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Aw man I'm jealous of you guys with proper 4x4's. I get to do a bit of light offroading at work (pretty much just green laning) but it can become quite fun in a something that is just a front wheel drive jacked up supermini. This the ford fusion I drive most of the time. 1.4 Diesel, and it's only concession to off road use is some unimpressive snow and mud tires on the front and decent ground clearance. It may not be the best vehicle on or off road but I've had way too much fun in it on both, not to mention a few o poo poo i'm in the middle of nowhere by myself with no phone reception please keep moving and don't get stuck moments. We have a TD5 Landrover 90 at work too, but I'm not 25 yet so I'm not insured.  Our fusion and transit can pretty much get anywhere we need to though, with a bit of patience and luck.
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Jan 31, 2008 22:13
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BigKOfJustice posted:What kind of GPS's do you guys run? I'm trying to narrow down a selection, I'm looking at Garmin and Lowrance. The street pilot stuff and the chart ploter/commercial versions of the units with topographical maps.  I've also used Memory Map on a laptop with a cheap Garmin ETrex attached for navigation on a boat, which worked very well, might be an idea if you have room on your dash to strap a small laptop on. 
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Jan 31, 2008 22:45
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meltie posted:
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Feb 13, 2008 22:17
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What do you do for work, where do you work, do you have any jobs going?
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Took the work's Landrover 90 TD5 out for a run on tuesday, since nobody had driven it for two weeks and I couldn't be arsed walking up a hill.  It was hardly tricky, but fun anyway. I've driven worse tracks in in two wheel drives, hopefully I'll get some more chances to put the lannie through its paces. It hardly gets used since it is crap for long road trips and fuel, and with a bit of care we can get our vans and such to most places we need to go, not broken one or got one properly stuck yet, aside from a few dented undersides and close calls.  It's only the second time I've driven it off road, I'm more used to driving small FWD vehicles in places they shouldn't go so having bags of torque, grip and ground clearance is pretty new to me. The TD5 engine is a beast - pretty powerful, shame our one has crap tyres for off road and shakes between 55 and 75 on the road. It is shockingly bad on quick, potholed tracks - the short wheelbase makes it bounce like a kangaroo.
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Apr 29, 2009 22:08
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Found a couple more pictures of that lannie. 
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Mar 11, 2010 16:54
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This thread makes me jealous of people with proper 4x4's.   In retrospect a Ford Fiesta Van might not have been the best choice to drive up that track in the wet.
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Oct 20, 2010 17:16
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D C posted:
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Oct 20, 2010 22:09
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drat, that is my worst nightmare! Closest I've got to being stuck was when a tree fell down blocking the road and I had to walk to the nearest house to borrow a saw. Ive had to reverse pretty far before when I've been in unchartered territory and found something I didn't fancy my chances with. I try to keep to the rule not to go past anything I'm not comfortable driving past in reverse if I can't get turned, but I break this all the time. The rule I usually end up going with in reality is  KEEP GOING CONSERVE MOMENTUM
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Oct 20, 2010 23:19
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 New work vehicle - 2004 Landrover Freelander td4 van Had a wee play off road with it yesterday. Seems decent (good tyres probably helped) but the lack of low box and ground clearance is a pain, the exhaust hangs quite low. Took it down a rocky slope with hill descent control on and it was a bit unnerving and kept locking wheels up, I think I'd feel happier idling in first and feathering the brakes. On the upside it gets 34mpg (uk) and drives nice on the road. Unfortunately the pedal area is quite cramped and driving with walking boots on feels a bit dangerous. stump fucked around with this message at 13:23 on Aug 25, 2011 |
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Aug 25, 2011 13:20
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InitialDave posted:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-14784515 From what I can tell the path is a bit of a motorway up there, being very popular mountain. He also apparently drove part of the way on the the train tracks. I like the idea of driving up a mountain, but I can't help feel this chap is a bit of a baw bag. The stuff about it being dangerous is bullshit, but (presumably) wrecking footpaths by driving a 4x4 up them is a dick move.
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Sep 5, 2011 11:21
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I thought winter was over, guess not! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ID9i1_0CGg Scottish Highlands, Thursday Morning. Admittedly it had mostly melted by midday.
