1978 series 3 88in 2.25 diesel,slow,35 mph

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tom1disco.300

tom1disco.300

Active Member
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389
Location
southwater/horsham westsussex
hi all,have been driving my landy now for about 4 months'ish,and have made some changes,i have replaced the diffs for rrc difs,and am gettin abit fed up of the spedo being out,and also the gap between 3rd and 4th in power is just stupid,so was just going back to the start ,and was thinking why it was sooo slow in the first place,with the standard diff? has anyone had this probolem and,yes the diesels are slow anyway,but 35mph max is just pathetic, i was maby thinking along the lines of maby someone has fitted a low range transferbox,i dunno but any ideas?

thanks, tom :D
 
i went the 3.54 diff route on my series three 88 diesel and it was awful to drive. the gearboxes are not the best for lots of 3rd 4th changes. I am now back on standard 4.7 diffs and love the 4th gear flexibility. It is slow a happy cruise is 45/48mph on A roads and 50/52 on dual carriagways and motorways. Yours maybe generally worn to be that slow, Have you changed the timing chain? also try advancing the pump timing up a bit at a time dont forget to slacken the injector pipes when you adjust timing
 
yea ino the engine is okay because it had a rebuild,and u can tell its the transmition,1st gear isnt just usles its practicly non existant,and second is like nearly the same with the standard diff,but the engine is fine,its actuly quite nippy for a diesel 2.25 lump!
 
divie said:
i went the 3.54 diff route on my series three 88 diesel and it was awful to drive. the gearboxes are not the best for lots of 3rd 4th changes. I am now back on standard 4.7 diffs and love the 4th gear flexibility. It is slow a happy cruise is 45/48mph on A roads and 50/52 on dual carriagways and motorways. Yours maybe generally worn to be that slow, Have you changed the timing chain? also try advancing the pump timing up a bit at a time dont forget to slacken the injector pipes when you adjust timing
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and me when i had my very first landy 2.25d but the last owner had already fitted them before i bought it as i bought a pair of RR diffs but found out it already had them fitted :eek:

i planned on towing a car trailer with a s11 trialer on me and my bro bought together and tow it with my diesel landy anyway first trip out towing the trailer with the landy on going to a p and p site at castleford ( yorks ) and there is a very long steep hill on the M62 motorway near leeds i think and i was flat out towing this trailer at 15 mph so decided to convert to a 2.25 petrol engine and same trailer with the same trialer on and going up the same hill at 40mph :D and later fitted an o.d and believe it or not i was getting the same mpg as i was with the diesel engine in it 25 mpg but that was in the good old days when you could buy leaded petrol so either my diesel engine was fooked or my petrol engine was in very good nick i don't know.

BUT it could be a number of different things really like cheep diesel, worn injection pump + injectors, engine condition, engine timing, gearing inc gearbox and diffs, tyre size, ( the bigger the tyre the harder the engine has to work ) or i just needs a good service, but IMHO even a fully recon'd 2.25d engine other than mpg won't be much different :( but hopfully it won't be much to sort it ;)
 
If its only doing 35 mph then something is wrong. I'm on standard diffs, engine and box, no overdrive and she cruises very comfortably at 45, ok at 50 but noisy and don't like thrashing it. I've found fuel does seem to make a difference - I avoid supermarket and just use premium brands - less smoke when cold with good fuel. I also found properly adjusted tappets seemed to give me more in gear flexibility.
 
is it a simple job to fit a overdrive and is it really worth doing or better to save up and have 200td put in ,i did see a advert somewhere were they supply and fit the engine but cant find it any more can any body tell me if they now some one who would do it for me
 
richbatch said:
is it a simple job to fit a overdrive and is it really worth doing or better to save up and have 200td put in ,i did see a advert somewhere were they supply and fit the engine but cant find it any more can any body tell me if they now some one who would do it for me
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both really as you will defo need an o.d with a tdi or RR diffs even.

i found where i live it was quite hilly and with a std 2.25d with o.d i could hardly ever use the o.d and on local motorways ( 5 motorways on my doorstep to choose from ) i had to traval quite far out to use it as all these motorways was quite up and downy if you know what i mean not flat ( but in a normal car you wouldn't notice it ) before i could use it but the slightest incline you had to knock it out of o.d then do another couple of mile to use o.d again.
 
