I have a 2018 Discovery HSE with air suspension and regular Terrain Response (without the AUTO option) and of course the center diff lock but NO rear diff lock. I'm ready to get some good off-road tires and start exploring. Has anyone done serious off-roading without the rear locker? Any significant limitations? Thanks!

 

I’m very interested to know this as I have the same spec. I would have ordered the locker if I was getting a custom build but I had to buy off the lot.
From videos I’ve watched on YouTube and from what I’ve read, while it is desirable to have a rear locker the latest terrain management system works so well (unlike the first system on the D2 the D5 system only needs something like 6degrees of wheel slip before braking said wheel as opposed to a revolution or two so you don’t lose momentum etc) I suspect it will handle more than non rear lockered prior vehicles. But I am curious just what the limitations are...

Edit: don’t forget the Defender never came with a rear locker but of course its solid axles meant better wheel articulation meaning one wasn’t needed as often. You only needed a locker if the wheel lost contact with the ground which is more likely to happen with the D5 (even more so than the LR4 to the tune of about 3 inches) but again, that’s what the Terrain Management electronics are for, which didn’t exist back in the day and have only gotten better and better.

I’d really like to see a video of two D5s one with and one without a rear locker demonstrating when the rear locker is necessary.

 

For the LR3/4 group, I think the consensus is that non-HD can go almost any place just as well as HD - just maybe with a bit more effort on more extreme trails

I know that I will likely never be on a trail so difficult that HD would be required to get me through

They really are quite amazing even with just the center lock

 

It would not be a big concern for me. I think a locker only really comes into play when rock climbing. In most other conditions its not critical. Nice, yes, but the lack of a locker is not debilitating. As for articulation, solid rear axels are not necessarily superior when it comes to the Rover. Air struts generally have much longer travel distances that springs. Spring force also varies with length so when at their limits they are not applying the same pressure as they do at rest. With air the pressure rate is more even from compressed to full stretch. Now combine that with cross-linked air valves and you have a setup that is actually superior in many ways to solid axels. This was even demonstrated when comparing a Rove with air versus coils.

So unless you are doing some serious technical rock climbing or driving through swamp land I would not worry. The tires will be the biggest factor.

 

That was my exact thinking when I decided to pull the trigger on my D5 without the locker. Knowing what they can do with good tyres and a reasonable driver (I did a fair bit of off-roading in a TJ Wrangler with no locker) which are the two most important things, I doubt I'd ever take my vehicle somewhere were those two things were not enough and a rear locker would actually be needed.

That said, I would still like to see a video comparison where the locker is necessary, just to see vs the opinions the internet is always filled with because if I listened to them I would never get a D5 as apparently it would be useless off-road vs an LR4 or any other off roader because the rear licence plate is off center, there are too many curves and the interior is too luxurious, lol!

 

Sorry to drag up an old thread. It seems to me that the practical difference between a locking differential and ABS traction control is that one is pro-active while the other is reactive. If one has the training/experience to read the trail and know when to engage the diff lock, it is in my opinion superior to other systems which only engage after some or all momentum has been lost. However, as important as knowing when to use a diff-lock is knowing when NOT to use it. It's not idiot proof. It can lead to enormous mechanical stresses in the drive line, either by way of wind up, or in rare circumstances by feeding 100% of the engine's torque to a single wheel which can lead to a broken axle.

I think it's better to have it than not have it, but if one has it, one had better learn how to use it.

 

I've always run rear lockers in my previous vehicles... they were the biggest improvement I ever added offroad.... better than lifts... 35 inch tires, winch etc.... a 2wd truck with a rear locker could often out perform an open dif 4x4 in a lot of cases... that said... I wanted a locker in the D5... but it wasnt a deal breaker since the tractiin control is spectacular with the newest Rovers... so I don't have one in our D5. And I've had all different tires hanging with seemless interactions with the traction control (no clunking noises or waiting on a tire to rotate) I still wish I had it for higher throttle accents but I'm not doing the competition style stuff we used to do anymore.

 

If you have low range, good tires and terrain response you will be fine for most cases you likely want to put a D5 through. When it gets tougher and more technical a rear locker will come in handy, read very rocky and steep terrain. I would venture to say that TR2 with low range will probably cover 95% of scenarios, biggest thing to get is good AT/MT tires for the terrain. Traction control really starts to battle if the tires are not up to the task for difficult terrain. Once the D5s gets older and owners are pushing them more through difficult terrain the rear locker will get more important, but honestly so far the little I have used mine the TR2 works really well (though I do have the rear locker that get enabled automatically). My biggest challenge was to start trusting the systems, vs using left-foot braking, etc.

I have seen plenty of 2wd trucks with rear lockers we had to winch or tow up steep loose climbs that open 4x4s climbed easily, a locker is not substitute for 4wd with low range.

 

Depends on situation entirely and on how much you are lifting tires. I've seen 2wds with locker keep going where two wheels lifted stopped open 4x4s. Neither are going to be very good for my kind of offroading and I wouldn't be driving either as my offroad vehicle though... one of my best friends ran an offroad park for many many years... I've participated in hundreds of recoveries and tons of offroad competitions.

 

Andy, I did almost 2000 miles of desert and mountains in my LR4 with no rear locker and got into some very gnarly trails. I had a 4Runner with locker before that and while it would have been nice to have it in the LR4, it was not necessary. The traction control in the LR4 and of course Disco 5 is really quite good. There were probably only 2 situations where I would have liked a locker and frankly I would have liked it to be one I could manually select like the one in my 4Runner vs. computer controlled as it is in the LR. I think good driving, good line selection, the smallest wheels you can get, high quality tires (LT-rated with good sidewalls), and airing down appropriately for your wheel/tire combo get you a LONG way and make the locker "nice to have", not "must have." (Sorry for lurking here with LR4 comments but I've been following all the Disco 5 threads debating whether or not to make the leap sometime in the next couple of years!) Hope that's helpful. If you're curious about the trip... https://troyangrignon.com/1800-mile-...nd-trip-socal/