83/84 Defender 110 Q's?

[HH60Gunner]

Hi,

I'm new to the board and hopefully in the near future new to Defenders. I'm looking at getting a Defender 110 in the near future some time and just had a few questions. Do the tops come off of the defender 110's? They look like they would but I was just curious? Also I'm looking to get one to use as an offroad/camping/adventure vehicle. Are there any items I should look out for when buying a defender 110? How well do they fare in say a rocky enviroment? Previously I used to own a jeep cherokee with a 4" long arm lift kit and was happy with it. This time around I'd perfer something a little more unique though. Also how much can a defender 110 be lifted without major work and who makes lift kits for them? Also any items that are known to be a failure point among the 110's?

[Mike Koch]

First, look out for rust along the chassis and bulkhead.
Defenders are very capable vehicles off-road, right from the factory with little to no modification required.
The tops are removable, but not meant to taken on and off regularly as it's rather labor intensive(unlike a Jeep).
Defenders are built from the factory to accept a 2" lift without having to modify the brake lines or propshafts. We sell a few different suspension kits for them.
Good luck in your search for the perfect Defender!

East Coast Rover has some pretty detailed Defender history that might help you:
110 http://www.eastcoastrover.com/INFOD110.html

90 http://www.eastcoastrover.com/INFOD90.html

[robert wood]

NADA

I have one of the NADA 110 that I use as my everyday driver and a second 1986 110 that I use as an expedition vehicle and we have just completed a trip with that one from Cape Town to Mombasa in Africa. The NADA is still on the original springs and the African one has a two inch lift with heavy duty springs as we carry enough fuel to do 750 mile legs without refueling. I have no plans to lift the NADA as it performs very well off road and is a lot easier to get in and out of in everyday use. Both vehicles are pictured in Roverdrives.com My NADA is #1 of a limited edition and although it spent a lot of time outdoors in the queen Charlotte islands the rust problem has been quite managable - one spot in the rear cross member and a second in the passenger footwell. Having said that I have seen another one stripped down at Roverworks here in BC and it had some very serious rust issues. Best to have someone who knows Land Rovers inspect it.

Ray

[HH60Gunner]

Thanks for all the answers guys, this is a great forum. I live in Arizona USA, and we have lots of rocks and rocky trails so it requires quite a bit of clearance for alot of the stuff we do. Quite simply it's almost crazy for me to buy a defender since they cost so much out here, and I plan on taking it in the rocks where it's almost guaranteed to get body damage. However body damage is really nothing to me since it's just looks anyway. I prefer function over form. In the end I may get creative with the 110 that I end up getting and possibly lifting it 4-6 inches, to get good clearance. Some of the trails we run out here on most jeeps require about 38" tires (some times less if you do lots of fender well trimming), and lockers. What size of tires can stock defender axles handle. Also do any companies make chromoly axle shafts and lockers for early 80's defenders?

[Terrys]

I have Heavy Duty Land Rover springs on my NAS110, which seemingly raised the truck about 2". Increasing this gap between body and axles allowed me to go to 255x85 tires without any trimming, and only extreme parking lot manuvers gets the tries to rub the frame. This tire size is about 2" larger than 235x85 (stock size), raising the whole truck 3".(between springs and tires)
The NAS 110, with its exterior roll cage is pretty top heavy, and while the heavy duty springs offset some roll from the increase in height, roll is somewhat more. Lots of people remove their rear swaybars to increase articulation, but I wouldn't recommend that for on road use of a raised 110. In fact, I'm looking for a slightly larger sway bar) The 4 or more inch lift you're thinking of is going to bring up lots of other issues such as driveshaft angles, steering geometry changes and brake lines. I'd suggest getting as much of the lift from tires before extreme changes in axle/body dimensions.
FWIW the 110 wasn't called a Defender until 1990.

[Maryland 110]

I have a 3+ inch lift on one of my 110's with 33's. The truck could easily handle 35's with that lift which would put the diffs up fairly high.
I have a very stock white 110 utility currently configured as a pickup I will be parting with @ some point in the near future-pm me if that is of interest.

[CliftonRover]

with the correct trimming and some wheel spacers I have seen 37's on a defender with 2 in of lift. I would worry most about the front axle. look into rovertracks, they make a toyota conversion which will allow you to run up to 42's good luck

[spacemutt]

I have a 1983 V8 110 CSW. It has the early LT95 4 speed 'box with overdrive. This isn't a good set-up. It's ok but runs out of legs at 65-70. I would expect to get more out of it. My V8 130 weighs twice as mice and can do 75-80 if you're brave enough.

In my humble opinion there is no need to go more than 2 inches on a lift kit. Even that can cause vague steering and excess wear in the prop shafts.

I had 265/70r16 BFG Mud Terrains on mine and wouldn't go any wider. Bigger off-set and bigger tyres will put extra stress on your steering components. The last thing you want is to bend your tie rod out in the middle of nowhere!