Thread: Which is better Off Road a D3/4 or a late model Defender? ... Puma 110

The TDCI's TC is very good.
Agree sliders would also help a lot.
Add mud tyres and its a good package.

My recollection of having looked last under a d3 was that they do have long plates of protection to slide on.

Cheers

Traction control in the puma is the same as the D2, Xtreme defender, etc

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So very good and got rave reviews by people who were used to driving locked defenders but not as good as D3/4. There is a big improvement in the D3 and a finnessing in the D4.

Cheers

Originally Posted by roverrescue

That video is a great explanation for why lockers are what makes a 4wd truly 4wd.
Obviously he got through each section once the traction control did its thang - but like an open diffed fourby whenever opposing wheels lost traction he was going nowhere till TC came in. Its hard to say but I think he drove all of the sections with no winching which is impressive.

Those conditions are what I would call a "wet season barra trip"... or come rescue me trips with a 2pm on a Friday phonecall from a mate in February. Bogged to his gills after a storm went through and turned the track to slop.

Im not sure how good the traction control on a tdci defender is but you are kidding yourself to think an open diffed defender would have driven through that - on any tyres. I know I would have got through but at a guess I think I would have needed to winch a few times.

Terry in the thread below old mate mentions
"The full car sliders sure made it easier on the deeper mud."

Am I guessing this means he has plate sliders under the entire vehicle (Dakar style)
if so this alone would be as beneficial as the tyre size increase. Thinking about it, a body slider would actually counter one of the biggest enemies of D3/4 and 200series (their excessive weight sinking in and sticktion in mud).

Solid axles in goop like that always hangup on the housings leading to winching. If you can make the underside a flat slider with wheels paddling like a turtle I can see huge benefits.

Elsewhere he talked about fitting sliders on the suspension wishbones from memory. You used to be able to and possibly still can buy flat plates that protected the suspension, under the rear diff, Gearbox, drive shaft etc. Don't believe they were meant for sliding rather to stop rocks smashing everything.

with an ARB bar fitted it is just about completely flat all the way back to the auto, apart from the front suspension. Add in the gearbox plate and a compressor cover and there is not much under there to get caught on except the exhaust where it goes under the rear suspension.

If I remember right I don't think he had a e-diff, it didn't look like it when he lifted his rear wheel either. Which makes its progress in that slop pretty impressive.

Did he have to alter much, Yep he did. But alot less than one might think. His main concern in the end was the inner plastic wheel guards which he never explained how he fixed them to fit around everything that I could find.

He had to reroute the rear air conditioning lines and hammer a couple of inner guard body seams flat and the biggest change was cutting off a inch of chassis rail that sticks out for no obvious reason on either side under the firewall into the front wheel arch. He had to tie up a section of canbus cabling with a cable tie or two as well up under one of the front guards. I'm sure there were others things but none that spring to mind.

So all in all not such a big job and not really expensive at all parts wise either that I remember. Not sure if he used wheel spacers, maybe someone else might remember if he did. I would like to have seen him on a dry rocky steep track or two like most here play on, that would have been of more interest for me.

Anyway a impressive vehicle and his 2.6 tons of weight didn't seam to stop him in the mud either.

""Traction control in the puma is the same as the D2, Xtreme defender, etc""

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Traction control was updated in the later Puma Defenders,but i can't remember what year it was changed,or how it was actually changed.
It was definitely sometime after MY09.

" would like to have seen him on a dry rocky steep track or two like most here play on, that would have been of more interest for me. "

Meh

You mean the stuff you drive on for 50km before getting to the floodplain ?

Horses for courses. I'm impressed. If only they made a disco ute... Wtf good is a wagon ?

S

Someone on here was banging on about us latte sipping pansies wouldn't want to take our discos out into the rough & tumble... Well there you go !