LR3 - LR4 Resources

[Scott Brady]

During my travels in South Africa, the LR3 seemed to be prolific, and many are outfitted for overland travel. The locals even seem to think they are quite suited to it. Air suspension and complex electronics aside, I am curious to discuss this platform further.

Some questions I have:

1. Solutions for mounting the spare tire on a rear bumper or swing-out system?

2. There appears to be two methods for adding clearance: 1. Air suspension level rod lengthening and 2. Spacer above the air bag. The spacer seems like the logical choice, but I am curious of others thoughts.

3. Shock upgrades?

4. Does the vehicle have easily accessible and robust recovery points?

5. Known failure modes? (I am aware of the bushing problem).

6. Is the 18" wheel the smallest you can fit?

7. BMW vs. Jag V8?

8. Best year? Years to avoid?


I would love to see some images of these trucks as members have modified them, particularly with the spacer or similar lift and slightly larger tires. Thanks for any input!

 

[1leglance]

Ben Edmonson of Equipt has a very nice LR3 that was well setup.
Of course he had a National Luna fridge, an Eezi-Awn tent with changing room and an awning.
As a pro-photog he managed to cram a ton of gear, a wonderful wife and a crazy cool dog into the rig and traveled all over with it.

Ben joined Disabled Explorers on 2 Utah trips, one near Escalante and the other in Moab, I was very impressed with the LR3 in Moab as it handled the slickrock well.

I won't speak to the problems Ben had that led him to make the switch to an 80 series, that will be his pleasure

 

[gjackson]

At the Overland Expo Sean Gorman Master Tech of LRNA will be giving a presentation and talk on new technology and electronics in the latest platforms as they pertain to reliability and field fixes. What can go wrong and what to do about it.

I'm very curious to hear what he has to say.

cheers

 

[Antichrist]

Never owned one and don't see myself ever owning one, but I'll be following this thread.
Starting the the NAS spec D1, progressing to the end of that model, the move to the DII, the DIII, the DIV...every year seems to be a rapid acceleration of flying in the face of what used to be the cardinal rule for an overland vehicle, K.I.S.S.
So I'll be interested in what people have to say about them as a long distance overland vehicle, as opposed to off-roading with a group of friends where rescue is a call away.

 

[lwg]

We're going to be building up an LR3 this year. Would rather have the power and fuel mileage of an LR4 but being so new they are rather expensive for us right now.

Honestly I think the only vehicle I would replace my DII with would be the LR3/4. The aftermarket is starting to catch on, we're putting together some plans to build bumpers, etc for ours as we're not entirely in love with everything that's currently available. The air suspension can be converted to coils, we've done it before, so that would fix that issue.

 

[benedmonson]

I will say first off that when my 2006 Expedition Equipped Land Rover LR3 was working and all of the computers were clicking together it was nothing less than unstoppable! When we sold her in August she had 106K of very hard earned miles from British Columbia to the Baja 1000 course.

To try and answer your questions Scott:

1. The only thing that I didn't do to my LR3 was swing away tire carrier, if I had done the mod it would have been a Kay-Mar dual swing away which is somewhat available in the US.

2. As for the suspension lift mod I used the Air suspension level rod lengthening trick adding 2 inches to the truck. I'm not familiar with the spacer for lift mod? The problem that I had with the Air suspension level rod lengthening trick is that when the air suspension eventually failed (twice within 3 weeks) it left me stranded as the tires I was running were to large to turn while the truck was on the bump stops. If you keep the stock tires on then it will still roll while setting on the bump stops.

3. Never upgraded the shocks, the stock ones even at 100K seemed fine. If you wanted to this seems to be a good option for upgraded shocks:
KONI SHOCKS
P/N FSD 2100-4069
Land Rover 2006 LR 3


4. In my opinion the stock recovery points are more than sufficient. This comes from a very long 2 weeks winching our way thru the swamps, mud and rivers of British Columbia. No problems what so ever on either end. See the current Equipt ad in this months Overland Journal for a pic from that trip.

5. They have a bushing problem for sure! I had to replace my lower control arm bushing twice in 106K. You know they are going bad as every time you hit a bump you will think the front end is falling off! As far as other "Failure Modes" there is always the problem of having the on board equivalent of 27 personal computers running the LR3. This is a number I've heard from LR people?? This biggest concern of mine and it did happen twice is the air suspension failure putting you on your bump stops in the middle of no where. Paul May can attest to the last failure as he was with me on the "Hole in the Rock Trail" in mid July. After a full day on the sat phone trying all tech support stuff and having a LR mechanic with us we decided to do a 48 hour extraction on a flatbed. From what I learned you pretty much need a laptop computer loaded with all of the diagnostic software and not so much a big bag of tools!!!

6. As far as wheel sizes go the 18" is the smallest you can fit on the V-8's dues to disc brake rotor size. You can fit a 17" wheel on the V-6 LR3's because they have smaller rotors. I originally had the 19" wheels on mine stock and thought I was in nirvana when I could run 18's. With a 2" lift I was able to run BFG All Terrain 275/65/18's, but wish I would have gone with the next smaller 265/65/18's. Even with the 2" lift I still got rubbing even on the highway.

7. I'm not sure about the BMW vs. Jag engines as mine had what I was told to be a Ford V-8. I had no problems what soever with the engine ever. The motor in the LR3 had plenty of power at 300 HP and hooked up to the 6 speed auto/manual tranny was a beast on the road. Honestly driving the LR3 on the road at any speed was a pleasure.

