Overdrive units on l200's & LR's

[hazzygawa]

I own a l200 warrior and it's pretty thirsty. So was looking at ways to lower the consumption.

 

I came across overdrive units, but am not sure how effective they are and I don't know any one who has one fitted especially on the l200 warrior.

 

Have any of you guys have one fitted?

How good are they?

 

Thanks for your time

H

[LGP Eddie]

I ran one of the first GKN units on a 300tdi Defender 90 for approx 130,000 miles with no mechanical issues.

The GKN unit came with what I felt was a quite overcomplicated control setup that involved a speed sensor to prevent the unit being engaged at low speeds, all running through a small printed circuit board.

 

I had to replace this twice in 7 years, then simply bypassed the lot in the end and had a simple switch.

 

Overdrives in my opinion are brilliant and really do make the driving experience (especially in a Defender) so much nicer.

I could engage mine at 45mph and it would make 85mph cruising a reality without too much pain.

It helped everything in a little way I feel, knocking the engine revs down certainly giving better fuel consumption and a much better driving experience.

 

The negatives come from people abusing the units and thinking they are some form of splitter for the gears? Simply use it as a sixth gear and it'll give no trouble, plus in the GKN Defender unit change the oil every 6000 miles (it only takes a drop) but be certain to take the cover plate off and clean the gauze/magnet off any debris.

 

I have no experience of an L200 unit, but can't see any negatives if it's a well made proven unit?

I would have another tomorrow for a Defender, but have moved on to the 6 speed TDCi which is fine in standard form.

 

Eddie.

[WorcsWuss]

Friend of mine has a gkn od on a 2006 td5 90 from new. Used it to commute from Tenbury to North Curry. Still has it now, tours all over Europe, no problems, done huge mileage...

[finchyo]

been looking at the roverdrive unit for my 110, looks like a better option than the gkn. Can use it as splitter gears and less maintainence and problems. Its alot of money though and by accounts i have read it dont make much difference to your fuel economy. Might do if on motorway all the time.

[stoxs]

what sort of prices are we talking here?

my td5 disco really needs something up from 5th, was tempted to look into a 6 speed later model gearbox that they had fitted to the transit engine i think.

more info would be welcome.

[hazzygawa]

I have been on the phone to a l200 specList and they recon they don't make the gkn anymore.

 

But you can still pick up good one 2nd hand, quite pricey tho.

 

They recon it would be like adding another half a gear to the gearbox. Which doesn't sound like a lot to me or worth it.

[Jonny69]

Do you do a lot of motorway mileage Harry?

[agrimog]

have a look on some of the american 4x4 sites, you might find that you can get a different set of gears for your transfer box to work as an od unit, good if you do a lot of road work, still leaves the low ratios for off road, theres even the option of double stacking and reversing transfer boxes, check pirate 4x4 as a start

[hazzygawa]

Do you do a lot of motorway mileage Harry?

 

I do a fair bit of motorway work as I live about a mile away from the m1 and it takes me to npton and London when I need to go.

Not sure if it justifies buying the unit tho.