The Defender thread

101sean

Yep, as Dan says, cheapest fix unless you do a lot of towing is a transfer box out of a Discovery, would have to be one out of a DII with diff lock if you want to keep the switchable throttle map. Gives quieter cruising at the expense of acceleration (especially in a 130) but you can get most of this back with a remap and bigger intercooler.

There is a Roverdrive available for Defenders from Rocky Mountain but it will cost over €1000 but is supposed to be strong. It's a manual unit unlike the GKN Type R overdrive I used to have on my 110 which was electro-hydraulic and not up to the job. It's now gathering dust in my shed as it wouldn't keep oil in and I've fitted a Disco Tbox instead.

Dighire4u

Hi Sean I have just bought a Td5 2001 defender 130 and am looking to get it remapped do u know Any Irish company's with good feedback that can do this and the costing I won't be going down the road of big inter cooler thanks.

101sean

I know a couple of the recognised UK tuners have agents here and there's a couple of others but I can't recall who they are

A couple of the lads over on the 4xforum are well into tuning and would know (link in my sig)

You probably already know this but don't be tempted by a tuning box or a generic tune, they should ask you what you want from it.

TheFarrier

For the first time in my life I can afford to buy the machine I really want, which is a Land Rover Defender 90.
The only thing is, I've been warned that their not hugely comfortable and heavy enough on juice.
These things wouldn't really bother me usually, but I travel from cork to Louth for work , up Monday down Friday, and will soon be starting college which will involve travelling to Fermanagh once a month. (Both of these situations will continue for about another 2/2.5 years)
I'm currently driving a 07 ford transit connect, and had been planning on switching to a 09/10 connect or Peugeot partner in the new year, when I realised I could buy a 05-ish defender 90 for similar enough money.

Anyone with any experience of these machines able to tell me if a defender would be liveable with under the circumstances outlined above?? My biggest concerns would be reliability and maintainence costs, and fuel economy.

Thanks for reading

NuckingFacker

My first "car" was a 1984 Landrover 70. I loved it, but also hated it. If you're going from a van to a Defender and doing long journeys, you'll love it and hate it. They're a workhorse or a plaything and not much inbetween. They inutterably, incontrovertedly, irrefutably suck ba11s for long journeys on motorways on a regular basis. The aerodynamics of a concrete block do not help the fuel economy, nor do the big wheels, complex, draggy drivetrain, their need for good, regular maintenance and frequent, err, fixing. They're like a hammer. When you need a hammer, a hammers what you need, if you need somthing more refined, you don't want to be tightening a nut with a hammer. Why not have a drive in one, a good long drive and see what you yourself think? I love them tbh, but not for journeys. They're a tool.

101sean

Moved your post in to this thread, plenty of reading here!

Defenders tend to be love or hate with no in between so as suggested, try one first, you may not like it at all.

They are a workhorse but can be made pretty comfortable, they have a huge following and spares are cheap which is just as well, they can be high maintenance. You'll pay a premium for a good Defender, you could buy 2 or 3 Disco IIs the same age for one good Defender.

I've been driving Land Rovers for over 30 years now and currently own three but am getting to the stage the next time I have one for everyday use it will probably be a Freelander 2. I'm in the UK at the moment in a company car but missed my LRs so much I've bought a 1973 military one here for the weekends! For me there's no vehicle like it but in Ireland I'm a minority.

Stained Class

I'm running one at the mo & to be honest I thought it would be something like a Fordson Major to drive. So I was pretty surprised by it's 'refinement'.

Defenders are off-road vehicles with an on-road capability. A lot of 4x4s on the road nowadays are the opposate of this.

They're alright if you're not in too much of a hurry. On motorways, it should do 65-70MPH without too much trouble.

The thing that shocked me most was the turning circle. You need lots of room to do a U-turn!

O.A.P

Stained Class wrote: »

I'm running one at the mo & to be honest I thought it would be something like a Fordson Major to drive. So I was pretty surprised by it's 'refinement'.

Defenders are off-road vehicles with an on-road capability. A lot of 4x4s on the road nowadays are the opposate of this.

