Landrovers, good,bad or indifferent
Submitted: Monday, Jul 05, 2004 at 16:00
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Hello All, Driving along Great Eastern Hwy behind a Army Landrover this morning and got to thinking. The general view is that Landrovers are not all that reliable with quality issues which may or may not be true, I don't own one so can't comment on this. But anyway if the Landrovers are unreliable then why do the army use them in many senarios that you require reliability.. ie some bugger is shooting at you. Or is it just a case that they are old fashioned and a orthopaedic Surgeons dream.
Don't want to start a debate so if there are first hand informants out there ie Landrover owners/users, their
views would be appreciated.
Regards
Mark
Reply By: Rosco - Bris. - Monday, Jul 05, 2004 at 16:34
Monday, Jul 05, 2004 at 16:34
Kerry is quite correct about the engines.
3.9 Isuzu, normally aspirated in the 110 and same engine upgraded to cope with turbo in 6x6.
The army aspect is quite interesting in that there are many armies throughout the world using Landies.
As for the hackneyed old reliability bit, you only need read this
forum to see that all makes and models have their strengths and weaknesses. I have no doubt the Army's decision to run with them took all these matters into consideration.
I am often involved in work for Defence and recently asked the blokes involved in servicing them about reliability issues. There response was something along the lines of no real problems, other than due to driver abuse. Seems to me that would apply to any vehicle.
They've had the current model for about 17 years and don't look like offloading them in the near future. In the past I have considered raising the army aspect with the usual bunch of Landy bashers, but decided I would be wasting my breath.
Cheers
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Reply By: rolande- Monday, Jul 05, 2004 at 20:41
Monday, Jul 05, 2004 at 20:41
I remember reading a story in a mag when the Perentie project was on, they were comparing the 6X6 Landy with a 6X6 Cruiser. Coil springs V's leaf springs. Guess when the guys went for a run into town which vehicle they took. They have been using them for years, Land Rover built or partially built them in
Sydney for the Army, fitted the engine they wanted and had coil spring
suspension. Against what they were against it was an easy choice. Frank Parson's started building his 6X6 'cuisers about then but wasn't in a serious position to put in a bid, even though the 6X6 system he develped was superior to the Landy which drives the second axle via the PTO shaft out the back of the gearbox, at least that is how I remember it.
rolande
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Follow Up By: Rosco - Bris. - Monday, Jul 05, 2004 at 20:53
Monday, Jul 05, 2004 at 20:53
Almost correct. The 6x6 landie has leaf springs to the rear. They managed to achieve good axle articulation by overlapping the rear set inboard of the front set by about 200mm, meaning good spring length. Interesting fact also is that the 6x6 has a 200mm wider track than the standard landie. Only found that out recently and was quite surprised, I always thought they looked wider but put it down to visual trickery due to the unusually large cabin on the back.
The rear tail shaft setup certainly looks strange, but I suppose if it came out the back of the front diff as normal, that may have put a big load on the universal joints due to the very short length.
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Reply By: stevesub - Tuesday, Jul 06, 2004 at 16:33
Tuesday, Jul 06, 2004 at 16:33
With Landrovers, you get good ones and bad ones like any vehicle - there are just more bad Landrovers than good ones, especially our Landrover which is a mechanical and electronic nightmare. It is the most un-reliable vehicle that we have ever owned.
Our Troopy has been 100% relaible until it stripped a gear in the transfer case at 185,000km, why who knows.
I also have heard about the Australian army Landrovers being bitzas with Isuzu ehgines, etc.
The New Zealand army are not buying any more Landrovers, they have changed their allegance to some other pommie 4x4 which is not very
well known (I cannot remember the name).
Stevesub
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