Fred Labrosse

All,

I recently have been given a book published by LR (end of 1980s) about
taking your Defender in the bush, specifically in Africa. I have
personally seen many series X in Africa, all very old and often fixed by
the road with less than adequate spares and tools, but still working.

The first thing mentioned by that book to be taken with you in such a trip
is the workshop manual. I not long ago went to a LR dealer to buy one, to
which they said that no, they don't sell that for the 110 TD5 (or any TD5
apparently)...

Does that mean it's not a good idea to take a TD5 in the wild? Has anybody
got any experience as for availability of spares in places such as Africa
(I know, this is a bit vague ;-)? Does anybody know of a good source of
information?

Cheers,

Fred

Hirsty's

LR are great when simple, the more electronic junk the more likely you will
suffer. Most African bush garages can remedy mechanical things with lots of
ingenuity, however they will lack most of the backup for the gizmo's
managing Td5 engines and ETC, ECU and Alarm systems.


Try to imagine what you would do without membership of the AA, RAC or some
such in the "civilised" roads we have.

John H


"Fred Labrosse" <ffl@aber.ac.uk> wrote in message
news:1112623890.326872@leri.aber.ac.uk...
> All,
>
> I recently have been given a book published by LR (end of 1980s) about
> taking your Defender in the bush, specifically in Africa. I have
> personally seen many series X in Africa, all very old and often fixed by
> the road with less than adequate spares and tools, but still working.
>
> The first thing mentioned by that book to be taken with you in such a trip
> is the workshop manual. I not long ago went to a LR dealer to buy one, to
> which they said that no, they don't sell that for the 110 TD5 (or any TD5
> apparently)...
>
> Does that mean it's not a good idea to take a TD5 in the wild? Has
anybody
> got any experience as for availability of spares in places such as Africa
> (I know, this is a bit vague ;-)? Does anybody know of a good source of
> information?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Fred
>

beamendsltd

In message <1112623890.326872@leri.aber.ac.uk>
Fred Labrosse <ffl@aber.ac.uk> wrote:

> All,
>
> I recently have been given a book published by LR (end of 1980s) about
> taking your Defender in the bush, specifically in Africa. I have
> personally seen many series X in Africa, all very old and often fixed by
> the road with less than adequate spares and tools, but still working.
>
> The first thing mentioned by that book to be taken with you in such a trip
> is the workshop manual. I not long ago went to a LR dealer to buy one, to
> which they said that no, they don't sell that for the 110 TD5 (or any TD5
> apparently)...
>
> Does that mean it's not a good idea to take a TD5 in the wild? Has anybody
> got any experience as for availability of spares in places such as Africa
> (I know, this is a bit vague ;-)? Does anybody know of a good source of
> information?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Fred
>

VDR100250 is the part number for the manual, but it could
be a CD .....

Richard

--
www.beamends-lrspares.co.uk sales@beamends-lrspares.co.uk
Running a business in a Microsoft free environment - it can be done
Powered by Risc-OS - you won't get a virus from us!!
Helping keep Land Rovers on and off the road to annoy the Lib Dems

Dan Burdge

Fred Labrosse wrote:
> All,
>
> I recently have been given a book published by LR (end of 1980s) about
> taking your Defender in the bush, specifically in Africa. I have
> personally seen many series X in Africa, all very old and often fixed by
> the road with less than adequate spares and tools, but still working.
>
> The first thing mentioned by that book to be taken with you in such a trip
> is the workshop manual. I not long ago went to a LR dealer to buy one, to
> which they said that no, they don't sell that for the 110 TD5 (or any TD5
> apparently)...
>
> Does that mean it's not a good idea to take a TD5 in the wild? Has anybody
> got any experience as for availability of spares in places such as Africa
> (I know, this is a bit vague ;-)? Does anybody know of a good source of
> information?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Fred
>
I've just been watching a couple of Andrew St Pierre White's videos on
loan from a friend. Lots of interesting titbits about touring in Africa
with a 4WD, but lacking in detail. I put this down to being one-hour
videos...

Anybody got his book? (The complete guide to four-wheel drive) Is it any
good? I was thinking of buying for a similar reason.

I know he has lots of reviews on suitability of various vehicles to
touring in Africa. (TD5 gets a fairly good report - www.4xforum.com)

JD

Fred Labrosse wrote:

> All,
>
> I recently have been given a book published by LR (end of 1980s) about
> taking your Defender in the bush, specifically in Africa. I have
> personally seen many series X in Africa, all very old and often fixed by
> the road with less than adequate spares and tools, but still working.
>
> The first thing mentioned by that book to be taken with you in such a trip
> is the workshop manual. I not long ago went to a LR dealer to buy one, to
> which they said that no, they don't sell that for the 110 TD5 (or any TD5
> apparently)...
>
> Does that mean it's not a good idea to take a TD5 in the wild? Has
> anybody got any experience as for availability of spares in places such as
> Africa
> (I know, this is a bit vague ;-)? Does anybody know of a good source of
> information?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Fred

