I've joined the Land Rover fold!
Discussion
After much debate in the other thread - concerning Series III or Range Rover Classic ... I've bought the former.
It's a very early Series III - made 1972, diesel so slow as ... and it looks like a Land Rover ... there are dents and scratches aplenty but it's a real solid old bus. It's also really original.
The brakes are a bit rubbish, the steering isn't anywhere near as heavy as some would lead you to believe but it's rather vague. Clutch IS heavy but I would if that is felt even more with me due to the driving postion being so different to what I am used to? The owner showed me how to use the 4WD stuff and it all works
Heater is about as good as my Stag's so not bad but probably rubbish by modern standards. Oh, and did I mention it is SLOW ... the slowest thing I've even driven 
I just know they'll be no snow this winter now
It's a very early Series III - made 1972, diesel so slow as ... and it looks like a Land Rover ... there are dents and scratches aplenty but it's a real solid old bus. It's also really original.
The brakes are a bit rubbish, the steering isn't anywhere near as heavy as some would lead you to believe but it's rather vague. Clutch IS heavy but I would if that is felt even more with me due to the driving postion being so different to what I am used to? The owner showed me how to use the 4WD stuff and it all works
Heater is about as good as my Stag's so not bad but probably rubbish by modern standards. Oh, and did I mention it is SLOW ... the slowest thing I've even driven I just know they'll be no snow this winter now
Nice, pics please!
Vague steering is normal, you'll get used to guiding it instead of driving it. Tyres make a big difference.
The only golden rule with the 4WD stuff is to never, ever have drive going to the front wheels on tarmac. The plate inside the car when new will say something like
"don't use 4WD on tarmac as high tyre wear will occur"
that's not true, what actually happens is that you wind up the transfer box and if you are lucky it'll unwind through the rear wheels, if not it'll just explode. The fornt/rear set of wheels want to travel at a different rate because the front wheels travel less distance then the rear ones because they steer, but they cannot because the transfer box won't let them. Something has to give, on low grip surfaces the wheels will just slip a bit, on high grip surfaces where they can't = bad things.
Also what the guy in the other thread said about operation of the levers isn't 100% right, I didn't bother correcting at the time but...
Red forward/Yellow up = Hi 2WD (normal road driving)
Red backward/Yellow up = lo 4WD (off-road)
Red forward/Yellow down = hi 4WD (snow/gravel/sand etc)
Red backward/Yellow down = lo 4WD (off-road, this may well not engage, did on 2 of mine not on one)
The red lever also has an intermediate position, which is neutral.
Do you have free wheeling hubs? If so they override the 2WD/4WD. You will never have 4WD with the hubs disengaged. With them engaged you MAY have 4WD depending on the levers (see above...). It's perfectly OK to leave the hubs engaged for long periods of time, by themselves they won't damage anything, it just means you need to check you aren't in 4WD.
As for when to engage the 4WD, whenever it's slippery enough really. Best to engage it when you need to, then to try and extract yourself from something you could have avoided in the first place.
Learn from my fail...
How not to drive a landie
4WD will make the car more understeery, that is normal.
ETA: Something wrong with your Stag, if there's one thing those cars do very well it's heating water...
Vague steering is normal, you'll get used to guiding it instead of driving it. Tyres make a big difference.
The only golden rule with the 4WD stuff is to never, ever have drive going to the front wheels on tarmac. The plate inside the car when new will say something like
"don't use 4WD on tarmac as high tyre wear will occur"
that's not true, what actually happens is that you wind up the transfer box and if you are lucky it'll unwind through the rear wheels, if not it'll just explode. The fornt/rear set of wheels want to travel at a different rate because the front wheels travel less distance then the rear ones because they steer, but they cannot because the transfer box won't let them. Something has to give, on low grip surfaces the wheels will just slip a bit, on high grip surfaces where they can't = bad things.
Also what the guy in the other thread said about operation of the levers isn't 100% right, I didn't bother correcting at the time but...
