Thread: Classic RR 89' questions

G'day RaZzA,

Check out this link for information on the p38a....

I'll leave it up to others to explain the rest.

Best thing for you right now is to join a Land Rover Owners club so they can explain everything to you and you can go on some driver training.

Best to do it now before you go out and break something, after which it's too late! 8O

Good luck and happy driving 8)

thanks for that mate

yeah post 94 model those just wanted to try and get a clear picture of what it was just so I am in the loop.

At the moment I have 2 of my best friends whom have landcruisers fully decked out & will only be going out with them to learn - nothing crazy of course

And well I am here for this land rovers club I know there is a Victorian 4WD club here - but mainly seems to be around family - I am 25 atm & single so I am not sure how I'd fit there. 8O

thanks again - anyone else on the other things I am taking notes & checking them twice

I am starting to wonder if I there is some other place I can read about all the stuff I wanna know - I have been trying to search but with no luck.

Can anyone point me in the right direction ?

Originally posted by RaZzA
HI yas

It has only been as of late that I have taken a big intrest in going off road with the RR - so sorry about the noob questions

ok - first thing I keep on seeing here is some RR's being ref'd to as p38's?
Seems to be for post 85 models - whats the go with this? I wanna know about them

Second is - I keep seeing people mention air lockers for the rangie's. What I dont understand is why? From what I know they are all wheel drive with LSD & you simply lock in the diff's from inside the cab (I gots an auto btw) and your off.

I also saw mention of someone coming up with a centre diff lock - is it really soemthing thats needed & whats the pros & cons?

This afternoon I spent a lot of time going over my rangie after reading so much here - looking for rust - gave her a clean out inside as the inside is in really good nick - check oil & tranny oil, power steering as well which seems to be ok even with the leak (Anyone know a fix for this??) topped up coolet & cleaned up the air filter.
Found NO rust at all - apart from the LR passanger door from the inside but it dont look all that bad - found it when I was checking all the drain plugs. (Even check rain rails & at the rear where the belts are connected & the rear doors, wheel wells are also very good)
Also managed to work out from the manual how to get it in the lower range of gears (Never bothered before) bit of effort but all good in the end - the compression from first gear low range surprized me - my mates with the landcruisers last time we went out were saying I'd be using a lot of break on the down hills - I dont think I will as much as they think .

Also - I know tyres have probly been done to death - but I was going to go for coopers 60/40 ST's - I am thinking that Simex might be the go. I hear they are just as good as coopers at nearly half the price - true or not? Have yet to look and wouldn't mind knowing if the Simex are any good for off road & what the wear is like on road as well. Also - what tyre from Simex would be = to for the sure track & TC-c tyres from cooper? The At300i? :?

Thanks in advance!!
8) 8)

1. The P38a was the second generation Range Rover introduced in 1995.

2. The Classic Range Rover ('72 - '95) to my knowledge was never fitted with LSD's (although somewhere in the back of my head a bell is ringing to say that this may have been so in some very early models), they have open diffs but because they are constant four wheel drive vehicles are fitted with a centre diff lock which when engaged makes them equivelant to the average four wheel drive which has the front axles locked and 4wd selected, the secret to the superior early RR Classic's ability was in their suspension. So the centre diff lock locks the centre diff thereby making the front and rear tailshafts rotate at the same speed to their corresponding diffs.
Now, to take advantage of the superior ability of the Range Rover that has open diffs we can fit aftermarket diff locks, ARB Air Lockers, Maxidrives, or one of the automatic ones, in my case ARB's. This then locks both the rear and front diffs(in my case) and I have all 4 wheels driving through any obstacle even though one or more wheels may be off the ground. Incidentally all my 4wd's are Autos as I find the Auto superior for 4 wheel driving.
Originally RR had manual selection of the diff lock however later models saw the inclusion of the automatically engaging diff lock via a viscous coupling, IMHO this was not as good as the manual lock.
Hope you can understand this and it helps you understand your RR

yeah mate I understand it thank you very much!! I gather wind up still can happen with center diffs?? (I gots the manual diff engagement as well - think you got that one tho )

So are front & rear lockers pretty much something you need or is this something you get the more extreme off roading you do?

What is it about the RR suspension that made them better? just so I can fully understand the RR system & why its better. I got my RR as a trade off for a new computer to a family member. Fair trade off I reckon so far However because of this I never looked deeply in to RR's & what they are capable of doing - and untill I had a good look - didn't even think they were capable of off road taging them as suburban cruisers

Thanks again for the time you took to explain that Richard

**EDIT: Now I feel like a real dill - I was having a look over the manual after I submitted this post - the section on diff lock engagemement *shakes head* dont how I missed it before but it does explain that its the centre diff that locks in & not the front & rear.

Originally posted by RaZzA
yeah mate I understand it thank you very much!! I gather wind up still can happen with center diffs?? (I gots the manual diff engagement as well - think you got that one tho )

So are front & rear lockers pretty much something you need or is this something you get the more extreme off roading you do?

What is it about the RR suspension that made them better? just so I can fully understand the RR system & why its better. I got my RR as a trade off for a new computer to a family member. Fair trade off I reckon so far However because of this I never looked deeply in to RR's & what they are capable of doing - and untill I had a good look - didn't even think they were capable of off road taging them as suburban cruisers

Thanks again for the time you took to explain that Richard

**EDIT: Now I feel like a real dill - I was having a look over the manual after I submitted this post - the section on diff lock engagemement *shakes head* dont how I missed it before but it does explain that its the centre diff that locks in & not the front & rear.

Certainly if you want even more off road capability then fit the front and rear lockers, with the addition of good tyres for the situation they become awesome.

The secret of the earlier RR capability was as I said mainly in the suspension, long soft coill springs to give good articulation and keep wheels in contact with the ground thus ensuring maximum traction.