Thread: What happened to your D3/D4 today?

Originally Posted by SimmAus

Maintenance, to a certain point, is usually cheaper than a new vehicle. A new “equivalent” vehicle will cost ~$120k…and will lose at least 10% in the first year.
Balancing “new car”, old car, value loss and maintenance costs is all a very personal thing. This makes me feel much better whenever I cough up on maintenance….

Depends completely on your situation,finances,etc.
If you can't or don't want to do the repairs yourself,and have to keep paying for others to do the work,it is often not viable to continue with the vehicle.
With something like a D3 or early D4,it won't take long for the repair costs to add up to more than the vehicle is worth.

Spending $20K on an 8 yr old Plado that has been looked after,serviced correctly seems excessive,although there are many posts on here,about LRs that have had that sort of $ spent on them and are similar age,or younger.

Originally Posted by scarry

Depends completely on your situation, finances, etc.
If you can't or don't want to do the repairs yourself, and have to keep paying for others to do the work, it is often not viable to continue with the vehicle.
With something like a D3 or early D4,it won't take long for the repair costs to add up to more than the vehicle is worth.

True, though I don't get hung up on what someone else thinks the car is worth. It's value to me is what matters - comfort, practicality, familiarity, accessories installed etc. The decision to push on or not is purely emotional.

I'm running a spreadsheet where I track the components I have changed, and at what km reading. Adding in an expected component life and monthly km usage allows me to forecast somewhat what is going to be coming up and when. These cars aren't as unpredictable as you might think - for example the lower control arms started clunking the other day, and sure enough, they are coming up to expected renewal km. In the same way, the idler pulley will be getting old, and I'll probably just change it out with the timing belt, due for its second replacement this year.

But, every use case is different - if the D4 was the primary vehicle for all things, I would probably look differently. As it stands, the school drop off and shopping trolley duties have passed to an EV, meaning the disco can enjoy a semi-retirement life

Exactly, if i paid someone to repair my failed oil pump tensioner or minor trans rebuild it would have surpassed the 21k purchase price.
As it is non service item repairs have cost me less than 2K in parts, spent more on upgrades and accessories.

Originally Posted by DiscoJeffster

Fitted five Toyo Open Country AT3 in 19” today along with a wheel alignment. Begone the stupidly noisy Duratracs (which get really bad once half worn).

Yes, know what you mean. I've been very happy with the Duratracs (60,000 klms) and have been convincing myself that noise is acceptable and worthwhile considering they are a very good tyre.

Hoping to get another 5-8,000 k's and put up with the increasing noise but my proposed 2024 Flinders Ranges trip has to be postponed until next year, so I was in dilemma what to do.

Fortunately a serendipitous happening occurred last week and a chap in Nthn Tas advertised 5 x 19" D4 rims in super condition with Maxxis Victra Sport 5 tyres with 75% life at $400.00

Have since fitted them and been re-introduced to the super quiet vehicle the D4 is.

Sorry, I’m late to this Duratrac pile on…I’ve fitted 265/50 R20 Duratrac RT to my D4 And am very happy with them. (Only 7k kms on them)
The previous Monsta Terrain Gripper were awful and started to delaminate due to a poor wheel alignment.
So, what’s the story with the Duratrac? And were they the Duratrac RT?

Originally Posted by SimmAus

Sorry, I’m late to this Duratrac pile on…I’ve fitted 265/50 R20 Duratrac RT to my D4 And am very happy with them. (Only 7k kms on them)
The previous Monsta Terrain Gripper were awful and started to delaminate due to a poor wheel alignment.
So, what’s the story with the Duratrac? And were they the Duratrac RT?

They get really noisy beyond half life. Great at the start, awful at the end. They were so much quieter than my Maxxis 980LT when I got them, but yeah, went bad in age. Many have said the same.

Originally Posted by SimmAus

Sorry, I’m late to this Duratrac pile on…I’ve fitted 265/50 R20 Duratrac RT to my D4 And am very happy with them. (Only 7k kms on them)
The previous Monsta Terrain Gripper were awful and started to delaminate due to a poor wheel alignment.
So, what’s the story with the Duratrac? And were they the Duratrac RT?

Mine weren't RT's which I believe are upgraded in all sorts of ways.

As they wear they don't get "unbearably" noisy (in my opinion) and only at lowish speeds, but if you are used to the super quiet Disco then you may get a little disappointed as they get older.

Having said that, I will almost certainly buy another set (of Duratracs) in the future....."the Devil that you know".....

Prefer them over the Pirelli Scorpion (on my eldest son's D3).

Got back from getting a wheel alignment post the whole cv debacle to find that am I still leaking radiator coolant (steering fluid seems stable) I'm wondering if it's actually the water pump that's leaking. The other hoses and resouvoir looks good.