Off Roading in your Rover can take you to new highs, literally! The off
road hobby, if done correctly, can be safe and fun. It can reward you with
new experiences and friendships that can last a lifetime. However. to be
able to keep your off roading experiences all positive, you should do a
little work before you head out there on the trail. If you don't, you can
not only have a bad day, but you can come away with many thousands of dollars
in needed repairs to your Rover. The purpose of this article is to give
you the basics on what ECR feels your Rover needs before you head out and
tackle the trails with your local club, or your buddies. Everyone has an
opinion on what comes first for off road gear, and these are ECR's opinions
from off roading for the last 20 plus years. We aren't talking about your
local logging road ride that your dealership puts on, a stock Land Rover
can handle that, we are talking about some real off roading, not hard core,
but some moderate off roading that will give you a challenge. We are not
suggesting this is all you need. We are suggesting that this is where you
need to start. To prove what works, we are going to take a bone stock 1995
Defender 90 and set it up the way we think it should be set up, then take
it on an off road event that is mainly for large lifted vehicles (like
Jeeps with 35" tires), and we will still do well... or will we?
REPAIR: OF SOUND MIND AND BODY
If you ask most folks what is the first thing they want to trick out their
off road rig, they will usually say they want a winch or set of lockers.
Those items are great and are very helpful and sometimes required off road,
but for the purposes of this article we need to back up a few steps and
start from the true beginning.
This is our test subject, a 1995 Land Rover Defender 90 soft top that we
purchased from Copley Motor Cars in Boston. It has about 80,000 miles and
is in good shape. This article focuses on this Defender 90 (or D90) but
you can apply all these things to your Range Rover Classic or your Discovery
in the exact same way. So now that we have our D90, we are ready for the
trail ride, right? Wrong.
The very first thing we need to do does not involve our Rovers North catalog
of bolt on goodies, or a call to Safari Gard for a Stage III suspension
(although that would be cool). No, the very first thing you need to do
is go over your Rover from front to back and make sure that everything
is safe, and operating in top condition. We can't tell you how many times
we have been out on the trail when someone's charging or cooling system
blows up. Mind you, trail failures do happen, and the good news is that
on the trail everyone will help you out as much as they can, but nothing
ruins an off road day more than taking a Rover into the woods that you
know already has a problem lurking. We have even been to events where people
knowingly went into the woods with a bad battery, no spare tire or some
other problem. Not only is this incredibly stupid, it can make it so your
entire trail group misses out on a day of fun while your dead Rover blocks
the trail. Do yourself and your trail buddies a favor and make sure the
mechanical systems in your Rover are top notch before you head out. If
you can't fix the needs of your Rover yourself, enlist your fellow club
members or your favorite Rover specialist to do it for you. Your first
step to off roading is not a trick bolt on, it is getting your Rover up
to snuff mechanically and structurally if need be.
In our case, our "new" D90 was said to have been "recently
serviced", but in fact we found a number of flaws that had to be addressed
before this D90 could see a trail. The clutch master had been installed
by someone who did not know what they were doing, so the freeplay was not
set correctly and the shaft had been damaged making the clutch fully engage
about half an inch off the floor. We also found that a number of the fluids
were way overdue for replacement and that just about every filter on the
D90 looked like it had been in use since the 1930's. The shocks were blown
and most of the tie rod ends were bad. That sounds like a bad list, but
it really isn't for a nearly 10 year old Land Rover. The only bad thing
is that the words "recently serviced" bring up images of these
problem not being present, so be sure if you buy a Rover that you have
it gone over before you buy it to make sure you know what you are getting.
So our D90, now known around the shop as "The Banana", got a
bunch of replacement filters thrown at it, a new clutch master, the brake
fluid flushed, every fluid drained and replaced, a full tune up and a few
light bulbs replaced. Now we are ready for the trail right? Well... yes
and no.
If you are going to run around on easy logging roads or do a dealership
event, then yes, you are nearly ready to go. If you plan to follow a bunch
of folks on a real trail ride, then no. You are not ready.
