Lucky8’s Project Discovery 3

[A.J.M]

5speed.

I can raise my hand and say yes, I have been in a situation of driving downhill on sheet

Top of the hill, snowy but car managed it, even on the worn road tyres.

Nice scenery etc.
However, the way back down was interesting. I was the 25th car out of 27 so by tr time I was coming to hills, they had already been well driven and were smooth and slippery.

I used HDC for one section, about half way down, it slipped. Turning it into a 2.7 ton sledge.
I like you had a few options going through my head.

I tried letting HDC try to find its feet, panic braking by jamming the pedal down as hard as I could, candance braking of pumping the pedal and trying to speed up to get the wheels turning at the speed the car was going at.

None of it worked so like you I aimed for an area and hoped it wouldn't hurt. Lol.

I picked a ditch and through sheer luck avoided the large rocks and slid into the soft gravelly bit. Only damage was the silver trim off the side step came off.

The hill was that bad the red Defender behind couldn't come down to tow me out and the car ahead couldn't reverse back up.
Took a while but it drove out by itself. It wasn't graceful but it got out.

I changed to Duratracs shortly after.

I don't like ice,

 

[iowalr4]

I love reading about real world experiences off road with modern rovers and terrain response. Fantastic stuff.

 

[Jwestpro]

With all due respect sir. That mud was so bad people that were helping and watching the recovery were falling down.

The picture you have would be fantastic in my mind for hill decent.

I agree, that western photo looks like the surface is full of fine gravel which makes for fairly good traction in my experience.

For the mud you experienced, did nobody think of using snow chains? I've been in mud like that once, where you could barely walk around without falling. It is more like the "slip" from a pottery makers wheel. If you've ever had your hands in it, there's essentially no "aggregate" but it may also have some sandstone in it. I did a 50 mile mountain bike race a few years ago in the rain over a lot of sandstone. It was actually comical how many people just went sideways in the same spots one after another. Each next person thinking "oh, I've got it"...doink. I ran the areas and passed people laying down

Granted you can't use chains if you've already used up all of your available tire/vehicle clearance by fitting the largest possible tires, but RUD 4x4 chains are exactly what you needed on all 4 wheels. They will fit on 265/65x18 with a spacer to clear the upper A arm flange.

Let's go again and I'll bring mine to test

 

[A.J.M]

In high grip places, they are very capable, it's almost funny how easily mine walked up that rocky slope with almost no drama. My mate acted as spotter to make sure it went fine as the D3 is used as the support car for our trips and gets loaded with the kit and tools to keep 4 Defenders going...

You need to get some rocky use pictures up.

 

[Jwestpro]

...it's almost funny how easily mine walked up that rocky slope with almost no drama. ...

Says the TDV6 with so much more low end grunt!

 

[A.J.M]

Says the TDV6 with so much more low end grunt!

Jealousy is a terrible thing to have....
It is handy though but a v8 would have got up just as easily. I held a very light but steady throttle and the car walked up the slopes.
Tdv6 has 130k on it, and needs some of the injector's given a clean up/refurb so isn't quite running 100%. It's going to be a wallet killer to put the 6 right.

 

[zelatore]

No chains for me - as you pointed out I've made that pretty much an impossibility with the 275/65s. I think the only chains I could use would be the funky Scandinavian ones that only clamp to the outside of the wheel/tire. But the price makes my nose bleed.


(trying to be patient and not ask for 'the rest of the story' again)

 

[nwoods]

I find that sand mode is the go to mode for most things. Rock mode is fantastic if you are trying to finesse over something. Playing with the truck this weekend on a steep slippery hill climb I did a comparison of mud Vs sand modes.

MUD
When I got half way up the hill and put the petal to the floor looking to help keep the momentum the motor just shut off. It did not like the Revs

Sand

Now when I got half way up the hill and put the petal to the floor the motor smiled and the truck danced to the top.

