Freelander 2 (LR2) Freelander for greenlane/ off road?

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Minelandy

New Member
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3
Location
Cotswolds
Hi

What are freelanders like for greenlane and off road?

I realise they aren’t defender or discovery capable but can you still do moderate off road trips with success?

Is there much aftermarket modification stuff available either series 1 or 2, something to improve their ability?

Is it fair to say they are more expensive to keep going?

can anyone comment on the td4 engine reputation?

series 1 or 2?

I just like their compact appearance.

Cheers, James
 
When you say series 1 or 2 do you mean freelander 1 or freelander 2? Have a look at muddy mods - they have most stuff you'd need. Typical offroad accessories are a 40/50mm lift kit comprising of spacers that go between the strut tops and the suspension turrets + camber bolts + extended brake hoses, bigger tyres on 16" wheels - I don't know what you can run on an FL2 but on an FL1 it's 29" tyres whcih means 205/80/16 or 225/75/16 or 235/70/16 tyres - the tyres give you about an inch and a half lift. With those two mods on a freelander it's now ~3.5" higher up, and has more ground clearance than a stock defender and with the viscous coupling working like a limited slip centrediff, plus the traction control, its not bad off road. Freelanders suffer from the lack of low ratio transfer box, the manuals more so as working around this requires slipping of the clutch, but the autos cope better. I'd suggest looking for some underbody armour like sumpguard and an equivalent for the back end. It's still going to be short on suspension travel, particularly droop, so you aren't going to keep up with the best prepped live axled landies, but you'll be pleasantly surprised b just how capable it is.
 
Is there much aftermarket modification stuff available either series 1 or 2, something to improve their ability?
What years? The FL1 and FL2 are completely different vehicles, and neither is bad off road, the FL2 has more ground clearance than the FL1.
Is it fair to say they are more expensive to keep going?
What do you mean by keep going?
can anyone comment on the td4 engine reputation?

series 1 or 2
Again the FL1 TD4 and the FL2 TD4 are completely different engines, the latter having 50% more power.
 
The above mini-description is a pretty good overview of Freelander 'all terrain' setup. In many ways with 4x4 vehicles you're talking limits rather than capabilities and Freelander's main limit is lack of a low-range . This is offset a little by a quite low geared 1st gear - but it is definitely not low-1st. Ground clearance is not fantastic compared to the 'bigger' Landies, but can be improved with a lift, or even spring changes - it does have good arrival/departure angles though.

There are basic off road modifications available - such as lift, springs, some under body protection - but there's not the large choices of air lockers, roll cages etc found on others (I don't think anyway).

So, for green lanes, I'm sure Freelander is more than capable enough and would be a great vehicle to drive them in. If you want to go rock climbing, then not a suitable truck.

The viscous coupling on an F1 is an awesome bit of kit - on and off tarmac. When you need it, as said, its like automatically going into diff lock on the bigger Landies - similar to the viscous center diffs on RR Classic/P38. The Haldex in an F2 in theory should provide the similar capability - but I've never driven one.

Freelander are also economical, reliable and in F1 parts are dirt cheap, readily available and they are easy-as to work on. Compared to the bigger Landies, I've found everything is so much lighter and less seized solid - which makes working on them much more pleasurable. :D

There are lots more 'electronics' on an F2. In theory, it should make diagnosing faults easier, but in practice I'm sure the added complexity of the electronics often makes it less so and there is more to go wrong and some of those parts are expensive to replace. For example the "steering lock" is electronic and does create problems, sometimes difficult to diagnose - and you simply do not have this issue with an F1. So comparing F1 to F2 is a bit like comparing a D1/D2 to a D3 in this respect. Probably not quite so drastically different as a Defender to a D6 :rolleyes:
 
In standard form both the FL1 and FL2 are quite capable oft road even with road tires on them. The trick is to pick yer route carefully and follow the method of continued progression as opposed to racing. Freelander's are lighter than bigger lr products which is a significant advantage oft road.
 
You can carry them on your back if the grass is wet :D
It's always handy to have roof rails fitted so you can carry them on yer back like a ruck sack.

Lighter vehicles will leave a lesser mark when travelling across wet grass, compared to heavier rustier ones. It also makes up and down hill driving less riskier if yer got less weight.
 
It's always handy to have roof rails fitted so you can carry them on yer back like a ruck sack.

Lighter vehicles will leave a lesser mark when travelling across wet grass, compared to heavier rustier ones. It also makes up and down hill driving less riskier if yer got less weight.
Them tratterers do tend to be a bit lardy and all that food stuck in their beards can't help :rolleyes:
 
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