I've paid high & I've paid low plenty of times. I paid 2900.00 for the XD and it was rather rough when I bought it, but being my childhood dream car I couldn't say no, my Kalahari was also 4500.00 with 200K on it at the time and people thought I was nuts. Prices have now pretty much gone thru the roof for good clean examples so no doubt I've certainly got my money's worth for sure. The 99 was a steal at 1500.00, and the 04 D2 was a dead even trade pretty much for my 98 LSE 50th Edition (wish I had kept her to be honest), but I will get around to modifying the 04 one day to a bit of a more aggressive stance.

Yeah I started with Gen 1 Montero's and those are a rare sight these days, then I tried the Gen 1 Xterra and was truly disappointed (finding out it was made in Mexico didn't help lol). Then I got my first D1 a 97 SE and I instantly fell in love. It's just me from the inside out, if I had put all my desires into a bucket and a vehicle would have popped out it was a RRC/D1/D2/D90 for sure. I then even tried 2 05 Jeep Wranglers, and yes after a lot of $$$$ put into them they were great off road, but then they suffered on the road vs the LR which handles both very well. I then went back and I honestly don't see myself ever owning anything older than 04 myself. 87-04 is my happy place and while I've kept the 95 pretty stock minus a 2inch lift, and TJM, the XD is modified a great deal, and I drive it the most to be honest. Yes the body will need a transplant one day, but mechanically it's very sound. I've abused it heavily off road and then driven 6.5hr home at 75-80MPH like I never even touched the dirt.

Knowing the body is crumbling is sad, but at the same time I can truly have fun off road not worrying about a dent, or a scratch. I have a good friend which has a 97 SD with a rust free body which was just used for it's axles, and TC. He said I can have it to restore my XD and I'm pretty sure it's still got a good transmission, and a 4.0L which did run before it was stripped of the axles and TC. I'd like to totally strip it down, paint the interior black, then under the hood black, and then swap over as many of my body panels as possible and then get a rhino liner style AA Yellow spray job and be good to go.

Today I rotated the tires which have worn very very evenly for 500.00 Thunderer M/T's and have held up to 3 years of abuse at the HCRR event's and other misc trips out there. She is all set for the Big Bend/Guadalupe Mountains/Carlsbad Caverns adventure. The thought had crossed my mind to take the 95 on it's first adventure since bringing it back to life, but then I pictured a darn deer or wild pig running out in front of me and said nah I'll take the XD. Plus the 97 seats have better seat rails vs the 95 and I have more leg room.

I've worked on plenty of vehicles in my 44 years of life, and I find LR's from 87-04 to be a breeze. My friend with a Scion tC had to nearly remove the engine just to change out a belt tensioner for example...

 

Well after the nearly 2,500 mile Big Bend, Carlsbad Caverns, Guadalupe Mountains, Sonora Caverns, Cave Without a Name, and finally San Antonio adventure I was able to limp the XD back across TX after a brand spanking new AT line completely fell apart (was not crimped at all....). I had only replaced the 25 year old seepy one to avoid a problem and instead by replacing it I created one. The repair I did is still on the XD and I plan on keeping it vs the absolute trash I had bought or fear buying again.... The LR inner bearing failure due to a badly worn out rear hub seal caused the ABS Reluctor Ring to grind itself into the ABS Sensor which of coarse killed that. My repairs in Fort Stockton consisted of a new set of bearings (everyone talks get Timken, but when you are out in the boonies a bearing is a bearing!!!), and leaving the LR brake caliper off. That got me from Fort Stockton to my house with zero issues. I then had my best friend grab me the entire LR assembly off a 95 RRC at LKQ.

Well last weekend I decided I'd better just make the trip up to see him before gas is 6.00 a gallon and get the part because the 3 wheeling braking performance was seriously lacking. I loaded up my gear into the XD and headed off Saturday morning. Got there about 1:30PM and just chilled with my friend and his wife for the rest of the day. Next day I decided to hit up that 95 RRC and grab both complete front assemblies from the axle tube's out. We quickly got them off as 2 massive assemblies and wheeled it all up to the check out. They had no clue what they were looking at. They saw axle shafts, 2 brake rotors, a hub, and the shiny swivel *****. They asked what in the world was all that. I said 95 Range Rover LF/RF hub assemblies . I was just charged for 2 hubs and 2 axle shafts for a total of 100.00. I also grabbed a very good looking LR brake caliper for 20.00 while I was there.

