36 Spline & 48 Spline explained

ALL 90/110/127 models from 1984 to 1989 had a 4 spoke that's a four spoke steering wheel that fits 36 splined steering column.

1989 to 1991 Defender 200Tdi/V8 had a 4 spoke steering wheel that fits 36 splined steering column.

with us so far

1992 to May 1994 Defender 200 Tdi

200 Tdi Defenders in 1992 started to appear with the 2 spoke steering wheel 48 spline

May 1994 to 1998 300 Tdi

Nice and easy all have a 48 splines

1998 to 2006 Td5

36 or 48 spline?

This is where people come unstuck, its not hard look at the large round thing in front of you when you sit in your Land Rover.

Land Rover kept changing the steering column depending how much money was in your wallet.

Basic bog/poor/poverty standard 1998 to 2006 Defenders came with 2 spoke steering wheel with a large plastic Land Rover logo in the middle, this is a 48 splined column.

Now for the posh people

Proper County (that's carpet under your feet) & Special editions from 1998 to 2006 came with a 2 spoke steering wheel that has a large padded centre section looks like an airbag module but is not, this is 36 splined. These should be all County XS, Heritage, Silver edition, Black edition, X-tech, G4 Challenge etc.

2006 saw the introduction of the Puma/Tdci Transit engine this is where we say check your column as Land Rover started to use up all the old columns so some have 36 some have 48.

Generally 36 splines are confined to 2007 model year cars, there are not many but they need to be checked.

Most later Puma engined Defenders should now be on 48 splines regardless of the steering wheel fitted.

This is not the end Land Rover thought it would be a good idea to fit a steering angle sensor to 2015
model year Defenders!