I don't think that there IS a workshop manual as such for the TD5 - the
material is held on-line and is continually updated. Snapshots of it are
available on CD, but I am not sure how available.
This is typical of any modern vehicle - the number of vehicles that need a
manual to be used away from a dealer is almost vanishingly small in terms
of the manufacturer's total sales. OK, with the Defender the proportion
may be higher, but remember that this is the smallest production vehicle of
the company in terms of numbers, and their service information structure
was set up for the Discovery/Freelander/RR - and most of their sales, even
of Defenders are to owners in or close to urban areas.
Further factors (not limited to Landrover) tending to restrict the
availability of service/repair information are the increasing length of
warranties and concerns about manufacturers' liability if they appear to
support owners touching their cars.
As to the suitability of the TD5 in remote areas - the increased use of
electronics, mainly in the engine, has probably increased reliability but
raised questions about repair if you do have problems. Although most
problems with the electronics are likely to be sensor problems.
Parts are another issue, and are likely to be a problem with any very late
model vehicle (where there are not old ones about to supply second hand
bits). In remote areas Landrovers are closer to other makes whose better
dealer networks are less of a factor where there are no dealers of any
kind. Apart from the engine, the mechanical bits of a TD5 Defender are
just as easy to "bush mechanic" as the earlier coil spring Landrovers.
JD

Alan

Fred Labrosse wrote:
> All,
>
> I recently have been given a book published by LR (end of 1980s) about
> taking your Defender in the bush, specifically in Africa. I have
> personally seen many series X in Africa, all very old and often fixed
> by the road with less than adequate spares and tools, but still
> working.
>
> The first thing mentioned by that book to be taken with you in such a
> trip is the workshop manual. I not long ago went to a LR dealer to
> buy one, to which they said that no, they don't sell that for the 110
> TD5 (or any TD5 apparently)...
>
> Does that mean it's not a good idea to take a TD5 in the wild? Has
> anybody got any experience as for availability of spares in places
> such as Africa (I know, this is a bit vague ;-)? Does anybody know
> of a good source of information?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Fred

Try researching owner's clubs in the area you want to visit, or get in touch
with any local orgaisation that uses Landies and ask them what service and
rescue arrangements they use.

Embassies have staff who's job it is to find this sort of information for
potential cash-spending tourists, give them a call.

Consider hiring something locally rather than taking your own vehicle, then
it'll come with, at least, somebody to contact for support.

Ask Land Rover, they may have some ideas.

--
Alan

alan@lordkhaos.dyndns.org

Andrew Renshaw

Yes I have his book and have read it - it is excellent but not as good as
Chris Scott's book on The Sahara which is far superior.

Andrew

"Dan Burdge" <dan.remove.burdge@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:d2s0q1$haf$1@titan.btinternet.com...
> Fred Labrosse wrote:
>> All,
>>
>> I recently have been given a book published by LR (end of 1980s) about
>> taking your Defender in the bush, specifically in Africa. I have
>> personally seen many series X in Africa, all very old and often fixed by
>> the road with less than adequate spares and tools, but still working.
>>
>> The first thing mentioned by that book to be taken with you in such a
>> trip
>> is the workshop manual. I not long ago went to a LR dealer to buy one,
>> to
>> which they said that no, they don't sell that for the 110 TD5 (or any TD5
>> apparently)...
>>
>> Does that mean it's not a good idea to take a TD5 in the wild? Has
>> anybody
>> got any experience as for availability of spares in places such as Africa
>> (I know, this is a bit vague ;-)? Does anybody know of a good source of
>> information?
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Fred
>>
> I've just been watching a couple of Andrew St Pierre White's videos on
> loan from a friend. Lots of interesting titbits about touring in Africa
> with a 4WD, but lacking in detail. I put this down to being one-hour
> videos...
>
> Anybody got his book? (The complete guide to four-wheel drive) Is it any
> good? I was thinking of buying for a similar reason.
>
> I know he has lots of reviews on suitability of various vehicles to
> touring in Africa. (TD5 gets a fairly good report - www.4xforum.com)

Uli

My 110 TD5 recently broke down in the North Western part of South Africa.
The nearest Land Rover workshop was in Cape Town, 450 km away . Their
waiting list for repairs is three weeks long.
South Africa's AA paid 40 km of the towing costs, I had to pay the rest
(huge!).

Fred Labrosse

beamendsltd wrote:


>>
>
> VDR100250 is the part number for the manual, but it could
> be a CD .....

And they don't sell it (an LR dealer told me)...

Fred

fanie

About the same experience I had. I am going to cancel my AA as I see no
benefit to it. You can usually negotiate a better rate from an independant
than the AA will get for you and as you say, what is the point of a 20km
tow.

Regards
Stephen

PS I would think seriously of going over to the dark side and getting a
Hilu# or Cruiser if reliability is a requirement.