Trucks and big 4x4s

[ian parkes]

Originally Posted by Nos4r2

The weight's actually a big hindrance-it's the dirty great knobbles/ridges on the tyres that do the work. I never got stuck in anything with this:-

You aint trying hard enough Nos , noblies won't help when its restin on the sidesteps

The weight of the Unimog made it cut through the thick soft snow and bite in . All the 4x4's were iether bogging into it or just spinning , believe me the farmers round here know what grips .

Little suzukis are good if you keep em wound up ,

I have put some oversize MT's on my old maverick and raised it up a coupe of inches ,for a play this year and it hasn't bloody snowed .
Still its been fun in the mud , iam quite surprised how much traction the maverick has , and didn't realize they had lim slip diffs untill I had it jacked up .
beats Land Rovers now no problem , no front axle and diff to get caut on the rocks etc

[Bigmuz7]

My last off roaders were 01 plate Isuzus, and the SWB is pretty good, but the muppets designed it with a transfer box right in the middle of the chassis, and put a guard under it that made the clearance about 9.5 inches , great just what you need in an off roader !! Divs ... It had limited slip diffs too which helped a lot. They dont like a water splash though

[ian parkes]

I think all the jap stuff is better really , that so called diff lock on the land rover doesn't seem to do anything very much .

[codprawn]

Originally Posted by ian parkes

I have put some oversize MT's on my old maverick and raised it up a coupe of inches ,for a play this year and it hasn't bloody snowed .
Still its been fun in the mud , iam quite surprised how much traction the maverick has , and didn't realize they had lim slip diffs untill I had it jacked up .
beats Land Rovers now no problem , no front axle and diff to get caut on the rocks etc

Isn't it strange that all the extreme rock crawler in the USA use beam axles with diffs???

The reason you may not notice the diff lock on the landie doing much is because it's so capable in the first place!!!

[ian parkes]

Hey its Codders I wish I could reel in bass that quick

I usually notice the diff lock on the land rover when Iam waiting for it at the top of a muddy hill .

Those yanks only use beam axles cos thats all thats about big enough for the monster truck thingies .

Swing arm and chain drive has yet to be beaten

[Nos4r2]

Originally Posted by ian parkes

Swing arm and chain drive has yet to be beaten

You've got a point- I miss my old xt600 at times til I remember quite how much trouble I got in with it



I knew it had to be either 4 or 8 years Jono-I took one of the HGV tests at the same time as they changed the rules-just couldn't remember which one

[Nos4r2]

Originally Posted by ian parkes

You aint trying hard enough Nos , noblies won't help when its restin on the sidesteps

When the front diff's ground out on hard mud and the front wheels are in the air and it STILL gets out...Forwards?

[ian parkes]

[QUOTE=Nos4r2;189456] You've got a point- I miss my old xt600 at times til I remember quite how much trouble I got in with it

Thats the point they can't catch you on 2 wheels ,with 4, so less trouble these days . Cos it seems wherever you go somebody doesn't like you , Unless is got 4 legs and shits

[ian parkes]

Originally Posted by Nos4r2

When the front diff's ground out on hard mud and the front wheels are in the air and it STILL gets out...Forwards?

They are good those old fourtracks mate . I used to work on them a lot back in the early nineties , and had the older F50 which was great till it disapeared in a pile of red dust .
I remember doing quite a few head gasgits and cracked heads on the turbo's , which iam sure most was due to working cold engines too hard .

I think some people put that motor in the landrover , which was a great improvement at the time .

[Nos4r2]

Originally Posted by ian parkes

Thats the point they can't catch you on 2 wheels ,with 4, so less trouble these days . Cos it seems wherever you go somebody doesn't like you , Unless is got 4 legs and shits

I never had THAT trouble-at least I don't think so but I might just have been riding too hard...

I had to recover the XT from a river once.while My own silly fault-riding round a trials course it never occurred to me that the riverbed was hard at the entrances and exits because it was a trials course. 20 yards later it was soft mud...

