lift kit

[murph]

At the risk of being ridiculed on a site/forum dedicated to D-90s,
could anyone help me with info on a lift kit for a new freelander?

[ronward]

Check with David Gage at www.thatchedroofgarage.com. I think he's got some aftermarket mods for the Freelander. If not, he can surely point you in the right direction. There was a guy at the SOLAROS rally this weekend with a lifted (1.5") Freelander.

Ron Ward

[Buckon37s]

Its a Ford escape. Call any offroad parts place and ask same suspension, if you want to call it that!

[chrisvonc]

Patrick,

Check out FreelanderLiving.com (http://www.freelanderliving.com/). Simply an awesome site for the Freelander and quite a number of owners there have fitted lift kits. There is a few articles on it, as well as the topic has been covered in depth a few times on their Forum. I would definatly recommend hitting that site.

[tbrand2068]

D.A.P. offers a kit for the Freelander. I think that it is fairly inexpensive; whether or not it is a great idea is another question all together.

[rover4x4]

Darby :evilfinge

[Mike M]

It is not even close to a Ford Escape. It's more a Rover Car than a Ford Escape.
Call David Gauge at Thatched Roof Garage. He'll hook you up with the correct parts.

[Buckon37s]

What?! Not a ford Escape! It has the same frame, same drive train, same suspension, and same pos maker. It is a ford escape fitted with a different body, kinda, in order to enter Land Rover in the small suv market. The only thing on that whole car thats rover is the little green oval and I think Ford stole those off of defenders as they rolled off the line, not an escape:rolleyes

[tbmcneill]

Not that its that big of a deal .... we're not talking about Defenders....:grin, but.....

maybe it is an Escape. I haven't a clue what an Escape has in the way of drivetrain, unibody, etc .... but given the timing of things, the Escape had to have borrowed from the Landy, not the other way around.

The Freelander was developed back when BMW owned LR, not Ford (dubbed "CB40" when in development)...i know of one mention of it in '95 (which if i'm not mistaken is the year BMW bought LR). The Freelander was released in '97 as a '98 model in the UK before Ford even owned LR &, i think, before Escape's were available.

If anything, its closer to the Honda CR-V. Honda and LR were working together on a small SUV until LR pulled the plug (a little off the subject, but ever seen the Honda-badged Discovery? ... it was sold in Japan a few years back).

just FWIW.....
T
ps-certainly not much a 4-wheeler, but may make an interesting rally car with some HP.... nah, nevermind....;)

[Buckon37s]

I don't know which came first, the Freelander could have and then was borrowed from for the Escape but it is the very same vehicle. But, you pay 10,000 more for a little green oval.

[chrisvonc]

I am fairly positive that the Freelander was first. It was already out in the UK just before Ford came in and right after it was announced that Ford was coming in, Ford release pictures of its brand new Escape. I remember commenting somewhere that it looked like Ford was already raiding the design room at LR at the time.

CVC

[Toddco]

Those things do pretty good. I saw a guy in a stock rental Freelander run some good trails this weekend at the SAE SOLAROS event. I just hope he got the extra insurance.

[Buckon37s]

:uhoh

[KeithD]

The freelander has no relationship to the Ford escape at all

Ford first then Freelander
Wheelbase 103.1" / 100.6
Overall Length 173.0" /175.1"
Overall Height (empty) 69.1"/ 67.2"
Overall Width (body) 70.1" / 71.1
Width (Max. @ Mirrors) 79.4" /81.5"
Tread Width (Front/Rear) 61.0"/60.2"

engines are totally different (BMW or Rover), as are trannies. You will not find one common component. The freelander was designed and produced way before the escape. the 2004 is still nothing like the escape. The next freelander/escape no doubt will be more similar. Essentially the freelander is a beefed up rebodied rover 25. if you say the rover is a ford escape you may as well say a RAV4 and CRV are the same thing.

[Buckon37s]

Rav4 and CRV are the same thing:grin One was built from the other and if you want proof, call up land rover and they will admit it. The bodies are different, sitting on the same frame, just pulled. Take a look at the suspension, identical. Companies do this all the time. It is, for all intensive purposes, the same thing. They both suck

[KeithD]

I have checked with Land Rover. The freelander was designed 10 years ago foir the european market. It has not one thing in common with the Escape. But I am not the first to put this to LR - it seems that some Ford salesman say the escape is a freelander with a different badge in order to help sell the escape. LR here even took a freelander to Maclin Ford in calgary and got them to check it out and see for themselves that there was no relationship.

You are just trolling right David?

[Buckon37s]

Trolling? Not sure. I am repeating what the what a LR engineer told me. Said that some of the parts are fully interchangeable. I could be wrong, I am no Freelander expert. Definently never expected to have the debate on D-90 site. Did I hit a nerve with a Freelander owner somewhere? If so, thats funny.

[Mike M]

I am not a big fan of the Freelander or the Escape (nor am I an owner) but I have seen the Freelander do some serious stuff. Nothing close to what a D-90 is capable of but impressive for what it is.
Still not an Escape.
LOL

[Buckon37s]

Please don't take this the wronge way but what is your definition of serious stuff? The most extreme thing I have ever seen that thing do is get a tire all the way up on a curb while it was parallel parking in front of the mall. It blew a bead but luckily the soccer mom knew the ether trick for resetting it with the help of her high lift. After a fluid top off she was all set.

[KeithD]

every road test I have seen places the freelander ahead of the small SUVs in terms of off road ability. Even Road and Track who must be pro-US tested it against the new Jeep Liberty and the Freelander won hands down. traction control, HDC and a viscous centre diff is going to give it some advantage over the Rav4s, CRVs of this world. But it wont hold a candle to a wrangler or discovery or defender or many land cruisers or patrols (oh if we could get them). But no point comparing chalk with cheese. Personally I don't really see the point in these soft roaders - a Subaru is probably a better bet. Or just fit snow tires on a FWD vehicle. I today got December's Top Gear mag and the freelander comes out as the least reliable LR, though not much worse than Jeep. worse than the defender though!