CONSIDER THE HUMAN FACTOR AS WELL AS YOUR ROVER:
So if you are doing an easy trail you are ready to go.... "So
lets go" you say... "Not so fast" we say. Have you considered
the human factor? Do you know where you are going? Do you have a map of
the area in case you lose the group? Do you have the right clothes for
the day? What happens if your trail ride runs long and goes into the night?
Do you have the right clothes for that? Do you know the weather for the
day and into the night? Do you have enough gas if the ride does run long?
Enough water? If you are going out alone did you let someone know your
trail plan? If something happens to your Rover and you can't fix it, can
you physically walk out?
"Can you physically walk out?" Can you? This can mean anything
from do you have a heart condition that means you can't walk out the 15
miles you drove in, to did you bring the right footwear to do so.
There are 1000 things to consider, and the best way to plan is like a Boy
Scout. "Be Prepared" is their motto and you should use it too.
REAL WORLD:Winter Romp a few years back. This event started off
on a sunny and warm February day in Maine. Two groups left for two different
trail rides, an easy trail ride and a harder core group. We were in the
hard core group. We went out and blasted around on some trails and had
fun in snow that was nearly waist deep. See the image above taken on that
trip and remember those are 35" tires an a D90 that was lifted 4 inches.
As the day pressed on we planned where we needed to be and when. As the
sun fell we were out of the woods and looking for the other group that
was supposed to meet us for dinner. We planned our day correctly. The "easy
group" did not. After some hunting around we found a few Rovers and
asked the driver's where the group was.They told us there we coming behind
them but they had lost sight of them. We won't get into convoy rules here,
you'll learn that later, but basically if you are on the trail make sure
the guy behind you is doing OK, that keeps the group together from nose
to tail. These guys had headed out and left the group behind so they could
get dinner (stupid idea) and a number of rigs in the group got stuck out
in the woods. We took a couple of capable rigs and went in after the group
that was now helplessly stuck because the snow had changed from a packed
slush road, to a granular snow/ ice slip-fest due to the fast dropping
temperatures. We got everyone out, having to leave one Discovery in the
woods who had installed his snow chains incorrectly and wrapped them around
his axles. This process however took until long into the night (I personally
got out of the trail at 2:30AM). There were small children in this group
that were now hungry and tired, girls with open toed shoes that were on
the edge of frost-bite as the temperature quickly dropped to under 10 below
zero. This type of fiasco happens when trail leaders, or lack thereof in
this case, make the wrong choices. It can happen to you, and it will if
you off road long enough. The guys from ECR that went in that night to
get those rigs out of the woods had the ability to move around when everything
else was stuck, winch people that needed it and if need be both of the
ECR rigs at that event had the gear on board for the drivers to sleep out
there in total comfort with all our winter camping gear on board including
snow shoes, sleeping bags, food, water and more. This is an extreme case,
but in that situation how would you have done?
One more human factor to consider here: Do you trust who you are following
out on the trail? Can they help you, or will you end up helping them because
you are the only one really prepared?
Common sense. Remember to engage your common sense before you engage your
differential lock, it really is that simple.
PROTECTION: PREVENT DAMAGE
The second step in getting set up for a trail ride is a lot more fun.
It actually involves modifying your Rover! So what should you get first?
A winch? How about some differential locks? What about a roof rack? Big
lights have to be the way to go? Yup, those products are all cool, but
they aren't what you really need. What you really need is to keep the first
step in mind. Is your rig mechanically sound? If it is, then you need to
keep it that way, and that means protecting it from harm. Right now, go
out to your Rover and lay down in front of it (assuming your wife isn't
driving it at the time). Now look from the ground up and what do you see
first? What would hit the rock on the trail first? Yup, your tie rod. One
foot wrong on the trail and your tie rod gets yoinked backwards causing
an instant and massive toe out condition (front wheels pointing 2 different
directions). This means until you fix it you are a dead duck. Yes, it can
be trail fixed, but wouldn't it be easier to make it so that problem can't
happen?
