Y60 SLX SWB 2.8td - Land Rover Defender comparison

Hi fellas,

First post on here so be gentle (might be in the wrong section), my situation is as follows. I own a Land Rover Defender 90 300tdi which I'm selling - too unreliable for every day use. My question is, considering I'm used to driving a Defender which does let me down quite frequently, how reliable are y60 2.8td's on the road ? How easy are they to drive in comparison to a Defender ? Im not having a bitch or a moan about defenders, they are what they are and you either love them or hate them, i love them but unfortunately I need to have a car which is not going to let me down as much so I just want to know a few things. How much power can the drive chain handle on this patrol ? My plans would be to drive this patrol as my everyday car, ive got some 37" Maxxis tyres floating about that will go on it nicely im sure, but as far a lift kits go, do they compromise the drive like they do on the defenders?

Quite a strange post I admit, this is my first dive into the Jap world of 4x4's.

Thanks,
Matt

Hi bloke welcome to the forum!

No issue with the sort of power the drive train of the Y60 can take.

The 2.8 is unlikely to ever put it in jeopardy.

There are a couple of threads regarding lifts and driveability about, check these out.

Someone else may be able to patch in a link, I can't, I'm a pooter gumby!

Hello and welcome to the forum. I do not own an RD28 but have taken an interest in them, because the are the same block as my petrol RB30.

The gearboxes are not as robust as the TD42. There have been some issues with the head, and some have stripped out the key for the Harmonic balancer.

Other than that, they are a slow, but reliable power plant, way more so than a ZD30. I have been 4 wheeling with a gq that has a 2.8 and it handled every challenge thrown at it.

hi, welcome to the forum mate
I take it from the description, you are in the UK or Europe anyway - Y60 SLX SWB 2.8td - Land Rover Defender comparison

as @mudnut said, the 2.8 wont break land speed records (you really have to rev the fork out of them to make them move) but the will do everything the 4.2 & the 3.0L will do off road
yes some have a problem with throwing the Key off the harmonic
some have over heating problems
you can crank the boost up
you can port & polish the head
you can do most things to mod to get more grunt & speed
but like anything, the more you mod to get more power - the more the reliability suffers

good idea is as soon as you get it - replace all hoses, belts, oils, coolant, water pump, thermostat, viscus hub, fan, maybe even Rad - (ya never never know) - then you know you are starting at step 1


but they are more user friendly than the Landy - and more comfortable to boot
they will go anywhere a Landy will (and in the right hands, surpass any other 4wd on the market)
and dont have the stigma of having to be under the bonnet every 5 mins to keep it running
(dont mind me - I'm still stuck with memories of a Series IIa & Lucas electrics....) maybe they have gotten better over the years - I wont ever find out.................. ! ! ! !

good luck with your searching, and if you have found one already, post up piccies - we love piccies