Differntial

[polar]

I have no manual with my series one disco.

How do I use the differential.

I take it the differential has 3 positions low neutral and high.

Please give me some info.

Must get a manual.

[Spacemutt]

I don't have a Disco, but the principle is the same as any other centre diff. The high/low is the transfer 'box. You can be in either, and you will still have 4wd, but the diff won't be locked. This is fine when driving over tarmac, or rock, or anywhere you are not going to suffer from wheel-spin. When you get to mud or snow, you can move the high/low gearstick over to the side. This will lock the centre diff, and a warning light should appear on the dash. This should only be used on loose surfaces as you will wind up and break the transmission if used on tarmac. Hope this helps. I think the LRO?E bookshop can sell you a manual.

[OldFart]

Originally posted by stephen cobby
I don't have a Disco, but the principle is the same as any other centre diff. The high/low is the transfer 'box. You can be in either, and you will still have 4wd, but the diff won't be locked. This is fine when driving over tarmac, or rock, or anywhere you are not going to suffer from wheel-spin. When you get to mud or snow, you can move the high/low gearstick over to the side. This will lock the centre diff, and a warning light should appear on the dash. This should only be used on loose surfaces as you will wind up and break the transmission if used on tarmac. Hope this helps. I think the LRO?E bookshop can sell you a manual.

What Stephan says is correct, me being a disco owner :D
If its like mine you'll need to palm the lever over to the left from either low or high or even neutral position to engage. Sometimes when i unlock the diff the dash light takes a few secs to go out, dont worry about it.

[Greendisco300]

Can limited slip diff's be purchased to go in the axles too? if so any ideas on price?

MC.

[Spacemutt]

I'm sure you can get LSD's for a Disco, but never seen them. Quaif will probably make them. But why do you want one? Disco's don't suffer from wheel spin on the road, and if it's for off-road use you are probably better off with diff locks, but then, only serious off-roaders have them. A diff lock on the rear will probably do you for serious off-roading. If you wanted to do very serious stuff, then one for the front would be good too. If you fit diff locks to the axles, it might be advisable to up rate the half shafts, hub ends, and prop shaft UJ's as all will suffer from a lot of extra strain, and popping a half shaft will become fairly common. The centre diff can cause problems if left engaged, but wouldn't really affect half shafts........unless driven like a lunatic. :p

[Budgie]

You can get a LSD or fully locked diffs for the rover diff.

Devon 4x4 do an ARB made difflock at £468 +vat per locker but then you have to fit it to the axle diff. You also need a compresser for these as they are air operated - thats another £149 +vat.

Bearmach do the ARB air locker (as above) plus the Detroit Locker which is and automatic locking diff. Detroit also make the True Trac which is a LSD. The Detroit Locker can only be fitted to the rear axle but the True Trac can be fitted to both front & rear, or you can have a Locker on the rear & True Trac on the front.

They both come in at about the same price as the ARB so they are not cheap and you still need to get them fitted. You will find the description of the Detroit diffs here (http://www.bearmach.com/cgi-bin/sh000001.pl?ACTINIC_REFERRER=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2ebe armach%2ecom%2facatalog%2fsearch%2ehtml&REFPAGE=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2ebearmach%2ecom%2facatal og%2fsearch%2ehtml&WD=detroit&PREVQUERY=RANDOM%3dNETQUOTEVAR%253ARANDOM%26PAGE%3 dSEARCH%26SS%3ddetroit%26TB%3dA&PN=Online_Catalogue_Axle_14%2ehtml%23a391#a391) , but as Stephen said, you would be better off using H/D half shafts with them and unless your doing competion off-roading then you may not need them. Best way to find out is to use the your Disco off-road and see what it can do, I think you'll be surprised! :yay: Oh and remember - take another vehicle to tow you out if you do get stuck.

Hope this lot helps. :p

[Greendisco300]

Thanks for the replies, i was interested in a limited slip diff for my disco after going to devils pit ( www.devilspit.co.uk) 2 weeks ago where it was seriously muddy and wheel spinning everywhere and even getting stuck in the mud once!

I thought it would be nice to have them but at that price i think i will have to live with a bit of spinning as i have only got the disco as a second car and only go off-roading every couple of months.

If i came into some money then i think id get a winch for it first anyway.

Thanks v. much

MC

[andyb]

i was interested in a limited slip diff for my disco...<snip>...seriously muddy and wheel spinning everywhere and even getting stuck in the mud once! Tyres! You don't say what tyres you have on but you'd be surprised what a difference that can make.