For anyone that visits LKQ they will automatically slap on a crazy upcharge for their warranty. I had a D2 rear seat cup holder in the pile for my friend which they charged 2.50 for, but the warranty added 10.00 to the part price!!!! So unless you absolutely have to have a warranty tell them to remove it and save your $$$$.

We got back and got to work on tearing into the XD. Since the brake caliper was already off getting the axle shaft out, and pulling the hub assembly was a breeze. The hardest part of the entire job was removing the ABS sensor which was of coarse rusted into place and it didn't help there wasn't really much left of it to hit out from the front. After about 30min we got it, and I set about re-packing the bearings, cleaning the new hub assembly, then we swapped out the stub axle, and put it all back together. Bled the brakes, cleared the ABS faults which was a pretty funny chain of events as you read thru them knowing it was just being eaten up by the reluctor ring due to the slop of the hub assembly with just 1 bearing in it. Took it for a test drive and the XD is good to go again.

Other funny thing I figured out was I have an Alisport PS Reservoir which has about a 14inch long vent tube on it. I've always had a wet spot down by the PS box and on the way up to see my friend I stopped for fuel and did a quick walk around my XD before taking off. Well I noticed what looked like ATF on my repaired AT cooler line and was like NO WAY it's leaking. Then I noticed it was coming from above and lightly dripping on the repair. I tracked it down to the Alisport reservoir!!!! Basically it came down to the vent had positioned itself in front of the radiator & once going down the road with the fan clutch doing it's thing it acted like a giant straw and was slowly sucking ATF from the PS reservoir lol. I simply just rotated the vent to over behind the LF headlight and after that it hasn't seeped a drop. Crazy how little things like that can just happen out of the blue. That Alisport PS Reservoir has been in the XD for nearly 2.5 years and I just now finally figured the wet seepy spot out!

I'm planning on attending SCARR, but it all depends on work and $$$. I'll know for sure by the end of this week if I'm going or not. At least the XD is back up and ready to hit the trails even if I'm not.

 

Any updates? This is one of my favourite builds on here.

 

The XD is doing well. In October of 2022 I attended the Hill Country Rover Rally at Hidden Falls Off Road Park near Marble Falls, TX. The XD performed flawless on the way to the event, and during the event off road. Nothing stopped it, and I had a great drive home as well. She's got a rusty body, but mechanically minus the cheaply made Chinese hose, and the ball bearing that lived a very long life she's doing great. Before the event I did swap out the bumpers. I had the 98 LSE chrome bumpers on it, and I actually liked it because it was different that 99.9% of all other XD's. I eventually slapped on a D1 ARB, 12K Winch, and a black rear bumper. The extra weight up front only made the suspension sag may 1/4 of an inch, but it made it handle much better on the road with the extra weight and those D2 SE7 Progressive springs I'm running on the front of the XD.

I haven't honestly wrenched on it since the Big Bend Trip and the repairs afterwards once I was home or at my friends. The XD has been one of those LR's you can just hop into, and enjoy. It handles the trails at the HCRR Event & SCARR like a champ while still being fun to drive on the road.


That darn wire hanging from the RF bumper amber light kept falling down, but I eventually just cut it off! Those lens are all jacked up from someone using larger bulbs in them so I need new assemblies anyways, but I like that pic a good friend of mine took of the XD.

 

Get some Diode Dynamic 6" LED SAE rated amber/yellow fog lights bars and cut the bumper to fit them. Will need to make brackets to mount them but it was one of my favorite mods I had done when I still had the ARB on my white one. Light pattern and output is incredible and really helps without being illegal or blinding other drivers, well worth the money if willing to modify the bumper just a tad.

Truck looks great! Every XD I've seen (which isn't many) have all be very rusty unfortunately, there's a few running around the mountains in CO.

 

From the pictures it looks great, can't see any rust. The XD was the first LR I fell in love with. I'm so stoked it's now less than 30 days til I can go pick mine up and drive it home.

