Best off road, Defender or Series?

Erm...................

Spyderman said:

I didn't see you following me on Sunday mate.

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I did tho!!

Out the box Defender. Series can be good but need to make those springs much softer.

jai_landrover said:

I did tho!!

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Series are great, but like it's been said, ground clearance as standard isn't as good, lack of articulation, engine power, power steering. It's close, but comparing standard with standard, generally a Defender is better off-road.

I cant see any situation where my Series 2a would be better than any Defender off road.

ground cleanance under springs, turning circle, and suspension travel you lose on all counts.

but it is narrower

Yup!

narrower which is always good and shorter good points but defender soft suspension and design wins

not in body width though

jamesmartin said:

not in body width though

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That very much depends if you count the spats or not! To me it don't matter or make much difference but somone driving a shiny they won't be rubbing their nice late type hard spats aginst trees! where a series might squeeze through

no .its is common miscoception though that body isnt as wide

~Crap specs from the net completly unreliable!

1.6 M series LR,

1.79 M Defender and the spats have to be what 60mm minimum either side so 120 nothing between them

I know the wheelbase is 4.6" shorter on an 88" compared to a 90, but is the ramp breakover better on a Series?

gearbox x member hanging down to get hung up on. Which is why'its been hammered flat almost over decades of offroading on my series 1!

IMO they both have their own pro and cons.

I did a 6500 mile trip in 2009 with 14 days of that, completely off road (Canol Expedition Yukon-NWT) in a bone stock Series 3 109. Comparing it to a Defender the obvious stands out...leafs vs. coils so more comfortable in the Defender, however all the Defenders on our trip bent steering arms, and damaged the plastic wheel arches, whereas the Series trucks suffered no damage to steering arms. Sometimes a simple practical design has advantages.

Now saying all of the above after the trip I bought a Defender 110...I just couldn't take the beating that Leaf Springs impose on the driver and passengers anymore. Parabolics I've been told help both with ride and articulation, but in some cases can't take the beating that the original leaf springs can.

As far as engines...all the series and defender engines can do the job off road if well maintained and prepared properly.

I think it really comes down to preference...there is that classic look of a series truck, they are simple to work on and can take almost anything thrown at them...but a Defender has the better suspension, and usually a more powerful engine.

It's a loaded question as they are both legendary in their own right.

my opinions only...

The Mad Hat Man said:

but it is narrower

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Series 1's are.

These are the figures for ALRC specs/regs:




Of course, add some wider rims to a Series and it'll be almost the same as a standard 90 width wise.

Canol109 said:

IMO they both have their own pro and cons.

I did a 6500 mile trip in 2009 with 14 days of that, completely off road (Canol Expedition Yukon-NWT) in a bone stock Series 3 109. Comparing it to a Defender the obvious stands out...leafs vs. coils so more comfortable in the Defender, however all the Defenders on our trip bent steering arms, and damaged the plastic wheel arches, whereas the Series trucks suffered no damage to steering arms. Sometimes a simple practical design has advantages.

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Would seem odd if more than one Defender bent their steering while no Series did??

Not saying it couldn't happen, although there are steering guards available and I've seen plenty of Series motors trialling with bent steering arms too.

Damaging the arch flares also seems a tad odd? Where they continually driving into trees or rocks?

Canol109 said:

Now saying all of the above after the trip I bought a Defender 110...I just couldn't take the beating that Leaf Springs impose on the driver and passengers anymore. Parabolics I've been told help both with ride and articulation, but in some cases can't take the beating that the original leaf springs can.

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Good quality parabolics would be fine. Cheapy wrong spring rate ones wouldn't.

Canol109 said:

As far as engines...all the series and defender engines can do the job off road if well maintained and prepared properly.

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I don't disagree, but it does happen sometimes. At some CCVT style trials events I've seen even a 2.5TD 90 fail to make a couple of climbs due to lack of grunt.

Canol109 said:

I think it really comes down to preference...there is that classic look of a series truck, they are simple to work on and can take almost anything thrown at them...but a Defender has the better suspension, and usually a more powerful engine.

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Don't they look quite similar? And not hugely different mechanically either.

I prefer my 110 TD5 to my Series 2a 2.5na for technical off roading.
Better articualtion of suspenseion, more responsive to the power for hill climbs.
But I love the character of the Series.

Both vechicles are fairly standard specs.

There is no comparison in my opinion. A bog standand 90 tdi vs any series LR with same driver driving one then the other over a trial section would likely do a lot better in the 90.
Several years ago we campained an old series 2A in the AWDC trials championships. it couldnt do the sections where a little power pushed you up a climb, just not enough grunt. We modified the hell out of it as you could with AWDC. Soft springs, nylon bushes,lift shackles, shortened bumpers, V8, power steering from a RR and a Sailsbury back axle. The power steering and the V8 made a huge difference.
With all these mods, we still struggled against my pals 90 in trials. The main difference after all these mods was the coils on the 90. They are always pushing down where as the leaf suspension resists in both directions on the Series. It just cant compete in certain cross-axle situations