I have owned, Defender, Disco 1, Disco 2 & Disco3. The D2 retrofitted with the CDL lever (1 hour job, if casing is enabled) is more competent than either the Defender or D1, Landrovers mistake it should have been fitted. I have been overland in all of Southern Africa and never broken down. The D3 is was the most capable of all and on offroad could go places others couldn't (towed a few Toyotas out at Ponta Do Oura). Landrovers are a love hate relationship and always have been for me. From the D2 onwards having a diagnostic tool is essential to fix any issues, all the common failure points are now understood by competent owners and can be made reliable for long overland journeys, the last one I did was over 10 000KM's in a D3 with a rooftop tent from Durban to Etosha, up to the Angola border, back down to Tora bay, Fish river canyon and back home. Would I have any other vehicle for overlanding, simple answer is no, I am a massochist maybe? 😂

Far better than the normal tantrums you seem to fall into - very good

I have to disagree that the Disco 2 traction control is rubbish. It works very well even compared to modern systems today. With the center locking diff, it's quite amazing.

Hi Andrew. Always enjoy your stories. Thank you. I’ve mentioned it before, but I bought my Discovery 4 after watching your baboons pass series. Thought about swapping up for the new defender but I realise the Disco4 is a much better vehicle for what I need it for and is much more reliable than the general opinions about Land Rover products despite its complexity and reliance on electronics. Lovely to drive in town, on motorways and across unpaved terrains. Iconic. Thanks again. Ty

Is Andrew trying to say that ALL Discovery 2 that had auto gear box had this 'viscous coupling' (locking the front & rear together)? Because it doesn't make sense. The only thing that would lock the two axles would be the CDL, which has nothing to do with the auto-gearbox. Perhaps it happened that all those auto-box D2s that he's mentioned actually HAD the CDL, and the manual D2 did not. 1999, 2000 and some 2001 had the CDL (in the LT230 case) and the linkage, and some 2001 had only the CDL (without the linkage). 2002 and 2003 didn't have nor the CDL in the transfer case, or the linkage. 2004 was the year when they reintroduced both the CDL in the transfer case and the linkage. I have no knowledge of anything related to the autogearbox (which was a ZF HP422 I think) that can contribute to lock the front & rear. If I'm wrong, somebody please correct me (with some proof). I own a 02 TD5 , manual, with no CDL or linkage.

@checa160

10 ай бұрын

I guess it depended a bit on the market. But you’re right. First 2 years in here came with cdl/no linkage. 01-02 no cdl. 03-04 cdl+linkage on demand in some units. Both manual or auto had de same transfer case. So no viscous coupling. Lt230 with or without cdl/leverage. Viscous coupling came only in range rover p38 Afaik. Cheers

Hi Andrew , i enjoy your stories always, including this 1 but to say that a Disco 2 with diff lock is not very good is rubbish, I own 1 ( with centre diff lock factory installed) and it performs off road perfectly.

None of the Discovery 2s had viscous centre diff like the borgwarner box in the P38 and late Classic.

@ASPWthenextjourney

9 ай бұрын

The auto Discovery-2 did not have an open central diff like the manuals. They behaved very differently. Press releases said it was a viscous diff.

@piotrs7085

9 ай бұрын

​@@ASPWthenextjourneyI don't know what they were saying. Maybe the press cars had some experimental transmissions (doubt it) but all discovery 2 had the very same transfer box. It was LT 230 to be precise.

I have never seen a Discovery 2 with anything else but a lt230 transferbox (and I have tinkered with a lot of them) both manual and automatic. What kind of transferbox do you think the automatics in South Africa was equipped with? I find it hard to believe that the automatics have been retrofitted with a Borg Warner from late Range Rover Classics. Possibly that someone has crawled under and engaged the center diff lock on the lt230 but that would leave the center diff. engaged until someone crawl under and disengage it again. It would not start to lock up when the wheels start spinning.

I have never seen or heard of a viscous diff in a disco 2 before. They must have been retro fitted from p38?

