My (newish to me) D2 has poor stopping capability and I would be very grateful for advice as to whether crappy brakes are the norm, or whether I can work on this to get better breaking, bc the vehicle is my youngest sons driver. So it matters to me.

Situation: had many LR so know the capabilities but this is my first D2. My LR3s, 4s and Defenders all had perfectly good brakes. The D2 calipers are functioning well (none seized). Pads and discs are fine. No idea how old the brake fluid is but seem no leaks.

Braking: good pedal (have bled them) and no issues. However, it just has a very long stopping time. If this is not unusual then fine (in my opinion Defender and LR3 or 4 brakes are totally different). Grateful for advice from others on whether they should be better, and where to start.

as I said above, pads have a ton of life but I do t know the brand and am happy to start there.

thank you.

 

The brakes are not good on these, but I did power stop upgraded brakes and then put Brembo pads on them when I changed them. Somewhat better, but if you are new to the truck, it cant hurt to try replacing the pads, Akebono's are good if you can find them, Brembo's otherwise, everyone will have an opinion, I also like Pagid. Fortunately these trucks don't go fast enough to warrant a serious upgrade. Pads could be glazed too, small investment to know the history of your brakes.

Might be a good opportunity for a new driver to learn something about maintenance.

 

you can't compare these to a small car with oversize brake systems, the are much heavier and do require a bit more stopping room. Still it doesn't hurt to check everything out brake wise especially if it has the anti-lock brakes. Mine was disconnected long ago as it hardly ever worked right.

 

Thank you. I’m very familiar with pretty much all LR (except the new ones I can’t afford) and the brakes on my Disco 2 are crap. Older Defenders are better by a mile. Good point about the pads and a sensible jolt to try the cheapest fix and replace them. Thank you for the recommendations. Cheers.

 

I would not sleep on flushing out the brake fluid. It calls for every 24months or 15K I believe. If you don't know the history of the rig/maintenance flush it. I don't know where your located but inspect the hard pipe and those rear junction lines behind the front drivers side wheel. I had to replace mine back in 2012. Salt just ate them up. I had weeping on several lines. They were very brittle. As for pads I have run Akebono and think they have been the best. I have also run Wagner Thermo with no issue. Don't last as long but cheap. Also, make sure the master cylinder isn't weeping around the booster. I had that one several years ago and caused soft pedal.

 

@pagoda A few things :

• Check your brake lines, the rubber gets old and less rigid, stainless braided is far better
• One thing thing to try is get on a hill, pop it in to low range and use hill descent. Then check the pedal and stopping right away
• Vacuum leaks can significantly affect the brakes check all the vacuum hard lines
• Do a full fluid flush and power bleed as required if you have not done so.

These are 21+ years old the brakes are not what a modern vehicle has, having just switched to a LR4 the brakes are much better. But I found doing all the above improved my braking a lot on the D2, but it will never stop like a modern truck.

 

@Windycity_rover @Richard Gallant Thank you both. I have done all fluids with the exception of the brake fluid as I want to try the 'Option B' mod on the abs module to address the 3 amigos, and am going to do a flush then. I will inspect the hoses as you suggest - I confess I haven't done that yet but am familiar with exactly the conditions you describe where hoses start to breakdown on the inside and restrict performance.

 

@pagoda yea 3 amigos can affect your brake pressure, for one you lose ABS and I found stopping distance was longer.

 

Just to close this out and share my experiences of the last month or so should anyone else come to Disco Series 2 from newer models and have brake dissatisfaction angst... .

I have now replaced both rear calipers (the glide pins were seized when I got the vehicle and I had to hammer the hell out of them to unseize them, so given I was in there I bit the bullet) and on the sound advice of @Richard Gallant and @Windycity_rover all brake lines (except the two internal lines front left - they were very challenging to get to and I was in a position where I was going to cause more issues, plus on inspection all the hoses I replaced were actually in good condition - don't judge!) I also replaced the pads with the Akebonos, and did a full flush and bleed. (I also performed the 'Option B' mod whilst I was in there as I've been having a few issues with the 3 Amigos). On bleeding I found it hard to get a good pedal - I had no air coming through the lines after the flush, but the pedal still wasn't great. Better, but not where I felt it should be. I'd taken the plunge and ordered a Nanocom, which arrived last week, and so I used it to bleed the ABS module - interestingly it produced two large air bubbles into the jar of brake fluid at front left - no more air on the third bleed. The pedal was far better after that and now feels right, or as exepected. My learning is that I couldn't have got that air out of the ABS module without the Nanacom, so for me it helped. The new pads are still bedding in, but the braking is significantly improved. Thanks to all for the advice.

 

Glad to hear it!