After a lot of research and getting feedback on the forums (thank you to those who replied on my previous posts, the information and feedback was very helpful) I finally pulled the trigger a made a decision. I purchased a 2003 Disco II HSE with 115k on it and in great condition. No rust on the underside and very well cared for! Here’s some info on it:

Upgrades:

Goliath off road heavy duty front bumper

SmittyBilt XRC-9.5K winch new installed never used

Old Man Emu 2 inch lift kit

New driveshaft for upgraded 2 inch lift

17x8 Black Rhino Armory Gunblack wheels

Toyo open country A/T

Subwoofer speakers replaced


Services done:

- Valve cover gaskets replaced

- Spark plug wires replaced

- Spark plugs replaced

- A/C fan replaced

- A/C refrigerant recharged

- Intake manifold gaskets replaced

- Coolant reservoir replaced

- Thermostat replaced (not in-line thermostat though)

- Brake master cylinder replaced

- Brake fluid changed

- Brakes, rotors and rear caliper replaced

So far it’s been driving well and the temp is staying between 194-206 degrees. No 3 amigos but there is a P1175 pending code and a P1884 trouble code coming up on my scanner and on the Ultra Guage, so that’s something to look into. I also noticed the usual leaks underneath as well as a suspect coolant reservoir that is slowly but surely losing coolant so I’m staying on top of it and I’m planning to investigate deeper and hopefully solve when I do the 60k service ala DiscoMike’s sticky and upgrade some of the cooling system components. I paid $8k for this after flipping my old car so it came to $3k out of my pocket and honestly it’s the only Disco I looked at that I felt comfortable committing to. I know some people might think that’s too much but it was in my budget and ultimately, I feel a lot better about the state and condition of this one than the others I previously looked at. Maybe I overpaid for a false sense of peace of mind but I can live with that as opposed to buying a truck I felt uneasy about. I’m looking forward to the journey and if there’s any more advice or pointers or feedback on things to keep in mind or check out then I’m always all ears! I’m sure I’ll be around haha!

 

Dude, 2 years ago I bought mine, also a 2003 (green) and also with a Goliath front bumper ))) Literally, but I got stock suspension and stock wheels though. In any case, the first thing I would recommend is getting an in-line thermostat upgrade. I did it, and I do believe it saved my engine when the serpentine belt tore up on the highway and I kept driving for several minutes. However, as far as the stock thermostats go, there is a lower-termperature stock thermostat, which possibly is the one you have in there.
The only thing is, our 2003 trucks don't have CDL while the 2004 has it, and '99-'01 also kind of has it, with no linkage, as it's "hidden feature". So that's bummer.
In any case, congrats!
Did you know that a standard cargo pallet will fit in the cargo area of a D2 with the rear seats folded forward? It will. This morning a had a forklift pick a cargo pallet out of the trunk of my D2. On that pallet, I had a 350 longblock (v8 engine), a boat outdrive, also another engine block (stripped) and a few other things. Oh and yes, these trucks will easily haul up to 7,000 lbs, but if needed, they'll also haul 8-9 thousand pounds as well, though I don't recommend that. These things are versatile.
P.S. Your D2 looks much fresher and better than mine ))) The headlights, for example... mine are totally faded.

 

Clutch fan delete - you will be shocked how much power that thing is eating, and if you are worried about your temps running high, this is the solution.

 

Wow, really nice truck...you did fine on price. The most important thing is to make sure the cooling system is solid so If you don't know when the cooling hoses were replaced you should just order the kit and do them all now. The slow coolant leak is probably the throttle body heater plate or hoses which can be replaced but if you don't live in the arctic tundra search the forum for the throttle body heater bypass mod so you never need to worry about that leaking POS again. There is also a skinny plastic return line from the radiator to the reservoir that is another known weak point. Happy rovering!