The truth is: discovery 2 HAD center locking diff in the early models 99-00. It didn’t have lever inside the cabin, but it took/takes 1 hour to install the discovery 1 lever or put a simple small electric motor with a button to engage/disengage on demand. Another truth is: sway bars on disco 1 are awesome and allow the axles to hung down a lot, whereas disco 2 is a lot more limited so the wheels go up a lot more. In those situations, tc, takes you forward out of the place easyly. The best part of this is that you can use the disco 2 on road as any family car going up to 160 km/h with no danger further than its weight. You can’t do that on a disco 1. So yes, disco 1 is awesome offroad, even better sometimes. But the disco2 does the same plus it’s a good car on road or in fast tracks. And I’ll tell you more, and you know this even tho you always try to blame land rover because they banned you: The disco 2 does exactly the same other cars do, and even better sometimes thanks to those electronics. But of course, if you release the accelerator it won’t work. And you know it too. I’d buy you any complaint about it’s angles, clearance in standard shape, long “ass”, small wheels… But that car in 1999 in standard form would do anything a 76 or a prado or a patrol would except for the clearance(huge mistake in order to sell it to soccer moms in USA). Put some 32-33” and a 2” lift kit so it’s as high as a 76 or a patrol and you’ll go the same places in stock. Add the cdl levers and you’ll go further. Put front and rear lockers and reinforced cv’s and semiaxles and you won’t be able to brake that car. And you’re still under 2000$ in overhauling… Not the first time I listen to you blaming that car while not saying it all or saying it “your way”…I’ve been driving some different 4x4’s for the last 10+ years, including gu patrols(owner), hilux(job), prados, lc100’s, 105’s, 200’s, terranos, tritons and even some defenders(friends’ cars all them), apart of 200 and 300 disco 1’s(friends) and td5(owner)disco 2(also a v8 for half an hour bit it doesn’t count)… And again, I buy any thing about clearance in stock form. It’s really bad. And I agree the car is worse without cdl engaged. But that’s it. In the moment you give it some clearance it becomes as good as the best with same clearance. And I’m talking about offroading in some hard places(better once you have lockers in the axles as it goes inch by inch on demand without waiting electronics to come in, but same debate between manual precision vs automatic comfort). For 99% of overlanding it’s more than enough even without cdl engaged. Good videos tho. Cheers EDIT: I put before “2000$”. Well that’s not correct. If you add the hd cv and semiaxles that’s almost 2000 itself. Those 2000 are before putting this stuff into the car, wich is not mandatory to make it perform awesome, but to make it super HD. My excuses about that. Cheers

@sbGOM

10 ай бұрын

Interesting. My DMAX dual cab 4x4 had less ground clearance than my Triton 2x4 (hi ride). Consequently, it would go places my DMAX couldn't except when it was wet, But even then my stock DMAX, my stock v6 Hilux and my 3.0 deisel Hilux - all standard sans diff locks - were pretty hopeless.

@checa160

10 ай бұрын

@@sbGOM Most pickups are designed and built with “farm” works in mind. Their main goal isn’t to do rock climbing or big steps. So they’re long and “kinda” low. That makes them easy to get stuck depending on where you try to go with them. Clearance is probably the main “tool” offroad. If your triton has more clearance or it has a shorter wheelbase it will normally get stuck less in bumps, steps, crossaxle situations, etc due to the belly less time touching the ground or “less quantity of belly” touching the ground. But once you give the other ones the clearance they need with a lift kit and some bigger tyres they become awesome rigs. The disco2 is a disaster in terms of clearance in stock form. Disco 1 is heaps better in this matter. And that’s due to the main purpose of the disco 2, which was entering USA market when suv’s where bought and used mainly by family mothers with kids and lots of stuff(soccer moms they say in USA). So the car was lowered respect to the disco 1, and the trunk was enlarged in order to get in more and more stuff(also to fit inside a “european palet”, or that’s the measure they used). The result is small tyres, short springs, not good clearance and huge “ass”, with “low street bumpers”… And it’s ALL the time touching the ground here or there. But, as you do with the pickups, you must adapt it to serious offroad use by giving it a lift kit, bigger tyres and serious bumpers. That way it gets clearance and it stops touching ground everywhere, so it becomes a really good car. If you add the levers for the cdl(99-00 had cdl but no levers and 03-04 had the whole kit if demanded) you will hear the tc noise(working noise) a lot less. And if you add lockers you have a beast with tc always active. So you can go most of the time without lockers and tc gets you out. But you can switch on lockers in hard places and even there tc will help in certain moments… About the coment of Aspw regarding the quality of the disco 2 tc compared with newer ones…let’s be serious. This is THE FIRST offroad tc EVER…Any other toyota or nissan without lockers would be ashamed in the days compared to this in terms of traction. It was “a miracle” how it worked then. And even nowadays, 25 years later, it works awesome. Period. If you compare, of course, with a discovery 3/4 or modern land cruisers(they of course studied the lr’s and add a similar systems years later), the disco 2 tc is rudimentary. Actually, 99-00 drivers try to find later slabs ecu units(the one that controls abs and tc) because there was an improvement in 2003, with the facelift models, and tc became faster and better. That’s called evolution. Blaming an old tc comparing it with newer ones that evolved from that one is not the most realistic or professional comparison. This guy is a good content creator and overlander expert. And he normally is not biasied, wich is good. Until the words land rover apear. Only he knows why but it looks like his troopys are flawless and any land rover is a disaster…(I would love to understand in that case why he needes to spend so much money in overhauling suspension, clearance, brakes, bumpers, rims, diffs, etc…on those troopys)… I know plenty of people who had and blamed the disco 2 until somebody showed them what a car it was. I met some people who wanted to sell the disco and buy others. Some did. But they tried some discos with the proper clearance and maintainance and they either went back to the disco 2 or kept the others until they found the disco and made the needed upgrades… Now, if you are about to go “the land rover way” you must know something. ALL offroad cars have issues. Mainly if they’re used offroad. And land rovers are awesome in farms, with trailers full of potatoes, fruits, corn…whatever. But offroad use is a different thing. Corrugations, jumps, “pedal to the metal” situations an so are not the use those cars are designed for… And the truth is, for this kind of use, LR parts quality is not as good as japanese parts. Period. So you need to be a bit of a mechanic and know your car as sometimes it gives you a surprise. It tends not to be serious stuff if the car is properly maintained. But you will probably have to change more parts now and then compared to a toyota or a nissan. The good thing is, parts are a lot cheaper. You also must know that Land rover axles are smaller than toyota or nissan ones. So they’re weeker. The good thing is that they’re lighter and so the car drinks a lot less(diesels). But if you’re the one who loves to kick the pedal till you deform the car base, bear in mind you will brake your diffs really quickly. Cv’s are the next week point, so same risk. If you want to go hard on the gas, you better put lockers(so you reinforce the diffs) and hd cv and semiaxles(ashcroft is your brand)… That way, the disco becomes a hd offroader and it goes as far as any other. But still cheaper(that’s the good thing). Put some tyres and a lift kit on your pickups and they’ll be fantastic. Hilux is a fantastic rig. It looks like dmax is as well…Lack of Clearance is the easiest thing to fix. So go for it and you’ll have some serious beasts. Cheers EDIT: If you’re saying they where hopeless in “flat” grounds, I understand you’re talking about lack of traction. But in that case, the triton wouldn’t be better unless ultra heavy weight in the others made them “sink” comoared to the lighter triton. Or I think so. Anyway, in that scenario, traction control was a huge improvement and made cars a lot better in muddy construction areas or no traction situations. Cheers

