Shanes Discovery 3

by Shane
(Tom Price)

Well #2 Canning Stock Route

Hi Guys, seen theres a lack of disco's being posted up here so thought I'd add some details of my Disco.
Its a 2005 Land Rover Discovery 3 - first of the D3's. And being based in the Pilbara does plenty of miles both on the blacktop and off it.
I'll work front to back with the mod list as its easiest to remember everything that way:

-ARB bar and winch, Narva 225 HID spotties
-Aux battery
-Land Rover raised air intake
-LLAMs (used for more control of the air suspension heights)
-Trailer brake controller
-Icom IC-450 UHF and RFI 6db antenna on the front bar
-Rhino Platform roof rack and rhino backbone rails
-100L long range tank
-Kaymar twin wheel carrier rear bar
-Mitch Hitch tow bar (the factory tower has terrible ground clearance and is known as the plough for good reason) Mitch hitch brings it up to a height that doesn't create any issues with rear clearance.

I don't have anything in the way of drawers or cargo barriers as we travel with 4 kids, so the 3rd row seats are always in use - does'nt really leave any room for extras inside.

Being a D3 I can put 17" rims on, unlike the later D4's where as due to the brake sizes they can only go as small as 18" rims. I run with Bridgestone dueller A/T's in 265/65/17 size - a little larger than stock and I choose this size as its nice and common since its a factory Prado size. I have been a fan of the bridgestones for a while now, they do most things fairly well, don't puncture easily and the price is good too.

Our disco is the daily transport for most times of the year, and then used for travelling and touring as much as possible, which is never enough by the way (who's gonna argue with that!)

The extra fuel capacity of the long range tank gives us over 1000km range with the camper in tow (camprite TL8s), and without it we can push 1600km with a good run.

We've had this disco for about 2 1/2 years now (previous was an 80 series) and unfortunately we haven't done a major trip in this one yet.

Planning a trip across the gunbarrel in July 2017. But its taken us around Jurien bay, Kalgoolie, Margret river, and a few other places in between as well.

When our old 80 series was unfortunately written off I started looking at a replacement 80, but the asking $$ for what I wanted where a bit crazy for my liking and we started to think of the practicalities of the 80s 3rd row seating, which isn't the easiest setup when you need to use it daily. Found the new 100's and 200's 3rd rows very similar so started looking at other options. Settled on the disco when I found that I could seat in the 3rd row comfortably - and Im 6ft tall so no short arse. So that was settled as it meant that it could be a long term option for growing kids.

I love the disco as an all rounder. Comfortable and quiet inside. The air suspension gives an awesome ride on the black stuff and on gravel corrugated roads (probably a little too good as you end up driving faster than you probably should).
Don't need to worry about suspension upgrades or lifts as it self levels with the camper hooked up, and an extra 2" lift on demand for off road (plus can go another 2" onto of that with the LLAMS unit if needed).

Anyway that sums it up, so enjoy the couple of photos I've added.

Cheers
Shane

Click here to post comments

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How? Simply click here to return to Your 4x4.

Shanes Discovery 3

Recent Articles

Goodyear wrangler MTR

4x4 off road tracks 0 to 250 km from Perth

4 Wheeling Around Jurien Bay.