They're alright if you're not in too much of a hurry. On motorways, it should do 65-70MPH without too much trouble.

The thing that shocked me most was the turning circle. You need lots of room to do a U-turn!

I learnt to drive on a dexta a while back
Landrover defender is a lot better. If it had a lift as standard then?
JCB fasttrack ?

Mycroft H

Did my driving test in a defender 90. The turnabout was, lets say, interesting.

stock>

NuckingFacker wrote: »

My first "car" was a 1984 Landrover 70. They're a tool.

Worked on a series 1 and a series II and a IIA, a series III 109 & 88.
Even worked on a stage 1 V8. A 1983 110 with a 2.25 engine and a series transmission. A 2.5na 90, Defender 90 & 110 with a 19j. and the 200tdi 300tdi defender, even a TD5

but a 70 but never even saw one of them.......

NuckingFacker

stock> wrote: »

Worked on a series 1 and a series II and a IIA, a series III 109 & 88.
Even worked on a stage 1 V8. A 1983 110 with a 2.25 engine and a series transmission. A 2.5na 90, Defender 90 & 110 with a 19j. and the 200tdi 300tdi defender, even a TD5

but a 70 but never even saw one of them.......

Jasus it was thirty years ago FFS! It was an 88 - I was racking my brains, 70 was my closest guess, I'm not a rover-spotter, I just wanted a 4*4.

2.25 petrol, brand, span new and when I drove it home I thought the steering rack was broken and some fcuker had deffo left out a drain plug on the fuel tank. I phoned the dealer, said it was wandering like a B*tch and wtf was the story with the fuel consumption - he said, umm, they all do that Sir. Funny, because I later bought a Volvo 740 and the supplying dealer said the same thing when I rang them back.. I got the hang of it eventually. I actually only sold it to a restorer about five years ago. It still started perfectly but the ball-swivvels were more rust than chrome, err someone had dented every birmaloy(?) panel on it and the chassis was a tad flourey. But by feck, it was a toughie - I used to tie a heavy steel chain out of the hitch to trees, drive off at speed(ish) and the chain would snap tight and pull over the tree(I did an awful lot of land reclamation work). Nothing else bar a tractor would stick it.

I've had discos, defenders, landcruisers, Mussos, Sorentos and a few others since, but that was a toughie that landrover. The fcuker never stopped wandering left then right and back again on tarmac though -driving it was like one of those old black and white films, sawing at the steering wheel!:D

Stained Class

O.A.P wrote: »

I learnt to drive on a dexta a while back
Landrover defender is a lot better. If it had a lift as standard then?
JCB fasttrack ?

Yeah, learned to drive on a Major myself. So when people said that driving a Defender was like driving a tractor, that's what I expected!

Drove a Landrover for the first time a couple of months ago. Naturally enough, I expected to be wrestling about with big controls & levers 'n stuff......

It was surprisingly civilised really. The gearshift is surprisingly light, though changes should'nt be rushed. The steering's nice 'n powered. 'leccy windows.
Air con. Grand!

As for fuel, well it's just a bit worse than a Transit van really.

sparkman

Thought I should post this as I'm feeling a bit chuffed and it might be useful to some other misfortune with a similar problem.
Passenger door on my 2002 110 was a pain in the h0le since I bought it. 2 weeks ago it failed the DOE because of it. Wouldn't close unless you did it really gently with a bit of a "shove" but it could pop open unless u locked it. I tried replacing the striker plate as the plastic ring that prevents it from bouncing back was worn - that was a very small improvement. I then pulled out a section of stiff rubber that is inside the door seal near the striker plate/latch. This made the seal a lot softer but made no noticeable difference to my problem. Finally, last resort before I headed off to the main dealers with my laser card in one hand and my trousers in the other, I took a can of WD40 and pointed it right up into the lock mechanism on the door itself. If you're looking at the lock from the side, aiming the WD40 nozzle in a kind of northwest direction to get at the springs etc inside. I completely doused it until it was pouring out of it. Then I worked the lock button a few times. Bingo. Worked a charm. And now I remember reading somewhere MONTHS ago that I should try this. Wish I did it back then... Anyway, might be useful to someone out there. Seems to be a fairly common problem.

nhoj88

Hi i sand blasted my chassis to get it ready to galvanised but the aframe xmember is well past it so i need to replace it before I get it galvanised.

