Craig posted on November 13, 2010 02:00
The LT230 is in!
Staying true to the “budget build” theme I was able to trade a bunch of good, but unused,parts and a little cash to get into an LT230. Dan and I had planned to do it ourselves, but Gord’n at Lamorna Garage in Seattle made me a really good deal on the installation cost so I had him do it instead. I’m really glad I did.
Gord'n did a fantastic job. The transfer case shifter comes up in the exact same spot as the factory Hi/Low shifter, and he was able to wire the diff lock light into the standard dash cluster. The light in the dash cluster is even tied in to the bulb check unit. The factory light cluster had one blank "unused" light. I still need to put a "diff lock" sticker on the light, but it's all wired up perfectly. This is actually *better* than what came out of the factory on the early RRCs with the LT230. The factory setup had this tacky bulb stuck on the center console.
Below: New knob with H/N/H and now it also has the same with the center differential locked. Installed in the factory shifter location, so I didn’t have to butcher the center console.
Below: When the transfer case is locked, the blank light now illuminates
Below: When turning the ignition key on, the bulb check unit illuminates the light, so I can “check” that it isn’t burned out
For all the non-Rover guys... Land Rovers are full time all wheel drive. The Range Rover comes with a viscous coupling center differential that locks up the front and rear axles (4x4) when there is wheel spin. The unit works well, but isn't the most robust. All the other Land Rovers (Discovery/Defender) have an LT230 in them that is still fulltime AWD, but that is manually engaged into 4Hi/4Low/AWDHi/AWDLow.