubbish that standard Discos and Rangies wear these days.
Colorado-based J. Auston Fabrication originally developed a lift kit for the Humvee and Hummer H1 back in 2003, and since then it has worked with the US Department of Defense and the Marines on lifting military Humvees. The company now holds a patent on a lifting system to suit newer monocoque vehicle platforms which, of course, includes all current Land Rover products. Bearing this in mind, we see no reason the kit couldn’t be adapted to suit the new Defender as well.
One of the great things about the lift kit is that it utilises the vehicle’s standard adjustable air springs, so it retains variable ride height (albeit six inches taller) at the touch of a button. It also means the OE suspension geometry is retained.
While a six-inch lift on a new Range Rover would likely breach just about every Australian nanny-state regulation we can think of, there’s no doubt it would be bloody impressive to see a J. Auston Fabrication-equipped Landy in Oz.
