What should I know before buying

[cadfael_tex]

Hello. I'm considering getting a series Land Rover as a weekend fun vehicle. I've been weighing options on everything from an old porsche or MG to a Land Cruiser. My daily driver is an '05 Mini Cooper S convertible. As much as I love old British sports cars when I had to take my Mini off road the other day to go out to some of my soldiers (I'm an Army Chaplain) I realized that a 4 X 4 might be a good possibilty. I did some eBay searching and the series Land Rovers weren't as expensive as I would have thought. Have a few questions:

1) What would be a good price range?
2) Are certain years/models easier to work on/find/ or otherwise more recommended?
3) How hard are parts to find in the US (I live in southeast Lower Alabama)?
4) What are some of the trouble spots to look for when inspecting one of these?
5) How hard are they to turn a wrench on?

Hope that's not too many questions but I just started researching these.

TIA,
Tony

[pickuprover]

1) What would be a good price range?

Depends on area, model and age...
2) Are certain years/models easier to work on/find/ or otherwise more recommended?
Series trucks are a little easier to work on than Defender models... Series III (1974-..) have a more difficult dash cluster to work on... Series IIA are the simplest other than Series I but Series I parts are harder to find....
3) How hard are parts to find in the US (I live in southeast Lower Alabama)?
Series parts are easy to find.. just have a look at www.atlanticbritish.com, or www.roversnorth.com.
4) What are some of the trouble spots to look for when inspecting one of these?
Biggest suggestion.... FRAME... frame swaps are not that hard, but can be expensive (new galvied frame is close to $3000 by the time you get it and all the bits and pieces you need..)
5) How hard are they to turn a wrench on?
THey are the worlds largest Knex set.... really quite easy to wrench on, once you get over the fear of wrenching...

My best suggestion is to find your local rover club, go out a couple of times with them, ride in different vehicles to make sure it is what you want.. then go find one. The Series trucks are not for everyone, they are not like probably anything you have driven... loud, hot, rough ride, maintence hogs..... but once you are hooked, there really is no other vehicle....

[cadfael_tex]

Originally Posted by pickuprover

The Series trucks are not for everyone, they are not like probably anything you have driven... loud, hot, rough ride, maintence hogs..... but once you are hooked, there really is no other vehicle....

Sounds alot like a Humvee to me as far as be loud, hot, rough ride, and maintenance hogs!

[pickuprover]

Originally Posted by cadfael_tex

Sounds alot like a Humvee to me as far as be loud, hot, rough ride, and maintenance hogs!

I think I forgot to mention SLOW... seriously tho, get out and drive in a couple, see if they are what you are looking for.... I got a deal on my series truck because the previous owner did not do his reseacrch and found out after he bought it that a Lexus was more his taste... But I would not trade my series for any other Land Rover (well maybe a G4 110 but that is about it..... )

[antichrist]

Originally Posted by cadfael_tex

(I'm an Army Chaplain)

This is good, you'll be praying a lot, and will be asking for miracles.
Are you a priest? If not, find another army chaplain who is so you can go to confession, because you'll be cursing a lot as well.

[Wolfman]

3) How hard are parts to find in the US (I live in southeast Lower Alabama)?
Most Series parts are easy to find. Another source on the East Coast is www.dap-inc.com.

5) How hard are they to turn a wrench on?
They are really quite easy to wrench, once you get over the fear of wrenching... My wife, who is quite mechanical, had never wrenched on a car before (other than helping her Dad many moons ago), but she has successfully worked on our Series III and fixed everything herself so far (clutch master cylinder, transfer box seals, routine maintenance, front wheel hubs, electrical grounds, etc). Get the "green manual" for your Series model and you are set.

PickupRover is right --the Series trucks are not for everyone -- they are loud, hot (no AC), slow (around 45 mph normally), rough ride, maintence hogs, but put her in 4wheel drive low and you can go just about anywhere (even places where the newer Land Rovers have a rough go)!

We LOVE our Series!

[cadfael_tex]

Couple of more questions that I thought of.

1) the jump seats in the back. Are there seat belts? I've got a four year old that I need to tie down.

