Are they any good for greenlaning?Having the vcu off can make the front skittybut that's down to wearing high heels and having the name Babs Cabs on top
High heels tend to make you suffer alot on fresh green lanes
. While the vcu kicks in when the traction on the rear wheels starts to slip.
Think I'll stick to stoned car paksHigh heels tend to make you suffer alot on fresh green lanes
Good callThink I'll stick to stoned car paks
Once its moving, I find it 'reasonably' lively - I have no trouble over taking "real" tractors and a dab of smoke and I'm past slow coaches as well. If I'm away fishing with my boy for the weekend I'll get 40mpg there or there abouts and if I'm away taking relis on a tour round the South Island I'll have 5 in the car with our luggage, the AC blowing nice cold air and it still won't drop much below that. Regardless of load, once its moving, I find it lively enough although the mountains here do mean the gearbox can get a work out.
Firstly - the cliff option is not an option - L Series Freelanders are fecking awesome
A little love and you get a great reliable work horse of a car that that costs bugger all to keep on the road. They really are freecking awesome, but I already said that.
With all Freelander 1 variants the transmission - specifically the VCU and tyres need to be looked after. The tyres are simple - just make sure you always run 4 identical make/model tyres and regular checks to make sure they are pumped to the same pressure. If you need to replace 2 (rather than 4), then the new ones go on the back and the part worn on the front. The VCU is even simpler, every 6 months or so, do the 1 wheel up test and if its showing signs of getting past its sell-by date, then get a (good) recon unit installed.
These are simple things that all Freelander owners need to know, but usually don't coming into ownership of them. I didn't.... and my transmission duly shat itself. It was only after my Freelander went BANG big time that I came onto LZ and started asking questions! Shame I didn't have some other (more minor!) fault beforehand.
I had about a mile of warning that something was up - a rattle that I thought was the exhaust fallen off a mount - then bang most horribleous. It was clear straight away that the IRD had gone and I needed a VCU. The quotes I got over here were $7,500 for the parts - £3,500 - ouch. I wasn't going to spend that much money - it what we had paid for the car 3 years previous. The normal thing to do would be to remove the props and put a blanking plate on the IRD (so the shafted pinion gears don't lock). However, over here that is often seen by testers as a modification to the vehicle and needs 'official' certification - ie more $. Not wanting that, and I was also worried about the rest of the IRD, so I had an IRD rebuild kit (bearings, seals & cooler) set over from the UK at about £150, rebuilt the IRD, removed the crown gear from the IRD and put it all back together again.
So I'm running a 2WD Freelander as there's no drive to the back from the IRD - but it all looks 'factory' underneath.
I've been running like this for 4 years now. I very rarely get any wheel spin - I know people of the petrol and TD4s report wheel spin - but hand on heart it doesn't happen with my L Series unless you drive it like you stole it..... which, as you know, doesn't happen with the L Series
The L Series in Freelander is definitely no speed freak - quite the reverse. Pulling away at the lights is alarmingly slow, unless you create a lot of smoke
The transmission issue aside, which was a knowledge fault, the car has been super reliable. The L Series is one of the most robust engines ever made. Their only issue is the fan (aux/drive) belt tensioner. They do have a tendency to 'go'. This throws the belt which often gets wrapped up in the main pulley and takes out the cam belt - nigh night engine. So take care of that tensioner and come the holocaust, all that will be left are cockroaches and your L Series.
As you can tell, I love my L Series Freelander. I love the agricultural character of the British oil burner and the Freelander's a great little package. I drove Discovery for many years before the Freelander. I would take it down the river bed or down the beach fishing. It was great, but a heavy beast. As soon as you hit any soft sand the car would stop, engage low and diff lock and drive on. Careful to switch back out of lock when the terrain go firmer. Freelander doesn't care what surface you're on, its got great traction with the VCU cuts in when its needed and turns off when its not. Unfortunately, castrating it to 2WD has put pay to its beach days, and the replacement IRD has not fixed this - but that's cos its been sat in my garage for 18 months and not on the car
I still take it down the river bed though - I was there at the weekend. I'm quite a bit more careful on the route I take, and the TC has saved my blushes a few times - but not got stuck.
Actually, I have got stuck - but it took a drive into the wilderness of New Zealand's high country to get stuck. In many ways I was on a mission to find its limits - in the knowledge that there were 2 dozen other Landies there to help out when the inevitable occurred. Interestingly though it was not getting stuck that ultimately made me bail the Freelander and hitch a ride in a P38 - it was the noise! The noise of all the boulders and rocks hitting the bottom of the car! I think a lift is a good investment if you planning taking the car to any rough stuff. Plus decent tyres (my van tyres are not the best off tarmac) and a bit of ability helps! Looking back at the dash cam of me getting stuck, I do look a bit of a plonker...
The L Series is also a great tow truck. It may not be heavy enough to legally take big loads, but it takes my boat over NZs mountains fine and its traillered various other Landies home fine and popped the axle on a commercial trailer trying to bring far to many concrete slabs home in 1 journey - woops!
So, sort your transmission issues out before they get to major and you'll have a great truck
Firstly - the cliff option is not an option - L Series Freelanders are fecking awesome
A little love and you get a great reliable work horse of a car that that costs bugger all to keep on the road. They really are freecking awesome, but I already said that.
