1996 vs 2002

I just wanted to share my opinions and see if anyone agrees or disagrees with me. Last year a bought a 96 discovery, i posted a picture of it, and loved it dearly for a year. Living in Canada i had no shortage of crap weather to test it in and it performed beautifully. I was able to blast through snow drifts that were up to the bonnet. Last night i took my 2002 out which was fitted with nitto terra grapplers. I thought the tires would make a difference driving in the snow but not so. I got stuck in a snow drift that barely came past the tires and the whole time the traction control was working overtime. I had to back out and go around the drift. My 96 would have plowed through it and it had michellin lt tires, nothing fancy. So i just wanted to say that centre locking differential makes a world of difference and it was a mistake for rover to not put it on the 02 model. Now i live with the fact that my newer rover is no match for my older rover which i wished i still had. Your thoughts?

I've never driven through snow that deep. But i do remember reading an article questioning whether D2's have the diff lock mechanicals but no lever.
Apparantly some D2's do. Might be worth looking into? I'm sure somebody on here will be able tell you exactly how to tell...

Hello Simon... if you stick 'Diff lock' in the search there might be some stuff in there that might be useful. ( Was going to put a link in but I ain't figured out how to do it !)

Ashcroft transmissions do the lever i believe and tell how to tell if you have got a 'diff lock' or not!!!

Ashcroft Transmissions

Here try this. Difflock :: View Forum - Land Rover

Andy.

My disco was made in 2002 and i believe it doesn't have the mechanics in place to add the lever to lock the diffs, i will have to get under the disco and have a feel i guess just to make sure but i was wondering if anyone else thought the same why i did that having a diff lock is better than traction control when driving off road

discobill said:

Hello Simon... if you stick 'Diff lock' in the search there might be some stuff in there that might be useful. ( Was going to put a link in but I ain't figured out how to do it !)

Click to expand...

simonk23 said:

i was wondering if anyone else thought the same why i did that having a diff lock is better than traction control when driving off road

Click to expand...

Yes, a difflock is, in my opinion, much better offroad than TC.

TC was introduced, IIRC, because it was felt that most Discos at that time were being used as Chelsea Tractors and didn't need their full level of off-road kit. I may be wrong, but that's something I read, somewhere, at the time. TC is of much more use on the road, especially when being driven by 'normal' car drivers.

For anyone who ventures off-road properly and who gains experience in off-road driving a proper diff-lock is a most excellent bit of kit. TC can be mimicked offroad, when using difflock or not, by feathering the brakes with the left foot, when one or two wheels start to spin. Done properly it's a great technique to aid traction.

In my view Landrover would have done 'a good thing' if they'd offered as an option factory fittted diff-locks in both axles as well ...

"the 98 disco2 had ETC - electronic traction control - this did away with the familiar diff lock, although the mechanisms were still present in the transfer box, it just wasnt connected anymore. However due to high public demand it was reintroduced on the 2003 models." taken from the Haynes extreme Land Rover Discovery the definitive guide to modifying. Hope this helps.

hi i have d2 with tc but can you use diff lock as well or do you have to have tc turned off