Two Bally rally THREE AMIGOS in a Freaklander

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Pete Johnson

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manchester
Hi from Rossendale.
£350 for a 51 plate 146k mile diesel auto 2 owner Freelander to do this years Two Ball rally.

UK-France-Belgium-Luxemburg-Austria-Germany-Italy- France-UK in 7 days..... 4k miles.
ARE WE MAD ?
Question is..... having the BMW motor . diesel and auto I hope that's enough not to take in the other teams spoofs and calling breakdown stories to seriously.

DO WE OR DON'T WE remove the rear prop shaft and gears thingy and put on a blanking plate.
1) For better MPG if only a few.
2) Less hassle if is all decides to break whilst on the road.

Your input welcome, plus any other good ideas to check before we embark on our 60th birthday adventure
The Three Amigo's
 
You'll be fine :)

My brother's done the Club Triumph Ten Countries in 4 Days run twice in his old Stag without (serious) issues and its got him home OK.

He's also done the Screwball Rally of 8 countries in 5 days - but that's for posh cars, you can spend an extra £183 on that rally over the Two Balls. He did it in an old Beemer 5 series. Once again, got him home OK.

Running with the props poses extra risks to reliability, however if the IRD & VCU are in good nick it won't be a problem - so long as you have exactly matching tyres pumped to the same pressure. Have a look at...

https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/tests-new-freelander-owners-should-do-on-their-car.312863/

Also change the oil in the IRD - if the old oil comes our grey/metallicy - then definitely take the props off or find another car! Not sure of the legality of running modified cars (which removing the props is) in all the countries your going through and you'd have to tell your insurance company.

So, good choice of car, poor choice of brother :oops:
 
Removing the rear prop and fitting a blanking plate to increase mpg is a load of boll*cks. It makes so little difference it's hard to even measure. The difference in burn factor of fool throughout the year, ambient temperature of intake air, wind factor, tyre size/wear, driving style and how long it spends on tickover...

Yer would be betterer to do the one wheel up test to check the vcu to make sure the 4x4 set-up is working and ok. Also make sure all tyres are the same/make/model/pressure. Removing the prop means yer need to advise yer insurance. It makes the FL1 feel horrible to drive but some like it when it's like this. Make sure yer give it a good service and check everything out before doing that sort of trip. And make sure yer covered for breakdown if out of the country for a long trip/period.

edit: he's quicker typing
 
Mines a 2WD - drives perfectly fine unless I drove it like I stole it - which I don't cos I'm a Nana driver - unless someone cuts me up - bastids.

Mine though is the L Series diesel, so its very difficult to drive it like you stole it. It tends to just make lots of noise and smoke.

You should be fine with a TD4 Auto - provisos about insurance, plod and the slammer aside.

So long as the IRD isn't completely fecked - you'll be OK to leave the rear pinion on (the rear diff will still have its one). But removing it does give on average another 25mpg.

If you remove the rear diff and drive shafts (leaving the stubs in the hubs or the wheels fall oft) you will gain, once again on average, another 374mpg.
 
Hippo said:
Removing the rear prop and fitting a blanking plate to increase mpg is a load of boll*cks. It makes so little difference it's hard to even measure.
Click to expand...

Absolutely.
I tested my V6 over 20K miles,10K with and 10K without the props fitted. I did measure an increase in MPG after the I used the props were removed, but on much. I measured the improvement in MPG of just 0.2 Mpg, increasing from 19.6 Mpg to 19.8 Mpg. These two tests were done using the same commute route over two consecutive years. This ment the test conditions were identical, with the exception of the weather.

I suspect the slight increase in fuel economy was more down to removing of 50 Kgs from the car, rather the any drag from the VCU.

Pete Johnson said:
DO WE OR DON'T WE remove the rear prop shaft and gears thingy and put on a blanking plate.
1) For better MPG if only a few.
2) Less hassle if is all decides to break whilst on the road.
Click to expand...

Do as suggested above and the decide. ;)
 
When doing the auto box fluid change for the love of god make sure its not just destron ATF you put in the right fluid. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5L-ATF-J...stway-Lubricants-7045E-5-Litres-/112329706852

And check out the forums for a guide on the correct drain and refill procedure. It is oh so easy to mistake the bolt on the back of the box that looks like a filler plug but is actually a bolt for reverse band and fill the box with AFT and not be able to reverse off the ramp. The filler plug is a rubber mushroom on the top of the box at the front of the vehicle, the level plug is at the bottom of the box near the shifter cable mechanism.
 
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