Considering Purchasing a Defender Max Limited (1 Viewer)

[WyoMud]

As the title of the post says, we are considering purchasing a Defender Max Limited! Want to get the opinion’s of those that own the Defender with heat and a/c. Any one have their Defender tuned? Anyone install a clutch kit on their machine, If so how much of a difference does it make, and what’s your top speed? Likes, dislikes and how’s it held up so far with the miles that you’ve put on it. How does the front differential work in the mud and snow?
 

We currently have a 18 Polaris NorthStar crew (old body style). It’s been tuned since the day we picked it up. It’ll run just shy of 70 on the highway. Has a little over 5100 miles on it and we’ve never had any problems with it at all. Still running the original belt on it. Only thing we’ve done to it is put on new tires  earlier this year. It cruses pretty good between 45-50. It does great in the snow. My only real dislike is the suspension system. It seems to sway a lot at speeds above 25mph. 
 

It’s mainly used for hunting, fishing, hauling fire wood, and running back and forth to town here in Wyoming. That’s about a 25 mile round trip!  
 

Thanks in advance!
 

 

[Steelslinger]

Not running a limited, but have '19 Max Cab XT. I haven't tuned it so far, but replaced the Primary and Secondary Clutch Springs with ones from EPI Performance (CAPS2/QRS2, inexpensive mod at $60) when I up'd my tires to 30x10x14 QBT 846s. In normal mode I've had it up 57mph (seems to be accurate according to GPS), never really pushed it all the way out, mostly run in Eco mode when around town. The throttle response is a ton better at takeoff than stock. RPMs are decent, not wound out real bad. I may or may not tune it in the future, pretty happy with it so far. 1700 miles on it at this point.

2020+ models have 10hp up on my '19 and I've read a lot of good reviews of these machines being tuned.

The amount of space inside is really nice, turning radius for that big of machine is great, and options on how to set it up is killer (Spring/Summer as a trail and yard maintenance machine, Fall its a hunting rig, and winter life a plow truck).

Only real dislikes are the back door windows don't roll down (which isn't a huge thing, but disappointing), 650 amp stator (Limiteds have 850 amp), and too many rivets to remove skid plates. With my ATVs, I liked to take them off once a year to really clean out the under side. Soon I'll just pull them all and replace with rivnuts and/or aftermarket skid plates.

 

[Andystoy19]

Your best bet is to go to the builds section and read those, I also have a 2019 Defender XT Cab HD10 with larger tires and tune and so far no major problems other than I broke my front axles in an unusual stuck situation and the cab version does not offer HD axles stock and the aftermarket is limited.

 

[WyoMud]

Not running a limited, but have '19 Max Cab XT. I haven't tuned it so far, but replaced the Primary and Secondary Clutch Springs with ones from EPI Performance (CAPS2/QRS2, inexpensive mod at $60) when I up'd my tires to 30x10x14 QBT 846s. In normal mode I've had it up 57mph (seems to be accurate according to GPS), never really pushed it all the way out, mostly run in Eco mode when around town. The throttle response is a ton better at takeoff than stock. RPMs are decent, not wound out real bad. I may or may not tune it in the future, pretty happy with it so far. 1700 miles on it at this point.

2020+ models have 10hp up on my '19 and I've read a lot of good reviews of these machines being tuned.

The amount of space inside is really nice, turning radius for that big of machine is great, and options on how to set it up is killer (Spring/Summer as a trail and yard maintenance machine, Fall its a hunting rig, and winter life a plow truck).

Only real dislikes are the back door windows don't roll down (which isn't a huge thing, but disappointing), 650 amp stator (Limiteds have 850 amp), and too many rivets to remove skid plates. With my ATVs, I liked to take them off once a year to really clean out the under side. Soon I'll just pull them all and replace with rivnuts and/or aftermarket skid plates.

Thanks for the info! Did you go with the same tires all the way around it? That’s something I plan on doing. 57 doesn’t seem to be too bad. If I tune it, and install another clutch or do what you did it should run a little better. Hope so anyway. The newer models with 10 more horse power should do real good.

One thing we really don’t like about our is that the front windows don’t roll down. The front consists of two small window, the front one opens out about 2 inches. The other front window folds out and lock against the other window. Our back windows are like yours. 

The skid plates on ours comes off pretty easy, just remove about 10-12 bolts and your done. Another thing that I dislike is trying to grease the front driveshaft. There is no actual ujoint, just a pin through the metal. Not sure how the Defender is set up. 

Doing an oil change on the Polaris is easy, and it has a spin on filter. I watched a video on the Defender Max, and you have to remove the two rear seats, then the soundproofing, and then remove the back panel. Then the 3 bolts sand pull the paper filter out. It’s nothing like the Polaris. The filter kinda reminded me of the filter that I had on my old CanAm Spyder. Just a little harder to get to.

Each one has some good and bad points. If the CanAm is reliable like our Polaris has been I shouldn’t have any problems at all. 

 

[WyoMud]

Your best bet is to go to the builds section and read those, I also have a 2019 Defender XT Cab HD10 with larger tires and tune and so far no major problems other than I broke my front axles in an unusual stuck situation and the cab version does not offer HD axles stock and the aftermarket is limited.

Did you go with the same size tires all the way around? What tune did you go with? How much of a difference did it make in power? I really was hoping to talk with someone that had the Defender Max Limited, but not sure if someone on this forum has one. If we do get one it’ll probably be after the first of the year. Maybe I’ll be lucky by then I can het some more info on it.

Anyway, thanks for the info! I really appreciate it. 

 

[Steelslinger]

Same tires on all four using stock rims. Front windows are powered and roll all the way down. Defenders have u-joints on the driveshafts. You can get and install a remote oil filter adapter and use spin on filters.

 

[WyoMud]

Same tires on all four using stock rims. Front windows are powered and roll all the way down. Defenders have u-joints on the driveshafts. You can get and install a remote oil filter adapter and use spin on filters.

Thank you sir! All of that is great info! Did you by any chance install a lift kit of any kind to allow fir the larger tires?

 

[Steelslinger]

Just S3 springs all the way around. XTs have arch a arms as the newer models do.

 

[Rgreenop22]

I have a guy that said with his tune can get me 10hp, to the wheels, I figured if I went to 32” tires I would have the power for it, but without clutch work do you think I would burn the belt up??

 

[Steelslinger]

I changed out my primary and secondary clutch springs when I went to 30s. Feels a lot better after I did that. I used EPI Performance clutch springs (not the kit, just bought the springs, $26 each).

 

[Andystoy19]

I have a guy that said with his tune can get me 10hp, to the wheels, I figured if I went to 32” tires I would have the power for it, but without clutch work do you think I would burn the belt up??

Check out the builds section in the garage forum, I have the EPI clutch setup but there is another one offered by Dalton that I may try. As you go larger and heavier tires your machine gets more sluggish and you spend more time in low range. The clutch kits change the bottom end response big time.

I have the Monster EFI that works well as well as pin locker in the front, again all in the builds section.