Question about Defenders

Land Rover's research has shown the 100" is the optimal wheel base for off road work. Hence the Defenders sitting 10" either side of that golden mark and the Rangie sitting right on it. Land Rover even experimented with a military 100" Land Rover (Series - Defender) 20+ years ago.

I would say my Classic Rangie is as capable off road as my Defender in its standard setting. I've got slightly taller tyres on the RR, which is a help, the only times it's ever been stuck is when the wheel ruts have been deeper than the clearance in a bog hole where I haven't been able to see where to place the wheels.

The Defender is an easier vehicle to live with in the bush as far as cargo loading goes, and that may be one reason Defenders get to go further. My current Defender has taller tyres than my Rangie, Difflocks all around, 2" lift... So it's the vehicle of choice for 4WDing for me. However my SIII which had a weaker engine and less articulation than the Range Rover, although being less capable off road than the Rangie (except for ground clearance) was still an easier vehicle to live with in the bush for extended periods.

Or... Maybe it's just got to do with the calibre of Defender drivers ;)

Better suspension articulation (IMHO), clearance, bigger wheels, bigger payload, lower gearing ... and much, much better looking than a RR or Disco ;) :D

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Originally Posted by Greylandy

much, much better looking than a RR or Disco ;) :D

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here here

Noddy may be right about Hybrids. The one weakness of Defenders is the depth of the chassis rails which reduces ramp over angles. Hybrids on RR chassis which are not as deep and perhaps flex a little more easily have an advantage here.

as far as lower gearing.... all manual defenders, rangie classics and discos using lt77/r380 and lt230 have the same 1st low.

90 is actually 92.9 inch wheel base and i do agree that 100 is a great wheel base but only with tyres up to 35/36 inch anything bigger needs to be about 110-114 inch wheelbase.

but put some 750-16's on the original early 70's rangie's with 47-1 low range and this would keep up with a stock defender in my opinion

serg

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Originally Posted by Numpty's Missus

Made me think " a bit less poncy maybe?" but I take it back coz I don't want rotten tomatoes thrown at me :p :p :p

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I'm afraid you are mistaken. Land Rovers are reknowned for being classless...

... until they introduced the RR Sport, dammit.:p

I think overall the fender is a good package, however the track has a major effect on which will get up easier, deeper ruts favours the fender with the bigger tyres, tracks which need a better ramp over angle favour the shorter wheel base vehicle. There was one situation earlier in the year where my disco walked up a rock shelf where as Zook's fender struggled a bit, allthough it still made it, the longer wheel base meant the rear wheels were placed in a spot with less grip when the front wheels hit than where mine were placed. But that is getting finniky.

Overall i would say the fender is a pretty good truck orr road, but a disco 1 or Classic rangie with good tyres will go a long way.

But i agree with Tusker, the driver makes all the difference, a drivers ability to put the vehicle in the right spot at the right time will more often than not mean the differance between not getting up and getting up. Then good tyres are next, without grip you go nowhere. Matt

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Originally Posted by Tusker

I don't think a Defender is always better. Apart from varying conditions, sometimes the 100" cars do better, where they are more softly sprung, than the load-carrying Defenders. Scouse's car is a good example. No lockers, apparently soft springs that give great articulation, tall tyres that aren't aggressive, its remarkable where that thing will go.

FWIW I think the order when seeing how far a car will go is driver first, tyres second, vehicle spec third.

Regards
Max P

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I think it might have been dobbo last w/e that said "... Scouse's rangie is like a hovercraft..."

Thank you all for this discussion

It has been very informative - for me - the uneducated. about Series/Defenders.

What I've learned thus far:

Defender has more clearance due to bigger standard tyres.

Defender can be easily hosed out.

Defender (some models) has vast carrying capacity.

Defender is noisy, due to lack of trim, but has much character, due to diesel and manual drive and no sway bars.

Defender owners go anywhere as a result of all of the above.

SO where I am I with a (similar spec) Disco?

Seems it could do the same job, but I can't (easily) hose it out, or remove the sway bars, but my D1 (to me) has character. Yes, it has a charm, not seen in the garage mate Falcon. (Almost the same amount of charm as my oh so gorgeous X1/9)...

SO, another question...

There's a V8 County 4 door LWB from about 1983 ish for sale for $4k. It appears in good but worn condition, (I get the feeling this rig was a V8 version of the "Stage One") but I may be wrong.

The County doesn't pop up in LR discussions, anyone know about this model?

While I'm here, my neighbour who is dying of cancer, is selling everything.
He has a rather odd 1980s (square headlights) RR Classic in total white for sale.

If anyone is interested in this (I'd reckon for parts), but it's roadable, I'm here......... (don't bust me for advertising, INC. I'm just mentioning for no gain to me).

Cheers all,

GQ

I don't think the Defenders have better clearance, as although they have bigger tyres than the RR/Disco, they also had a bigger diff that equalised the clearance. I also think, probably against the grain, that fitting the P38 rear diff was a good move by landrover as they're still a lot stronger than a normal rover diff but with huge clearance gains. I think the Defender although has great belly clearance gains, these are because of the increase in wheelbase to compensate and maintain the ramp over, and the approach/departure angles are outstanding. In my opinion the TD5 Extreme with the rover rear diff is Rovers most capable.

I also think the Disco2 with CDL, ETC and ACE is very capable, but the departure angles are what lets them down.

The Disco1 and RRC's are still pretty good, but within a range of capable vehicles I think its really the traction aids that makes any particular LandRover stand out.