Thread: Defender towing

old school thinking mate.

Originally Posted by beefy

old school thinking mate.

Can you give us the specs on the insides of the MT82 then? Surely you have read of the many 5th gear layshaft bearing failures in the R380.

BTW the gearbox that is in the LR is not identical to the one in the Mustanges and the Ford Rangers. AFAIK, they have some bigger bearings.

i just turn the AC on and my handbrake lever goes from burning hot to freezing cold

towing nigh on 3 tons for 2000kms and the tunnel got warm but LR says it will tow 3.5ton so I believe that should mean it will tow 3.5 all the time without worry. drove the ex's fathers sIII and my shoes melted to the floor!!!!!!

Originally Posted by Leroy_Riding

….. LR says it will tow 3.5ton so I believe that should mean it will tow 3.5 all the time without worry...

I once blindly and naively thought the same. Good luck with that.

Hi, for those interested I have a 2009 110 Puma 2.4 and currently are in Darwin NT. I have towed a Jayco van for nearly 4400k’s so far and on way to Broome. I am using Mobil 1 engine oil (0-30) synthetic in engine, and fully synthetic oils GL5 in trans, (GL4 synthetic) in gearbox. So far it has done a faultless job the van is 21ft and the vehicle has long range tank and carrying about a tonne, all up with van GVM is about 5.5 tonne. It has cruise control fitted and I am using it 98% of the time. Fuel consumption is 15.25 l/100 in 5th gear and in 6th gear 16.5l/100. The only concern currently is a grinding in the transfer on the “float”, (it is 35 degree’s here and this only happens when in use for around one hour) no other noises when on overrun and or power on. It is the only vehicle I have seen so far towing a big van on this trip and of course is looked down upon by 200 diesel V8’s drivers, Most tugs on the trip seem to be Narvara, Ranger, BT50’s and Nissan. I am not sure the reason for not a lot of 200 series on the road, may be the cost, mine was about $50.000 fitted up for the trip.

Further to the above, the vehicle has had a BAS remap and I am still on the road vehicle now has 50,000k on it and to date is still towing the Jayco 21 footer ok. Today had the first concern going up the mountains outside of Nimbin the vehicle went to limp mode for about 30 secs, was pulling the van up a 30-1 slope for about 30-35 mins in low range and it got pretty warm, the first issue to date touch wood. I will be home for Xmas and then off to Albany and further. The previous posts did not get any comments which I found odd, however I do work it pretty hard and will continue to do so. I am averaging 13 l/100 k’s constantly irrespective of speed.

Originally Posted by uninformed

I once blindly and naively thought the same. Good luck with that.

thanks for the deep and insightful post, care to elaborate?

if the can says peas and inside contains corn, you are entitles to your money back.

if the car says 3.5ton towing and wont tow 3.5 ton. . . same thing. ill tow 3.5ton until my warranty runs out, after that. . well that's a different story. but if towing 3.5 tons causes issues LR have to repair rectify issues caused from a use that the advertise it does.

not sure on the legalities but ive seen many cases outside of a warranty period where issues caused by using something for a described purpose has caused issues and the manufacturer forced to reconcile the issue.

if towing 3.5ton for 3 years of warranty then 3 years later again its found that the heavy towing was the cause of a failure then its LR's responsibility to resolve this.

(I reserve the right to be 100% incorrect )

Mr Naive

If 5th gear is direct drive (i.e. 1-1 through the main shaft) dropping back into it every now and then will help with 6th gear.

Im not sure what LR spec the oil change intervals for the MT82, but I have the feeling it is something outrageous. IMO 20k would be the max Id push the changes out to even running full synthetic. (This is what I do on my Tdi 110)

I have heard that later LT230s may be having some issues and this may be put down to inferior materials or finishing of gears??? Do not take that as gospel.

Both the gearbox and t/case do not have large oil capacities. That is something to consider all so.

Originally Posted by Leroy_Riding

thanks for the deep and insightful post, care to elaborate?

if the can says peas and inside contains corn, you are entitles to your money back.

if the car says 3.5ton towing and wont tow 3.5 ton. . . same thing. ill tow 3.5ton until my warranty runs out, after that. . well that's a different story. but if towing 3.5 tons causes issues LR have to repair rectify issues caused from a use that the advertise it does.

not sure on the legalities but ive seen many cases outside of a warranty period where issues caused by using something for a described purpose has caused issues and the manufacturer forced to reconcile the issue.

if towing 3.5ton for 3 years of warranty then 3 years later again its found that the heavy towing was the cause of a failure then its LR's responsibility to resolve this.

(I reserve the right to be 100% incorrect )

Mr Naive

nope, and given your reply, ill now shout it. GOOD LUCK WITH THAT!