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Diff lock & traction control


Jinx Reyneke

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I have a D2 v8 3,9.2001model It has the high/low range but without the sideways option of diff lock as was in my defender 130. It does however have traction control.

Question; Is it possible to have a mod done to have the traction control and diff lock? In other words just change the High/low leaver for one that will do the diff lock as well. The transfer box looks to be the similar to the defender's transfer box.

I am planning a trip to Namibia and WILL be going through long stretches of very deep soft sand. With lions and hyenas around don't quite fancy the idea of digging and so on. Would apreciate some advice.

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I think your version of the LT-230 Transfer Case is not fitted with the centre diff-lock. You would have to fit an earlier LT-230 and shift levers. Even then, it may confuse the traction control and cause other issues. I think D2 owners are supposed to have faith in the traction control, trust it to apply braking to a spinning wheel or wheels to force power to the others.

Ray.

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Speak to Ashcroft transmissions, they do a kit to re-instate it. It won't confuse the TC - after all it works on Defenders with difflock and TC! The TC only kicks in when it senses wheel spin and so should come on less with the difflock working and thus might just spare your brake pads a little.

Steve

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I went through Namibia in 2002 with my brother who owns a huge tract of land there, we hired a Toyota Troopy and had no troubles and never had to lock the front axles so I dont think you will have any worries with your Disco, take a .375 nitro though ^_^ lions were'nt a problem but the leopards and hyenas were very cheeky

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I would have thought your theories would contradict each other ,have you not put you electronic t.c to task yet ,I think you will be supprised . I f I was contemplating the adventure you speak of ,I WOULD CERTAINLY MADE EFFORTS TO TEST WHAT i ALREADY HAD BEFORE ANY MODIFICATIONS ,AND AS SOMEONNE HAS ALREADY SAID THESE COULD WORK AGAINST EACH OTHER ,,sorry about the capitals ( I pressed the wrong button ),and thereby you by your own admission do not want to be marouned out there . Go on ,go out this weekend and try getting stuck ( if you can ).

It is a pity the Tong off road centre is not nearer .coachman

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If there were going to be any issues with CDL and TC then why did LR reinstate it in 03 with the face lift model? There is a heap of material on the web e.g. at aulro.com and discovery2.co.uk just use your favorite search engine and, yes, it works brilliantly and the best mod you can do to a D2.

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They certainly won't work against each other, they wiil work very well with each other.

The only issues you may have with traction control is it overheating and eating brake pads. Take a spare set! Saying that, if your TC is on THAT much I think you'll be doing something wrong or need much better tyres.

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Also forgot to say, you can turn the traction control off when selecting difflock if you want to (ie it did seem to be on a lot but you had enough momentum that it wasn't really needed).

I think if you select difflock with the engine off it puts the tc off, and with the engine on it keeps the tc on.

So you'll have best of three worlds :i-m_so_happy:

tc and no diff lock

tc and difflock

difflock and no tc

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Here's a little snip -it of information for you -

The locking centre differential was still fitted until early 2001, although the linkage to operate it was not attached, as Land Rover believed that the traction control and newly-developed Hill Descent Control would render it redundant. The actual locking mechanism was removed in early 2001, before being fully reinstated (with linkage) with the face-lifted 2004 model. Whilst the traction control system worked very effectively, it did not offer the same level of control and smooth operation as the vehicles fitted with the diff lock. Customer demand saw the diff lock controls fully reinstated as a cost option only (standard on top of range HSE/SE vehicles) on UK/Irish models, and aftermarket kits are offered by several vendors for those vehicles which were produced with the lock, but not the linkage.

Fit the darn difflock and stop worrying! PLENTY of current Defenders out there with the same set-up, ie: centre difflock and Landrovers traction control system with no issues.

The only issue is brake pad wear which will be considerably higher without centre difflock fitted as it will be working overtime.

I don't see where there are any contradictions here? it makes perfectly simple sense to me.

Steve

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The other sensible trick is, where possible, is to stick to the main tracks, - at the same time while the access to a provided water is attractive try to avoid the regular camp sites, hyena's consider them to be their local take-away and the occassional leopard might call in to see whats available - like a well loved pet dog!

We found that after a few unpleasant experiences that parking up for the night around 2 miles from the set camp sites worked fine, larger your truck as a wind-break, keep your site compact but not so you are having to climb over each other ( a 10 meter radius is fine) choose an area free of dried grass -sand is ideal and there is lots of it in Namibia and grass fires and snakes are not pleasant - and set more than one camp fire, one for cooking, one to keep you warm and another two to illuminate the surrounding areas and sleep well ^_^

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Sounds good. Last year went through the Kwando river Nambwa park and to Nunda lodge and onto Etosha. This year going through Chobe in Botswana, down the Caprivi to Kwando river a place called Nambwa. Then we want to make a trip through the Khaudum and lastly the Koaka Veld. But Money will make the final decisions.

Much of this trip will just be the one Disco2

Thanks for all the advice. I hope I can get it all sorted before we go in September.

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Soon after the D2 was released we took one with only traction control and one that re-instated its centre difflock out bush. It was winter and put them on hills that neither would get all the way. There was bugger all difference between the two. Sometimes the traction control vehicle got further, sometimes the difflock/traction control one did.

Even though I would prefer one with a difflock, I cannot give any real reason for my view.

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  • 3 months later...

For what you are intending, the centre diff lock is essential.

Anywhere even vaguely remote there is always the risk of breakages, be it drive shaft, diff or axle - front or back - but you can usually get home (well, somewhere) if you can isolate the damage. Without the ability to lock the centre diff this is obviously immpossible (or at least, exceedingly difficult).

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That is a VERY valid point! I got called to a D2 with a suspected diff problem last week, it turned out to be a completely busted front prop. Being as it was in the middle of nowhere I said no worries we'll just take the prop off and you can drive it home with centre diff lock engaged, Ah no we won't because some eejit didn't fit one! This caused a problem in a field in Surrey, imagine the middle of Africa!

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One thing to remember, especially in Africa where vehicle recovery is difficult and very expensive, is that if your ABS stops working for any reason, so does your TC and HDC. The HDC doesn't matter much, but if you have no diff lock and no TC you are in one-wheel drive which won't get you far in the deep sand of eg. Botswana. And from my experience with other's vehicles, the ABS is not very reliable. And the reasons for it to stop working are many, some of which might be fixable at the side of the road (belt the sensors with a hammer) and others require spare parts that you would be unlikely to be carrying with you.

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One thing to remember, especially in Africa where vehicle recovery is difficult and very expensive, is that if your ABS stops working for any reason, so does your TC and HDC. The HDC doesn't matter much, but if you have no diff lock and no TC you are in one-wheel drive which won't get you far in the deep sand of eg. Botswana. And from my experience with other's vehicles, the ABS is not very reliable. And the reasons for it to stop working are many, some of which might be fixable at the side of the road (belt the sensors with a hammer) and others require spare parts that you would be unlikely to be carrying with you.

I like the GFs fix for this one, fit a centre diff and put locking diffs on it, all problems solved, women hey!!!

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