Thread: D1 v D3

I have a D4 and a GQ Patrol with 2" lifted OME suspension, my son has a TDI 300 D1 with 2" lifted OME suspension. We tested the suspension articulation of all three by by driving onto ramps under one front wheel and the diagonally opposite rear wheel.

The D4 just had all four wheels on the ground, the D1 very slightly lifted one wheel (barely off the ground) and the Patrol easily had all four wheels on the ground. All three are pretty impressive but the D4 surprised us with slightly better articulation than the D1.

The problem with the D4 compared to the others is that the front cross member gets closer to the ground over bumps whereas the other two are limited by the diff clearance at the front and rear and the clearance is not affected by spring compression in normal off road driving. While they can all negotiate the same track, you have to do it slowly in the D4 to limit spring compression in ruts whereas the live axle vehicles can be hammered through with no problems.

Once you get the hang of it there isn't a problem but you can't drive it like a Patrol without severely hammering the front cross member and guards. The good thing is that the traction aids mean that you don't have to hammer the D4 to get through ruts and wombat holes.

Bob

On the day of my GOE Training day I did some wombat holes and yes Speed is not required for a Disco 4, I actually stopped probably at the most inconvenient time for any other 4x4 only to take off with out an issue.

Pro of the D3/4 is you don't have to put your car in a work shop / void the warranty to achieve what a Modded D1 can do.

This my opinion don't mean you have to agree

And going slow over obstacles has gotta be by far better for fatigue on your vehicle and its components.

It won't help the labour times on performing repairs such as turbo or engine replacement!

... V8 ...

Love the vehicles Terry. I have very fond memories of my (100% stock) D1 V8 5sp ... which now, sadly, languishes unregistered in a relatives back yard. I do not miss that stupid excuse for a rear door - what were they thinking. I recently had a Pajero for a week which really rammed home to me how much I loath those side opening huge rear doors with wheels hanging on them. Why do they do that.

Anyway, I often go wheeling with a very heavily modded TJ Jeep (lifted, lockers, big wheels etc etc) - to date there has been nowhere it can go that I can't (in my stock D3) and I have been surprised at times to see him touch the ground (particularly at the rear) when I clear the same obstacle with no problems. He usually needs a lot more speed than me which is part of the ground hitting issue, I'm sure. Also, Jeep owners appear to care a lot less about their vehicles ....

Its pretty easy to be a critic of a D3/4 or even a girly blouse RRS if you have never owned or driven one off road, especially if your into relying on old accepted norms about independant suspension being no good on a 4x4.

I know before I bought a D3 I thought the Moutain Goat D1 was the ducks guts off road and a D2a HSE was as flash on road as a man needs in a 4x4 and both could be bought for a lot less than a decent second hand D3 back then.

However once you own a D3/4 you realise very quickly how bloody good these things are and how capable they are on so many fronts both on and off road.

As I have said previously, to drive one even with mild off road mods is like cheating against other lightly and even some highly modded 4x4's, that is how good they are.

Anyway I didn't put this thread up to cause a blew or say one is better than the other, as I said originally it was to point out that the D3 with some reasonable mods had nearly as much off road height as a well modded D1.

Plus it gave me an excuse to be a tosser and show lots pics of two of my Disco's ...Now if I could just find a good excuse for putting up some pics of the D2a as well. ...

I think you need to post the d2a in the interests of ride height comparison

Originally Posted by Epic pooh

I think you need to post the d2a in the interests of ride height comparison

You know My Pooh I think your 100% right! ...Bloody hell why didn't I think of that! ...

That's a tidy looking D3 Terry. I'd love to step up to one from my D2. Yours looks nicely balanced in terms of the lift and the tyre size.

And the continuous strip of black across the bottom of the body with the sliders,wheel arch flares, bullbar just looks perfect. Dare I say it, it looks better than the current D4.

Love what you've done to both , but one argument that hasn't come up yet................ which one would you tour around Oz towing a, say 16'6", pop-top van. Oh & do the Savannah Way & Gibb River Rd's for example .