Offroad-Express

been offered a 96 v8 disco for what i thinl is cheap,already got two cherokees that have never let me down off road, unlike all the info from the net would lead you to believe .so im wondering what are these like?, it has been dereg so offroad only,fuel economy doesnt worry me,main thing i like is the sound,ill either cut the body down so its more of a buggy or just use it as is.you hear all sorts about the axle strength but i would rather hear from some one that has got one than listen to hearsay .wont be running huge aggresive tyres.
cheers vaughan

buy it, you know you want to....

same as anything, I guess if you beat it/are rough you'll break stuf. same goes for the 'stronger more reliable' jap stuff.
if youre cherokees handle the jandal I'm sure a disco will too

They are great value for money and very capable vehicles. Not the best economy on the open road but then when one buys a V8 one is not theoretically thinking of economy. The Lexus conversion in the Disco have tons more power and also run approx. 8lt/ 100km less than the normal 16-18lt/ 100km.......
But as a standard truck with central diff lock is can out perform lots of standard Jappers especially in cross axle angles. I have had 7 Discos to date (plus a 90 series and heaps of beach buggies) and my Disco is absolutely perfect as a V8 multi seater that gets around a lot of places.

I have 3 Discos at the moment, V8 mud truck, 300TDi manual road/ safari turck and one just for spares in case . Only need a coil todate.

Disco Gofer wrote:They are great value for money and very capable vehicles. Not the best economy on the open road but then when one buys a V8 one is not theoretically thinking of economy. The Lexus conversion in the Disco have tons more power and also run approx. 8lt/ 100km less than the normal 16-18lt/ 100km.......
But as a standard truck with central diff lock is can out perform lots of standard Jappers especially in cross axle angles. I have had 7 Discos to date (plus a 90 series and heaps of beach buggies) and my Disco is absolutely perfect as a V8 multi seater that gets around a lot of places.

I have 3 Discos at the moment, V8 mud truck, 300TDi manual road/ safari turck and one just for spares in case . Only need a coil todate.

What advantages do you think the 'central diff lock' gives? Is the 'central diff lock' the reason it outperforms 'Jappers', in your opinion?
And why would you replace the lovely, compact, lightweight Rover V8 with a high revving car engine with no low-down torque?

yeah noexitroad i know i just want it cause it will sound good ,ill probaly just take the swaybars out and leave it at that,not worried about economy and definitly wouldnt waste my time with a lexus conversion,basically it will just be for cruising on the main 42 traverse track and a bit of gentle playing on the rocks , and if i dont like it ill just flick it on, cheers for the feed back guys.

Mate had one . We were young and rough . Had 33s and a 2 inch lift . Thing went lots of places . We gave it shit and it loved it . After a couple of years of shit the front diff spat the spider gears out . . We were stoaked . Could do skids in rwd . Except the auto blew up on the way home too .

The level of abuse vs how long it lasted was far beyond what I deem acceptable

With no wof requirements, a good guard chop should let you run 33in tyres giving better diff clearance than a Safari or Cruiser on 35's. And the standard suspension is better then most for articulation. If you want to get serious with a budget rear locker then weld the spider gears on the rear diff and you'll really go places but will be hard on tyres if you do any road driving, and can be reluctant to turn.
The centre diff lock isn't really a special feature - it does the same as the transfer case in most other 4WD's - splits the drive front to rear.