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I literally just drove mine cross country from Vancouver BC to West Virginia USA and I had 0 issues. Granted I replaced all my driveline fluids beforehand and fixed my coolant leak which was a faulty water pump, and put a new serpentine belt on it. But yeah it was fine. I drove 2700 miles in 3 days. This was the route i took
Back in 23 I drove my sight unseen 97 XD 2,400 miles from Portland, OR to Houston, TX. Great trip with only 1 small issue that popped up 100 miles from my destination and it was fixed in under 5min. Had an absolute blast and the old D1 did fantastic.
Brilliant trip idea and so jealous - bc I don't have the time these days (the lesson being don't get a job that gives you no time off work...!)
My only top tip is in line with @Windycity_rover - don't do the trip until you've first removed all wheels, put copperslip on the hubs and then torqued the wheel lugs to whatever NM it is (something like 140NM from memory but it's in the handbook). I had to remove my wheels a few weeks ago to do sort a seized caliper and (a) I needed a breaker bar with a 6' extension to break them (bc they'd been done up with an air wrench by some jackass) and (b) needed 2 hours and a crow bar to get the wheels off. If I'd had to do by the roadside without all of my tools I'd still be there.
Spares wise I'd suggest an OBD code reader for peace of mind; change the fluids; maybe a water pump but trying to outsmart a 20+ YO Land Rover when it wants to fail is hiding to nothing. Enjoy the trip!
Brilliant trip idea and so jealous - bc I don't have the time these days (the lesson being don't get a job that gives you no time off work...!)
My only top tip is in line with @Windycity_rover - don't do the trip until you've first removed all wheels, put copperslip on the hubs and then torqued the wheel lugs to whatever NM it is (something like 140NM from memory but it's in the handbook). I had to remove my wheels a few weeks ago to do sort a seized caliper and (a) I needed a breaker bar with a 6' extension to break them (bc they'd been done up with an air wrench by some jackass) and (b) needed 2 hours and a crow bar to get the wheels off. If I'd had to do by the roadside without all of my tools I'd still be there.
Spares wise I'd suggest an OBD code reader for peace of mind; change the fluids; maybe a water pump but trying to outsmart a 20+ YO Land Rover when it wants to fail is hiding to nothing. Enjoy the trip!
next time to get wheels off just loosen lugs a good bit and go drive in a circle or figure 8 and the wheel will break free. Happens to me almost ever time and that works every time.
I would buy a tire repair kit . flashlight with new batteries . AAA membership . ON X off road sub. Plan gas breaks . Tires over 80% . Don't overload . There are wheelers out there that THRIVE on rescues . And most of all ............chillax
Have done much of that trip in our 2003 D2. Take tools, check things like coolant level when you get gas, monitor coolant temp with an Ultra Gauge or similar, have fun, don’t be in a hurry.
I would suggest download maps to have available offline (no cell coverage).
Here is a pic my D2 heading to Yellowstone from the Seattle area. Saw over 100F and below freezing on that trip. Biggest issue was aftermarket mud flaps getting very soft in high temps and coming apart (I removed them). We had 4 people, big dog, box and bag on the roof, bikes…
Any more pics of the disco during that trip? Looks great
I finished my trip in three weeks and 4k miles. I had a great time! Surprisingly my disco had no major issues although my average mpg was 15.5... Is this normal? At least gas was much cheaper in other states compared to california. The only issue I had was a small coolant leak which was fixed by tightening the hose. Oh, and I had to top up the oil from time to time, but that's normal for rovers.
The route was more or less what I planned, except I didn't end up going to Canada. I went hiking in five national parks and at night, I camped in USFS Lands. Since I took all the back seats out, I could sleep in the car, but if the ground was smooth enough I slept in a tent.