@andrewhardy1976

10 ай бұрын

Auto disco 2 did not have a viscous coupling setup as you state. Same transfer case as a manual. Some models had no centre diff lock. Actually performed very well when driven accordingly. Journalists need to swing a spanner themselves sometimes to know the facts. Some of these disco 2 cases never even had the internal mechanism to lock. I owned one. It was very good off-road with just the traction control. I can't believe you still bang on about this.

@checa160

10 ай бұрын

@@andrewhardy1976 Totally true. The center diff lock was inside in the early models. They kept it “for maintainance reasons” they said. I believe they kept it just in case the TC didn’t work so it would be easy to call the customers and add the lever to make it have tc+cdl. They took it out in the first model change, 2001, with the 15p engines, nnn ecus and other things, when they stated tc worked good for most of the customers. They offered it back on demand due to cusromers complaints as they wanted it back along with the tc. So some late models, 03-04 had it if asked by the client. This could vary on some markets of course. Viscous coupling was used in the range rover P38, the one in those years. So to me, this “journalist”(he isn’t and he doesn’t claim himself as one tho) is probably mixing things, remembering wrongly or directly talking about a car he tried for half an hour but never tried to understand or know as he had already his biasied opinion on land rover. And some 20 years later he still blames that car based on false facts instead of going to any of the tenths of existing forums to learn about that car a bit. It happens when you become a sort of a fanboy and you stop driving other cars with an open mind. And it’s helped by the fact of becoming an “influencer” and giving conferences, shows, etc, being always “the one who knows”, like a teacher sometimes. It arrives a moment in wich you really believe you are always right and you stop checking things properly. And having a beef with a brand, whatever the reason, makes it worse. 🤷🏻‍♂️. Cheers

@theinsid3r

10 ай бұрын

@checa160 you're absolutely bang on.

I drove as a fill in instructor for Land Rover Experience in the US for 2 years. I often drove my own 2000 Land Rover Disco 2 V8 auto. You are correct in your criticism of of the manual transmission and center lock. In the US with the auto box, they removed the center diff lock selector although the mechanism was still there. The first modification - and there were many that I made - was to add a rod and other components to the transfer case to engage the center diff lock control. Once installed i could engage center diff lock as needed and things worked correctly. I could never get an answer why they removed the selector rod on US spec V8 auto Discos. My Disco 2 was plagued with bad transmissions and leaking windscreens. Both were replaced several times under warranty. When the experience program in the US changed I sold the Disco and went back to driving my LC 100. Still runs like new, with minimal maintenance, now 25 years since I bought it.

Hi Andrew, The end with the flying video. Is that from FASH?

Great vid Andrew. 😉

2002-2004 discovery 2 had the option of the locking diff on either auto or manual. My 2004 Es premium td5 has the locking diff this is a manual too 👍

I think you will find most people who have owned all LR series here would disagree with you. Its a pity Andrew you blew your relationship with LR over a missing lever in most cases as CDL was enabled in the gearbox 99-2000. Even with out it it was as capable as a Defender in 80% of cases. I have owned them all and its learning its shortcomings and how to handle it. The rear overhang on the D2 was the biggest issue with the D2.

Great Video, Andrew.

What trick was it to get it into extended mode without bottoming out?

Thank you Andrew

great video andrew love it from jamaica koooool

bite the bullet and buy a mahindra or a tank 300