I want to go off-roading in a Freelander

If you're serious about off roading and want to be competitive don't buy a Freelander. They are very good for what they are and surprise a lot of folk, but without low range and locking diffs you'll always struggle. I believe Auto helps compensate for no low range but traction control isn't a match for locking diffs.
I have raised mine and have good AT tyres fitted but hadn't a hope against Defenders and even a Ford Ranger.
My car was always meant to be a compromise as SWMBO uses it daily but I'm not convinced MT tyres would have made that much difference.

You can buy a torsen for rear diff if you want

Why does it have to be a freelander?

Done Range Rovers-Jeeps-Suzukis-now fancy something different to take off-road-only seen Freelanders on Green Road Runs not off-road

Go for it

As said they don't have low-range - so steep/big obstacles can be an issue. They don't have great ground clearance, but you can put up to a 2" plus tyre size lift on and they're independant suspension - so everything gets lifted - there's no clunky old beam axles to get stuck in mud or on rocks. You're also not going to be able to stick 35" tyres on one either - physically the A posts etc won't let them fit, and also without low-range or gearing change options - they'd make the car terrible anyway.

So you're not going to make a "monster truck" but they're light, the viscous transmission works really well and traction control as standard helps to. They're all about traction really and will perform much better on "slippery stuff" than "big trucks" - its just a case of how big/steep/deep the obstacles are you want to get over.

As Grumpy says, they are great in soft slippery ground where all four wheels are getting similar grip but I found I couldn't get up very steep slopes that Defenders and other cars could, without diff locks the car is effectively 2WD, ie one front and one rear. Having said that my VCU was a DIY recon job so I may not get the same torque to the rear wheels as a new OEM VCU would give, without video footage showing what was happening I'll never know.

Alibro said:

As Grumpy says, they are great in soft slippery ground where all four wheels are getting similar grip but I found I couldn't get up very steep slopes that Defenders and other cars could, without diff locks the car is effectively 2WD, ie one front and one rear. Having said that my VCU was a DIY recon job so I may not get the same torque to the rear wheels as a new OEM VCU would give, without video footage showing what was happening I'll never know.

Click to expand...

I think you lot need too get RACHE on this case he will sort it out

Alibro said:

As Grumpy says, they are great in soft slippery ground where all four wheels are getting similar grip but I found I couldn't get up very steep slopes that Defenders and other cars could, without diff locks the car is effectively 2WD, ie one front and one rear. Having said that my VCU was a DIY recon job so I may not get the same torque to the rear wheels as a new OEM VCU would give, without video footage showing what was happening I'll never know.

Click to expand...

It's not the lack of traction Ali. It the lack of axle articulation that hampers the Freelander. There's just as much torque at the tyres as the Defender. A Defender will still get stuck if it gets cross axled. The trick with the Freelander is to use a bit more speed. The momentum then carries it though the tricky sections wheel lift sections.
Tyres make a huge difference to hill climbing ability too

Nodge68 said:

It's not the lack of traction Ali. It the lack of axle articulation that hampers the Freelander. There's just as much torque at the tyres as the Defender. A Defender will still get stuck if it gets cross axled. The trick with the Freelander is to use a bit more speed. The momentum then carries it though the tricky sections wheel lift sections.
Tyres make a huge difference to hill climbing ability too

Click to expand...

Being able to drive worth a damn would probably help too.

Alibro said:

As Grumpy says, they are great in soft slippery ground where all four wheels are getting similar grip but I found I couldn't get up very steep slopes that Defenders and other cars could, without diff locks the car is effectively 2WD, ie one front and one rear. Having said that my VCU was a DIY recon job so I may not get the same torque to the rear wheels as a new OEM VCU would give, without video footage showing what was happening I'll never know.

Click to expand...

Freelander is more 4WD than a Discovery 2 - that can not even lock its center diff. Freelander's setup is essentially an automatically locking center diff. It may not have front or rear lockers - but then no Land Rover has that as standard and very few add it as an option either.

My Disco2 is 1999. Some had internals to take a Central Diff Lock (CDL) I was lucky- only had to get the mechanism from a Disco1 and fit it-result

just saying

Interestingly, you can get limited slip diffs for both the PG1 gearbox and the rear axle. Absolutely no idea whether that would be a good idea or not, but they're available!

PG1 LSDs are available from any T16 turbo equipped Rover, and also from Quaife. The Rover 200 BRM also used the TorSen.

The rear axle diff is also used on some kit cars, so a LSD is available for this too (I don't know much about the origins of the rear axle components, but may be fairly standard kit???)

Diesel does seem to be the general consensus of what type of power plant to have in a Land Rover. For my Green Lane use, the 1.8 K series seems quite adequate so far!

rob_bell said:

Interestingly, you can get limited slip diffs for both the PG1 gearbox and the rear axle. Absolutely no idea whether that would be a good idea or not, but they're available!

PG1 LSDs are available from any T16 turbo equipped Rover, and also from Quaife. The Rover 200 BRM also used the TorSen.

The rear axle diff is also used on some kit cars, so a LSD is available for this too (I don't know much about the origins of the rear axle components, but may be fairly standard kit???)

Diesel does seem to be the general consensus of what type of power plant to have in a Land Rover. For my Green Lane use, the 1.8 K series seems quite adequate so far!

Click to expand...

A LSD for the PG1 in Freelander won't be any good - it doesn't house the diff - that's in the IRD.

That's interesting! I didn't know that. Thought it would probably be the same, but I guess the IRD takes over that function. I know feel the need to see whether I can find an exploded diagram of the IRD internals!

[18] is the differential

Is this unit unique to the Freelander IRD? In any case, a rear LSD would probably make most sense? Where locking diffs are fitted to later Land Rovers, they tend to lock the rear axle don't they?

LSD in front diff is bad idea because affect transferring torque to the rear . LSD on rear diff do the job with TC

On "Classic type" LR/RR you can put up to three lockers (front, centre, rear)

Quaife unit - https://shop.quaife.co.uk/land-rover-freelander-rear-quaife-atb-helical-lsd-differential

Shame it costs more than twice that I paid for my car! LOL

Yup, it's a good stuff. Together with TC (helps to switch locking it up, or you can do it manual by handbrake) do great job wth one rear wheel up, or on ditch

rob_bell said:

That's interesting! I didn't know that. Thought it would probably be the same, but I guess the IRD takes over that function. I know feel the need to see whether I can find an exploded diagram of the IRD internals!

Click to expand...

You need to let some air out of a tyre and drive round like it for a couple of days - you'll soon become very intimate with your IRD

Edit : Please don't!