 

I'll look into those lights. I modified my Amber front turn signals ages ago to run the P38 3 wire 2 element bulbs so I have parking lights & turn signal/hazards. Yeah most XD's somehow managed to all migrate up north and get road salt rust. My XD's frame isn't that bad at all. The body has lower rocker guard rust, bulkhead rust, floor rust, and fender rust. I am looking for a clean rust free D1 96-99 donor truck and I'll just swap the bodies over. My XD will never ever go to heaven. It was the first LR I personally fell in love with as well. My mom had an 89 RRC, and it was amazing, but when I saw the Camel Trophy stuff the 4Dr Disco just seemed so exotic to me. Then the XD was released and I was lucky enough to see 2 brand new on the lot when I was a teenager. I instantly said I'll own one of those one day.

A good friend (the same great guy repairing my 95 D1 with a 4.6L) called me one day and a guy with an XD had walked in as he passed their shop and saw all the LR's outside. He turned around to inquire about anyone possibly being interested in his 97 D1 in yellow. My friend asked for a picture to verify it was a legit XD and called me within minutes. It had been sold in Kentucky, ended up in Iowa, then eventually found it's way to TX (College Station area where it served as his ranch truck for 6 years never seeing the pavement). He just didn't need it anymore so I bought it sight unseen, and I of coarse asked about rust and was told eh just 1 spot on the floor. Well it was much worse than that, but I had to have her and save her. Took me a few months to sort out a lot of bugs, then I started driving her. Went to the 2019 HCRR event on her maiden off road trip (took my 02 Kalahari the years before). I had issues with the coil springs falling out onto the rear tires the first year, installed some rear cones and raised her another inch for 3inches total and I switched the front OME springs to the D2 SE7 rear progressive springs. After that I haven't had to tweak her off road setup at all.

The Big Bend trip was epic, and yes the hose blowing out was considered a break down, but I was trying to be pro active and replace the 25 year old seeping hose with a new one. Then the LR wheel bearing that died at the Big Bend Park Headquarters was due to a faulty rear axle/hub seal which let water just eat the bearing up. I had all the tools I needed, and honestly both repairs only had me down maybe 2.5HR total. The ride from the park Headquarters to Alpine, TX was slow, but I was being extra careful, and there was absolutely no traffic at 7:30PM so we just cruised along at 45-55MPH and I stopped a few times to check things. Slapped the wheel bearing on in the motel parking lot with the help of a dremel to cut the remaining parts of the bearing off the stub axle. Greased it up, and drove non stop at 75-85MPH all the way to San Antonio, where we spent the evening, ate on the river walk, and then continued home the next evening after enjoying ourselves downtown San Antonio.

I was very proud of my wife during the 2 break downs as she never even worried we might be stuck in Terlinqua, TX. She just said why should I be worried I have the best LR mechanic around with me. The 2 break downs did alternate my plans at hitting the River Road, but we had an adventure getting to Alpine, then to Fort Stockton (had to race to Alpine to get the only 2 bearings around for many many miles, but I made it before they closed). I felt like I was on a Top Gear/Grand Tour Special, and it was fix it or leave it. I am dying to go back and conquer the River Road, and go out to the old mine. Also the trail repair I did on that transmission cooler line = still on the XD to this day. I'm like if it can make the drive more than 3/4 the way across TX with zero issues it deserves to stay vs a made in china hose which could simply just fail leaving you with a dead transmission!

 

https://www.diodedynamics.com/stage-...-bar-pair.html

price has gone up a bit since I got my pair a few years back but I still think it's well worth the extra legal output and can look seamless in the bumper. I feel like I've entered another level of rover mastership after messing with the classic after working on d2s for years. So much the same but totally different all at the same time.

 

Yep RRC/D1/D2 share a lot of stuff, but each feel unique.

 

I haven't posted about the XD lately, but in 2023 it's gone to SCARR & the HCRR Event. Didn't end up wheeling much at SCARR as I ended up working on a friends LR3 that had all sorts of trail damage (blown LF Air Strut & completely bent lower control arm). The wheeling I did do = XD did flawless. Then for the 2023 HCRR event I was debating on what to take, I wanted to take the 95 D1 with the iKamper RTT, then I wanted to try and take my second XD out for it's maiden voyage or take the RRS. In the end I went with the tested and reliable XD. She did great at HCRR, and it's the 5th year on the Thunderer M/T's lol. I looked those tires up and like everything the prices have gone way way way up vs when I bought them.

I've been working on the second XD (drove it home 2,174 miles after slapping a front drive shaft on it). I'll work on making a second build thread on it soon.