Hello everybody. I'm a brand new discovery 2 owner. I'm just beginning to learn about these amazing vehicles..... Both the good and the bad. I had no idea about some of the concerns that owners have had prior to purchasing the car. Let's just say I jumped into it a bit blind. Some positive things have developed. First I ended up getting a decent car for not a whole lot of money. It happens to be a 2001 SE7 and it's in relatively decent shape. Pretty straight overall runs fine, no three amigos, pass the emissions, all stock. It's got the usual cracked plastic moldings and some things don't work as they should. This goes specifically for the rear AC. But that's another story. Since I got the car the first thing I did was to install a single din updated entertainment system and got rid of that old junk and negated the CD changer under the seat. I got a Jensen player and with just a few small tweaks ended up fitting it in and it clicked into place. I must say all the wires in the back were a pain in the butt to squish into the housing. But eventually I did it. Next I upgraded the front drive shaft even though the original one seemed to be bumping along just fine. I got a Tom woods version and was lucky enough to talk the muffler guys into installing it for me for 150 bucks. It may seem like a lot for 30 minutes work. But I didn't want to take it the job on because I have no lift and put on way too much weight during covid to crawl around under the car in uncomfortable positions. So they installed the Tom woods front drive shaft. My original reason for going there was because my muffler was making a rattling noise. The 20-year-old bellows kicked out and were rattling inside. $200 later and 45 minutes of muffler guy work I had a new muffler and no noise. Luckily the cats were fine. My next item to address was the CDL. Or shall I say the lack of way to engage it other than climbing under the truck. I devised a mechanism having read multiple discussions and opted against removing the center console and that labor intensive work of fitting a discovery 2004 or discovery 1 mechanism. Some bright folks were able to drill holes and attach sockets to the existing early discovery 2 CDL nut on top of the case. I decided to engineer something like that. I used a heavy duty flexible long drill bit and ran it into a hose for protection after crawling around under the car for a while and going very very slowly I was eventually able to fit the whole thing together. I will include some pictures so that you guys can see my handy work.

At any rate, glad to be a member of this amazing bunch I wish you all the best for the holidays and hope to learn much more and also contribute to the best of my ability.

 

Very creative, I like it.

 

Cool!
Welcome to the forum.

 

I'm confused. How is the lower assembly attach to the CDL mechanism? Also, there is a wiring harness that goes through the console about where the whole is drilled. If you drilled through the console and stopped short of the harness, then moved wiring harness you should be okay.

Did something similar, but went with extentions and swivels.

Not knocking your work, just not understanding.

 

Welcome to the forum and nice work. I'm starting to investigate doing something similar (I have a '99). Can you clarify how the end socket is attached to the transfer case, or is it just held on there by the length of the flexible extension and tube? I would be afraid of hitting a bump and having the socket jump off the T-case nipple, but perhaps that fear is unfounded depending on how securely its held on there.

 

I'll try to sort it out. Socket connects to two 8 mm 1.25 nuts...the first has a cap to restrict the socket from traveling below and covering the manual engagement square nut..(in case I ever had to get under there with a thin spanner to engage manually)...the second is a tightening nut tightened enough to line the external edges evenly. This way the socket covers two nuts in sequence...the nuts are locked into one another..to me it's strong as it is...but some lock Tite may be even stronger. The other end comes out of the center console through a hole I drilled. Then just attach any lever you want...to suite your taste...

 

I had concerns about things popping off while driving or hitting a bump ..all that concern was relieved due to the compression strength of the hose and hd flex drill bit combo. I could not even bend it to the proper shape unless I used a lot of strength and eventually held it in proper shape to fit into the hole above and onto the nuts on the nipple bellow by using a zip tie and two more clamps...even with the contraption held bent by the zip tie it took me a while to seat it right...then I cut the zip tie...and it all sprung into the shape you see...the top of the hose buts up against the metal panel...the bottom portion socket onto the nutted nipple...all under great pressure...it would take a lot to dislodge it....but of course only time will tell..😎

Btw you can see the cut zip tie ends in the final underside picture..

 

Thanks for the reply and the extra pictures, doubling up on the nuts extended it up in to the socket further than I thought. I’m going to seriously consider basing my mechanism off of this technique.

 

I like it and the budget nature of it... But for equally as cheap you could class up that center console considerably...

 

That was on my to-do list. I was hoping to find a set with the spring bases already attached. Not sure if that's just a simple task to swap out the old ones. What are your thoughts?
Also, I was going to upgrade the center console old wood. The plastic protective covering was peeling off in multiple areas so I lift it off some, some broke off, some are still stuck in place. I'm probably going to heat up the rest so that it's more flexible and slowly lift off what remains or use an exacto knife to trim around the shifters to get rid of all of the plastic. I may just order a wood grain replacement with an adhesive backing and just plop it on top. Or I could just throw on the rubber mat that I have waiting in the wings.