Thread: What did you do with or to your Disco today

Originally Posted by Tombie

Gold Wraith. Recommend locking the TC every time though. Poor centres don’t like the loads unlocked when it shifts front to rear etc and can easily fail.

Like a sunday drive for me, bugger all load on the landy... Even the couple of times I had to engage transfer, a bit better approach would have sufficed...

Half my problem on the saturday was caused by friday night...

Redfoxie, Those tracks are the old access tracks for the "Grazing leases" along the coast and the fishermen that use to catch fish with nets from the beach, they do get quite a bit of abuse now from people going in and ripping them up with big horsepower and lead boots... Moores hut is accessible with my ute but it is off the road at the moment... Ground clearance on a lot of cars and the ability to approach the track and hold the best line, stops most 2wd vehicles and there drivers...

Going the back way from home, its a 70 k trip, use to be shorter but roads been closed...
Yeagarup is only 45k from here, and the back roads are still mostly open...
Black point is another easy one from here and Lake Jasper is on the way...
If you have a boat, then Donnelly river mouth is probably the closest...Once at the end of the river, then just walk over the sand and your fishing in the Sthn Ocean...

Most of the coast around here is easy, if you take your time and dont try to be a rock hopper...

Anyway, Patrol gone from driveway, couple married now and I'm off to rest on the couch for a week... Might park landy in carport out of the sun, the damn thing finally poked its head through today, wonder of its staying for a few days or letting the rain backin...

Originally Posted by Tombie

Gold Wraith. Recommend locking the TC every time though. Poor centres don’t like the loads unlocked when it shifts front to rear etc and can easily fail.

thanks for that. i admit it's something i did not know and didn't do. i usually left it unlocked until hard bits came up and went to low locked, always wondered what high locked was for.

on the weekend at wellington though, had the diff locked in high the whole time in there. was mostly gravel tracks but some muddy sections and steep rutted tracks (which i went to low locked for). not sure why i changed my method. i think because i wasn't on sand like i usually am. i have to remember next time i go beach driving to lock it as well as soon as i come off the tarmac.

Originally Posted by Old Farang

Yes, absolutely agree with this. The use of the word "diff lock" tends to lead to people regarding the function as a last resort action, when it should be the first thing that is engaged.

If they worded it as central diff lock, then people may understand that it is the same as the old transfer case engaging the front axle, except in the awd it locks the centre differential...

In my case, I use centre diff lock when I need it, which is usually when others are stuck or I am going somewhere that an alternate is not available... I also do not expect to go everywhere, thus I drive gently... If you ever get to travel with me off road, dont expect me to go down tracks that dont go to where we are going unless we are exploring new places, and dont complain about how slow I go, cause I dont try keeping up, I just let people go on there own...

I do however, use 1st and 2nd off road, never drive and only use low range when I want to idle along or the going is way too heavy for 1st... most of the time in sand i never go out of 1st, besides why rush, you may miss something...

Most times people break things because there boots are too heavy, and sadly I see that all the time...

Originally Posted by Wraithe

If they worded it as central diff lock, then people may understand that it is the same as the old transfer case engaging the front axle, except in the awd it locks the centre differential...

In my case, I use centre diff lock when I need it, which is usually when others are stuck or I am going somewhere that an alternate is not available... I also do not expect to go everywhere, thus I drive gently... If you ever get to travel with me off road, dont expect me to go down tracks that dont go to where we are going unless we are exploring new places, and dont complain about how slow I go, cause I dont try keeping up, I just let people go on there own...

I do however, use 1st and 2nd off road, never drive and only use low range when I want to idle along or the going is way too heavy for 1st... most of the time in sand i never go out of 1st, besides why rush, you may miss something...

Most times people break things because there boots are too heavy, and sadly I see that all the time...

I think what tombie and others are suggesting is that you should engage CDL every-time you leave the black top.......well that’s what I do.

I could be wrong but it probably more important on windy gravel roads at speed where most assume it’s not needed but I believe it better overall.

Originally Posted by weeds

I think what tombie and others are suggesting is that you should engage CDL every-time you leave the black top.......well that’s what I do.

I could be wrong but it probably more important on windy gravel roads at speed where most assume it’s not needed but I believe it better overall.

Yeah, I think that's the reasoning.
There's a video on the Ashcroft website where he's explaining the reasoning behind the idea too.

I've changed the way I used to do it(the old way), and now slide the lever to lock when on any dirt road for more than a few klms or so(ie. gravel drives and suchlike).

Years ago my LT95'ed RRC smashed it's centre diff at about the 400K klm mark(100K previous owner, 300K myself), so I got it rebuilt.
I reckon up to that point I'd done at least 200+ of those klms on gravel.
120K klms later same deal(and I am gentle on all my cars). My mechanic couldn't understand why a year later it broke again, but that 120K klms may have done it.
Again mostly on gravel roads(usually our central SA way).
So at 500K or so, I ended up switching to an LT77 + LT230 for it, and it was still going when it finally had to come off the road(due to rust and the 600K klm clapped out engine issues too).

But after watching the Ashcroft vid, those two LT95 diff issues makes more sense.

So now with the D1, on any gravel type road, irrespective of it's surface conditions, I'm using locked centre diff, except when doing u-turns.

Now we are getting down to it, regards transfer case...

Rocks, need to lock as per what has been said... Gravel and rocks guarantee slippage...

I dont on gravel roads, but then I go a lot slower than most(I get called grandma) and that has a lot to do with my past using trucks, gravel roads can pull a truck apart and the same for the load...

If you go down to Yeagarup and drive around with the ctr diff lock engaged, you will be getting stuck and travelling slow just like Nissan and Toyota drivers... I have found the landy stays above the sand better when you leave the transfer case alone... A friend who owned a 2 door disco 1 discovered the same after getting stuck trying to get into Yeagarup and after that he would not touch the ctr diff lock on the sand... I seen a cruiser with big mud tyres go in and when my friend came out, he informed me the cruiser got bogged following him and would not accept a tow...

You need to get to know how the 4wd performs and always take things easy, never try doing stupid things when there is an easier way to go and remember if you see another going some where, always check yourself before you do.. 4wd's are good off road, never mind the brand, but a good driver makes the most useless 4wd perform, but a driver with a dose of stupidity can get the best 4wd bogged on a perfectly built gravel road...

What I’m getting at, and you won’t know, is variation between drive front to rear and/or small quick shock loads front to rear or vv..

These quick shifts through the very tiny Centre diff spell disaster for it..

Not locking on sand places it under undue stresses which can end badly or greatly reduce its functional life...

Claiming the CDL is an impediment to sand driving is just wrong.... we have lots of very soft powder sand here and without CDL you won’t make it to the end of the beach... or over any of the dunes that lead to the best spots...

If you’re running “easier” on sand without CDL I’ll put money on it the CDL is having a hard time of it.

Defiantly CDL engaged on sand....