I just bought a 99 Disco 2, I had a 95 that I inherited and had up until last year but after driving my car in between owning the LR's ive realized just how bad the gas mileage is in my rover. I dont off road everyday, therefor I dont need AWD. Is there a possibilty to remove the front driveshaft to disengage the AWD making it 2WD, I would just reinstall the front driveshaft in the winter when I really do need AWD, but for now I still want to drive it everyday, it just sucks gas. Is this a possibility?

 

First and fore most IT IS FULL TIME FOUR WHEEL DRIVE NOT ALL WHEEL DRIVE
Second removing the front or rear driveshaft will not improve your mileage by any more than 1mpg, and that whopping 1mpg will cost you a differential.
A full time four wheel drive is designed to run full time four wheel drive ALL the time.
What kind of mpg are you getting with the truck?
Have you actually checked the numbers?

 

Part time 4X4's have larger rear diffs to run part time in four wheel drive. The Classic Disco you have has both the same size diffs and parts can be used on the front or rear.
In that way you can carry less backup parts on trips where Land Rover go.

 

Just a thought...

Has anyone every swamp the factory rear differentials for a bigger one?

 

You cant install a larger rear diff, you would need to replace the whole axle.
Removing the front driveshaft will not save any gas because the gears in the front diff will still be turning, the only thing you will keep from moving is the front driveshaft, so you will save 20 lbs by removing the front shaft.
The output flange on the t-case will still turn, the front axles shafts will still turn, the front gears will still turn.
On a part time 4x4 when you are in 2-wheel drive mode you are not using the transfer case, the front axles are disconnected from the front diff so if you were to lay on the ground and watch as the truck moved the only thing that would be turning is the rear driveshaft and the rear wheels.
You can completly remove the transfer case from a part time 4x4 and never even know that it was a 4x4 except for the lettering on the side.
So part time 4x4's save gas by using clutchs to remove the not needed parts from the equation, fewer moving parts means less rolling resistance which then means using less gas.
AWD cars use clutchs in the transfer case and differentials to distribute power front and rear and side to side.
LR's use all gears and nothing but gears, the same type of gears that were used in the first car ever made over 100 years ago, good old reliable gears, they will take abuse and work everytime, strong, noisy, reliable gears.
Gears in the diffs, gears in the t-case, gears, bathe them in oil and they are happy, good old reliable gears.

 

Lets get down to what you need to know. First, what gas mileage do you get in town, and on the road, what octane are you using, how much air in your tires and how heavy is your gas foot.
Have you tried any tune related stuff on it yet?
Answer all these question and then maybe we can help you.

 

Ok, I"m sorry but I feel a need to throw the penalty flag here. The Disco is a gas hog. You can put lipstick on it and get 1 or 2 mpg better than the EPA rating, but it is what it is. It also uses PREMIUM FUEL. If you can't afford the gas for it, sell it and get a Kia.

 

Sorry to thread jack, but if our cars are full time four wheel drive, how do they make turns and stuff without tearing up? Any reading you know of about landrover's drivetrain I can read?

 

Just because they are full time 4wheelers, doesn't mean they have lockers front and rear, just means they can have power , in some %, to any wheel as need. To have all power to all wheels, you would need to have a CDL and both lockers installed, then you can go twist an axle out on the street.

 

The wheels on each axle have differentials which were invented to allow each wheel to turn at different speeds like on ANY car, FWD, RWD or 4WD

the front axle is connected to the rear axle via the transfer box, now theres 2 ways that can operate, on road it HAS to be able to allow the front axle to spin at different speeds to the rear axle, there is only 1 way to do this, and that is add a differential into the transfer box (as in the axles) thats why its full time 4 wheel drive.

When your offroad you lock the front to the rear axle with the CDL (centre differential lock) or a viscous coupling, in this setup both the front and rear propshafts MUST turn at the same speed, but when offroad wheel slip etc on the terrain will allow transmission "wind up" to be kept to a acceptable minimum.

Lock the CDL on road and it will destroy itself eventually as none of the wheels can slip.