Land Rover Defender 110 (?) question

[texas pinzgauer]

With such a knowledgeable and experienced group of offroading fans here, I thought I would pose the question to this group...even though it has nothing to do with Pinzgauers.

I was wondering about the Land Rover Defender 110.

Is it a tremendously capable, easy to live with and durable truck or is it a pile of $hit with so many problems and design flaws, they can't be counted?

A neighbor apparently has a source for several of them at what seem like very low prices and I think they're neat looking trucks. Are they more trouble than they're worth or are they no more or less troublesome than the Pinz?

Any opinions on the subject would be appreciated.

[krick3tt]

I am a member of a group here in the Pacific Northwest that started as a LR group. They are extremely knowledgable about all sorts of them. I will send you a PM and give you their address.

Morris

[David Dunn]

Are they TRULY 110 Defenders, or just long wheelbase Landrovers?
"Defenders" didn't come about by that name until 1989. And the first of the "110"s were in '83 to '84. And as such, still are not exempt by the 25 year. Too many people throw the Defender name at all of the Land Rovers, though they vary as much as the Pinzgauer gas and TD models.
All leaf spring modeles are Series models, any of 1, 2, 2A and 3.. and the wheelbase are either 88" or 109" ( from the end of the Series 1's). There have been many conversions of later Series 2A and 3's to coil springs.

The Feds are quite knownledgeable on these LRs... there were only 525 +/- Defenders 110 imported to North America in 1993, and only a few thousand Defenders 90s in '94,'95 and '97. BTW, all NAS Defenders have V8s only.

Be careful of anything called a "Defender", and any LR imported out of Europe. They usually have had a hard life, and have several unique places that they rust. The body is the only thing that is aluminum, the frame, firewall and all the supports are steel.

Dave

[texas pinzgauer]

Some of that, I knew and a bunch of it, I didn't! Thanks for the tutorial. As I learn more, I'll keep these details in mind. This isn't even a back burner issue.

[David Dunn]

That just touches the tip of the iceberg. I had owned a NAS Series3 88 from '82 to '97 and a Defender 90 SW from '95 to '07... and I equate the Series LRs to the Defenders, the same as 710 Pinzes to the 716... they "look" the same, but under the skin, there is a world of difference... ( and differences among the later models themselves ). As some are finding out on the Turbo D group, there are a lot of different dash and electrical layouts for different markets and contracts.

Dave

[psychoman]

If they're 110s then they'll be coil sprung vehicles, the series vehicles are 109 leaf sprung. The differenced do run pretty deep after that too.

If we're talking 110s then they aren't a bad truck. Chassis tend to rot at the back, plus bulkheads. 200 Tdi and 300 Tdi engines are good if serviced regularly. Axles are pretty flimsey for the size of the truck - big tyres will see them eating diffs and wheel bearings like they are going out of fashion...

I've owned most LR products over the years - drop me a PM if you need more?

Dave