Peter Connan wrote:Clem, I agree with everything you've said xcept for the diff lock.
I usually engage that while moving, with the proviso that I will never engage it when a wheel is spinning. I then use a very gentle throttle until I am sure it has engaged properly.
You will find with the Patrol that you can drive far more gently, and need resort to momentum far less often precisely because you have that rear diff lock waiting in the wings (although you probably learnt that already after you installed the lockers in your Disco). I would also recommend that you look at a good aftermarket suspension, for the following reasons:
1) It seems to improve articulation considerably.
2) It improves the vehicle's ability to carry the kind of loads overlanding tends to entail.
3) The patrol has a very long wheelbase (at least compared to the disco), and while this is a major contributing factor to the vehicle's wonderful stability at speed, it does mean that it touches more easily on crests, and a bit of height helps a lot here.
Thank you once again for the advice Peter. I will then engage differential lock and move slowly to make sure it is properly engaged before applying power.
The differentials on my Discovery are gear driven torque biasing differentials. In my view, one of the most wonderful inventions ever made. They add huge stability (huge stability) to the vehicle on slippery gravel roads and the like when moving at speed. It is not even necessary to lock the centre differential. Honestly, it is the only four-wheel-drive I have ever been able to happily, safely and comfortably drift at speed through corners like a rally car. The things are real lifesavers as well from the perspective of blow-outs as they keep the car absolutely stable and I can testify that on at least one occasion they have added greatly to my personal safety (I cannot say with absolute certainty that we would have rolled anyway but the probabilities are high) when a sharp rock penetrated a tyre and caused a massive hole and sudden air loss. If you park with the car with the right-hand wheels on a hard surface (for example tar) and the other two wheels on a loose slippery surface, you can engage low range first and absolutely floor the throttle and you will get no wheel slip at all. The only downside is that you need a minimum of 5 foot-pounds of force on the opposing wheel in order to make them work and direct the power to the wheel that has the traction. If the opposing wheel has absolutely no force on it at all, then it acts like an open differential. You can still redirect the power by lightly applying the brakes but you risk breaking something by doing that.
Relatively early on my Discovery taught me something about momentum (this was in the days before the torque biasing differentials had been fitted). We were travelling solo on the Wild Coast and I had just forded a river and was trying to climb out of the bed on the other side up a very steep embankment with ruts and the like that really tested the wheel articulation. I had learned much of my basic driving skills at the old Allendale quarry (now sadly part of history) and had to some extent been led to believe that momentum was the answer to many problems. So, I went at the thing like a bull in a china shop and despite a number of repeated tries, kept getting cross axled and sliding backwards. As there was no other route but through, I then decided that I would simply have to move the vehicle as far up the embankment as I could and then winch it further through the obstacle. With that in mind I then decided to move the vehicle gently up the embankment as far as I could in preparation for winching. Lo and behold, going slowly and evenly she climbed through with no fuss at all. Momentum is not the answer to everything. In my view, it is far better and to sit a little bit and contemplate the terrain and then decide how best to place your wheels and go at it slowly or with the minimum amount of momentum that you think will do the job. That is probably 90% of the game for me. My old Series III 2.25 diesel 88 inch station wagon with leaf springs and all has on occasion done what fancy Range Rovers could not do, simply because I went slowly and took the time to walk through and read the terrain properly first before attempting it in the vehicle.
I will take the hint on the suspension lift in due course. First I am going to take time to get used to the vehicle and understand its characteristics. I can appreciate though that the breakover angle may be less than absolutely ideal.