low/transfer box driving...........

Ok, I've waited a few days to see if and silly questions come up to answer my own, they haven't, so I'm asking them. And fully accept the wrath and laughter, in good humour.

what's the ideal max (without breaking things) speed in low box? I read 30mph somewhere, is that correct?

a friend drives a 90 and has been taught;

to engage low box, push lever to the left, push it up into neutral, pull to the right also in neutral and push up into low. Why?

I thought 2 things here; 1. why not push it straight up into low, and 2. thought engaging difflock in neutral is a no no?

thoughts, comments, abuse and chuckles. welcome.

My disco with bigger than standard wheels on will do about 30mph in low, maybe a tad more but it's revvin it's arse off. So a defender with standard transfer box will be a bit less than that.
Why would anyone want to put the tranny box into diff lock in order to engage low range? This has been covered a million times on here it's amazing how many people don't know the ins and outs of the vehicle they own.

I thort lo range was the same on both disco and defender tboxes was the same - only hi ratio was different?

The Mad Hat Man said:

I thort lo range was the same on both disco and defender tboxes was the same - only hi ratio was different?

Click to expand...

tis anorl

The Mad Hat Man said:

I thort lo range was the same on both disco and defender tboxes was the same - only hi ratio was different?

Click to expand...

Aye you're right I stand corrected.

Why do you want to go 30mph in low range? Am I missing something?
Low range or crawler gears are for just that. Max torque at slow speeds. The clue is in the word "crawler".
If you can go more than 15mph then high range is what you should be using.
Even a 'kin heavy load moving at 15mph dont need low range. I've towed 4 tons of fire wood up a steep incline in high range 1st with no problems. I'm on my original clutch with more than 120K miles on the clock. Maybe I'm doing something wrong?

I don't want to do 30 in low. The only reason I know is that mine got stuck in low once and I had to drive about 5 miles home. The bloke asked so he got an answer.

hi,
thx for the replies, they make sense, cheers.

like almost everywhere else it seems, our roads have been thawing, then freeze at night so there's patchs of good tarmac/then ice/then snow etc all within a 100mtrs or so. i was just thinking if I'm doing 15/20+ mph in high, and end up loosing grip occassionally, can i do that in low.

ps. "4 tons of fire wood" can you drop a ton around here, cheers.

If you lose grip at 20mph it wont make any difference if you're in high or low range.
A slide is a slide.

My wood burner is pure luxury in these weather conditions. Virtually free heat for a little effort during the summer. Sorry mate but the fire wood is spoken for.

You're better off in high in icy conditions.

My theory is...
If the surface allows slip, then 4wd is ok.
On ice and snow, traction is king. As soon as you loose traction and loose morward movement, you are buggered. I learned the hard way having lost traction on salisbury in 2wd. From that point on, 4wd was no good. You need to maintain drive and forward movement, so if the road is snowy or icey, i use 4wd and revert back to 2wd at the first available opportunity.

For 4wd read difflock.

The Mad Hat Man said:

My theory is...
If the surface allows slip, then 4wd is ok.
On ice and snow, traction is king. As soon as you loose traction and loose morward movement, you are buggered. I learned the hard way having lost traction on salisbury in 2wd. From that point on, 4wd was no good. You need to maintain drive and forward movement, so if the road is snowy or icey, i use 4wd and revert back to 2wd at the first available opportunity.

For 4wd read difflock.

Click to expand...

or just drive a freelander

howardo said:

or just drive a freelander

Click to expand...

But only a freelander 2, coz that has electronic difflock, as all good modern cars do , rather than that crappy VCU system .

Have you lost your mind? (freelander)

What you realy need for towing up an ice covered hill is diff lock on all three diffs, and tyres with spikes on, and as little torque as you can (i.e. the highest gear you can afford without clutch distruction)

Did i mention towing?
I was talking about just driving in these conditions. Of course if you have a decent 4wd yu just press the "auto" button and let the system do what it needs. :bolt:

cheers gents, thx for all the replies.