Rusty Landys

[Pauleds]

Just popped into a local 4 x 4 place today to get some bits, they are a proper reputable Land Rover specialist.
They had a few Discoveries for sale so i went to look at one which looked really nice from a distance.It was a 1997 model with 123K on the clock and lovely order inside.
BUT it was rusty!! the door pillars were rusting, the paint was bubbling and the window seals were perished.
My Surf has had a fairly hard life and is 14 years old but it's bodywork is in great condition. Do all Landys rot like fruit?

[Woodzie]

In total off road they were complaining that the eary disco chassis were rotting out already......

[M35A2]

Just popped into a local 4 x 4 place today to get some bits, they are a proper reputable Land Rover specialist.
They had a few Discoveries for sale so i went to look at one which looked really nice from a distance.It was a 1997 model with 123K on the clock and lovely order inside.
BUT it was rusty!! the door pillars were rusting, the paint was bubbling and the window seals were perished.
My Surf has had a fairly hard life and is 14 years old but it's bodywork is in great condition. Do all Landys rot like fruit?

They shouldn't do, as most of the panels are ally.

Saying that, my dad bought a brand new Disco (04 plate), the last year they made them with "proper" axles. I told him when he picked it up that he should get the chassis undersealed and waxoiled, as it was brand new and was the best time to do it.

He mentioned it to Land Rover and they told him if he got it done, his warrantee would be void. So he left it.

Now he tells me he is getting surface rust underneath. He took it to Land Rover and they said there was nothing wrong with it, and they all do that. I told him he should have got it done.

My Defender is a 1987, ex RAF FFR, and it hasn't got a spot of rust on it. Even the chalk number on the chassis is still there from new. Mind you, the Military ones are fitted with Heavy Duty chassis and have proper rust treatment.

[da SLUG man]

military vehicles must have the lowest mileage between services of anything!

they get a rebuild every other week just for fun!

there was a fella driving around at tadley 4x4 in a rangrover that you could wobble the whole side of the vehicle cos the door pillar had broken at the bottom.!

[M35A2]

military vehicles must have the lowest mileage between services of anything!

they get a rebuild every other week just for fun!

there was a fella driving around at tadley 4x4 in a rangrover that you could wobble the whole side of the vehicle cos the door pillar had broken at the bottom.!

When I was in the Army, we used to have dozens of Leyland Daf DROPS that sat on the vehicle park for months at a time, and never turned a wheel. They get serviced regardless of being used or not. The same goes for every vehicle.

That's why ex Military vehicles are such a bargain. Built to last, looked after regardless of cost, and low milage to boot. I am looking for my next purchase. This is going to be either an American 6X6 REO, or a Scammell Pioneer SV/2S, Second World War truck.

My Defender is a FFR (Fitted for Radio) TUM (Truck Utility Medium).

Because they are radio vehicles, they are kept in heated hangars so the radios don't get any moisture in them. This is great, because my Defender spent it's whole service life in a heated garage. Apart from when it was in the first Gulf War, where it was in a Desert, getting heated by the sun.

[da SLUG man]

at least the REME boys don't have to get their hands dirty!

[M35A2]

at least the REME boys don't have to get their hands dirty!

No, we do all the servicing. They do most repair jobs. But rebuilds etc are done at ABRO. Now that is a place I would love to work in. What an aladins cave of goodies!!

[TJG]

It may have gone unoticed but there is a reason Jap imports don't come with underbody protection, the nips don't use roadsalt, where we throw thousands of toms of the stuff around as soon as the temp starts getting below 5deg C.

That said Disco are notorious rot buckets and the junction of the window frames and door skins is a favorite place to rot, boot floors are another place where metal worm enjoys a good scoff.

That said though I think you will find the output of Solihul's finest still hold the record for the highest percentage still in use. My '73 landy has had the benefit of a new chassis and some of the steel on the bodywork is looking slightly secondhand, but then I just fitted new door tops which cost me all of £17 each, so I'm not too fussed. I do however wonder how much any Jap replacement bodyparts might cost.

[M35A2]

It may have gone unoticed but there is a reason Jap imports don't come with underbody protection, the nips don't use roadsalt, where we throw thousands of toms of the stuff around as soon as the temp starts getting below 5deg C.

