Before we even got started someone was wondering how long my mud flaps would last. They held. So did the truck. I went up, over and/or through crap that I was sure I would have to winch myself past... But I didn't have to.
I climbed one nasty steep muddy rutted hill that one had to winch himself up 5 winch lengths and another had to have a Defender come back down and pull him up the same.
I did have to yank myself outta one hole with my winch tho, I was trying to go around a hole that cost a Defender $2500 in transmission parts on his last trip up. I didn’t stay as ‘far left’ as I should and slipped into it. Pilot Error 100%. You can see how wide the 'left' was I didn't use!
Instead of trying to "get out of it" we decided to play it safe (it was DEEP) and use my winch to get it out. While winching I got into a angle that made some think I was ‘ready to go over.’ But, I didn’t feel that it was that bad. It did not feel any worse than the course at the dealer.
We bounced around some good terrain. Mud, rocks and ruts. A couple of people had obvious body damage. Mine is still dirty but I don’t see anything on the body. But, my rims got pretty beat up on the rocks. Each one has pretty good scratches/dings and one lost a wheel weight. But it still drove straight and smooth at 90mph on the way home.
On the muddy rutted hill climb that caused the other two LRs to be winched up I hit it once, failed, backed down, turned the DSC off and put the right foot to the floor. I got half way and bogged down. I then rolled back about 5 feet and hit it again. And made it. The whole thing was probably 500 feet of steep rutted mud that during the climb I felt the truck bottoming out. This probably took 5000 miles of thread off the tires, err, tyres!
Awesome performance. I hope my rims aren’t too chewed up!
(edited to change location of the gallery)Wa Hoo
-Tim
Chattanooga Tennessee USA
D3 V8HSE7HD
D1 kitted trail truck.
A Hummer is just a Hummer. A Land Rover goes all the way.
Last edited by freeflytim on 24th May 2005 4:25 am. Edited 1 time in total
22nd May 2005 6:43 am
BN
Member Since: 18 Mar 2005
Location: Here
Posts: 6463
Well done freeflytim, I will be hitting the hard stuff in about 3 weeks time, when my D3 (LR3) starts to earn its living. I am putting Goodyear G4's on the rims, which have a moderate grip for both road and off road. They use them for the LR Challenge. Interesting to note your acheivements. Brilliant. How about the dreaded wiring underneath, have you had time to look at it yet?
22nd May 2005 1:49 pm
simon
Member Since: 11 Jan 2005
Location: Shropshire
Posts: 18296
Tim,
Awesome !
Great photos too.
Wear that mud with pride and show up the 'Chelsea Tractor' types - or whatever you call them over there.
-s
22nd May 2005 6:50 pm
freeflytim
Member Since: 18 Feb 2005
Location: Chattanooga, TN
Posts: 297
Re: Kicked Ass
Its all about momentum!!
Wa Hoo
-Tim
Chattanooga Tennessee USA
D3 V8HSE7HD
D1 kitted trail truck.
A Hummer is just a Hummer. A Land Rover goes all the way.
23rd May 2005 2:43 am
freeflytim
Member Since: 18 Feb 2005
Location: Chattanooga, TN
Posts: 297
We can't those over here!! We can't even get anything decent on an 18in OR 19 rim.
My two times out in the woods I found I leave it in Mud-Ruts unless the rocks are *really* big or steep then I drop into low and rock-crawl.
Mud-ruts is like rock-crawl 'lite.' I tried the other modes, and mud-ruts is the best overall.
On the small rocky climbs mud-ruts does fine. The Diffs on my heavy-duty HSE lock and unlock when needed. Its cool to see what they are doing on the Nav screen and I can 'feel' the difference.
Zero faults the two times in the woods. JZK has had faults in the woods but only required a reboot. At the car wash today I spent literally 30 minutes with high pressure water getting all the mud out of everything and still, no faults. I spent probably 10 minutes just getting what I could out of the skidplates. Getting mud outta of the wheel wells and trim was a bitch. Nothing better than getting a face full of mud! I did notice this while underneath.. in front of the spare tire, err, TYRE, is a 'curtain' on the left and right which I guess seperates the spare from the exhaust. Mine was pretty chewed up. Probably from dragging it through the ruts. No biggie, just interesting. It took 10 minutes just to spray what I could out of the trailing suspension arms!
The crazy thing about taking this thing off road compared to other vehicles Ive had is how insulated/isolated the driver is. Close the windows, turn on the A/c and the radio and you don't even know you're on a trail!!
Ill post some pictures of me when others send them. Its hard to take pctures of yourself!
BN wrote:
Well done freeflytim, I will be hitting the hard stuff in about 3 weeks time, when my D3 (LR3) starts to earn its living. I am putting Goodyear G4's on the rims, which have a moderate grip for both road and off road. They use them for the LR Challenge. Interesting to note your acheivements. Brilliant. How about the dreaded wiring underneath, have you had time to look at it yet?
Wa Hoo
-Tim
Chattanooga Tennessee USA
D3 V8HSE7HD
D1 kitted trail truck.
A Hummer is just a Hummer. A Land Rover goes all the way.
23rd May 2005 3:17 am
freeflytim
Member Since: 18 Feb 2005
Location: Chattanooga, TN
Posts: 297
Re: Kicked Ass
Here are some pix of my rims... For the rocky terrain I was going through, Im surprised that this was the only damage. Trust me. One dude smashed a quarter panal, another lost a bumper endcap and two others had to winch 500 feet.
