Those are Michellin XCL's and where one of the best off road tyres you could buy and probably better than most non remould MT's these days. A shame they stopped selling them and that nobody copied them. They are still made in larger sizes for military vehicles.
Would depend on a lot of things, but probably no is the answer.
The cross linked air is more about roll rate than truly pushing the opposite wheel down. It is there to try and get the weight to shift laterally. I know lots of places claim it is like a live axle, but that isn't really the correct way of describing it.
www.tractortyresdirect.co.uk
Driver makes a big difference, but then that isn't a comparison of vehicles....plus 1 and of course the driver knowing how to drive off road,
have also watched some videos where traction control is fitted to landies of many taking the foot off the accelerator as soon as the wheels spin,
just double checked and see the ND has a ground clearance of 9.5â which is quite impressive
Yeah, traction control has been available from 98, but not on the older ones as I stated. And upgrading centre diff is not a standard vehicle. A scenario I saw with the a 300tdi defender, whilst laning in the peaks, driver of said vehicle pulled 2 wheels onto the grass verge to allow another car to pass on a road section between lanes,Yet the old Defender has been offered with traction control since 1998.... so hardly a new thing ffs
Not too mention upgrading the diff centre on a traditional Defender is easy and fairly cheap.
1998 is old
I learned off road driving on a Fordson Major, and a Leyland tractor, which I think was a 248, but could be wrong.
Never been in a New Defender, but I have been in a Disco 4, top of the range with everything, including cameras underneath that told the vehicle how you were getting on.
Only as an official rating. Although you can wade deep with a traditional model, esp old ones without any electronics at risk.
Obviously your right and everyone else is wrong. Even though you werenât there. Twist it how you want if it makes you feel better as we all read your negative views on your experience with a new defender, which are contrary to what most whoâve driven one actually think, if the press are to be believed.1998 is old
Defender came out in 1990 and ended production in 2016. 18 years with TCS vs 8 without. Even if you include the Ninety/One Ten that only brings it up 14 years without TCS. So the majority of 90's & 110's have TCS more than likely.
No idea what you are talking about with regards to the centre diff. No need to upgrade at all. Are you getting confused with how it works and what it does??
As for pulling over and having both wheels on one side on the grass. I'd suggest more likely they didn't have it in difflock. Hugely unlikely that it couldn't have driven off, unless the wheels where in a ditch and it was sat on the radius arms, axle & chassis.
In lab conditions on rollers or ice maybe it would be possible or if on a super steep climb. But real life it would be hugely unlikely to not have ability to drive off. You could also opt to go backwards as well as forwards and turn the wheels left to right. So I either don't believe you or there is more going on with that story.
To some extent yes I do know. It is only physics and I've done a lot of serious off roading and playing about in 4x4's and specifically Land Rovers. As said, the most likely thing is they just didn't have it in diff lock, easily done and lots of us have done this sort of thing.
The traditional Defender, as you say is indeed very good in its basic design. It is an extremely capable off road platform without the need for traction aids (diff lockers, TCS, etc). And can easily and moderately cheaply upgraded to be even better.
