Hello everyone,

New to the site, and to my 99 discovery series II. I had a quick question for all you pro's out there.

I know my truck is all wheel drive, with a low range lever, but is it a conventional 4wd system like in my wrangler or cherokee? I've heard that something about open diffs.. and it being bad for off-roading?

My goal is to have the car be as competent off road as is possible, without emptying the bank account. Again, I have the SE7 with air susp. and all the bells and whistles, unfortunately, it has the 18 inch wheels tires.. which are less than ideal for off-roading, but I plan to pick up a set of black 16s, and fit them with some BFG all terrains in the future... and have them for trips/xcursions.

anyway, glad to be here and I hope to gain a lot of knowledge.

 

It is not all wheel drive it is full time 4 wheel drive. Your series 2 does not have a lockable center differential (I don't think the '99 do), it relies on the traction control instead. This is not ideal for offroaders who like to be in control. I'm not sure if the 99's have the nipple on the center differential that allows a shifter to be easily connected or if it is like my 2002 that would need a new differential if you want a CDL. Now a series 2 with traction control and a CDL is a monster offroad. To make it even better you can install lockers on the front and rear diffs.

 

The '99 does have the CDL, the hi/lo shifter should move front to back and left to right as well.
All you need to be a competent off road truck is a set of 16" wheels with a good A/T.
http://www.offroadbigbear.com/Landrover.html
With the CDL locked and your traction control you can go almost anywhere.
The only real mod you may need is a winch, HD springs to hold up the winch and a Hi-Lift jack.
Get your tires first and try the truck out, these are WAY more competent than you think.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLBg4-dI05A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yD0KbHaqgME
And the best LR youtube vid of all time...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5yoKzatUkI

 

Spike 1999-Mid-2001 Discovery II's have the CDL, but no linkage fitted to engage it. The 99 DI has the CDL, but not the DII.

To the OP There is a 10mm stud on the top of the front driveshaft output. Your DII has it and it can be fitted pretty easily, but you will have to spend some money. Here is one place to buy the linkage (there are others, but this is a fair priced one):

http://www.lucky8llc.com/Products.asp?ProductID=2185

 

As stated earlier, the LR is full time four wheel drive, not all wheel drive. Big difference. You have actual gears inside your transfer case rather than a clutch system. In 99 the transfer case also had CDL but you will have to crawl under the truck to engage and disengage it until you rig up a shift linkage to engage it from inside the truck. I have heard of people making a simple linkage that is basically just a handle they can reach from outside the truck to engage the CDL without having to completely crawl under the truck. Engaging the CDL locks your front and rear driveshafts together the way a transfer case in a part time 4x4 system does.

The Discovery is very competent off road straight from the factory. That's what they are built for. With the possible exception of a Rubicon, you'd have to put a lot of money into a Jeep for it to preform off road the way a stock Rover will. Get yourself a good set of AT or MT tires and take it off road before you do anything else to the truck. (I run Goodyear Wrangler Duratracs and I'm really happy with them both on and off road.) Before you start doing modification you need to get comfortable with how the truck handles both on and off road and what actually needs to be modified. Every location, vehicle and style of wheeling has a setup that works well, you need to find out what that is for your vehicle.

 

Thank you Cam, I always get them confused.

 

wow!! thanks for all the info guys, and yes sorry I meant 4wd instead of All-wheel drive. I'll check out the option camdisco mentioned, but I guess since everyone is saying that with the traction control it works pretty decent, maybe I'll wait to get it out there and see how it does...

 

yeah, def. go out a few times and see what the truck can do. You might realize that you wont even need the CDL upgrade. Like AK said, these trucks are very impressive stock, I think you'll be amazed. Good tires and some experience make all the difference.

 

Experience is the key with any vehicle. You can drive the most capable vehicle in the world but if you don't know what you're doing it's useless.

 

What benefits do the diff lockers offer?