Wa Hoo
-Tim
Chattanooga Tennessee USA
D3 V8HSE7HD
D1 kitted trail truck.
A Hummer is just a Hummer. A Land Rover goes all the way.
23rd May 2005 4:17 am
FamilyMan
Member Since: 10 Jan 2005
Location: UK
Posts: 119
Great pictures...looks a fun trail.
I have to ask though.....You drove home at 90mph with torn tyres?2005 TDV6 SE Silver/Black Manual + Alpine
You've certainly given your rims a tough time. Mine didn't get anywhere nearly bashed as yours (thankfully). Looks like you've cut the tyre near the bead area on the rim like I have.
Those plastic guards under the back between the exhaust and the spare are pretty brittle. Mine have been chipped away. They should be made of flexible plastic like the mudflaps.
Chris2011 Discovery 4 (MY12) SDV6 HSE with General Grabber AT's, Traxide Aux Battery system, custom rear drawers and Autosafe half height cargo barrier
Gone - 2005 Discovery 3 TDV6 HSE
ARB Bull Bar, Warn 9.5XP Winch, IPF D/Lights, Cooper STT's, LR Raised Air Intake, Traxide aux battery system, custom drawers and half height Autosafe cargo barrier, Mitchell Bros 4x4 tow hitch
23rd May 2005 1:06 pm
ducati
Member Since: 06 May 2005
Location: Ohio, USA
Posts: 180
My rims are in bad shape after a weekend of solid offroading. They look pretty bad. Ahwell.
Some tips: mud/ruts is the best general setting for most trails I run on, but if you're on an off-camber slipprey section the rear diff will try to lock up and cause you to crab. If you feel this happen roll over to grass/gravel/snow; this will remove some of the preload on the diffs and probably open them back up enough for you to continue your off-camber climb without messing up your shorts
Also, switch off DSC offroad ALL the time. It will cause you to lose momentum at exactly the wrong time.
Don't forget the trick variable-speed HDC
For climbs, try 'D' on the tranny. I was previously using manual shift only, but ran out of revs on a really nasty tire-spinning long hillclimb (man those Goodyears suck), and although I actually hit 3rd the next time up, I've been told by Tom Collins (of Camel Trophy fame) that 'D' is what they use now. He said, and I agree after playing this weekend, that the tranny is VERY smart on offroad climbs. Obviously keep your foot in it and get over the "TC point" to generate wheelspin and clean those street tires. Use CommandShift for downhills or you won't get 1st reliably.
Sand mode is NUTTY. Try it sometime in a field. Land Rover found that folks were letting off the gas as they crested dunes, causing them to be stuck. So there's some "overrun" built into the Sand mode throttle. It is also VERY aggressive with the shifts. Do not try onroad
Your intake was on the wrong side in that photo
There's a thread on MuddyOval you should check out (I might be shopping for some 18's... Although those two options aren't the best, they have to beat the Goodyears!):
http://www.muddyoval.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1199
Looks like you had fun. Good stuff. Will I see you at the MAR this year??'05 LR3 HSE
Departed: '62 Series IIA, '02 Freelander, '03 Disco
24th May 2005 2:52 pm
freeflytim
Member Since: 18 Feb 2005
Location: Chattanooga, TN
Posts: 297
Oh great.
ANOTHER message board
Ive got a set of SE take-offs from Ebay so Im definately gonna look into this tire,err, tyre idea.
MAR- maybe
TNAR most probably. http://www.tnadventurerally.com/Wa Hoo
-Tim
Chattanooga Tennessee USA
D3 V8HSE7HD
D1 kitted trail truck.
A Hummer is just a Hummer. A Land Rover goes all the way.
24th May 2005 3:13 pm
ducati
Member Since: 06 May 2005
Location: Ohio, USA
Posts: 180
Ah, so the fella you bought the 18's from... What is he using now?
I always go to OVLR Birthday Party in Ottawa, CA... And MAR. MAR isn't much about offroading (although you usually do get in some gnarly runs) but is more about camraderie... And it's an awesome site, all those Land Rovers in one spot. Good fun. You should go.'05 LR3 HSE
Departed: '62 Series IIA, '02 Freelander, '03 Disco
24th May 2005 4:28 pm
freeflytim
Member Since: 18 Feb 2005
Location: Chattanooga, TN
Posts: 297
I got 'em off Ebay delivered for $900!
Tires and badyears. They came out of Florida so Im thinking the person wanted bling-bling!
MAR's not too far from TN, so who knows!
ducati wrote:
Ah, so the fella you bought the 18's from... What is he using now?
I always go to OVLR Birthday Party in Ottawa, CA... And MAR. MAR isn't much about offroading (although you usually do get in some gnarly runs) but is more about camraderie... And it's an awesome site, all those Land Rovers in one spot. Good fun. You should go.
Wa Hoo
-Tim
Chattanooga Tennessee USA
D3 V8HSE7HD
D1 kitted trail truck.
A Hummer is just a Hummer. A Land Rover goes all the way.
24th May 2005 5:09 pm
ducati
Member Since: 06 May 2005
Location: Ohio, USA
Posts: 180
Do you still have his contact info? The reason I ask is I'd like to find out what bolt pattern/offset/etc his new wheels have. I still haven't verified that BMW X5 (and compatible) rims will fit, and I'd love to know. X5 rims can be found for as little as $250/set on the 'bay!
I'll call the dealer and see how much the 18's are. Did you get 4 or 5?'05 LR3 HSE
Departed: '62 Series IIA, '02 Freelander, '03 Disco
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