Red forward/Yellow up = Hi 2WD (normal road driving)
Red backward/Yellow up = lo 4WD (off-road)
Red forward/Yellow down = hi 4WD (snow/gravel/sand etc)
Red backward/Yellow down = lo 4WD (off-road, this may well not engage, did on 2 of mine not on one)
The red lever also has an intermediate position, which is neutral.
Do you have free wheeling hubs? If so they override the 2WD/4WD. You will never have 4WD with the hubs disengaged. With them engaged you MAY have 4WD depending on the levers (see above...). It's perfectly OK to leave the hubs engaged for long periods of time, by themselves they won't damage anything, it just means you need to check you aren't in 4WD.
As for when to engage the 4WD, whenever it's slippery enough really. Best to engage it when you need to, then to try and extract yourself from something you could have avoided in the first place.
Learn from my fail...
How not to drive a landie
4WD will make the car more understeery, that is normal.
ETA: Something wrong with your Stag, if there's one thing those cars do very well it's heating water...
Edited by varsas on Tuesday 25th October 13:35
Welcome to the fold. A few of us are planning a trip out in Solihull so not far from you (looking at your profile (Derbyshire))if you fancy giving the old girl a try. I'll put the link to the forum for you http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f13/green-laning-nea... hope it works we're a friendly bunch and newbies are more than welcome. By the way nothing to challenging so ideal for starting out.
If you fancy green laning then you should log onto the manchester site www.mlrc.org.uk since we come your way about every six weeks or so.
V8Triumph said:
After much debate in the other thread - concerning Series III or Range Rover Classic ... I've bought the former.
It's a very early Series III - made 1972, diesel so slow as ... and it looks like a Land Rover ... there are dents and scratches aplenty but it's a real solid old bus. It's also really original.
The brakes are a bit rubbish, the steering isn't anywhere near as heavy as some would lead you to believe but it's rather vague. Clutch IS heavy but I would if that is felt even more with me due to the driving postion being so different to what I am used to? The owner showed me how to use the 4WD stuff and it all works Heater is about as good as my Stag's so not bad but probably rubbish by modern standards. Oh, and did I mention it is SLOW ... the slowest thing I've even driven
Welcome aboard. Part of the fun of the steering is due to the leaf springs. Every bump you hit ends up pointing the vehicle in a slightly different direction so you end up correcting for this as well as for the play in the steering
I just know they'll be no snow this winter now
It's a very early Series III - made 1972, diesel so slow as ... and it looks like a Land Rover ... there are dents and scratches aplenty but it's a real solid old bus. It's also really original.
The brakes are a bit rubbish, the steering isn't anywhere near as heavy as some would lead you to believe but it's rather vague. Clutch IS heavy but I would if that is felt even more with me due to the driving postion being so different to what I am used to? The owner showed me how to use the 4WD stuff and it all works
Heater is about as good as my Stag's so not bad but probably rubbish by modern standards. Oh, and did I mention it is SLOW ... the slowest thing I've even driven Welcome aboard. Part of the fun of the steering is due to the leaf springs. Every bump you hit ends up pointing the vehicle in a slightly different direction so you end up correcting for this as well as for the play in the steering
I just know they'll be no snow this winter now
Looks great!
Not enough that you have to buy the same cars I do, now you're getting them in the same colour!
A bit of rug on the inside helps with the noise. Just get an old, thick rug, cut it to shape with a few holes for the gear levers and lay it across the floor, door to door. It damps out all those annoying high frequency noises. Take it out before you go off-roading though...you may be shocked to hear that not all SIII landies are 100% watertight.
Not enough that you have to buy the same cars I do, now you're getting them in the same colour!
A bit of rug on the inside helps with the noise. Just get an old, thick rug, cut it to shape with a few holes for the gear levers and lay it across the floor, door to door. It damps out all those annoying high frequency noises. Take it out before you go off-roading though...you may be shocked to hear that not all SIII landies are 100% watertight.
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