With all Freelander 1 variants the transmission - specifically the VCU and tyres need to be looked after. The tyres are simple - just make sure you always run 4 identical make/model tyres and regular checks to make sure they are pumped to the same pressure. If you need to replace 2 (rather than 4), then the new ones go on the back and the part worn on the front. The VCU is even simpler, every 6 months or so, do the 1 wheel up test and if its showing signs of getting past its sell-by date, then get a (good) recon unit installed.
These are simple things that all Freelander owners need to know, but usually don't coming into ownership of them. I didn't.... and my transmission duly shat itself. It was only after my Freelander went BANG big time that I came onto LZ and started asking questions! Shame I didn't have some other (more minor!) fault beforehand.
I had about a mile of warning that something was up - a rattle that I thought was the exhaust fallen off a mount - then bang most horribleous. It was clear straight away that the IRD had gone and I needed a VCU. The quotes I got over here were $7,500 for the parts - £3,500 - ouch. I wasn't going to spend that much money - it what we had paid for the car 3 years previous. The normal thing to do would be to remove the props and put a blanking plate on the IRD (so the shafted pinion gears don't lock). However, over here that is often seen by testers as a modification to the vehicle and needs 'official' certification - ie more $. Not wanting that, and I was also worried about the rest of the IRD, so I had an IRD rebuild kit (bearings, seals & cooler) set over from the UK at about £150, rebuilt the IRD, removed the crown gear from the IRD and put it all back together again.
So I'm running a 2WD Freelander as there's no drive to the back from the IRD - but it all looks 'factory' underneath.
I've been running like this for 4 years now. I very rarely get any wheel spin - I know people of the petrol and TD4s report wheel spin - but hand on heart it doesn't happen with my L Series unless you drive it like you stole it..... which, as you know, doesn't happen with the L Series
The L Series in Freelander is definitely no speed freak - quite the reverse. Pulling away at the lights is alarmingly slow, unless you create a lot of smoke
The transmission issue aside, which was a knowledge fault, the car has been super reliable. The L Series is one of the most robust engines ever made. Their only issue is the fan (aux/drive) belt tensioner. They do have a tendency to 'go'. This throws the belt which often gets wrapped up in the main pulley and takes out the cam belt - nigh night engine. So take care of that tensioner and come the holocaust, all that will be left are cockroaches and your L Series.
As you can tell, I love my L Series Freelander. I love the agricultural character of the British oil burner and the Freelander's a great little package. I drove Discovery for many years before the Freelander. I would take it down the river bed or down the beach fishing. It was great, but a heavy beast. As soon as you hit any soft sand the car would stop, engage low and diff lock and drive on. Careful to switch back out of lock when the terrain go firmer. Freelander doesn't care what surface you're on, its got great traction with the VCU cuts in when its needed and turns off when its not. Unfortunately, castrating it to 2WD has put pay to its beach days, and the replacement IRD has not fixed this - but that's cos its been sat in my garage for 18 months and not on the car
I still take it down the river bed though - I was there at the weekend. I'm quite a bit more careful on the route I take, and the TC has saved my blushes a few times - but not got stuck.
Actually, I have got stuck - but it took a drive into the wilderness of New Zealand's high country to get stuck. In many ways I was on a mission to find its limits - in the knowledge that there were 2 dozen other Landies there to help out when the inevitable occurred. Interestingly though it was not getting stuck that ultimately made me bail the Freelander and hitch a ride in a P38 - it was the noise! The noise of all the boulders and rocks hitting the bottom of the car! I think a lift is a good investment if you planning taking the car to any rough stuff. Plus decent tyres (my van tyres are not the best off tarmac) and a bit of ability helps! Looking back at the dash cam of me getting stuck, I do look a bit of a plonker...
The L Series is also a great tow truck. It may not be heavy enough to legally take big loads, but it takes my boat over NZs mountains fine and its traillered various other Landies home fine and popped the axle on a commercial trailer trying to bring far to many concrete slabs home in 1 journey - woops!
So, sort your transmission issues out before they get to major and you'll have a great truck
. He said learn about it, take care of it and it’s not bad .Each to his/her own but if I had to make a choice between a snorkel and a vcu I'd definitely get the vcu. To be honest, if it's in 2 wheel drive because the vcu has been removed, I wouldn't take it in any water deeper than a puddle anyway.
Didn't know we were only allowed TweetsTo save a lot of reading
He left a few years agoDidn't know we were only allowed Tweets
I have removed my prop and love the car. We have been through snow and ice and still made it to work sadly haha. Now the little ******* has started to give me a knock from the passenger side front which I am planning to sort out on Friday and today the little **** decided it wanted to be more christmasy and started to jingle from the aux belt area. Now I remembered a post on this thread about how they can snap and take the timmimg belt out too. So my question is how long of a job am I looking at here? And how difficult is it to change a pulley on these? As in space wise because it looks like a ****** to get to. I have ruled out the alternator the noise is coming from lower down than that.
Welcome To LandyZone, the Land Rover Forums!
Here at LandyZone we have plenty of very knowledgable members so if you have any questions about your Land Rover or just want to connect with other Landy owners, you're in the right place.
Registering is free and easy just click here, we hope to see you on the forums soon!
