There is a reason i just put lockers on my d2....

 

Thanks. What is a CDL upgrade like price wise?

I like the disco II and considered the Jeep as I see lots of them and heard they are quite reliable. I am not doing any serious offroading, just really want to make sure when I go camping fishing etc and need to get off the road I can.


I try and avoid being sheepish enough to lease new vehicles every few years because that's throwing away good money, especially if you're going to be rough on it. I am ok with the disco 2 as I like the ruggedness, but am hoping to get her more reliable, especially as I want to do some longer drives. As it sits driving for 3 hours straight makes me nervous.

 

What is a cheap steel bumper worth?

 

For reliability make sure you service the cooling system. Mine has actually been reliable aside from a thermostat I let go too long. So not really the cars fault. I take long trips in my DII, and just make sure to monitor the engine temp with a scangauge.

I would think that you would be able to get away with a stock truck for quite a bit of off roading. If you aren't going into any deep mud/sand or climbs I would be happy with some good A/T tires. Check out youtube as there are lots of videos of people four wheeling in their Discovery II's. You can probably glean from those videos what you may or may not need.

 

Jeeps are just as reliable as Land Rovers. Moral is if you can't do general repairs on your vehicle, bring someone who can.

 

I do general repairs, but some times you need something more complex, and either rover will charge you an arm and a leg, or a general mechanic will try to figure it out and it will cost you an arm and leg in time.


I find it harder on a used vehicle because you don't always know the entire history.

 

I work for Jeep and I see plenty of faulty stock parts fail for no reason, just like on a rover and any vehicle.

Rovers and Jeeps become reliable after you put in after market parts and perform appropriate maintenance.

Stock Jeep vs rover, I'd take the rover every time.

 

It really all comes down to what you consider light off-roading....

I think I saw that you said in another post you've got a 99 right? If so you've got the cdl. If you don't wanna buy the lever for it then learn where the "nipple" is and keep a 10mm open end wrench in the glove box. When stuff looks hairy then before proceeding just crawl under and lock your cdl. I do it all the time in my 99.

But aggressive tires are a must. They don't have to be huge m/t's either. I have stock sized falken wildpeak a/t on my 99 and they have been great (super smooth and quiet) on and offroad (muddy back roads and gravel). The only time I was stuck was when I bottomed out in the mud but you can go up to about a 30.5in tire running stock height springs.

I don't have a winch on either one of mine (haven't needed one enough yet), but it sounds like the badlands winch from harbor freight is a pretty good $300 winch if you're looking for that added security.

Also can't speak from experience about the britpart steel bumpers but I think lucky8 has it for around $500 shipped. (I could be wrong though)

You can't go much more affordable as far as upgrades than the three brands I named. Granted you didn't ask for the most affordable, but it helps to know where prices start sometimes.

 

Or you can make your own CDL linkage for next to nothing. Mine was $8. D1 shifter is $125ish

 

The Zj's axles are more crap than the Rover's, and that's saying a lot, since drivetrain failure is more likely to leave you truly stranded over engine issues. They are a cast aluminum dana "35" that rednecks (not saying your a redneck) throw large tires on and snap the diff housings, axles housing tubes, axles, and ring and pinions every day of the week. They have no true lockers available, and they are built cheap, but, they have a more reliable engine that you could overheat a million times and you can drive on sand real good.


Only jeep I'd buy would be a JK, bone stock with no lockers.