Prospective N00B .....*hangs head in shame*

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tmiller1

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I may be overreacting, but I would be concerned with a Discovery that has been in an accident "bad" enough to bend the frame. The Land Rover frame is probably the strongest piece of the entire vehicle. The typical SUV has a "C" shaped frame, whereas the Land Rover is a box, shaped like the letter "D" or "0" (trying to give you a mental picture of it).


qadhafi said:
I just got off the phone with a guy who said that all 4 wheels turn all of them time and that he didn't know what I was talking about when I tried to explain the CDL to him.
As for the 4WD question, all Land Rovers have All-Time 4WD, but he doesn't seem to understand what this really means. Land Rover's 4WD system (on the Discovery) is always active. When the system senses wheel spin (which happens when one tire is off the ground), it utilizes the ABS to stop the wheel spin; thus, keeping power applied to that tire. This is an effort to mimic, or at least get closer to, a rear/front diff lock, while still allowing normal daily driving. With a rear/front locker, you can hear the tires "chirp" as you corner (since they are turning at the same rate) - this is not what stock Land Rovers have, but can be added as an aftermarket item (ARB, Detroit, etc...). Like Andy (Moose) said, the center diff lock ensures a 50/50 power split to the front and rear. A front or rear locker ensures that both tires turn at the same rate all the time - this is a true 4WD system.
 

Sergei

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Dude, are you sure you owning YJ? :)

CDL is central locking differental. AWD is all-wheel-drive and 4WD is 4-wheel drive.

AWD is what Subaru got :)

full-time-4WD is what Rovers got - meaning that vehicle would try to drive with all wheels engaged but will transfer more power to the one that spins faster. So if your wheel stuck in huge mud hole - open full-time-4WD is more like one-wheel drive. And that wheel stuck in that hole.

CDL is central locking device that designed to split power equally between front and rear, giving it approximately 50/50 split. So if your rear wheel is spinning freely, your front wheels still would have power to get you out. Locking 4WD is what most offroaders like to use.

Advantages of fulltime4WD and AWD is that you not getting wiggling tail on gravel-like road or snow as rear wheel 2WD will get. Its more stable and gives you that fuzzy warm feeling of sequirity.

Now, models of Rovers that younger than 99-00 (was it there on original D2?) got special thingy called ETC that basically is electronically engaging brakes that sppse to block your wheels from spinning freely and thus giving some power to wheels that actually got traction. While nice and thoughtless this system is not really controlled by human (me not like that!) and also eats through brake pads like hungry kid eats burger :)

Entire point of ETC introduction was b/c too many mall mums and prestige buyers didnt know what CDL is designed for and where engaging it on the non-slippery surfaces, damaging drivetrain.

from 2004 (if i am not mistaked) LR reintroduced CDL on Discoveries, but they also coming with ETC.

Now of stuff on vehicle (Mike may told you that already, but..)
- CD changers (OEM) are very expensive for LRs. And i mean - very. 400-600$ for new ones to my recollection and pretty pointless. For 99$ you can get Duraband changed with MP3 playback for 10 disks. While its not so nobby looking - it makes its job and would keep you listening for stuff for about 6x10 hours of mp3s :)
- Vibes - those can be sign of few things - unbalanced tires, motor mounts and other ****. But more often than not - its rotoflex in rear driveshaft wearing out and cracking or U-joints on front shaft are about to ***** it. Replacement of rotoflex is like 80$ in parts or <400$ for replacement U-jointed shaft. U-joints on front shaft wears from hit and you either can replace them alone or swap entire shaft. If you dont do that timely - it can blow off and take part of transmission box with it, if happens at highway speed.

However - after accident with bent frame, and for that price, I would stay away from it. While Discos are very sturdy horses but frame damage is frame damage. Never trust restored frame, specially if you going to offroad it, IMHO.
 

markthecat

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Hey gadaphi
I,ve never takien my Rover off road yet. Does this make ME a poser? Broke my femur last year, jogged for the first time two weeks ago with only excrutiating pain. Maybe the Rubi owners have broken legs.
 

RoverChic

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I would stay away from a bent frame. There are no if ands or buts about it.
 

qadhafi

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Uzbad said:
Dude, are you sure you owning YJ? :)

Hold on,.......um, square headlights, 7 slot grill........title says 94. *looking out window* Yes, a YJ is what I got. :biggrin:

While it sounds like I'm being stupid it's more ignorance that I am trying to correct. 12 hours ago I new absolutely nothing about Land Rovers, and now thanks to every one's help I know a little something about them, specifically what to look for in a used Disco.

Uzbad said:
CDL is central locking differental. AWD is all-wheel-drive and 4WD is 4-wheel drive.

AWD is what Subaru got :)

full-time-4WD is what Rovers got - meaning that vehicle would try to drive with all wheels engaged but will transfer more power to the one that spins faster. So if your wheel stuck in huge mud hole - open full-time-4WD is more like one-wheel drive. And that wheel stuck in that hole.

Thanks for the clarification, all the acronyms got jumbled up in my head. I've never had to work with 1WD, I've got 2 wheels turning at all times (soon to be three with a front Locker).

Uzbad said:
However - after accident with bent frame, and for that price, I would stay away from it. While Discos are very sturdy horses but frame damage is frame damage. Never trust restored frame, specially if you going to offroad it, IMHO.
RoverChic said:
I would stay away from a bent frame. There are no if ands or buts about it.


I've already kind of decided against it, for many of your reasons. Another one is that one of the two reasons you look for low mileage is for resale value. This guy is having a hard enough time trying to sell it with 28k on it, I can't imagine trying to sell it with 80 or 100k on it with it's frame having been straigtened. Also, if the frame is as sturdy as Mike and others have said then it would have taken quite a whallop to bend it in the first place.

Oh well, back to the autotrader and ebay I guess. Thanks for your help everyone. If there are any other concerns or stuff I should look for please let me know, I can only learn more, not less.
 
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qadhafi

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markthecat said:
Hey gadaphi
I,ve never takien my Rover off road yet. Does this make ME a poser? Broke my femur last year, jogged for the first time two weeks ago with only excrutiating pain. Maybe the Rubi owners have broken legs.

I can't speak about specific people. Do what you want with your money. I was referring to actual individuals that I have met in a social setting with Rubis who brag of their vehicle's offroad prowess and how sweet the stock ARBs are and then turn right around and vow to NEVER take it off road. That is what I am talking about. This person did not appear to be wearing any casts and was not in a wheelchair. :biggrin:

Since I am betting that I don't know you and you don't know me, then I would think that it would be premature to judge each other.

I hope your leg gets better soon. :wink:
 

qadhafi

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Okay, some more random stuff.

When a Disco has ACE or the SLS is there a way to actually tell by looking at the truck? I'm looking at a lot of rovers online and very few of them state that they have ACE or the SLS. Now, I'm not assuming that there are a lot of them out there, but there has got to be a few. (I also hope that I am correct in assuming that all of the "7" series (SE7, etc.) comes with the SLS standard).

Does anyone have any pictures of these options? Or of the CDL?

Thanks ya'll.
 

Moose

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AFAIK, SE7 means that there is seating for 7 (2 in front, 3 in the middle, and 2 jump deats in the back). It's the SE designation that determines the package, including SLS and ACE
 

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