8. The best years in my opinion are 2006 and up. I would avoid the 2005 as they had a few isssues, but were worked through as I recall. For the money the 2007 HSE with HD package would be the best buy right now.

The number one thing to look for when I made my purchase was the Heavy Duty Package. This package consisted of a rear locking differential and full size spare. When I bought mine the seller didn't even know about the HD package I just spotted the full size spare and went from there. My LR3 was an HSE model with the GPS so I could watch the rear and center lockers locking and unlocking on the in cab screen as I crawled along. The driver has no control over the locking of the differentials, but they always seemed to engage at the perfect times.

Overall we loved our LR3 as much as you could love a vehicle. When you look at the time spent on the tarmac in your over landing vehicle it is way more than time spent in the dirt. This was one of the reasons we liked her so much, she was a dream on the road and pretty much a bad *** off-road when working properly.

As for pic's I have thousands, just not with me on my travels right now.

 

[benedmonson]

We're going to be building up an LR3 this year. Would rather have the power and fuel mileage of an LR4 but being so new they are rather expensive for us right now.

Honestly I think the only vehicle I would replace my DII with would be the LR3/4. The aftermarket is starting to catch on, we're putting together some plans to build bumpers, etc for ours as we're not entirely in love with everything that's currently available. The air suspension can be converted to coils, we've done it before, so that would fix that issue.

I looked long and hard for a coil conversion before selling mine and couldn't find one. I was told that the hardware swap was a no brainer, but the software was the issue that wasn't figured out yet? I know that the conversion is done for the Range Rovers, but after driving one with this done I would say that the coils were no where near off-road worthy. I'm sure someone will figure out the LR3 coil conversion soon and offer an off-road lifted alternative. This is the achilles of this platform in my opinion.

 

[Mastodon4x4]

LR3s and LR4s are great trucks for any expedition. The LR3 has a couple of small querks, the main one being the front and rear diffs. (05 to 07) Land Rover used a diff fluid that slowly eats the coating off the diifs causing them to make noise. I've never seen one go out though. Just an annoying roaring noise kinda like the old jeep rear ends. Other than that and an occasional water leak they're really good trucks.We've owned a lot of Lr3s with over 100k including Ben Edmonsons old truck and they're still going strong. Hope this helps. Good Luck

 

[Rovertrader]

sold my 130 to a buyer in Co. and got a LR3 as partial trade- pic of each below. The ride back was considerably better than the ride out. We did a couple easy trails like Black Bear Pass, and the LR3 made it so easy- and did I mention comfortable?? I must agree with the above KISS principal, but in all reality with todays communication, for use in the US, not a bad alternative. I would be a bit uneasy driving the LR3 to Belize and back as we did in the 130 though. Like Burt Reynolds said in Smokey and the Bandit- "it just depends on where you are standing as to how smart you are", and so it just depends on the intended use/destination. A big point is that fatique when doing a trip like here to say Co is greatly reduced when in the LR3, and it is certainly capable and reliable for overlanding. For more serious trips, like say Blanca, I'll stick with towing a Defender out and back.

 

[Dave Legacy]

I run 285/60/18 Nitto Terra Grapplers and clear even when on the bump stops. I think it's the best size to be sure to get yourself home (on the streets at least). Spacer lifts aren't working out too well from what I've seen.

 

[Paladin]

7. I'm not sure about the BMW vs. Jag engines as mine had what I was told to be a Ford V-8. I had no problems what soever with the engine ever. The motor in the LR3 had plenty of power at 300 HP and hooked up to the 6 speed auto/manual tranny was a beast on the road. Honestly driving the LR3 on the road at any speed was a pleasure.

The V-8 was not really "Ford".... it's a Jaguar AJ-V8. 4.4L, 300HP. So, whether or not it's a "Ford" really depends on if you consider a Jaguar to be Ford. I could see why some people would think it was, others would slap you for uttering such an insult.

It definitely wasn't BMW.

The V6 offered was a Ford. The Cologne V6. Same as in the Ford Explorer, Ranger, and Mustang. IMHO, it's a POS as far as performance and NVH are concerned, but otherwise it's a stout, reliable engine that you will forget is under the hood as long as you do remember to change the oil every once in a while.

Both are vastly superior to the Rover V8, IMO.

 

[Wander]

Don't own one but I was struck by a comment about the terrain system in that it made running trails almost too easy as the truck just handled it all automatically. He also made the observation that everyone seems to make in that Land Rover and complex electrical/computer systems are not known as a good pair.

 

[Scott Brady]

I don't see them as appropriate for serious, long-distance, international exploration work, but think they are probably useful for shorter trips or trips with a group. Even a nice trip to Belize or running around southern Africa or Australia.

I have now been on the trail with them a few times, and conducted some testing - they are impressive up to their limit.

 

[Mack73]

In for info as the LR4 appears to be the next purchase - just waiting for the first couple years to roll buy.

Disclaimer: I don't know anything particular about the LR3/LR4 - But It would seem that there should be an easy solution to the "air bags deflating on the trail due to computer freaking out" issues - Manually jump the air compressor - or hook up the lines to another compressor to inflate the system enough to get it off the trail. Obviously something to test out before needing to do it on the trail.

 

[Dave Legacy]

Did I mention mine is currently taking on water with this storm we're having? =/