Defender 90 with Diff Locks?

I currently have a 3 door Rav 4 which is a nice car but I need something that is short (so I can park in town and miscellaneous other tricky spots) and has really formidable off road capability (we spend a month each year up a mountain in Austria with a really steep ice and snow covered track)

The Rav with winter tyres copes most of the time but sometimes just slides down the hill, which is scary.

I could afford a new Defender but am not too keen on electronic stuff - I would like to be able to just lock the wheel diffs when I think appropriate rather than some computer program deciding for me (call me old fashioned)

Also, needs to be reasonably comfortable and reliable as it is 1,000 miles to Austria (and the same back) from where I am

So, which later models have straight forward diff locks please? And any general observations really appreciated
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Please explain how a diff lock is going to stop you sliding down an icy slope?

simple answer is, from the factory, none.

they have a lockable CENTRE diff, but not axle diffs unless you put it in yerself, as above, it aint gonna make any difference on ice tho.

comfortable and reliable, hmmm, have you done any homework yet? reliable, possibly. Comfortable, in factory form, not so much, wouldn't want to do 1000 miles in mine.

Trewey said:

Please explain how a diff lock is going to stop you sliding down an icy slope?

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What I am really saying is that sometimes the Rav cannot cope with road conditions and one of the wheels starts spinning when going up the hill and we have to put the chains on (a big pain)

I would also have thought that locking all of the wheels would stop sliding on ice when we descending but I may well be wrong on that (the ABS does not seem to help when really slippery - you put the brakes on and it just slides for quite a while)

timtheenchanteruk said:

they have a lockable CENTRE diff, but not axle diffs unless you put it in yerself, as above, it aint gonna make any difference on ice tho.

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So you can add them to late model 90's then?

timtheenchanteruk said:

comfortable and reliable, hmmm, have you done any homework yet?

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I am aware of the historical reputation but am not sure how reliable a 2010/11 model would be?

timtheenchanteruk said:

Comfortable, in factory form, not so much, wouldn't want to do 1000 miles in mine.

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I guess the obvious answer is for me to test drive a late model. Are there mods that you can make to increase comfort without sacrificing off road ability?
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Lockers can be added to pretty much any fender since the S1
Seats are the biggest mod for comfort, new ones are reputably a bit better, quieter, less engine noise, but its still not a mile muncher, was never designed to be.
if your after comfort a Discovery would be a better bet, AFAIK the TD5 disco has the ability to put lockers on it
The newer discos and fenders both have traction control and ABS.

Just get a good TD5 Defender, buy a set of diff locks, winch bumper set, a disco transfer box or overdrive, loads and loads of sound-proofing and some comfy seats and a roofrack for those trips if you are carrying a good bit of stuff with you

Will have a nicer and more capable Defender with change left over than if you went and bought a newer one.

My 110 is very quite even at motorway speeds due to some of the bits I mentioned. A standard one feels like driving one of my tractors around the farm in comparison!


Or just buy a late Disco 2

Trewey said:

Please explain how a diff lock is going to stop you sliding down an icy slope?

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Firstly, it seems to me that there is no difference between the physics of ascending a hill and descending (one has a negative velocity but all the equations stay the same). So, if it helps going up hill, it must help going down hill.

Secondly, here is what ARB say on their website "Another often forgotten situation for use of a rear Air Locker is going downhill. Steep, rocky, slippery, rutted downhills can be horrible things. The vehicle often has a mind of its own as individual wheels lose grip. Lock the rear Air Locker in at the top of the hill and you’ll be amazed at how well the car descends. When the two back wheels are forced to rotate at the same speed, the vehicle will be held much straighter."

Note the word "slippery".

I hope that helps!
.

Trewey said:

Please explain how a diff lock is going to stop you sliding down an icy slope?

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don't make fook all difference in that scenario. Gravity takes control

wavering said:

Firstly, it seems to me that there is no difference between the physics of ascending a hill and descending (one has a negative velocity but all the equations stay the same). So, if it helps going up hill, it must help going down hill.

Secondly, here is what ARB say on their website "Another often forgotten situation for use of a rear Air Locker is going downhill. Steep, rocky, slippery, rutted downhills can be horrible things. The vehicle often has a mind of its own as individual wheels lose grip. Lock the rear Air Locker in at the top of the hill and you’ll be amazed at how well the car descends. When the two back wheels are forced to rotate at the same speed, the vehicle will be held much straighter."

Note the word "slippery".

I hope that helps!
.

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Slippery relates to mud, sand and to an extent water not ice. Nothing but chains, ice tyres or spikes are going to help with that

heavier the car the more itll slide going down.

does your ravs VCU work ?

id rather be in a zook jimny in the conditions you describe than a 90 or a disco.

infact in propper ice my van on winters is better than my 90 on muds.....

is this guy for real?

Dont think anyones actually mentioned yet that Defender central diff lock is activated by a lever. Not by a computer. Thats for the new Disco & Range Rovers.

Also would really want to do 1000 miles in a Fender, unless it was maybe one of the new XS spec ones.

For the price of a new Defender you may well be able to pick up a second hand L322 Range Rover would could do what you want, bar electronics..

Dr_evil said:

Slippery relates to mud, sand and to an extent water not ice. Nothing but chains, ice tyres or spikes are going to help with that

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Obviously if you encounter a sheet of pure ice then you will slide whatever your strategy but in the real world nothing is ever that simple. I have a lot of experience of ice and snow in at least a dozen different countries and in a dozen different 4 X 4s and in practice you get a whole range of surfaces and temperatures (the colder it is, the better the grip - ice and snow are slippery because under compression it melts unless it is very cold). So, I would still follow the advcie of ARB

Am I one of the few that finds there defender comfortable?? . We use it mainly for long trips, just got back from 900 miles up to Cairngorms and back and no probs at all

What Defender is it?

I have a snow boarding mate that has just swapped his 90 for a TD5 Discovery, but is looking at getting a Land Cruiser in its place.

chezvegas said:

Am I one of the few that finds there defender comfortable?? .

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Nope, I find them pretty comfortable as well

Mine is perfectly comfortable, I do have £100's worth of Exmoor Trim seats in the front,
and £100's worth of Exmoor Trim Acoustic Sound Deadening.

But I also find the driving position comfortable and prefer driving it over my BMW 3 Series.

bankz5152 said:

What Defender is it?

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1996. 110 county