Craig posted on April 01, 2003 00:59
In my last blog entry I wrote about how I ruined a sidewall on the Land Rover factory installed Michelin All-Terrain tires the first time I took it off-road. After a bit of research I decided to fit 255/70/R16 BFG Mud Terrains on the truck as this was the largest size I could fit without installing a lift. I expected this to give me a little bit of extra clearance, a lot more traction, and to be very durable.
In the spring of 2003 my family and I traveled from Petaluma to Washington State to celebrate Easter with our family and to visit with our friends. While visiting John Rohrbaugh (a NW Overland Society member) we decided to take the truck up into the hills around Ellensburg and see how the new tires performed. Despite having read the manual I had no idea that “4L” on a 99 Land Rover Discovery II didn’t put the truck into 4WD (only AWD) and I had absolutely no idea how Electronic Traction Control worked. I assumed that AWD was better than 4WD, and assumed that AWD meant all four wheels would always be turning. I didn’t really understand how traction control worked and whenever I felt it pulsing I would let off the accelerator. It would be years later before I learned how those two mechanisms worked on this truck. If you are new to the NW Overland Society, have no fear of being judged by me. Everyone starts somewhere. This is where I started.
If you own a 99-00 Discovery II you need to learn how to drive with ETC and the first modification you should make is a CDL lever (before tires or a lift). To get the most out of Electronic Traction Control you need to gently stay on the accelerator when you feel the tires spin. The truck’s computer will take over and will apply the brakes to the spinning wheel which will cause power to transfer to the non-spinning wheel (the one with traction). It takes a few seconds for this to happen, so you have to stay on the accelerator or it will never work.
The CDL lever is available as a kit from lucky8llc.com. This lever (Centre Differential Lock Linkage) is a Land Rover genuine part out of a 2004 Discovery II. In 1999 Land Rover invented Electronic Traction Control (ETC) and they assumed that nobody would need true 4x4 anymore. They removed the CDL Linkage to engage 4WD from the 99-00 model year but left the locking mechanism in the transfer case itself wasn’t removed. By simply adding a CDL Linkage you can now switch from AWD to 4WD.
Had I installed a CDL Linkage and known how to drive with ETC this patch of snow could have been driven through on the first try. As it was, I was really discouraged with my new Land Rover. Tire popped on the first trip, and a very shallow patch of snow required multiple attempts. In my mind, my old 4Runner was a more capable truck and this new Land Rover with all the fancy eletronic traction aids wasn’t getting me anywhere. I now know that the problems I had were largely driver error.
Here’s the video of my second time ever driving off-road in the Land Rover (kinda boring IMHO)