130 Defender 300tdi

[ahilliar]

Friend of mine is looking at buying a 1995 (1996) 130 Defender 300 tdi cab chassis.

What a re the pros and Cons of this model ?

Anything special to watch for ?

What is the price range. ?

I understand Low kl (80 000) but mainly farm work, so may have more hours than kl suggests

[abaddonxi]

Watch out for cracks in the chassis - around the outriggers and tray supports.

80,000 sounds great, just time to change timing belt. Can't think of other stuff at such low Kms. Change the lift pump as soon as buying it, 'cos the old one will most likely be stuffed.

How much hard work has it done? Tough as they are, if you spend all your time driving on gibbers and potholes the vehicle will wear faster. Also if it has lived in the dust there are likely to be dozens of small dust related problems - sticky switches, door catches, locks, etc.

Rust.

300tdi gets expensive to fix if you do stupid things like run anything dry - transfer case, gear box, engine, coolant.

I reckon the interior is a good indicator of how hard a life the vehicle has had.

Sounds wonderful, I'm imagining low kays, carting around bales of hay and the dogs - in the back, working dogs.

Cheers
Simon.

[George130]

Con is the 130 have the turning circle of your average super tanker:D.
80,000 is very low. 2001 model had 70,000 on it and I thought that was low!
As has been said check for these cracks everyone talks about and look at its general condition. They are tough and should last.

[vnx205]

Farm work can mean a lot more hours on the engine than the odometer might suggest. If the vehicle has done most of its work in 2nd and 3rd gears high range or maybe 3rd, 4th & 5th low range (which would be possible on some farms) then 80,000 would be about as many hours on the engine as somewhere between 150,000 and 300,000.
I once bought a Series III motor from a farmer who had replaced it with a Holden motor. The vehicle had only done 30,000, but the engine showed all the signs of having done about 80 to 90,000.