Is this the worst vehicle to overland with ? (Full Story)

Land Rover Defender breaks down again after 2 months at the garage. What happened in detail, what we think about overlanding with a Land Rover Defender, what is this other breakdown.

[dcommercial_overland]

I'm not being funny but, the Puma engine and the MT82 is the worst setup in a defender fullstop. 200tdi, 300tdi or a TD5 with an R380 would have been a far more reliable setup for the trip your doing. That's just a personal opinion/choice. Good luck with the rest of the trip though.

[defenderadventuresoverland]

There's some negative comments here about your setup - but people should give you guys a break, the heartbreak of a major setback like this is enourmous. You've been planning this for months maybe years and your dreams, so far, are shattered. Stay strong, you are all healthy, it wasn't a RTC with injuries. so look at the positives. I wish you guys all the best in getting something sorted an continuing with your dreams.

[joshuawilmot]

You guys have to much crap and weight. Go lighter and simpler.

[jimnicholson]

I have owned my 1999 TD5 110 defender since new. It has never let me down. I did renew the radiator and waterpump and fuel pressure regulator once but only for preventative maintenance.

[fhcfelix]

I own a Defender 110 300tdi. I had huge problems with my slave cylinder (FTC5202), but solved it. After changing the slave cylinder for 3 times, I decided to change both the slave cylinder and the master cylinder (STC500100). It worked fine for a few more weeks than the sole changing of the slave cylinder, but the clutch system didn't work again after a month or so. Then I changed almost all the clutch system for a heavy duty Valeo Kit (bought it on Paddock Spares - DA5551G - the delivery to Brazil worked fine although it was quite expensive). I also bought a heavy duty fork kit (FTC2957HD). I made the job in a garage in Brazil. No problem at all (with the clutch) for 10 years. I know Puma has another setup but maybe you will have to change all the clutch kit. But be sure: as soon as you fix the clutch, another issue will show up (right now I'm having a water leak issue that is driving me crazy). But I love my Defender. Good luck!

[wammdriver]

300/200 Tdi best Landy followed by TD5. Sadly the Ford engine killed any reliability.

[CW-oxoi]

So sorry this happened to you guys. We always say to ourselves ‘it’s part of the adventure’ but sounds like you guys are well beyond that! Really hope you find the best way to enjoy the rest of your trip.

[jotabege]

Been following you guys for a long time now (way before you left Switzerland) and listening to you today has been personally painful. The tiredness and the disappointment in your voice are heart breaking. I know that you guys are no idiots, that you knew that your dream was not easy and that chances for something wrecking it were real. But no doubt that the amount of bad luck you guys have experienced with the technical breakdowns is beyond any realistic planning. If the Defender had held up (as it should have) this would have been an epic trip, just as you dreamed it. Its not your fault, its that damn transmission's. And still, here you are, carrying on! Bravo! Looking forward to your future adventures, something really good is awaiting. Gruesse aus die Schwiiz!

[stefanhiltbrunner]

Just a thought… two potions come to mind …1 since you have a reliable car now…get a used rooftop tent and scale down your operation. ? Continue your travels, leave the rover in Florida and enjoy the rest of the time in the US without having to worry every mile …
2 pull the landy behind your cruiser like a trailer and using it only sparingly like people that pull vehicles behind their RV…
Best of luck 😊

[LondonSingapore]

Any major overland trip with a Defender is a huge challenge. It’s nothing like you see on Instagram channels. Defenders are hugely challenging to keep running on long trips. I drove from London to Singapore in a Defender 110 same as yours at end of 2023. I was under no illusions and fully prepared for it to be really hard, and it was. My son’s Defender broke an engine before we even made it to the channel tunnel! We had to change the engine! So, I can see why it was tough for you as a family - I worried at the time when you started you were probably under-estimating the difficulties. A campervan would have been a better option for a family, I thought.

[ivoguilhon-wildhogsprojete]

The Defender is the worst overland vehicle in the world today, but at the same time, it's also the coolest overland vehicle in the world ! I traveled for 6 years with a 2009 Defender, also living in it. Last year, I sold my Defender, bought a Jeep Commander, and go in expedition to Puerto Williams through the Andes, covering 16, 000 km. I had almost forgotten how good is to travel comfortably, without constantly breaking down on the road and dealing with mechanical issues.

