Hi folks,
Im having a little 'debate' about the age and aspect of my Land rover with another owner. He is basically trying to say my land rover is older than it is. Hmmph. Anyway despite all my docs saying 1994 i thought i may be able to prove its not 1992 by some of its features? Its all round disc brakes and has the chunky two spoke steering wheel. I have seen 1993 defenders with the thinner four spoke steering wheel. Can anyone tell me roughly when solihull changed the defender steering wheel from four spoke to the two spoke. i think it must be around the end of 1993 and surely cant have been 1992? I have only ever seen 94 landys with the 2 spoke and 93s with the four. As far as i know my 90 is as is, and has had no in life mods.
Many thanks
Cam

Don't know about steering wheels, but this might help

Challenge is many Landys have had things replaced over the years!

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The model years tend to change in the autumn of the preceding year.

For the Defender this has sometimes been as early as the end of August/beginning of September and sometimes later.

It's different for each year, which is why the Model Year identifier in the VIN is so important when trying to identify exact age

Changes to Engines, Gearboxes and Brakes have happened at different times and specifications have overlapped -


To end of 1989 (FA) Model Year

2.5TD Engine, LT77 Gearbox, Front (Solid) Disc/Rear Drum Brakes

Vehicles Badged - Land Rover 90, Land Rover 110 or Land Rover 127

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1990 (GA) Model Year

2.5TD Engine, LT77 Gearbox, Front (Solid) Disc/Rear Drum Brakes

Vehicles Badged - 90, 110 or 127

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From 1991 (HA) Model Year to End of 1993 (KA) Model Year

200TDi Engine, LT77 Gearbox, Front (Solid) Disc/Rear Drum Brakes

Vehicles Badged - Defender 90, Defender 110 or Defender 130

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1994 (LA) Model Year

200TDi Engine, LT77 Gearbox, Front (Solid or Vented) Disc/Rear Disc Brakes

Vehicles Badged - as previous Model Year

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From 1995 (MA) Model Year to End of 1998 (WA) Model Year

300TDi Engine, LT77 Gearbox - Changed to R380 Gearbox part-way through MA Model Year, Front (Solid or Vented) Disc/Rear Disc Brakes

Vehicles Badged - as previous Model Year

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From 1999 (XA) Model Year

TD5 Engine*, R380 Gearbox, Front (Solid or Vented) Disc/Rear Disc Brakes

Vehicles Badged - as previous Model Year

* = 300TDi Engine still available for RoW (Rest of the World) specification vehicles

k reg 1993 they changed to 2 spoke.. if you have an old 4 spoke steering wheel an you don't like it you can change it for a 2 spoke td5 bubble type on late county td5's

Guys you are brilliant. thank you for the information and taking the time to provide it. Its what i thought / hoped and i cant thankyou enough. Knowing the date, even roughly of changeovers of certain aspects has been vital. Again thankyou so much. .
Is there any further info i can gain from land rover themselves, do they have a 'records section' so to speak that one can send a vin to fore a search fee?

PS oh no im more than happy with my two spoke. much chunkier for grip and safety of thumbs on green lanes too.

Depends what you want to know, Wikipedia has a fair bit of info and all for free.

camrhee said:

PS oh no im more than happy with my two spoke. much chunkier for grip and safety of thumbs on green lanes too.

Click to expand...

Golden rule number one for all off roading/greenlaning

KEEP YOUR THUMBS OUT OF THE CENTRE OF THE STEERING WHEEL