Club 80-90 Forums

Hi Guys, could some one settle an argument between me and my brother, he own a landrover 90 and a 110, he uses these as he does a lot of wildfowling.

I have been trying to convince him to get a syncro, he is a plumber so it shouldn't be a problem , however, he firmly believes that a syncro couldn't touch a landrover off road.

Does anyone know if this is or isn't the case...?

My devon barely makes it up hills so i think he is thinking a syncro will be much the same.

Sounds like the classic Landy owner to me....

Type 'syncro' into Youtube, that should answer a few questions.

type in landrover in you tube and you wont see any syncros doing the same stuff the land rovers are doing,cj.

He He, this is true....

This debate comes up all the time and im not prepared to get into a slanging match.
However, i happily follow my mates (standard) defender around most places. Agreed, it wont follow over some of the more demanding stuff (mostly where approach angle is too much for the Syncro), but theres usually another way round so i can keep following.

Mind you, if your at all concerned about the cost of following the defender, then dont buy a syncro. It would seem defender's are built of much tougher stuff than Syncro's in my opinion!

It would seem Defenders are built of much tougher stuff than Syncro's in my opinion!

That's why you could build one from scratch from the bits laying about on most pay and play off-road sites!

Syncros are pretty tough in many respects, and when we joined an organised group on a big hilly site arriving with them at 11-00 a.m. by 4-30pm we had to depart as all the others were broken in some way or other, a mixture of Landies, RRovers, Suzukis and Fronteras etc.

We were told this was normal, as when we went as a club a few weeks later they'd all gone by 3-00pm (thank goodness, their recovery antics were dangerous!), the organiser said... 'Yup, all broken again, we're off now!'

Guess its just par for the course when pushing these vehicles to thier limit offroad.

The stresses and strains of 'offroading' on a vehicles components must be exeptionally high. Its similar with mountain bikes, componentry just gets eaten as soon as you put mud into the equation.
Dont get me wrong, im not saying the Syncro is a weakling, but i personally have broken alot of bits and pieces whilst offroading that im sure would have lasted a lot longer had they not been subjected to such a beating.
The upside to it is that ive got to know the mechanics of the beast intimately through having to take apart and reassemble almost everything.

Mmm, they obviously wear parts out quicker, but apart from gearboxes which are known to be a bit weak on and off-road, or have their in-built achilles' heels, and the occasional driveshaft (touching wood, not broken one yet in 4 years!), what exactly 'breaks' ?

I'd say CVJs are a normal wear part, and only break when they're well worn anyway, before you get off-road.

Not particulalry relevant but reminds me what someone said to me:

"If you want to go into the desert, take a landrover. If you want to come back, take a Toyota."

Ive Broken. . .
CVJ's x 4, admittedly they were worn already.
CVJ boots, what a pain in the a** that is.
Indicator Lamps, cheap enough, but still cost money.
Electrics, Many many oddities have cropped up from bashing the vehicle about.
Speedo cable, replaced this twice now, and broken it twice, needs fixing again.
Clutch Flexi pipe, not had a problem since i replaced it with a braided hose.
Exhaust, mangled the tail pipe while reversing out of a fail gulley attempt, modified the new one so it is far less likely to get stuck in the ground.
Horn, so packed with mud i couldnt ressurect it, had to replace it.
Tyres, not syncro related i know, but i still shredded one a while back.
Rear brakes, had to replace the cylinders and brake pipes, probably par for the course, but it cant help them being filled up and caked with mud constantly.
Washer jets, not broken, but i have to unblock them every time ive been offroad.
Sump guard, had to straighten that out after the plymouth event as it was rubbing on the sump. Cost nothing but time....
Engine, my own fault i know (forgot i had reattached the breather to the inlet pipe for MOT), but nonetheless it still had to be replaced after a jaunty angle poured the oil down the inlet. And lets face it, the engines were too weak for the vans out of the factory. Bound to put excess wear and tear on them even on the road let alone being thrashed off the road.
Gearbox, needed extensive work and parts to get it to the lovely shifting, silent box it is now.

Having said all that, i'd never buy a Landy instead. I love these vans, even if they are a labour of love.

Look at these video's. A vehicle is only as good as it's driver!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ON7FlImvmM

Then compare this syncro

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zs7PTdLdLaE

To this!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qqu46rqCahM

Where a Range Rover struggles on the same section, and makes it look real difficult. Diff lockers are a real boon, and a syncro does have superior traction in certain circumstances.

Anyway the fun off off roading is the challenge of surmounting obstacles, in a syncro there are just more of them!!.

Rear brakes, had to replace the cylinders and brake pipes, probably par for the course, but it cant help them being filled up and caked with mud constantly.
Washer jets, not broken, but i have to unblock them every time ive been offroad.

Yes, rear brakes don't like being full of gritty mud, but compared to a mate who hasn't blocked up the holes in the back plate, don't seem to have really suffered, a quick drum off, brush and knock out after an event seems to sort it and pretty well par for the course for dum brakes.

Never had a washer jet problem, touching wood again

What's happening I think is that in the last 5 years or so, a lot of ageing Syncros have started being off-roaded seriously, just when they were getting worn out anyway

Now, there's quite a few out there that have been comprehensively attended to, and seem to stand up well...

Rising them more than a tad doesn't seem to help with CVJ life either, for obvious reasons.Had one front outer CVJ clip knocked off, but fortunately noticed it upon return and put a new one on... they are pretty tough boots on the outers and inners are fairly out of the way.

What seems good about them is the strength generally and the fact they can be really hammered off-road, yet drive just fine when back on tarmac.

they got a bloody cheek calling that gap road.


i didn`t see a road

is that legal

lee

v-lux, kudos for obviously trying hard enough..

Re. that washer jet problem, BTDT, I think you'll find the rubber gasket in the top of the reservoir needs replacing.

Agreed with Clive that they do seem to survive a lot of punishment if you're prepared to invest in maintenance.

Ah yes! I did replace that washer, but only beacuse I had the tank out and noticed it was a bit perished and covered in sh*te which looked like it would get into tank, so at the same time blasted all the muck out of the tank, which seem to remember wasn't easy.. maybe that saved the day without me realising it

The guy I bought my Syncro off 9 years ago used to run a business doing safari trips in Africa, using Land Rovers, in the days when only the very rich could afford that sort of thing. When he went to Australia for a six month run around the outback in 1990, he bought the Syncro brand new with the intention of selling it after the trip. He was so impressed with the performance and RELIABILITY of the Syncro against the Land Rover he shipped the van home after the trip and thats how I became the proud owner