well i thought about the o.d but i dont realy do enough long distance driving to have one,so it wouldent benifit me in anyway,i did strongly consider the ashcroft high range kit,seem pretty good from what iv heard,speedo matches,and when you put your motor in low range its the same because of the standard diffs,but thanks for all the replys ,i think iv made ma mind up,iv only put the rear rrc diff in for now so ill take that out,and replace it with the origonal one,and slip the high range kit in ,and see what difference that makes for 300 quid :D

thanks for all the replys :)
 
35mph sounds like you have it stuck in low range!

Roamerdrives are expensive but good as you can use it as a splitter in any gear as well as low-range and it;s tough enough to take it. With RRC diffs it's great as I often use the 3+OD gear (same as original top) for long drags up hill at speed...1 OD will get you easily to 35mph on a petrol
 
tom1disco.300 said:
well i thought about the o.d but i dont realy do enough long distance driving to have one,so it wouldent benifit me in anyway,i did strongly consider the ashcroft high range kit,seem pretty good from what iv heard,speedo matches,and when you put your motor in low range its the same because of the standard diffs,but thanks for all the replys ,i think iv made ma mind up,iv only put the rear rrc diff in for now so ill take that out,and replace it with the origonal one,and slip the high range kit in ,and see what difference that makes for 300 quid :D

thanks for all the replys :)
Click to expand...


let me know when you decide the high ratio kit is overgeared and your ratios are no good to you, it's a very similar ratio to the rrc diffs so if your 2.25 diesel is struggling with the diffs you'll have spent 300quid just so you can enjoy pulling your landy to bits

a 2.25 diesel will benefit more from an overdrive than any other messing about, it can be used as a "splitter" to give you intermediate gears, not just to raise the overall gearing

old 2.25 diesels are mostly knackered plodders that have had little more than very basic maintenance, they'll often benefit from a new timing chain and a rebuilt injector pump and injectors at the very least

i've a mate with a 109 with 2.25d under the bonnet, his is capable of sitting at 55mph on the motorway without any trouble, his engine is in fine fettle but a race car it certainly isn't
 
I have a 110 with a 2.25d in. lt77 , lt230 1.6. It can do 60+ no problem, but bugger me it struggles with hills.
 
Just worked it out using:
I've got 205/80/16 tyres on atm

((((RPM/LT230_RATIO)/DIFF_RATIO)*REV_OF_TYRE_IN_METERS)/SECONDS_IN_A_MINUTE)*1_METER_TO_MILES

I reckon I've limited the engine to 3500 revs.. that's what happens when I don't have a tach :D

So, hold on.. if I have this right then for me.. Peak Torque is 1800 rpm which is

1st = 7 mph
2nd = 11 mph
3rd = 17 mph
4th = 25 mph
5th = 30 mph

and I top out in fifth at around 60mph.

No wonder it's slow up hills and I need to find a nice private road to test on :D
 
Last edited:
Currently renovating a Series 2a with a 2.25 diesel in it. having never driven it I hope it goes faster than 35mph- 50mph will do me a treat.
 
yea it's i high range defonantly ,low range is like proper low!! i have thought of this,and well the rrc diff are okay,but yes it strugles up hills,and yes it will probably to high geared,so maby the diffs will stay and an over drive will just have to do! :)
 
a little question here ...

you have rrc diffs ??

have you had the speedo recalibrated to match the diffs ??

if not 35mph indicated (with 7.50 tyres) = near as dammit 50mph
 
no i do see what ur saying it does about 55mph now,and the speedo still reads 30-35 mph,but im still sorta screaming the nuts off it to get 55 whereas 35 was like flat out with the standard diff,and noooo i havent put wheelbarrow wheels on it,750 bfg trac edge on white wellers!! im just wondering if i can have it sitting at 55 maby 60 sorta compftably,rather than doing like 4000 revs all the time!

does anyone have an overdrive fitted with rrc diffs? if so whats it like :) thankyoouu :)
 
Do the maths RRC diffs about 25percent up on standard. Ashcroft high range 28percent up Square root of F all in it except £300
 
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