The answer to protect it comes in various forms. You can get a lot of skid
plates that cover nearly everything under your Rover to protect its soft
underbelly from harm or you can selectively guard the weak parts. We like
to selectively guard the weak parts as it retains the maximum ground clearance,
and it also makes it easy to keep things clean and work on system on the
trail if need be. The minimalist approach also will never hang you up on
a stump or log like some of the large blanket skip plates. The purple arrows
point to the ECR ROX tie rod guard. This works on any Range Rover Classic,
Disco 1, or Defender.
It surrounds the tie rod and protects it fully. You can even jack up the
vehicle from the guard because it is that tough. With this unit, or one
like, it your tie rod is now safe in case you make a mistake off road.
The ECR ROX tie rod guard also allows you to run your stock sway bars if
you so desire. To install this type of complete protection on a Discovery
1 or Range Rover Classic you will need to relocate the steering stabilizer
to the front of the vehicle, like a Defender. The good news is that many
kits to do this are available as simple bolt on's from various companies.
We offer a full line of ECR ROX stabilizer relocation kits for all our
Rovers.
In regards to sway bars: If you are doing modifications for off road, you
probably are going to remove them. You can install disconnects if you desire
as well, but as a sway is designed to limit the vehicles ability to roll,
it stops off road articulation in the same way. You'll need to remove them
or at the least install disconnects. Sway bars have no place on an off
road Rover.
As you lay under your Rover you have also likely noticed that the front
differential is sort of "out there" as well. It too is a magnet
for rocks waiting to tear open the weak sheet metal case. If you smash
this area you'll likely damage the front ring gear or worse, so it needs
protection. The axle case is strong, but the gear cover is not. Some of
the blanket skid plates cover this area in one shot, it works, we just
don't like that approach (personal choice). Our way of protection this
weak spot is to install a differential guard. There are a number of manufactures
of diff guards and all work quite well. Most of these units bolt on, but
we have seen quite a few fall off on the trail, so we always tack weld
them into place. The weld can be easily ground off if you ever need to
remove the guard. The image above shows Ian tack welding the front differential
guard onto The Banana.
This shot shows the differential guard after we got back from off roading
with the Jeep guys on one event. The blue arrows point to lots of scars
from rocks on this guard even though our trail spotters were doing a great
job. If this guard wasn't in place our D90 likely would have suffered some
real damage, maybe even a blown up from end.
You can install these guards for the front and the rear, and at around
100. each it is cheap insurance that you should not be without.
The other items that needs some beefing up for the rigors of off roading
is the steering drag link, or the steering arm. This is the arm that goes
from the steering box drop arm to the RH steering knuckle, see the yellow
arrows above. This rod sticks pretty far forward and is not made of strong
material. Here again you can cover it with a skid plate, or do something
strong in its place. The image above shows the ECR ROX heavy duty drag
link installed, there are numerous other manufactures as well. As you can
see this unit took a lot of abuse on the off road trip we went on, but
it is still straight and true. A stock rod would not have fared so well
and once damaged would have limited the Rover's turning ability on the
trail.
There are many skid plates on the market to cover everything under your
Rover, but you don't need to cover everything. Part of driving off road
is learning about where to place your vehicle for the best performance
on the trail. If you just skid plate everything and drive full bore ahead
you won't have learned anything.
Most of the changes we make to an off road Rover are done because we see
the same parts broken over and over and over at off road events. One such
part that always takes it hard is the tail pipe. No one considers where
the tail pipe is when they try to back out of a mud hole or rock field
off road. In some cases this means tailpipes that are folded over, broken
off or even squashed flat blocking off the exhaust. To combat this we have
cut as much of the tail pipe off The Banana that we can to give it a fighting
chance off road. Its a simple trick that will cost nothing, but it can
save you a lot of hassle.
