Her is my $0.02. Forget the locktite anywhere one your truck, you should be thinking anti-seize, not locktite. Those rotor bolts suck all on their own. I put handfuls of anti-seize on everything and it is still a battle every time I need to pull something apart.

The reason you need an OEM master cylinder is that the aftermarket ones don't allow the plunger to return fully after brake application, leading to dragging brakes and eventual lock up. Plenty of posts available via search for the details.

Skip the vented rotors. Yeah, they might cool down faster than solids, yeah, they look cool, but most likely you are not going to be rallying your truck and as these beasts carry a lot of inertia I stick with the added surface area of solids to get as much stop as I can when I need it.

Death wobble is almost always bushings, in particular the radius arm bushings, not bearings or swivel preload regardless of popular opinion that leans otherwise.

Some things to check - fuel filter is a real headache if it hasn't been changed regularly, due to its exposed location. It will cause all sorts of weirdness if it is plugged up, and will burn up the expensive and hard to change fuel pump.

Brake lines will likely be a rust caked mess if it has seen snow. Pretty easy to bend new ones.

U-joints are problematic unless they have been replaced with pricey hardy spicer jammies. Make sure they have zerks and are greased up right.

There's plenty more, but unfortunately one always gets sick of typing long before the subject matter is exhausted when discussing disco issues.

edit: get the RAVE - widely available factory workshop manual for the truck:

http://www.landroverresource.com/discovery/

Nice Bertone! I have three 940s in the driveway, and I say welcome to the world of sledgehammers and rust, it's quite different than the headgaskets-and-fuel pumps-and-map-pockets (oh my!) in the brick world.

2nd edit: Just saw your post with the pic - um, that is a very, very dicey location for a jackstand. Yeesh. I feel your pain, having the very same set of too-short jackstands. Get to harbor freight, they have taller ones for like $40

3rd edit: Wow. You're a volvo guy - you are a supermod or something over there so you are certainly volvo knowledgeable. As a father of two very young drivers with a third soon to be I have to wonder why on god's green earth you would put your kids in one of these instead of one of those? They are (unless you spend serious cake re-manufacturing them) patently unreliable. Better make sure the ol' triple A is up to date. They handle poorly, don't stop even under the most ideal circumstances - jebus, the anti-lock feature all alone will activate itself under random braking actions and try to kill you and should be deactivated immediately. Ask my neighbor, i had the demeaning experience of filling in the ruts in his lawn with a shovel that I left panic driving across it to avoid rolling out into a busy intersection. These trucks are not for the fainthearted. They are deathtraps in any collision that is not directly head-on, and even then not so good. (http://www.carcomplaints.com/Land_Ro...y/1996/safety/). The doors are about as structurally sound as cardboard, the B-pillar is weak and the frame is far enough inboard that your left side would be crushed long before it did anything to help you in a t-bone. My kids actually hate driving it, to be honest, except when we go mud doggin. That they do like.

Just sayin...

 

Thanks for the comments.

Master cylinder was changed out by a professional indy several years ago and the inside front left caliper did indeed wear the inside pad to the metal but the outside one was not far behind. Pretty much matched the right side. Guess I will just watch it for uneven or unexpected wear.

 

dang. i have had the opposite experience. my 1996 has been the most reliable vehicle i own. certainly better than the chvy sbrbn. my '96 even has more miles. i have been hit by another car with no damage to my discovery. run into a tree (not me driving) with very little damage to my discovery.

we sold our 240 and my sixteen year old son drives himself and his sister to school in my '96 land rover. i'm pretty confident in the discovery's ability to take a punch.

i know my experience is mine alone, but i have over 200,000 miles with no issues other than normal maintenance.

that being said, i would do something about the factory ABS. it's really bad.

 

I am glad that your experience has been positive, it's heartening to hear. Sometimes my wife's nattering makes me wonder why I keep at it. But you have to admit that it might not be the typical disco story. Lucas seems to be the Achilles heel, and like the bricks most no-go issues are sensor/electrical in nature.

My kids (much to my chagrin) would not be capable of changing out a crank position sensor in a parking lot, or doing a basic fuel or spark trouble-shoot even though everything they need to do so is in zip-locks in the cargo area.

It is about as complicated as your average lawnmower, and 95% well designed. If it is well maintained, it will last forever, or at least till the body rusts off the frame. Trouble is, most were NOT well maintained. Therein lies the rub.

In any case, we are all entitled to our opinions and viewpoints; it's the beauty of the internet.

 

My daughter's family is all Jeeps. Four at the moment but the youngest grandson's '95 no longer has all the rods connected to the crank. He couldn't find another Jeep that he could afford and the Disco1 appeared through a neighbor so cheap that I couldn't pass it up. I'll keep it if he is disappointed.