2) What's the towing capacity? Not that it really needs to but if it can tow a Mini Cooper maybe I could take it with me when I PCS (change posts) instead of paying to have it shipped. (depending on how far and how good/bad the weather is)

[pickuprover]

As for the towing capacity..... have a look at the pictures.. now remember that with the extra weight on behind, you loose that much more of your precsious top end speed. The first pic is a buddy of my in Nova Scotia that uses his truck as a daily work truck in Construction.... the second another NS guy.... but both are standard engines... I have also flat towed another series behind my 109 so I would say you should not have too many issues with towing a mini.... but it will be a longer drive with a mini on behind (hehehe maybe the mini would tow the series better.... )

[jimfoo]

Originally Posted by Wolfman

3)

PickupRover is right --the Series trucks are not for everyone -- they are loud, hot (no AC), slow (around 45 mph normally), rough ride, maintence hogs, but put her in 4wheel drive low and you can go just about anywhere (even places where the newer Land Rovers have a rough go)!

We LOVE our Series!

Slow? 45 normally? With an overdrive and 235-85-16 tires, I have made many trips to Moab cruising at 75, and at times have gone 80. If you can only do 45, something's wrong.
And this was before I doubled my 42 hp with a VW turbodiesel.
If you tow the Mini, just remember that Series brakes aren't the best in the world, especially the non-power single circuit ones.

[Geobloke]

Originally Posted by antichrist

This is good, you'll be praying a lot, and will be asking for miracles.
Are you a priest? If not, find another army chaplain who is so you can go to confession, because you'll be cursing a lot as well.

So true so true!

Just remember that the vehicle you are buying is older than probably 50% of the barracks you are connected with!!! So a little patience is necessary.

I own a '62 88" truck cab over here in the UK, it is loud and slow (50mph max), but it is a solid workhorse and gets you there. Simple mechanics and very very tough little machines!

I also own a '92 D90 and a '02 D110 and you know what they aren't much better really! A little quieter, alot quicker and just as much fun!

Happy hunting!

[Geobloke]

Originally Posted by cadfael_tex

Couple of more questions that I thought of.

1) the jump seats in the back. Are there seat belts? I've got a four year old that I need to tie down.

2) What's the towing capacity? Not that it really needs to but if it can tow a Mini Cooper maybe I could take it with me when I PCS (change posts) instead of paying to have it shipped. (depending on how far and how good/bad the weather is)

Towing limit is 3.5 tons in the books, but I know many farmers that have topped 5 tons behind there 88" series vehicles. When the guys said these things are tough, they really are! A mini? Pah! you could tow 3 with ease! You wouldn't be going anywhere very fast like but it'd pull them. Remember the series vehicles were built to last and built to work and work damned hard every day all day, be field repairable as when they came out there was NO dealer network to call up.

As for seats, you'll be lucky to find seat belts. Having said that you can stick whatever seats you like in a series, out of any car you can find as a donor vehicle. The utter beauty of landrovers is that they can be configured to whatever you want, then the next day be re-configured to complete a different task!

I am forever whipping out my jump seats to fit gear in the back, couple of bolts and they are back in place... Want a rag top, then unbolt the hard top and vice versa!!


These things are the ultimate meccano/lego kit!

[Geobloke]

Originally Posted by jimfoo

Slow? 45 normally? With an overdrive and 235-85-16 tires, I have made many trips to Moab cruising at 75, and at times have gone 80. If you can only do 45, something's wrong.
And this was before I doubled my 42 hp with a VW turbodiesel.
If you tow the Mini, just remember that Series brakes aren't the best in the world, especially the non-power single circuit ones.

Lol have you got a 2.25 diesel, cos they definitely will not go more than 45mph, they'll push down a house and run on whatever fuel you have to hand though... Veg. Oil no worries...

As for the brakes, there are kits you can buy to upgrade your front brakes to disc brakes, think Zeus do a kit. A friend of mine has this kit on his SIIa 88" and they are SAVAGE! mind you he does have a 200tdi under the hood too...

[braganjackson11]

i've got a recently overhauled 71 IIA that's been modified to about an 8.5 to 1 compression and 33x10.50 BFG M/t's and i top out at around 70 MPH, can't tell for sure cause the needle jumps constantly but that's what my dad said he was doing behind me in his car

[cadfael_tex]

Well, I'm 99 percent certain that I'm going to get one. Now I just have to get the wife unit to approve the finances of it (which won't happen before the new year) and find a good one. I'm leaning towards a SIIa swb but I'm still open to any series. My perfect one would be a sound original or better yet an older restoration - one that I could run awhile before I had to do anything but not perfect, brand new looking out of the box.

[cadfael_tex]

Anybody in ATL or southern Alabama have one that I can take a good look at to get a reference when I start looking?