So I'm looking for a defender aframe cross member, the xmember thats welded accross the chassis rails in front of the rear axle, from either a 90 or 110, disco one won't do I want the original square type.

I can come and cut it out myself good price paid call 0857893403 cheers

101sean

Sparkman, what happens this time of the year is the grease in the lock gets stiff and combined with the double seal you removed, the door just bounces as the latch doesn't move. Has a lot of Defender drivers foxed!

nhoj88, hope you get some joy, just looked at YRM's website and it's not one of the chassis bits they do.

nhoj88

101sean wrote: »

Sparkman, what happens this time of the year is the grease in the lock gets stiff and combined with the double seal you removed, the door just bounces as the latch doesn't move. Has a lot of Defender drivers foxed!

nhoj88, hope you get some joy, just looked at YRM's website and it's not one of the chassis bits they do.

Thanks I checked them aswell they seem to think that when they (xmember) rot that the chassis is past it but mine has been wax oiled yearly but obviously couldn't get up over the aframe xmember that's why it need replacing, Cheers

sparkman

Is galvanising the chassis an expensive job to get done? I assume you'd have to strip it completely? Thought about getting it done at some stage while mine is still worth it (I think).

O.A.P

I don't think the galvanizing itself is all that expensive if you can deliver and pick up the chassis yourself.
You have to strip the chassis bare so you will need a shed big enough to store all the parts and do the work, its going to take a lot of hours to strip and twice or three times as many to reassemble.
It would make sense to replace all the brake lines, bushes and what ever else that needs or will shortly need replacing when you have the chance.
You have a restoration project on your hands when you start it I'd say and they are not cheap.
I hope to start mine before I'm dead

sparkman

Jesus. Think I'll wait another decade so...:eek:

aaakev

Any opinions on this one lads?
http://cars.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/defender-90-for-sale/6177826

101sean

Looks nice, seems cheap for a rebuilt vehicle with a lot work done but it's a funny market here.

Mycroft H

aaakev wrote: »

Any opinions on this one lads?
http://cars.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/defender-90-for-sale/6177826

If I had four grand lying spare.

aaakev

101sean wrote: »

Looks nice, seems cheap for a rebuilt vehicle with a lot work done but it's a funny market here.

What are the engines like in these ones? Its been up for sale a while so im gonna go have a look, what should I look out for?

101sean

It should have a 2.5l 200tdi, first decent diesel LR produced and well respected. Timing belt isn't mentioned, check it was changed.

Check all the numbers match and that the VIN is present on the chassis (on RHS just behind the front bumper mount) and is the same as the one on the VIN plate (on the brake pedal box), technically a new chassis counts as a new vehicle here but usual way round is to stamp the new chassis before it's sent over from the supplier. As long as the paperwork is OK it should be fine.

Could do with a decent size set of tyres to take up the 2" lift!

Suckler

Has anyone had a timing belt changed on a 300TDi recently, just looking for ball park price to get it done. I have the kit so it'd be labour only.

aaakev

No timing belt on this one according to seller. He has a big set of wheels going with it too so thats that issue sorted also.

Trying to get down today for a look

dantastic

aaakev wrote: »

No timing belt on this one according to seller.

Then what engine is it?

Mycroft H

aaakev wrote: »

No timing belt on this one according to seller. He has a big set of wheels going with it too so thats that issue sorted also.

Trying to get down today for a look

Hmmm. If its the original engine, the 200tdi than it most certainly has a belt.

It could have a transplanted td5 along with an R380 gearbox from a later defender? They had a timing chain. Certainly a possibility if there if the chassis been out.

dantastic

Don't think anyone would be insane enough to retrofit a TD5. Plenty of other common (not to mention less common) conversion around tho

Mycroft H

Well whatever it is, the only way to tell is by looking at it.

And it wouldn't be the first time a misinformed seller has told me that the 200tdi has a timing chain abd that its a Honda engine