The F50 looked like a proper jeep too-shame they don't still make them.

[ian parkes]

i think the f50 would still sell well now as a utility to compete with the Lanrover , but they would have to sort the rusting problem , i never knew a vehicle like it for rust , exept maybe the fiat 650 i got for the first missus , literally shovelled that away .

[Nos4r2]

Originally Posted by ian parkes

i think the f50 would still sell well now as a utility to compete with the Lanrover , but they would have to sort the rusting problem , i never knew a vehicle like it for rust , exept maybe the fiat 650 i got for the first missus , literally shovelled that away .

I think you're right-but manufacturing has advanced somewhat since then.
I broke a Lancia HPE in half while driving it along a dirt track when the inner wings collapsed due to rust-does that count? When it hit the floor mud came up through the carpet

Funny, my fourtrak had hardly any rust at all. I sold it after the head cracked while towing 2.5 tonnes with it.

[ian parkes]

Lancia HPE Had one of those too and an alfasud 1.5ti , all turned red in colour quite quickly .
I think they were fun to thrash because you knew they weren't going to last long anyway .

[Nos4r2]

Originally Posted by ian parkes

Lancia HPE Had one of those too and an alfasud 1.5ti , all turned red in colour quite quickly .
I think they were fun to thrash because you knew they weren't going to last long anyway .

I know someone who's still got an HPE-the supercharged version too

He won't sell it though

[Bigmuz7]

Originally Posted by Nos4r2

. I sold it after the head cracked while towing 2.5 tonnes with it.

Most I had was a Kubota 3.5 tonne mini excavator + trailer.. total load 4.3 tonne behind my daihatsu... no problem... erm.. turbo on full boost most of the time, but I just turned the heater up

[codprawn]

Originally Posted by Bigmuz7

Most I had was a Kubota 3.5 tonne mini excavator + trailer.. total load 4.3 tonne behind my daihatsu... no problem... erm.. turbo on full boost most of the time, but I just turned the heater up

My "worse than jap" Landrover seems to tow 5 tons no problem - on private roads of course. It may not blow a headgasket but the police certainly would!!!

[ian parkes]

I once recovered a 52 seat ford duple bus from the hill At Jamaica inn , with my old series 3 lwb 21/4 deisel . I got half the passengers out but 20 of them were disabled and had to stay onboard .
The landy was spinning on all 4 on dry tarmac , and I expected a half shaft to break but it got the thing to the top . God knows how heavy it was , it had twin steer front axles , and I never got the knot out of the doubled up webbing strop I used .
That was before the bypass was built , quite a long steep hill. I left the bus in the layby at the top , down the other side may have been a bit risky as it had a siezed engine so no brakes .

I thought you had a discovery Codders

[codprawn]

Originally Posted by ian parkes

I once recovered a 52 seat ford duple bus from the hill At Jamaica inn , with my old series 3 lwb 21/4 deisel . I got half the passengers out but 20 of them were disabled and had to stay onboard .
The landy was spinning on all 4 on dry tarmac , and I expected a half shaft to break but it got the thing to the top . God knows how heavy it was , it had twin steer front axles , and I never got the knot out of the doubled up webbing strop I used .
That was before the bypass was built , quite a long steep hill. I left the bus in the layby at the top , down the other side may have been a bit risky as it had a siezed engine so no brakes .

I thought you had a discovery Codders

Sounds like the bus out of the Italian Job - maybe it was full of gold or minis???

Yes it is a Discovery but it is still a pukka LR - also have a 110 and a Rangie for my sins.

[Nos4r2]

Originally Posted by codprawn

My "worse than jap" Landrover seems to tow 5 tons no problem - on private roads of course. It may not blow a headgasket but the police certainly would!!!

Bet your Landy isn't 22 years old and 340,000 miles on it though....

[Cookee]

American pickups are another option if you don't mind sitting on the wrong side - Chris Strickland has got quite a large one!!!!!