[kattogo]

It is hard to compare an oil change and a transmission change. And also to compare a full stock 80 series with the overbuild Defender with a remap!

[WillGoodlet]

Sorry to hear you are having more problems with your clutch and gearbox. I understand why you are disappointed and disenchanted with the defender, its very sad to see…But…in its defence it’s 15 or 16 years old and been through some hard work…it’s not the same as a highway driving high mileage car.
From my own experience with all kinds of older cars (my first overlander was a 25 year old 2wd 1968 beetle that did 6000km across southern africa before there was tar road anywhere), Lotus, VW, Mazda, TVR, Triumph, Jeep wrangler and my two landrovers (28 year old 300tdi) and 2011 puma 2.4tdci. You either need to do the work yourself or have a mechanic you can trust.
Mechanics will never fix a car as carefully as you will and some of them are absolute sharks. If you find a good one they are like gold dust - do whatever you can to keep them. And thats true for any vehicle.
My wrangler was 3 years old and effectively destroyed itself and left me stranded in the central Kalahari - it was not fun - people don’t know how to fix them in Africa.
You have to pick a car that the locals understand and can get parts for as far as possible.
My landies have been brilliant. Near stock standard and driven hard all over southern africa. They are pretty easy to work on and there’s good knowledge here. But in the USA not so much.
It sounds like your mechanic tried hard, made you pay while they learned about slave cylinders in the tricky MT82 (mustang!) gearbox, but ultimately didn’t know quite what to do.

To answer your question at the end. If the intention is to travel the US - I think you need something newer and just get on with your life

[stephenbailey]

I don’t normally make comments but. It would not matter what car you had when you load them up like you have they are all going to break down.

[stefanhiltbrunner]

Hey you guys .., I have been fallowing you and your adventures for years now … I am so sorry that this is happening to you ! 😢
Thank you so much for being honest with your viewers and sharing the not so fun times too.. I think being honest with your viewers is a rear find here on social media. So thank you and I wish you guys the best with your Land Cruiser!❤

[gj]

Thanks for being real and sharing.
Good luck

[artzahara]

Dear Off-Track family,
a word of advice after 25 years of expedition travel in Defenders (always something to take care of or other) and now 16 behind the wheel of Toyota Land Cruisers (not had a breakdown yet..) : "When in Rome, do like the Romans". If you can afford shipping the Defender back to Europe then do it, sell it there..with the high level of preparation it should sell well and fast. Get yourself a First Gen Tundra V8 (you are in the USA after all) and buy a second hand camper shell with a pop-top, some basic gear and get on with your travels. Good first generation Tundras are pretty cheap at this moment and with a big maintenance (front upper and lower balljoints, general service and perhaps a suspension upgrade) you should have trouble free travels all over the States.Keep the 80 for back up/shopping in/out of town..while the Tundra is your comfortable and reassuring home base. But above all get on with your trip within the time limits of Visas. Safe and happy travels, Martin

[andywhiting]

From listening to this you have two problems. What you're trying to do isn't compatible with your small 4x4 camper and your snall 4x4 camper is broken down. Why is kind of irrelevant at this point. Sounds like what you actually need to do is get hold of an rv or a fifth wheel rv to cover the states and then sell it when you leave.

[timj.]

Keeping our puma as simple and original as possible regarding srive chain etc and traveled Europe and northamerica and put on almost 100k km myself and it's at 180k km now and never any serious issue. If you want to tune and modify your truck as you did well no shit.

[IarthoI]

Big modifications, big problem!
Faites réparer, acheter une petite remorque type off-road pour trimbaler tout votre matos (pourquoi pas dormir dedans ou tente de toit dessus), et décharger un peu le deff!
cela rendra surement votre voyage plus agréable pour l'organisation camping, la place dans le deff et la mécanique!
Ne remettez pas tout en cause pour ça même si c'est sur que ça doit être dur à vivre!
Des gens qui voyagent en deff, il y en a des tonnes et votre choix (qui est le mien aussi ;) ) est loin d'être absurde!
courage :)

PS: je vous conseil d'appeler Newman4X4 en France. Super sympa et surtout super pro!!!