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Mar 10, 2012 19:51
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Got a new work vehicle to replace our faithful '04 150k freelander td4. It's done about 80, maybe 90k in three years, and been taken as far off road as it would go. Sadly the center diff case is dying (no doubt due to us running mismatched tires) and has a misfire. It isn't worth fixing, we bought it cheap and it has certainly paid for itself. So last week we got an '06 Ford Ranger 2.5td to replace it. One the road it handles worse (like a drunk in a boat), is slower (but enough to overtake on A roads and sit at a decent motorway speed, thankfully) but off road it is a revelation - low box and proper 4x4 is great. It is certainly better to drive than a defender on the road anyway, and off road it's up to what we need it for. It's ex-council, hence the color but it only has 80k on the clock, and hopefully hasn't been abused too much and has been well serviced.   So far we have done about 700 miles, it had a horrible steering wobble but a £14 wheel balance fixed that. We've not bested 26mpg (uk) yet but, but hopefully we can improve that. The temp gauge never quite reaches center, so I guess a bust thermostat may be affecting the fuel economy (it did in my bmw). The freelander only done 30-35 mpg though so if we can't best 26 in a bigger truck I'm not going to cry. Might have to chuck some sand bags in the back as we don't carry a heavy load and it's a bit bouncy, unless the extra weight drops out mpg further. The tow bar might come off to improve departure angle, it was the only thing that scraped on a track that made the freelander wish for a peaceful death. Edit: I need to replace the locks on the ARB top, anybody know if they are a bitch to do? They look rusted to hell. stump fucked around with this message at 21:26 on Jun 14, 2012 |
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Jun 14, 2012 21:23
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Ok, another retarded mismatched tyres question from me! We have a knackered rear tyre on our ford ranger (european Mazda based one, crew can diesel). I'm going to replace both the rear tyres but I don't know if I need to replace the fronts to match. Rears will be new Hankook rf10's which seem to get good reviews, fronts are part worn Runway Enduro a/t's. It's RWD most of the time with a stick to engage 4hi / 4lo. Will that kind of transmission care about mismatched tyres, since it will only be 4x4 on dirt? Obviously matching tyres all round will be best but I'd have to persuade my boss to spend the extra cash! Edit: It does a fair amount of road miles, 400 for every 10 used off road, and even then we usually don't use 4wd, but having proper off road tyres are still handy for the few times we use them. stump fucked around with this message at 16:29 on Jul 23, 2012 |
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Jul 23, 2012 16:27
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EightBit posted:Cough up for matching diameter tires or run the risk of blowing up the transfer case or something else when you do use 4wd.
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Jul 23, 2012 17:54
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Good points, I'll suggest we get new fronts ASAP then. I'm be pretty keen to getting rid of these Runways will hopefully improve it's handling a little on wet A and B roads - not that this thing will ever handle like anything but a blancmange. I'm in Scotland so any slabs of rock tend to be less than the wheelbase long - loose rocks, mud and gravel are the norm. I'm getting the two rears replaced tomorrow at a local place which happened to have them in stock, as I've got about 600 miles to do this week in it and I don't trust the spare. When I get back I'll have a look at getting some matching fronts online. I've also got to get a new stud ASAP as I wrecked one putting the spare on - bolts had been impact gunned into oblivion!
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Jul 23, 2012 22:05
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Would van tyres do the trick? They should have stiffer sidewalls and road biased but not too-crappy-for-mild-offroading tread? I've heard of people running them on landrovers but I'm bit sure if it was for performance/cost/voodoo reasons.
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Apr 27, 2013 01:44
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Last time I tried to use a payphone in the UK was on North Uist. It smelled of piss and ate my change. I think that is typical of UK payphones though. Least that one took took money, one before that was phonecards only, fucks the point of that? At least it was a proper old cast iron one though.
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Sep 1, 2013 00:36
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General_Failure posted:How steep is that road? I'm just trying to grasp what happened with that 4runner. Chugging along then ??? then wheel spin. I'm guessing she felt a little slip she let off completely, and when she realised she was slowing down she booted it, causing lots of spin, and then took her foot off completely loosing all momentum. I'm guessing the best thing to do in that situation would be to keep on throttle just enough to keep momentum up without spinning the wheels excessively and digging in? And if all else fails boot it and hope for the best or stop and try to rock yourself out? IDK - I've never driven much on sand and my off-roading "knowledge" comes more from more guesswork and trial and error than actually knowing things. Edit: My cardinal rule back when I used to drive a lot of (mostly quite low powered) FWD vehicles off road was, whatever you do, keep going, even if it means causing wheel spin, you can always back off and try to regain traction as long as you keep momentum. That looks like an awesome trail though. stump fucked around with this message at 00:49 on Nov 12, 2013 |
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Nov 12, 2013 00:39
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Tyres, tyres, tyres. If you can, go up a profile size to get a little more clearance. But if you have decent tyres you have more traction to play with, and can take your time over sections where you would need to brute force with momentum if you didn't have traction, meaning less chance of breaking stuff. Decent tyres also gives you a chance of staying on top of, instead of in ruts. Making ground clearance less of an issue. On the skid plate front, have a look underneath how exposed certain parts are and how critical they are. Bashing an exhaust is no biggie but crushing a fuel line or holing a sump is bad times. FWIW we have a lovely FWD estate car (Chevrolet lacetti) that we use off road at work, and with the only modification being mud and snow tyres in a 65 profile instead of 55. It will plod along anywhere up to a point, it's saving grace being a sump way above the front crossmember, and that it has just enough power in first to pull along without breaking traction or stalling.