One thing to bear in mind is that traction is in fact friction between the tyre and the ground. You have to be careful not to 'overcome' this friction. It's a like using the brakes but with a reverse effect (!) A skid is when you have used too much braking effort and there is more friction between the pads and discs than there is between the road and tyre.

My Disco used to run around on very mild 90% road bias tyre, but would 'trickle' thru mud and stuff without drama; it's a case of letting the car almost roll thru stuff with the minimum of throttle input and only increasing throttle input gradually. If you read the 'road' ahead you will be able to judge the amount of throttle required. Watching the rev counter will tell you when the engine speed is increasing without the vehicle speed increasing, until you get used to the change in feel from the steering as traction is lost. So in short, concider your tyres first.

LSDs/Locker. As someone has said fitting either in the rear will help a lot. This is the way it was explained to me. Assume that a fully locked LR will get twice (100%) futher than an LR with open diffs in the axles, a locked rear will get you 80% of the additional distance. Thats how much difference (pun not intended :) ) they make.

Someone mentioned the Quaife LSD. This are a rather aggresive LSD have a lot of torque bias and so your half shafts have to be strong enough to cope with a shock loading. The Detriot locker (an LSD despite it's name) in the rear axle is better. These are 'locked' all the time but allow for differential action. I assume that when 'we' are talking about locking diffs 'we' mean the ARB air locker. These can be setup to run off a CO2 cylinder. Cheaper than a compressor, but obviously there is a limit to the number of times that you can use it before a refill; Bear in mind however, you only need the 'air' to lock the diff, after this the compressor isn't doing any work unless you have an air leak. Personally I prefer a locking diff, you know it's either in or out. If you do either make sure you have the later 24 spline axle (as these are stronger than the 10 spline axles) and are IMHO strong enough for the average off roader engaging in green laning and play days.

Gosh I'm feeling talkative for a Sunday morning! :)

[Greendisco300]

Tyres, now theres another talking point whilst i was off-roading.
I only have standard road tyres 245/70/16 (not 235) but they prob have 6-8k left in them, but also im worried about loosing the on-road driveability if i put some chunky tyres on. Ideally i need another set of wheels.

Id love a different diff in the rear axle BUT everything like winch, diffs and a change of wheels are costly especially as its only a second (fun) car.

Could a diff from another LR fit in there? or is there a cheaper option rather than spending £500+

MC.

[Spacemutt]

Road tyres will be useless on mud, and I am amazed you were able to move at all! I have TracEdge's fitted to my 110, and they are good on and off road. My SIII and ex-Stage 1 had road tyres and they were useless compaired to the TracEdges. The cheapest option would be to get some steel rims, and buy some remoulds and change them over when you go off-roading. Once you do that, I think you'll find you don't need a winch or diff lock, especialy of you only go off road every couple of months. And if you're doing the sort of off roading where you need winches and diff locks, then you will have to accept that you will get some bodywork damage.

Have a look at http://www.johncraddockltd.co.uk/ or http://www.paddockspares.com/ They are pretty good for tyres.

[andyb]

Well theres mud and there mud :)

These are TracEdge tyres.
http://www.tyres-online.co.uk/tol_productdata/pattern_images/bfgte.jpg

They are a little more aggresive than what I had on my Disco and (IIRC) are about to be discountinued. Having said that, they are a great tyre and a set of part worns on steel rims would/could prove adequate.

I was thinking that maybe you could go with a remould as Steve suggests; in which case I would go for something like those below from TransGlobal Tyres (http://www.transglobaltyres.com/) which are now avaliable here.

http://www.transglobaltyres.com/images/halfguyane.jpg

As I say theres mud and theres mud and then there are tyres........this could go on forever :)

[Greendisco300]

235/85/16 seems to be a popular size, would this go on my disco without rubbing? Id of thought it would be too big.

Will have to look at the wheel tyre combinations on magazines

MC

[andyb]

You may find this (http://www.discoweb.org/tire.htm) handy wrt tyre sizes and what will fit, but in short no those tyres will rub; it's the size that will end up on my Disco and I've fitted/am fitting OME shocks and springs to give me a 50mm lift....you see it goes on....I'd sick with something that has the same std height.

On a broader note, you may find this whole site (http://www.discoweb.org/) interesting, don't worry about the US bias, it's all good info. :)