Another things that we see damaged over and over are the stock factory
trailing arms. One rock in the wrong place and the stock units bend giving
and interesting cocked rear axle effect as you try to drive your Rover
home. There are a number of places that supply heavy duty rear trailing
arms, and depending on your suspension set up these arms may even be required
when you install a suspension. The arms have various functions when you
do a large lift, like locating the axle and rotating the pinion angle,
but for the purposed of this article we are talking about weakness issues.
In the image above you can see the pencil thin stock trailing arm has been
swapped out for a Safari Gard Stage II/III unit. These are very tough and
bolt directly into the stock location without issue. They also give us
another benefit by correcting the trailing arm bushing angle. This reduces
stress on the bushing and allows for more articulation as the bushing is
not pre-loaded like it would be with the stock arm in place, The arms are
rusted because they are from an old Rover we had around. We don't have
sponsorship from any of these companies, so if we can grab it used, we
will. We also don't want sponsorship, because if a product sucks, we want
to let you know.
From a protection standpoint with this gear installed you can now off road
with a lot more confidence that you can drive your Rover on your favorite
trial, then drive it home, without damage. There is always more that you
can do to make your Rover better and better, but these items (especially
the tie rod guard) are items that we feel are the basics.
RECOVERY: GET ME OUTTA HERE
Off roaders get stuck. If you haven't been stuck you aren't trying
hard enough. Push the limits of your Rover and you'll get stuck, but that
is all OK. What is not OK is if you don't have anyway to get your Rover
"unstuck". What we mean by that is recovery points. If you don't
have them, get them. Every off road rig needs a safe place to attach a
winch cable or strap from another vehicle to remove you from the mess you
got yourself into. Those little factory tie down points on your Rover's
frame are for shipping it on a tow truck, they are not designed for yanking
you out of the mud, or off that stump. NEVER use the factory shipping
points for anything off road.
In the back of your Rover you likely have a Class III trailer hitch. Many
companies sell a slide in recovery point that is a cheap and effective
way to add on a rear recovery point that will stand up to straps and winches.
Simply slide it in and pin it as you would a trailer hitch and you have
a safe and secure point for most off road recovery operations. Never
use a trailer hitch tow ball for any sort of winch or strap recovery.
Above you can see the recovery point we installed on The Banana. Quick
and cheap insurance to allow us to be pulled backwards out of a mud pit
should the need arise.
In the front of The Banana we installed an ARB winch mount bumper with
an Warn 10,000 winch. For the purposes of this article we aren't going
to focus on that, as a winch/bumper is nice and it does offer some better
front end protection and the ability for The Banana to self recover, but
you don't really need it to get started off roading. What the ARB bumper
does afford us for this project is recovery points.
The bumper has two recovery points securely bolted in place that will allow
The Banana to be pulled as required in case it gets stuck. There are many
ways to get good and safe recovery points. There are bumpers, hoops that
bolt through the front frame horns and more, but you want to make sure
you have a safe and secure recovery point on the front and rear of your
Rover before you head out, and the factory does not provide any recovery
points on a Defender, Disco 1 or Range Rover Classic, so even if you see
one of those shipping tie downs or hoops sticking out, that is not a recovery
point. Those points are for tow trucks and for shipping, not for recovery.
Getting stuck is part of the hobby, with the proper recovery points you
will make sure you buddies can help you get unstuck safely and without
damage to your Rover.
It is always nice to have some recovery gear as well, a strap and a couple
of shackles. If you need help getting out of a tough spot it is enough
to ask your buddy to pull you out, don't make him rifle through his rig
to find recovery gear to pull out your truck. Your fellow club members
will be happy to lend out some gear the first time you go out, but most
of them will lose patience if you continually are borrowing recovery gear,
it is expensive and easily lost. If you are the guy on the trial that is
always begging for a recovery strap or a shackle to borrow you might become
the butt of some jokes at your expense, or you might not get invited out
next time. It is better to what... Yes, that's right "be prepared".
