Freelander Newbie - '05 Td4

[Mockery]

Well I started saying this stuff in another thread, but didn't want to hijack it too much... so here's my intro thread!

Hi, first time poster here...
The 2nd page of this thread has got me thinking expensive thoughts, was wondering if there is anywhere I can get more info on the green freelander at the bottom of the page? Just when i thought I'd read everything on the net about freelanders, it got even more awesome!

Mine is a 2005 3-door with the Td4, really happy with it so far but I'm not yet an 'experienced' offroad driver. Will drive it as is for now with my spare set of M/T's and maybe some strut spacers, but one day in the future I think some serious mods could be on the cards...

Firstly with your car - all the issues are basically sorted - other than normal fair wear and tear you will not have issues with your VCU or IRD. The TD4 is the best Freelander 1 of the lot.

That green car is not Australian and was posted Beforethevision so he may have more detail. It looks as if that car has had both a spring spacer lift and bigger springs - and bigger tyres. This post at the top of the freelander section outlines issues associated with spacers. http://www.aulro.com/afvb/freelander...-lift-kit.html

My own freelander is standard except for bigger tyres which by itself gives me nearly an inch lift but I suffer a bit in first and reverse as a result.

There are a few guys who give their Freelanders a good workout offroad - Beforthevison comes to mind and there is a hard core of us who regularly contribute to the forum so someone generally has some ideas or experience. I don't think we have too TD4 drivers though - v6s, L series Diesel, 1.8 petrol and a few FL2s.

Welcome and enjoy

Garry

The 'green' one is an early gold 1.8L freelander will all the running gear removed, and dumped on a RRC chassis. it runs ~33"s and a 3.9v8 (AFAIK). This would not be legal here for a number of reasons.

Without big money, this is about as mean as freelanders will get.


I second Gary's advice of a Bearmach lift, its the nice way to lift a freelander (despite a little cutting). However my biggest recommendation is armour.

See here...
Freelander Mods

Cheers!

So anyway, thanks for that info guys. I figured after doing a bit of research that I would be fairly safe with such a recent one, being Td4 as well. Bit of a coincidence how I got it actually...

I was looking around for a new car, being heartily sick of my bomb '88 corolla, wanted something practical, tow-capable, yet economical and not too big.
Surfing around the net during lunchtimes at work for all sorts of different things, think I even considered Rav4's at one stage but nobody has to know that...

But eventually I stumbled across Freelanders and remembered seeing an ad for them years ago in a rock-climbing magazine, and at the time thinking "wow, that would be a really cool car to have."
So that same afternoon while driving home from work, I spotted my Freelander in the traffic with a FOR SALE sticker. Saw it was a Td4, took down the number and the rest is history.

So I'm really happy with it so far. Having been *gently* persuaded to go off-roading with a mate (lifted hilux), it impressed me and him considerably and now I am tragically hooked. Just what I need, another expensive habit alongside motorcycles...

So i have the 17" alloys which were stock on the car, plus from the previous owner a set of 15" steels with Sumitomo 235/75 MT's. These give about 1" of lift I guess, plus making the car look awesome as the tread is really gnarly!
I haven't had any problems with torque on the larger diameter, but being diesel and auto it's a bit out of my hands anyway.

Definitely would be keen on some more lift, not sure whether to go for the Bearmach kit, or maybe this one Land Rover Freelander 2" Suspension Lift Kit as it looks stronger.
I was thinking perhaps reduce the lift on either of them to 1.5"?
Do you think it would sufficiently ease the fitment issues for a half-inch clearance trade-off?

The other thing I want to look into is some kind of winch-capable front bar, but there seems to be nothing available for these later model FL1's. Earlier nudge-bars are incompatible due to the face lift.

@btv, I like those armour parts you linked to, do you have some fabrication details for them? If you like I can model them up and produce some workshop drawings (engineer/3D-CAD monkey for a living)

Anyway, enough rambling from me for now,
Cheers!

--Mike

[mjm295]

Welcome - Im new here too!!!

[beforethevision]

Gday!

With the lifts, i dont think it makes a huge difference, as long as its a spacer style, which they both are. Its personal preference (or whichever you can get cheaper lol), however the aluminium ones would be probably a little nicer. Having a second set of wheels with MTs is a fantastic choice!

For fitting instructions, see here... The advantage of the aluminium CNC jobs is that you could easily mill it down to the perfect size. If you do order them, a solidworks model would be delightful... :P

The sump armour is the old aluminium frame with the stupid plastic sheet cut off and 6mm aluminium plate cut to suit. It wasnt a precision job, and has been adjusted slightly to allow easier fitment. The full diamond in the middle also touches the sway bar without trimming. It mounts using the original bolts and where the two go into the K frame they are tapered hex drive high tensile bolts countersunk to avoid collecting crud. Im servicing hte car today, so ill get some upto date pics.

Cheers!