Land Rover Defender locking differential Q

RatLabGuy

RatLabGuy

You look like a monkey and smell like one too
Joined
May 18, 2005
Location
Churchville, MD
A buddy of mine in England has an awesome '85 ex-military Defender, got to ride around in it quite a bit this week. He's a fan, but not a real gear-head so to speak
He says it is full-time 4wd, and when you engage the transfer, it locks the differentials too so you have real 4wd. We stopped by a dealership and looked over a new one, and he said it's still pretty much all the same system.
Curious to know how this could work, I've done some reading. I see mention of them being full-time 4wd, but it sounds more like the center is a differential also, and the gear locks this in place. In my mind, the end event is the same as a 2/4wd transfer case. Is this correct?
When I looked under the new Defender, there were no wires or pnumatics going to the front/rear differentials, so I can't see what could be locking them into place.
Anybody have any input? I know these things are rare in the states.
 
Well

I think they do have a center diff (the discovery). With that unlocked it is more like a big jacked up Subaru (all wheel drive) rather than a selectable 2wd/4wd setup.

Newer computer controlled stuff can do any number of odd things. I think some have the ability to apply the brakes to control the vehicle.

Most likely (just guessing) putting it into 4wd locks the center diff. Usually, if something has selectable lockers in the axles, it is done separately. Going straight to 4wd with all axles locked is not ideal. Full locked up puts stress on the vehicle, and also makes it harder to turn and less stable in certain situations (snow/ice for example).
 
Yeah, I did a little more digging around after posting this up. Here's what I came to after reading some aftermarket sites.
The Defenders do indeed have a center differential, making 3 total, much like a subaru, although I think it's the classic style, not a Torsion like they use. Anyway, using the "gearbox lever" locks this differential, so the front and rear diffs are rotating the same (like engaging a transfer case).
The axle differentials do NOT, by default, have lockers in them, as there are ARB and other suppliers for these, and much mention of how it is suprising that they do not make a factory E-locker like the Toy etc trucks.
However as mentioned above, the nower models have an ETC system that applies brakes when slipping on all 4 corners, effectively making something similar to being "locked" but w/ less stress on the axles.
 
Hah

I've seen the computer controlled traction systems fail miserably. Sand confused the crap out of one. Fortunately, 4 lo shut it down.
 
I own a land rover (discovery II). yeah, the center diff (transfer case) locks, but not when you engage low gear. you can have low gear engaged and not the center diff. to lock the center diff you move the gear shifter to the left or right.

Im not a big fan of this system. Especially on my 01 because even though the transfer case is the same, the linkage was not installed! and it cost 700 bucks to add a CDL linkage (center differential lock)

Lockers front and rear in a land rover is a must.

You are correct about the defender pretty much not changing anything since day one.

More stuff that sucks about traction control is the fact you cant build rpms on hill climbs. I recently ran dutch john at URE (from wolf den to slab pile) and the huge up hill section up the narrow canyon, my rpms were only about 2500, no real wheel speed was established. not being able to lock the center diff cause me to have many near high centers.

Hill decent control was pretty cool. push a button and let off the pedals and let the truck drive itself down a hill.
 
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