Range Rover Classic EAS Conversion
December 17th, 2007 by Dave Lane,EAS Conversion Tech Article
After talking to many fellow roverholics (Yes, I mean you Paul!), I decided to take the leap and get an old Range to use as a heavy trail rig. My goal was just to find a truck in good condition and running for the most part. After look around, mainly on the west coast, I did find some very worthy trucks. After working out the details of the purchase with my wife, I decided to by a 93’ LWB. Initially, I did not believe I was going to buy anything that still had the stock suspension in it. Amazingly enough, the truck still had the working EAS system in it. The bags did not look replaced as they were very worn. So, on June 11th, I towed the truck back home. Before I towed the truck home, I had already ordered the 3” lift kit from Rovertym, and the EAS conversion parts needed. The guys at Rovertym really know what they are doing. When I called them, I simply told them what I bought and what I wanted to do. They created the list of everything I needed, but I added the rear drag links. They let me know that the springs were on backorder. They could arrive at any time, but could take up to 6 weeks to come in.
After towing it home, I did some minor fixes. I drove the truck with the stock EAS for a total of five days. After taking the truck to see Jeff at JC’s Rovers, an airbag was pinched while looking at the rear drive shaft. The very next day, Rovertym called and said that everything was in and the parts would show up in a couple of days. I set my dates for the install and offered beer and pizza for anyone willing to show up. Only Larry Grubs did. Thanks for the help that night!
OK, so I tried to find a list of things to do and the order to do them. So, I had to try to collate the ones that I did find. The first thing to make sure you have enough tools to do this. Four jack stands are very helpful. A high lift floor jack. Gloves. A hammer. Air tools. An air hammer with a very sharp flat chisel, or a saws all. PB Blaster penetrating oil. A various amounts of tools and wrenches. If you can, spray the bolts on your axles for your anti-sway bars. The shock mounts in the rear. The rear shock lower mounts. If your are replacing the rear drag links, spray the bolts on both ends. If you are replacing the radius arms up front, those too. Letting those sit for a couple of hours will help a lot during this process. You should do this process to both sides at the same time. It will help during the process.
Start by deactivating the EAS system. If the bags are in working order, set the suspension to access mode to deflate the bags. Next, remove the air suspension fuse and the 30amp compressor fuse. Remove the two relays under the passenger seat. Remove the side cover revealing the LCD error display. Remove the green and yellow relays next to the screen.
First thing to do is to start on the rear axle. Lift the rear of the truck off the ground has high as you can and secure with two of your jack stands. Remove the rear tires and put them out of your way. Support the rear axle with the other two jack stands. Remove the rear shocks. Now, if you are replacing the rear drag links, do this now. Also, remove the air ride sensors. Unplug the cable just forward of the wheel well. If you are not, you will have a difficult time later with the axle hanging down further and getting the bolt out of the rubber mount. Put in the new drag links if you are putting them in. Don’t tighten the bolts. You will need the slack for the springs. Remove the stock shock mounts. Save the bolts for these. Remove the air bag with the two clips that slide out from the top, and the nuts that secure it on the bottom. And finally, remove the anti-sway bar. Place the new spring seat on the bottom and secure it with the bolts provided. Next, lower the axle down so you can fit the spring in. If you are putting cones in your truck, put those it the springs and mount them. If you are putting in retainers, attach those after the cones in place. Spring compressors may be need.
Your brake lines will most likely be stretched to the max. You can replace them now if you want to. If you are only putting on the 3” lift, you can run the stock lines for a short time as long as you don’t do any articulations. Next, after you tighten up the bolts on the springs and the drag links, now its time to put in the new shocks. Using an air hammer or a saws-all, remove the cups that house the rubber bushings for the old shocks. They are just tack welded on and should not be very difficult to remove.
After you have removed them, put on the new shock adapter. Also mount the upper shock mount with the hardware from the old mount. Carefully place the shock on the lower mount. If you bought the Rancho option, set the shocks to one and unscrew them. They will slowly expand and then slip them onto the mount. Bolt them together. You are all done. After this, you might need to then jack up the truck under the axle so you can get the tires on. Here in the finished product.
Now onto the front. The rear axle has a lot more steps than the rear. Start by supporting the truck in the exact same way as the rear. Jack the truck up using two jack stands. Support the axle with the other two jack stands. Remove the anti-sway bar. If you are replacing the radius arms, do this now. I did not replace those yet, so I am unsure of any issues to avoid. Remove the old shocks and air bags in the same way you removed the rear. Remove the height sensors the same way as the rear. The connector is just behind the front wheel well. Put in the new spring seats. There are no spring retainers for the front, you will not need them. If you do not replace the brake lines now, you will need to compress springs to get them in. You can again run the truck on the stock lines as long as you don’t articulate. Tighten up up all the bolts. Mount back the tires back on and go wheeling. Here is the finished product.
