Series 2a 4wd capability?

[korg20000bc]

I've bought a ex-army 2a LWB and I am in the process of restoring it. I haven't driven a land rover in a 4wd setting before and I'm wanting a no bullcrap, completely honest opinion of the 2a's 4wd capability. I have a friend who is very pro land rover- as am I, and he tells me that my 2a will crap over anything contempory to it and will surprise many more mordern 4wd drivers. He also tells me that a standard 2a GS will do things that other makes would need diff-lockers to do. That'd be great, if true! But I suspect that there's a bit of halo factor going on.

Can someone set me straight?

Thanks

Matthew

[isuzurover]

He is a bit generous. I have a IIA GS, which I bought in stock standard form. They are reasonably capable, but limited by overly stiff springs designed to carry heavy equipment/grunts.

They come with:
11 leaf / 290lb/in front and
8 leaf 405 lb/in rear.

If you have a tonne of load in the rear it will flex well, otherwise it won't. A friend in the brisbane LR club removed 2 front leaves from his springs and fitted 270lb/in station wagon rear springs (not available new unfortunately).

When I saw how well his flexed I did something similar (I have posted the details a few times on here). I have 220lb/in front and 260lb/in rear. As well as removed the bump stop spacers in the front and fitted RRC rear shocks to the rear. This gives me about 15" of wheel travel at each end.

The above will give you equal or better offroad ability to any unlocked 4x4.

However - the most important factor is the driver's ability!!! I have seen people with double locked 4x4s on big tyres get stuck easily.

[JDNSW]

More or less as Isuzurover says, except for a point he missed - the ex-army 2a is lighter than any current full size four wheel drive, by a large margin. And, particularly in soft going, this makes a big difference.

Also, compared to most current four wheel drives (in standard form) it has better ground clearance and approach and departure angles.

As pointed out, the driver is the major factor, but in most offroad conditions the ex-army 2a will outperform most current four wheel drives in their standard form, its only significant shortcoming being that the stiff springs limit effective wheel travel, but this only affects performance where maximum wheel travel is needed.

John

[Lotz-A-Landies]

Series Land Rovers explored the World.

On the British Trans-America Expedition of the 1970's the Range Rovers only made it through the Darien Gap in Central America because of a series Land Rover purchased locally to push a path through the jungle in front of the Rangies.

Diana

[Scouse]

On the British Trans-America Expedition of the 1970's the Range Rovers only made it through the Darien Gap in Central America because of a series Land Rover purchased locally to push a path through the jungle in front of the Rangies.

That was nothing to do with capabilty though Diana.


They just didn't want to scratch the Rangies .

[djam1]

A leaf sprung Land Rover in standard form was designed to carry weight put some weight in it and it will surprise you.
Without weight the articulation with old stiff/seized springs is pretty lousy.
Put some weight in modern soft roaders and you will see how bad they are lol

[korg20000bc]

He is a bit generous. I have a IIA GS, which I bought in stock standard form. They are reasonably capable, but limited by overly stiff springs designed to carry heavy equipment/grunts.

They come with:
11 leaf / 290lb/in front and
8 leaf 405 lb/in rear.

If you have a tonne of load in the rear it will flex well, otherwise it won't. A friend in the brisbane LR club removed 2 front leaves from his springs and fitted 270lb/in station wagon rear springs (not available new unfortunately).

When I saw how well his flexed I did something similar (I have posted the details a few times on here). I have 220lb/in front and 260lb/in rear. As well as removed the bump stop spacers all round and fitted RRC rear shocks to the rear. This gives me about 15" of wheel travel at each end.

The above will give you equal or better offroad ability to any unlocked 4x4.

However - the most important factor is the driver's ability!!! I have seen people with double locked 4x4s on big tyres get stuck easily.

Has removing the bump stop spacers created any contact problems at all? My GS has straps that restrict to downward travel of the axels. These would need to be removed to assist travel. What was the thinking behind having these in the first place?

If I was to remove some leaves from the spring packs is there a formula or something of what is still required. I saw a video whare someone had modified their toyota troopy's suspension. They removed some springs from the pack and put neoprene spacers between all the leaves to soften it all up.


There looks to be a bit of rust in the springs. If they were dismantled and cleaned up amd the ends rounded and radiused (I read that somewhere) does their perfromance improve?

Matthew

[numpty]

There looks to be a bit of rust in the springs. If they were dismantled and cleaned up amd the ends rounded and radiused (I read that somewhere) does their perfromance improve?

Matthew

In short......yes.

[chazza]

My GS has straps that restrict to downward travel of the axels. These would need to be removed to assist travel. What was the thinking behind having these in the first place?


There looks to be a bit of rust in the springs. If they were dismantled and cleaned up amd the ends rounded and radiused (I read that somewhere) does their perfromance improve?

Matthew

The straps are to stop the propellor shaft disconnecting when the axle drops under extreme articulation.

Cleaning the springs and removing any wear steps and rust will help them to slip over each other. They should be oiled, greased, or lubricated with a dry lubricant such as switch-plate spray. In normal use it is sufficient to jack up the vehicle and support the chassis on stands, which allows the axle to drop and the springs to separate a bit. I have used old engine oil brushed on with good results. Diesel oil being blacker, makes it look a bit neater, as if they had been painted. The result will be a significant improvement in ride comfort,

Cheers Charlie

[isuzurover]

Has removing the bump stop spacers created any contact problems at all? My GS has straps that restrict to downward travel of the axels. These would need to be removed to assist travel. What was the thinking behind having these in the first place?

Sorry, I fixed the original thread to say I only removed them on the front. On the rear I kept them in place and fitted longer shocks.

The axle check straps are useless and severely restrict axle travel. Throw them away unless you want them for originality.

Cleaning and greasing the springs will reduce interleaf friction, but won't change the rate. So you will get a slightly improved ride but there will be no noticeable difference in wheel travel.

The straps are to stop the propellor shaft disconnecting when the axle drops under extreme articulation.

Cheers Charlie

That is the official answer, but in reality they are not needed. I removed mine in 1993. I had the original rover diff for several years, and now have a salisbury. I have never dislocated a propshaft (or even come close) - despite having much more wheel travel than a standard GS is capable of.

A leaf sprung Land Rover in standard form was designed to carry weight put some weight in it and it will surprise you.

Agreed, but they are still far too heavily sprung. The factory rated them at 750kg load capacity. I can put 1.1T of firewood in the back of mine with the lightest spring rate a 109" came from the factory with, and still not be on the bump stops.