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Feb 4, 2016 20:39
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 It's not a proper off reader but I'm genuinely impressed with the VW Tiguan (4motion/2.0 diesel/manual) hire car I've had for a week and a half. I'm not sure what the traction control wizardry is up to but it climbed a 1:1 loose gravel track without batting an eye lid. I had my doubts about even getting up it at all - if I had been in a proper 4x4 I would likely have taken it in low box to be safe. Descent control felt very secure coming back down too.
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Jul 25, 2017 20:43
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I've got a rule driving off road, particularly if I'm not in an actual 4x4 never to drive anywhere I'm not comfortable doing again in reverse. I'm usually alone and out of phone signal so getting stuck isn't an option. I put it to good test this week. Went Greenlaning* down near Keswick to visit a site to visit a site for work. In a LWB, RWD Transit van. Met a couple of guys coming the other way in a chunky tyres, light bar OLLI Discovery... no where to pass. gently caress it, I'll reverse. About 1 kilometre of reversing later we find a place to pass, after some bemused looks from the guys in this disco. I get out to site no bother, I'm only going half way along the track and it's not particularly rough or steep. Some deep puddles though, deep enough for the bow wave to go over the bonnet of an xtrail last time I was down there. Hence hiring a van not a car. Of course last time I was along here in a unsuitable vehicle it was relatively short and front wheel drive, I could turn by reversing the back end off the track and not worry about getting stuck. Of course now and I'm in something long, RWD and with no weight over the rear axles. Could I get it turned? Could I gently caress. Another 4km of reversing it is, on a track 4 inches wider than my vehicle. Sure beat walking 8k though  *Unsurfaced track in England / Wales that you are allowed to drive along, typically only driven by 4x4s and bikes.
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Sep 9, 2017 14:07
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stump posted:
 Welp, I was impressed with how effortlessly an AWD suv climbed this hill. I’m even more impressed with how well a FWD Nissan Qashqai (Rouge Sport) coped. Traction control kept traction pretty well on on some rougher, steeper bits than pictured, it got up in one go and didn’t even make too much of a mess of the track.
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Oct 24, 2017 08:37
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A year ago I bought a Freelander 2 TD4 auto. After a years motoring it sailed through it’s MOT, and a suspected transfer case failure turned out to be a wheel bearing. So feeling flush with the grand in car costs already mentally spent I bought a set of slightly oversized Hankook Dynapro rf11 all terrains (£106 a corner before fitting) and a years subscription to the local off road club (£200) . I’ve occasionally used it off road for work but never had a chance to properly see why it can do, so today I headed out for a wee test session.  I took it relatively easy, but I’m really impressed with how it performed, and I can’t wait to go back and try some trickier stuff. Ground clearance is good, but I’m not going to go everywhere the bobtailed discoveries do, I did scrape a little bit but the underbody is pretty durable on these. Traction is great, and despite having open diffs the various terrain modes do a decent job, and I don’t think I would have got where I did with road biased tyres. I made it up some steep looseish stuff fine, and and an uphill cross axle section was managed only with a little momentum as it struggles with two wheels free spinning if it’s also got to climb. Considering mud isn’t these tyres forte I was happy with how they did in slippy stuff.  No low range and a not very clever hill descent control is it’s main downside so far, you feel quite committed and sled like on steep descents, as HDC is set at about 7 mph I think. Bigger tyres are working against me here a bit obviously. The newer single speed cars have adjustable and slower hill descent control which this car really misses. I found myself using the brakes more than I would like to to bring the speed below HDC speed. The low range cars are amazing for this, the new defender hill descent on its slowest speed is almost painfully slow.
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Nov 21, 2020 19:29
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Solar Coaster posted:We're going to start carrying a chainsaw to get around these obstacles, especially as the weather gets worse I’ve carried a woodsaw in my vehicles for years now, after the first time I ever did solo fieldwork I got stuck up a forestry track behind a fallen tree. Almost burned out the clutch in the Fiesta van trying to pull it out the way before I ended up waking to the nearest house to borrow a saw.
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Dec 3, 2020 09:30
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