TRACTION: WITHOUT IT YOU ARE LOST
Off roading is all about traction. That is what makes place like Moab,
UT so fun. The terrain offers great traction so that amazing things can
be done with a vehicle. Here in New England we have this stuff called mud,
other stuff called moss, wet leaves, broken tree branches and a long laundry
list of other items that all conspire to make us loose traction. To fight
back we need a tire that can bite in through the mud, over that log and
dig down though that moss. So you need a soft and aggressive tire that
has a wide footprint to distribute the weight of your Rover over as wide
an area as possible. Yes, now we know that some of you will bring up what
we call the Camel Trophy debate. You say, "I run tall skinny tires
because the they work best. The Camel Trophy guys ran them and they did
amazing things." In response we offer three points.
#1. The Camel Trophy guys got there tires for free and they took a military
approach about it. Same tires for all the vehicles eliminates issues with
spares, etc etc.
#2. I have personally spoken with a number of Camel Trophy veterans and
they have all said they wish they had a nice tough wide tire as it would
have made things a lot easier.
#3. In regards to the "goes down through the mud" debate. In
most mud that creates a problem it is deeper than the height of your tall
skinny tire. One of my mechanics likes to say, "Would you rather walk
across a mud bog in ice skates or snow shoes?" Think about it.
Tires are a very personal thing. Like "the right wine" or "the
best presidential candidate" no one can tell you what the best tire
is. For our customers we never select a tire. We make suggestions based
on what they say is most important to them. So for your tires you will
need to do your research and consider all the factors: wear, ride, noise,
off road ability, how much you actually use it off road, sidewall strength,
price, etc etc. The only thing we will offer you in this text is consider
that no one has ever made a tire that does both the on street job and the
off road job perfectly in the same tire. Each step you take towards off
road ability is a step you take away from on road ability. Where you end
up in the balancing act is up to you.
For our uses here in New England, driving mostly street, but not wanting
to give up any capability in off road performance, we always go to the
Super Swamper SSR. This is our tire of choice for serious dual duty trucks.
TRACTION AND SUSPENSION: ALL MIXED UP
This is were the fun begins. What tire size do you want to run? Maybe
you just want a stock tire that has better traction. That works, but it
won't increase your footprint or ground clearance. Maybe you want huge
tires? Huge tires present huge issues though. You may need body trimming,
large lift kits, maybe even drive shafts. All those parts are great, but
it all costs $ and every inch you go up costs about twice what the inch
before cost. The dilemma is that your selected tire size and suspension
size must match. The mix of tire size and suspension are dependent on each
other. A 1" lift with desire for a 36" tire won't work, and a
3" lift with a 30" tire is just as silly. Here again, no one
can tell you what you should and shouldn't do. It would be like telling
you what type of food you like, it is all just opinion. The only thing
we can offer is advice. If you are just getting into off roading, start
off small (but not too small) and see how you like it. If you love the
hobby and want to take it to the next level you will not have emptied your
piggy bank on a new 3" lift with a 3 link and all kinds of other tricks
on something that might not fit your needs. The flip side of that is if
you spend a grand on a new set of off road tires and then find out on the
next trail ride you want to go to a bigger tire, you will have wasted money
on those smaller tires. So after you balance the checkbook, balance where
you feel you want to be off road.
So as The Banana sits patiently with no suspension in it (see above), we
will opt for the suspension we would also suggest to you, the new comer
to off roading. We call it a Stage 1. That really has no meaning other
than it sounds cool. What it is is the blend of parts that make everything
work together well. It offers a little over an inch of lift and keeps most
of the stock parts in the suspension.
This set up will allow us to run our tire of choice, the SSR 32x11.50 and
have it all be matched well together. As we said, we can't tell you what
tire or size to choose, but we can tell you why we selected the tires we
did:
#1. Traction the SSR is one of the best traction getters out there.
#2. On road manners. For such a good off road tire we are amazed at how
well and how quiet it is on the road.
#3 Long lasting. The SSR is soft, but on our last set of 35" SSRs
we got over 40,000 miles from them.
#4. Toughness, unlike a BFG, stumps, sharp rocks and pointy sticks are
shrugged off by the ultra tough sidewall of the SSR.
