Last week I was picking up my youngest from a horse event and the X-Trail beside me got stuck in the mud. Defender to the rescue! - unhitched my horse trailer and pullled him and his loaded horse box out through the muddy field. Hoorah for Landy's.

Today however I got stuck! I was toeing a 7x5 trailer of wood up a slope (track in woods) 1 in 4 maybe, low ratio, first. Lost traction, tried to engage diff lock, not sure if succeeded or not, kept popping out of low ratio. Slid back and jack-knifed trailer so blocked wheels of trailer and decoupled. Landy still stuck, had to unload trailer, move trailer back 6 feet, reverse Landy then go past the slippery bit. Towed empty trailer up on the rope and rehitched. Wood still halfway up the slope....

Lessons learned? OK, if the soil is damp and you live on clay, stay in doors!

But, diff lock - is it possible to engage in the moment or does one really need to think ahead (sorry but I did like my Landcruiser elec button for this). Should there be a 'click' from the leaver? mine just pushes left and the light comes on the dash, or not as its quite hit and miss. Same coming out of lock, often light stays on for a while until it decouples itself.

Tyres - I have the normal compromise of factory fit (2001 TD5)? Wooded tracks are infrequent for me - most of the time is road and the odd field.

Winch - might have saved the day? Winch in a bag for those odd times like today?

Keen to get Landyzone views as the above is the normal extent of my off roading! Will have to keep quiet that I got my defender stuck or my friends will rib me forever.

Fit some lockers in your axles for when you need them

You should put difflock on before you need it. Once the wheels are spinning and your stopped it's too late.

Mine used to go in and out of difflock. It was the noise absorbing pad under the gear gaitor that interfered with it locking into place so I took it out. It's been fine since then.

Low first sounds a bit slow to me.

Get a tirfor.

I like to be in difock before getting into any bother. I was once told to only diff lock if stuck however experience has taught me that diff lock with momentum behind you is much better than getting stuck with no diff lock, engaging and trying to set off from a stopped position.. I give my a nice big push over and the light comes on. If you haven't used it in a while they go a little stiff like my disco did. However my 90 is always using it and it's nice and free. I don't use 1st in low box only 2nd and up, if I'm in low and start to lose traction and think I need to diff lock then I'll push it over as I'm driving. There will be arguments for and against this ofcourse but that's what I do! A winch would have helped you out ofcourse but it's if you are prepared to fork out for one on the odd time you'll use it.

sp00k said:

You should put difflock on before you need it. Once the wheels are spinning and your stopped it's too late.

Mine used to go in and out of difflock. It was the noise absorbing pad under the gear gaitor that interfered with it locking into place so I took it out. It's been fine since then.

Low first sounds a bit slow to me.

Click to expand...

plus 1 ,one of the first things i was taught as a youngster when learning to plough was if you think you may need diff lock engage well in advance,momentum is vital on ground with poor traction,becasuse of this landy diff lock is designed to be engaged whilst moving but not during wheel spin

+2 everything locked and steer as straight as possible before hitting the really soft bit, way to go!


OP, wouldn't be too concerned about one off incidents, especially towing on greasy ground. Trailer does a good impersonation of a ground anchor in mud. Even more so reversing, autoreverse brakes drag!
Your motor would probably cruise through it without the trailer!

No click from difflock lever, it just slides in and out. If you keep the levers and pivots lubricated! Everyone's difflock light can play tricks.