There's definately some truth to what you are experiencing with Sand Mode. It is specifically designed to prevent the electronic systems from retarding the throttle or forcing a gear shift WITH THE EXCEPTION OF TAKE OFF. In sand mode, take off is retarded. The idea seems to be that on sand, if you spin the wheels on launch, you'll just dig a hole and go nowhere. However, once up to speed, you want sufficent throttle to power through the rolling resistance caused by sand. The Programing Guide for the TC systems states it thusly (emphasis added by me):

Sand provides quite reasonable levels of grip but
any wheel spin causes a vehicle to sink into it, and
therefore all systems aim for a cautious take off.
Otherwise, driving on sand causes a high resistance
and a lot of power is required to make progress. The
engine and gearbox need to combine to maximise
the power whilst for example the DSC (dynamic
stability control) system must try and avoid any power
reduction requests.

 

[Jwestpro]

Did this lucky8 lr3 have the rear wheel well/fender hvac lines? Does anyone know a thread or person on here where the lines have been totally removed? I can't remember what exactly they are for but I thought it was not as simple as to and from the rear heat/ac ? I'm curious about removing all of the 3rd row system if it will not affect the other zones. It would allow me to remove the fender lines, create even more space there but also clear out a lot of 3rd row cargo area for built in project. Plan would be to remove all of the factory plastic like people do when building into a Land Cruiser.

Also, why has nobody really started cutting the fenders and more steel to fit 35's ?

 

[XJLI]

Also, why has nobody really started cutting the fenders and more steel to fit 35's ?

slightly OT, but my (current) dream is a L322 on 37s. LSx, 4L80E, D300, 60s, 3 link front, 4 link rear... I did see a '03 roller for $700 the other day.

 

[nwoods]

JWest, there is a thread on LRrepair forums about a fairly simple mod to relocate those coolant lines. It's from a couple years ago now.

I know s guy who was building an LR3 for the Baja 1000. He trimmed the fenders for 35's, put in long travel shocks, had a 2" body lift, and did a lot of cutting to the rear frame to improve clearance. Looked awesome. Sadly, the project died when he couldn't get LR to share some info on the computer. With all his mods, he needed to lobotomize the CPU, and was never able to do it. LR eventually reclaimed the rig and it was never finished.

 

[Mack73]

JWest, there is a thread on LRrepair forums about a fairly simple mod to relocate those coolant lines. It's from a couple years ago now.

I know s guy who was building an LR3 for the Baja 1000. He trimmed the fenders for 35's, put in long travel shocks, had a 2" body lift, and did a lot of cutting to the rear frame to improve clearance. Looked awesome. Sadly, the project died when he couldn't get LR to share some info on the computer. With all his mods, he needed to lobotomize the CPU, and was never able to do it. LR eventually reclaimed the rig and it was never finished.

Interesting do you have any pics from this?

 

[nwoods]

Interesting do you have any pics from this?

No, photos weren't allowed

 

[Jwestpro]

JWest, there is a thread on LRrepair forums about a fairly simple mod to relocate those coolant lines. It's from a couple years ago now.

I know s guy who was building an LR3 for the Baja 1000. He trimmed the fenders for 35's, put in long travel shocks, had a 2" body lift, and did a lot of cutting to the rear frame to improve clearance. Looked awesome. Sadly, the project died when he couldn't get LR to share some info on the computer. With all his mods, he needed to lobotomize the CPU, and was never able to do it. LR eventually reclaimed the rig and it was never finished.

Mine are already "relocated" to allow a flattened fender liner but I think more could be done in the wheel well areas. In fact, with the right proportioned 33", they would just about fit as is. There are a couple 265/70x18 coming available which is the right mix of narrow enough for turning clearances and upper A arm flange. Narrower also helps just a little with stuffing into the rear fender liner.

Hope it's OK to post these ideas in this thread seeing as I'd like lucky8 to go ahead and test them before I try them

 

[perkj]

JWest, there is a thread on LRrepair forums about a fairly simple mod to relocate those coolant lines. It's from a couple years ago now.

Do you have the link to this handy by chance.....can't seem to find it via search over there.