Thread: Towing with a Defender

Drover,how many defender/transits are their in the world?,do a search,broken ones are very hard to find,you broke 6th gear,what did the others break?,I found plenty of R380's and a shed load of Lt77's,both are old box's now but going off the evidence MT82's going bang is very uncommon.Don't get the German made ones mixed with the Chinese built ones,theirs pages of them falling to bits,the Mustang Forum is somber reading. Pat

Pat, the transit blew 6th and Chook's chewed out the bearings on the lay shaft.

There is quite a few failed MT82's about. Award Gear boxes in Sydney (one of only workshops even prepared to rebuild them) have rebuilt units on the shelf ready for exchange. At the time I was exploring options, there was only 1 second hand box that I could find in all of Aus. The wrecker in SA wanted $3500 +freight and it had 47,000k's on it.

That made the New box from Ashcroft's a very easy choice.

I wasn't aware that there is a Chinese version of the MT82, but I did know that Mustang were having some issues.

Today I towed my camper trailer with our 110 for the first time. I had to take it to the manufacturer to get a nut welded on to the rear hitch receiver. Total distance would have been 70 - 80km's.

With a direct comparison between the 90 and the 110 my thoughts are the 90 does it easy the 110 does it more comfortably. Towing regularly with the 90 would in my opinion require a suspension upgrade or air bags to be added. As others have said in other threads the 110 with standard suspension will take the weight without any modifications and the ride is more comfortable.

Originally Posted by loneranger

Today I towed my camper trailer with our 110 for the first time. I had to take it to the manufacturer to get a nut welded on to the rear hitch receiver. Total distance would have been 70 - 80km's.

With a direct comparison between the 90 and the 110 my thoughts are the 90 does it easy the 110 does it more comfortably. Towing regularly with the 90 would in my opinion require a suspension upgrade or air bags to be added. As others have said in other threads the 110 with standard suspension will take the weight without any modifications and the ride is more comfortable.

I agree - our 110 tows our camper easily without modifications. I had considered adding rear airbags, but it doesn't seem necessary as the rear doesn't drop. The six speeds also seem to cope well as long as you don't try to use sixth below about 90 km/h.

Down shift when the tacho hits 2000rpm and up shift when it hits 2500 keeps the speed up. Pat