#5. With a 32x11.50 we can run the stock Rover steel rim to keep the bead
retention good when air'd down and it is right on the edge of the ability
of the stock 3.54 gearing so we can get away with not plunking down the
cash for a 4.11 gear swap yet.
We can also tell you why we chose the Stage 1 suspension.
#1. It is simple and cheap to install.
#2. It offers a moderate lift without raising the center of gravity too
much.
#3. It changes, but will not kill the road manners of your Rover
#4. It is likely the suspension you would choose as you start out into
the hobby.
Remember we are doing this to show you the basics, not what the extremes
are.
SUSPENSION MISCONCEPTIONS
Stop buying heavy duty springs for everything! Over and over and over
we get calls with "I just put in OME (Old Man Emu) heavy duty springs
and now my ride is rough, my truck handles poorly." Well dah... that
is because you likely just installed the wrong parts. In the USA the words
"Heavy Duty" are synonymous with "High Quality". Some
Madison Avenue advertising agent figured that out years ago, so no matter
what the product, you for sure do not want the standard one, you want the
"Heavy Duty" one. Well in buying a suspension spring you likely
do not want the heavy duty.
Here is an example for a Range Rover:
The OME760 offers about 1" of lift for the front of a stock Range
Rover. A good choice if you have no winch or heavy front bumper, maybe
a little light.
The OME761 offers 1.25" of lift and carries an extra 50 to 110 pounds.
This is a good choice for most applications.
The OME751 offers 1.5" of lift, but it is set up for an additional
110-250 pounds. That means you better have a really heavy front bumper
and winch hanging out up there.
So most folks look at the lift and say, "Ok, I want the most lift
I can get, so I want a OME751 as it offers 1.5" of lift". Wrong.
The only reason you would want a OME 751 is if you have a huge bumper,
large winch, etc etc. The spring is designed to carry extra weight. It
needs the extra weight to make it flex correctly. If you put on OME751
on a Range Rover without all that heavy gear up front, you will get lift,
but you will loose articulation off road as you have no weight to make
the spring work. You'll also be tossed around inside the rig on the trail
like a rag doll. You will also loose on road handling as the springs will
have no give and it will input a short choppy/ bumpy feel into your cabin.
Flex is the key to a coil suspension, not lift. Lift is nice, but a flexible
suspension will out drive a stiff lifted one 7 days a week. A better set
up would be to go with a medium spring and use a small lift block. This
would keep your suspension flexible, and give you your desired 1.5"
of lift.
So consider your real needs and do not always buy "Heavy Duty"
just because it says so on the box.
Above you can see that we have installed our new OME751 springs as we have
a large ARB bumper and a Warn 10000 winch and we carry the Hi-Lift jack
up there too. The fit is simple and the front end requires no other modifications.
We also installed a set of Bilstien shocks to help with the road handling
of our lifted rig and we tossed out the sway bar.
In the rear we have installed the OME764 units as we rarely carry much
weight in the back and we want max articulation and flex, not max load
carrying ability. Again we went with the Bilstien shocks for a nice simple
and affordable suspension set up and we tossed the rear sway bar. The Stage
1 requires another part though. The yellow arrow points to our top spring
retainer. Without the sway bar and with the lift, if the springs were not
retained they could pop out of the spring pocket at the top under maximum
articulation. Some suspension companies use this as an advantage and offer
a "drop out" that allows the spring to fall out, and then be
guided back into place, and that is an option for you to consider.
Another thing to consider is shock length and articulation. In the front
axle of a Rover the suspension moves very little (unless you do some major
mods) so you can typically install the stock type shocks without issue,
even with the lift. In the rear it is a different story. The rear axle
does move, or articulate, a lot. The factory length shocks are now inadequate
for your raised suspension, they are too short. You can solve this problem
by getting a different shock with the different dimensions, or you can
install a simple drop kit. This basically relocates one end of the shock
to compensate for the needed length. The ECR ROX drop kit can be seen above,
all it does is relocate the lower mounting point of the shock. Different
shocks or something like this drop kit is very important for your lifted
Rover, don't leave it out, or you will have wasted a lot of articulation,
and off road you need all the articulation you can get. Most lifted Rovers
we see come in for service have left this step out and they are loosing
valuable articulation, not to mention wearing out shock bushings faster
by pulling on the shocks at full extension while off roading.
