How good is a Freelander off road?

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300bhp/ton

300bhp/ton

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:D

Not too bad it would seem :p

Decided to 'test' the suspension on my Mum's Freelander at the weekend. It's a stock 1.8i manual Kalahari, so has TCS and HDC. Normal road winter tyres fitted too.

And it did really well. Sadly didn't get any pics, but it was the same place as this:

IMG_2824Large.jpg
[/img]

It's a small play area in one of my Uncles fields, with dips, ditches, humps and hills. Nice sets of cross axle opportunities and some sharp ramp over angles.


The Freelander breezed over them all, really shows how good the TCS is in them. Obviously low speed control was limited and it was quite easy to stall if you where trying to keep to nearer a crawl pace on some of the more difficult sections.

But with a 2" lift and some taller tyres coupled to an auto I can see them being highly capable and punch well above their weight.
 
300bhp/ton said:
:D

Not too bad it would seem :p

Decided to 'test' the suspension on my Mum's Freelander at the weekend. It's a stock 1.8i manual Kalahari, so has TCS and HDC. Normal road winter tyres fitted too.

And it did really well. Sadly didn't get any pics, but it was the same place as this:

IMG_2824Large.jpg
[/img]

It's a small play area in one of my Uncles fields, with dips, ditches, humps and hills. Nice sets of cross axle opportunities and some sharp ramp over angles.


The Freelander breezed over them all, really shows how good the TCS is in them. Obviously low speed control was limited and it was quite easy to stall if you where trying to keep to nearer a crawl pace on some of the more difficult sections.

But with a 2" lift and some taller tyres coupled to an auto I can see them being highly capable and punch well above their weight.
Click to expand...

To be honest, that is not exactly challenging terrain, the grass will give good traction and there are no deep ruts. Traction off road has never been a huge problem in most situations the freelander is used in. The biggest problem they have are steep, slippery slopes, deep ruts and steep approaches, departures and breakovers. Here their lack of ground clearance, poor axle articulation, and no low range box really can be a problem. Lifting them and fitting bigger tyres does help a little, but it has it's downsides, especially in that it raises the gearing, making the lack of low range box even more of a problem
 
All I can say is I was happy with what my Freelander gould do, if your going to ask it to keep up with anything with diff lock, low box, and more ground clearance then it will be no supprise that it will not keep up when you need those things.

As always Horses for Courses......
 
martin1512 said:
To be honest, that is not exactly challenging terrain, the grass will give good traction and there are no deep ruts. Traction off road has never been a huge problem in most situations the freelander is used in. The biggest problem they have are steep, slippery slopes, deep ruts and steep approaches, departures and breakovers. Here their lack of ground clearance, poor axle articulation, and no low range box really can be a problem. Lifting them and fitting bigger tyres does help a little, but it has it's downsides, especially in that it raises the gearing, making the lack of low range box even more of a problem
Click to expand...
Not the most extreme no, but wet muddy grass gives anything but "good traction". And it was fairly wet yesterday, enough to have mud splattered all up the sides of the Freelander at any rate.

Here's some vids of the same terrain, still not that 'extreme' but enough to lift a wheel or two and to get cross axled :)

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVtFZYJiGzg]Jeep Cherokee Off Road (1).MOV - YouTube[/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRsZX2VQGf0]Jeep Cherokee Off Road (2).MOV - YouTube[/ame]

Really though the Freelander just exceeded expectations, it breezed over the terrain, where I thought it'd get stuck at the first hump.
 
Big Stu 12 said:
All I can say is I was happy with what my Freelander gould do, if your going to ask it to keep up with anything with diff lock, low box, and more ground clearance then it will be no supprise that it will not keep up when you need those things.

As always Horses for Courses......
Click to expand...
diff lock?? :doh:
 
The Mad Hat Man said:
Define "off-road"?
Click to expand...
"Not on road" :D


In this case, it's a small man made 4x4 course, constructed with mounds of earth and holes dug out with a digger.

It's not that extreme, but the break over angles are enough to beech a Disco or a Cherokee (ask me how I know ;) ).

The holes deep enough to turn a Landy over if you are going too quickly and if not deep enough to lift a wheel unless you have about 4 foots worth of downward suspension droop.

It's all close quarters, so some very nice axle twisters which (unless you are driving with a lead foot) can quite easiliy stop a non TCS open axle diff'd Defender/RR/Disco.

Grass, when dry on a summers day isn't too bad, but wet grass with chalky, limestoney mud can make for quite a slippery surface. Slippery enough to stop an AWD tractor on the level when towing a trailer at any rate.

:)
 
which freelander?

I've heard the Freelander 2 is quite capable...of course not as good as a defender or disco, but miles better than the old freelander
 
[JP];1719397 said:
which freelander?

I've heard the Freelander 2 is quite capable...of course not as good as a defender or disco, but miles better than the old freelander
Click to expand...
As per the OP ;)


It's a Freelander 1....

Not sure the FL2 is hugely different in ability, although not driven one.
 
Freelander 1 on wet grass was exceptionally good, probably better than any other standard Land Rover. Everywhere else, it's outclassed.
 
landroverjack said:
Enough to ground out a disco but a freelander can go through no probs ... :crazy:
Click to expand...
Well I didn't get stuck in the Freelander. I think it's more about the fact in something like a Disco or Cherokee, lose grip on diagonally opposite wheels and it's game over.

The TCS in the Freelander will still be able to transmit power to the other wheels.

When I got my Jeep stuck (before lift and MT's), that's exactly what happened, front passenger wheel spinning, rear drivers wheel spinning while sat on the chassis rails. I'm sure with lockers/TCS or even just a rear LSD it would probably have been able to generate enough traction to scramble over.
 
landroverjack said:
Enough to ground out a disco but a freelander can go through no probs ... :crazy:
Click to expand...
:doh:so your saying a standard gaylander has better gnd clearance than a disco:eek:

i think youve been smoking summit this weekend and i would suggest that this is a complete wind up fred

as youve presented no videos,no pictures and no evidence of the said gaylander doing anything you have said it would so you know the rules

no pictures then its a load of bullshiit
 
TCS or a locking/limited slip diff is not needed in most situations. Most competant off road drivers will be familliar with using the left foot braking technique to get out of cross axle situations.
 
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