| Author | Message | ||
     Paul Ohryn (Stroker) New Member Username: Stroker Post Number: 1 Registered: 02-2004 |
Hello out there all you disco lovers (and I ain't talkin ABBA). My name is Paul Ohryn and I've turned to Discoweb and all of you out there to help answer some of my disco questions. I'm new to Disco web and LR's generally speaking. I've been an off-roader for my whole life, but living in northern Canada I've generally stuck to the domestics (79 CJ7,79 Chev 3/4 ton w/6inch lift,89 Ram 50 4x4,96 Ram 3/4 ton w/CTD you get the picture)Now that I'm a family man I'm looking for an SUV type rig. I know that disco's are not the Ideal grocery getters but Living in the north (roughly 800KM north of U.S. border)you need a rugged 4by and after spending countless hours of research I'm now a huge fan of LR. I'm looking at buying a 99,00,01 disco II, I plan on useing it for a family vehile for a few years then turning it into a hard core trail/bush rig. My questions to all you out there are... which is the best year( i read somewhere that in 2001 model you can't lock the center diff) If I get a higher end model how good is the ACE,hill decent ABS, airbags ect and if it's no good for hard use(later on when turned into trail rig) is it hard/impossible to remove? How well does all this stuff work when it's literally -20 to -40deg Celcius(It really does get that cold up here).I know that I'm requesting alot of info but I'm activly looking at disco's right now so any information even if it's only on one of the above subjects would help me greatly. Thank you very much, I look forward to your input. pko | ||
| Matt Anderson (Disco01) Member Username: Disco01 Post Number: 237 Registered: 10-2003 |
Paul, I would of course tell you to search the archives, but if I was gonna take the time to type that I might as well tell you some more. You will hear mixed opinions on this board, some will swear by the reliability and some will bash it, but I dont think you will find anyone here who does not love their truck. Simply put, these things grow on you like a wart. If you are decent with tools you can do most work on a Disco2, probably more on a Disco1, but the D2 is a better rig for everyday use and much better in terms of reliability. The HDC, ABS, and ETC can be a little troublesome, but probably not any more so than on any other vehicle that has them. As to ACE, it is a mixed bag. I would tell you not to get it for several reasons. Firstly, you get 18" rims and most people who ever want to use their vehicle off road will switch down to 16"s. It is also something else that can go wrong. I think the Disco is still actually a nice handling vehicle without it if you get used to a little body roll. However, the ACE trucks will flex like crazy becuase the roll bars will kind of act like they are disconnected off road. DONT GET THE AIR SUSPENSION. Your climate will wear out the bags yearly, at least. I give a full recommendation given the following exceptions: 1) although you can do a lot of work on a Disco, you need to have access to either an independent or a dealer who has the correct diagnostic tools just in case you ever need them, and more than likely you will. (Once again, I dont think this is different than with any other vehicle, but LR diagnostic is more rare) 2) I have said this before and will say it again, there are some bad Discos out there. Either you get a good one and it will be fairly trouble free or you get a shitty one from the start. Make sure you can see the service and repair records of the vehicle at hand to assess how it falls into this spectrum That is about all I got for ya, hopefully others will chime in with some THOUGHFUL comments and not just praise or bash. Good luck. P.S. you are correct about the diff lock. No D2 came with it until 04. Many here have added it and it is not that difficult and quite cheap. And I have no doubt that at least once you will understand the frusturated expression on my face in this picture.  | ||
| Paul Ohryn (Stroker) New Member Username: Stroker Post Number: 2 Registered: 02-2004 |
Thanks Matt, That is exactly the kind of info that I am looking for. Do you know if you can have ACE w/o air bags? And I read that you can manually engage the center diff olck on the 99,00 not on the 01 and again on the 02 by crawling under the rig with a wrench and engaging it. Yes/no? | ||
| Leigh Mikolajczyk (Leigh_m) New Member Username: Leigh_m Post Number: 19 Registered: 01-2004 |
Paul, I would stay away from the ace as well. I live in chicago and this winter we had a few stints below 0 and the D2 was great my D1 wasn't so happy. Good Luck | ||
| Matt Anderson (Disco01) Member Username: Disco01 Post Number: 239 Registered: 10-2003 |
Hmm, I honestly dont know about manual engagement. Only the 7 passenger models have the airbags, and only in the back, with or without ace. You can swap them out fairly easily, so I would not worry too much about them, but just avoid them unless you need the rear seats. Personally, I think the rear seats are pretty useless as they are hard to get in and out of and really only for kids. In some cases I suppose they would be nice to have, but probably not for the majority of owners. I believe part of the problem with the air springs is the extreme could causes them to crack and all the salt and fine gravel on the road acts like sandpaper as they articulate. Also, you should never dead lift (like at a tire store) a vehicle with air springs as they will often pull apart. One nice thing about them however is that they can raise the rear of the Disco off road at the push of a button, helping make up for the Discos big booty. IMO, it is just something else that will wear out that you will never need. | ||
| Leigh Mikolajczyk (Leigh_m) New Member Username: Leigh_m Post Number: 20 Registered: 01-2004 |
If you get more information on the manual engagement let me know |