UFOs: NOT SOMETHING YOU WANT TO SEE OFF ROAD
One last point before we wrap up this project and take to the trail.
We talked about the recovery gear you need, extra water maybe, rain coat,
etc etc. All this stuff needs to be stored in your Rover, and we don't
mean just tossed inside. We mean stored and secured. A couple of times
off road we have seen loose shackles and tire irons go flying around inside
the cabin and come out through a window. Luckily no one's head has been
in the way when these things came out the windows. The lesson should be
taken before a UFO hits you in the head, strap everything down, and NOT
WITH A BUNGEE CORD! A bungee cord is great to tie down your coat, or maybe
your tree strap, but your tool box, cooler or anything else that is heavy
should be tied down with a static strap, like a ratchet strap or a motorcycle
strap. I know a fellow off roader with a nice big scar on his left cheek
(face not butt) from when a metal ended bungee could he had in his rig
let go and snapped him in the face. Take a lesson from our buddy scarface,
no bungee cords unless the object is soft and you wouldn't really mind
if it hit you in the head.
Above you can see that we have installed our recovery equipment tool box
and some extra winch rope into The Banana, but notice there are no bungee
cords. We will use bungee cords on our off road trips, but they will hold
down our rain coats and soft bags with extra clothes in them, not tool
boxes.
TRAIL READY?
So there it is, The Banana, set up for mild to moderate off roading. Safe,
secure, capable and ready to go play with some pretty sound piece of mind
that we will come back in one piece and won't embarrass ourselves in front
of other off roaders, and we didn't break the bank. One last item for you
to chew on... Look at The Banana, do you see a roof rack, any extra lights,
diamond plate all over it? No, you don't. Why? Because you don't need any
of that stuff to go off road. If you like the look of that stuff that is
great, but sometimes you should remember this: K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple
Stupid). Smart upgrades are better than flashy ones any day.
These types of upgrades can all be done one at a time as your budget allows.
We did them all in one go here at ECR to make the article work correctly,
but don't feel for a minute that you need all this stuff to enjoy the off
road hobby. If you want to try some moderate trails you should have most
of it, but to explore back country roads you really need to only follow
step one, making sure your rig is mechanically sound and won't leave you
stranded, and take your common sense with you. If you are out alone with
the family without a winch, maybe you shouldn't try to cross that big mud
bog. You get the point. Now get out there and have some fun getting dirty.
That is exactly where we are headed with The Banana.
SUMMARY
What do we suggest for getting into off roading with your Defender,
Discovery or Range Rover?
#1. Get your rig fixed up and running in top notch condition.
#2. Protect the vulnerable sports so that your Rover stays in top notch
condition.
#3. Be a Boy Scout (or girl scout) and be prepared.
#4. In case you need help, have safe recovery points.
#5. Come up with the best tires and suspension set up for you.
#6. Go back and double check #3.
#7 Go have fun!
TRAIL READY? HOW DID WE DO?
For a brief run down of the event go here. The short version is that we held up the Rover name with flying colors. We did the entire day without having to winch, get out the Hi-Lift or having any straps or ropes pulling us anywhere. The Banana ran perfectly and came back without any problems or damage.
Here is shot of The Banana on Sunday morning after the Saturday event. A little dirty from some of the mud holes, although most of the mud washed off in the heavy rain we drove back through on Saturday night, but none the worse for wear.
A few steep stream crossings meant that we plowed a little dirt compared to the bigger rigs at the event, but because we had our protection set up properly the worst thing we have to do to The Banana now is clean off the mud and dig the dirt out of the Hi-Lift jack.
We hope to see you out there on the trails on our next trip.