That said Disco are notorious rot buckets and the junction of the window frames and door skins is a favorite place to rot, boot floors are another place where metal worm enjoys a good scoff.

That said though I think you will find the output of Solihul's finest still hold the record for the highest percentage still in use. My '73 landy has had the benefit of a new chassis and some of the steel on the bodywork is looking slightly secondhand, but then I just fitted new door tops which cost me all of £17 each, so I'm not too fussed. I do however wonder how much any Jap replacement bodyparts might cost.

Your right there.

I think it's like 75% of all the Land Rovers ever built are still in use. The beauty of them is you can just unbolt whatever goes wrong and replace it. My Surf has enough sensors in it to fly to the moon. If they go wrong, oh boy, will I have a bad day....

[Uplander]

Just popped into a local 4 x 4 place today to get some bits, they are a proper reputable Land Rover specialist.
They had a few Discoveries for sale so i went to look at one which looked really nice from a distance.It was a 1997 model with 123K on the clock and lovely order inside.
BUT it was rusty!! the door pillars were rusting, the paint was bubbling and the window seals were perished.
My Surf has had a fairly hard life and is 14 years old but it's bodywork is in great condition. Do all Landys rot like fruit?

Hi,
You may well get a lot of response from people with experience of Land Rovers either from their military Service days or buyers of these vehicles....dont get confused - these bear almost no resemblance to ordinary land rovers...I served in the forces for 30 years ( well, ok, twenty nine years three months - got time off for good behaviour ) and apart from that had Land Rover' s for 42 years, all civvy ones, and last two -since 1989- were used in a maritime situation pulling boats out of sea, on shores etc so the answer is yes, they do corrode...even those civvy ones kept in say north west Warwickshire - once read that was furthest one could get from the sea in uk, will rust due to the construction where ferrous metal and non-ferrous bodywork touch and react to each surface... The thing to bear in mind is the easy access to spare parts - almost everything is available for ones built since say 1990, and prices for such are reasonable....I decided to change my allegiance because I was offered such a good price for my last LR motor, rust and all........

Peter

[laser_jock99]

Your right there.

I think it's like 75% of all the Land Rovers ever built are still in use. The beauty of them is you can just unbolt whatever goes wrong and replace it. My Surf has enough sensors in it to fly to the moon. If they go wrong, oh boy, will I have a bad day....

Any Solihull Product built past 1990 will be equally loaded with sensors, gizmos and computers- it's a fallicy to even think Land Rover products newer than this may be easily fixed armed with just a hammer and a screwdriver! The MK2 Surf if anything is more of a "back to roots" 4x4 than the equivalent age P38 (MK2) Range Rover or "MK2" Discovery. If you think you can fix a modern Land Rover with basic tools you're in for a shock! Both the Range Rover Sport and Discovery 3 are "a nightmare of modern electronic wizardry" which you ain't gonna be fixing on your driveway. So in 10 years time when these cars become affordable as actual offroaders for offroad use, no-one will be using Discoveries and Range Rovers (and a heap of other new 4x4's for that matter) as they will be too damned complicated and too damned expensive to fix.

People on one of the Landrover Forums are regularly steered away from using cheap P38 Range Rovers and late Disco's as offroaders purely for these reasons- you can't fix them. Stick to the older models. Older = better!

[Pauleds]

It would appear that some love 'em and some don't.
Personally i think the Surf is built like a tank, very well constructed and as a whole package very well executed.
The flimsy door pillars,bubbling paint and ill fitting panels i saw today on what are considered to be good used buys(they were not cheap) reminded me of my Grandad's (god bless him) Morris Marina from the 70's.A shoddy rustbucket.
I'm really chuffed i got my Surf and didn't bother with a Disco.

[da SLUG man]

not to mention the LR diffs / halfshafts only lasting 5 mins

[BUSHWHACKER]

I drove a Landrover once, a 1973 short wheelbase. If I went over 50mph in it, the windscreen went all blurry!

[SURFVIRGIN]

I drove a Landrover once, a 1973 short wheelbase. If I went over 50mph in it, the windscreen went all blurry!

G-forces mate