Advice on the best tyres to fit my Range Rover please.

I have a 3.5 EFi Range Rover, and live at the bottom of a steep winding hill, at a guess i would say the hill is about 1 in 4. I also have a large heavy trailer (maybe 2 ton) that i have to pull up this hill once or twice a week. At the bottom of the hill there is a cattle grid, in order to get the trailer across the cattle grid i have to drive the range rover over, stop, place wooden boards across the grid and then pull away. If i dont do this the back of the trailer scrapes along the road, once across the grid there is no scraping, it is just as i cross the grid. In other words there is no way i can take any sort of a run at the hill.

Problem is even in wet weather the RR has problems getting a grip (we have wagons dumping soil most days, they tend to leave a muddy residue), so with winter coming along i am getting concerned, and i MUST be able to climb the hill at 6 AM, my livelehood depends on it. When icy (the road will not get gritted) i think i am going to have huge problems, can anyone suggest a better tyre to fit ?, will studded tyres work, what about chains?.

Once up the hill, i join the main road, and am able to hook the trailer up to a different vehicle, so i dont actually have to drive on the main road with the Range Rover.

All ideas and suggestions gratefully recieved.

Reply to
RR
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On or around 16 Oct 2004 07:01:53 -0700, snipped-for-privacy@englishrosetrading.com (RR) enlightened us thusly:

I assume that you're using the centre diff lock to make sure the front wheels aren't wasting your power. assuming it has such - if it's got the Borg Warner type Transfer box (which it could have) then there's no centre diff, instead there's a viscous coupling. This can, however, not be working.

as to tyres... hmmm. I'm assuming the road is tarmac, in some form. In those circumstances, not much odds which tyre - an aggressive mud terrain sort of pattern isn't going to be better, might even be worse, on wet tarmac. I'd try something like the Nankang wide conqueror, whjich is a

50-50 on-off road tyre, and seems to grip fairly well on wet tarmac. If it's gonna get icy, you're not gonna get the trailer up there anyway - you'd have to either park it at the top or arrange your own salt supply, I reckon.

Studs would maybe work in icy conditions, but you'll get into trouble using them normally, if anyone notices. and it'd not guarantee results anyway - you're talking about 2.5-3 tons, I expect, depending on how much the trailer weighs.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

No matter what tyres you fit, you won't make a blind bit of difference on ice really. Especially not on that kind of gradient. Chains are the only way if it's not gritted. Why not get Austin to make you an automatic gritting type device on the actual vehicle.He's a dab hand with a spanner! (that's not actually a daft idea either)

Nige

Reply to
Nige

BFG Mud Terain all round.

Bolocks to the road, go accross the field. Much more fun, and probably more grip in icy conditions!!

Reply to
Mark Solesbury

Agree with the sentiment but I think you will find that the grip on ice is appalling whatever you try. 4x4's are great to start off with in bad conditions but try to stop one. Great mass, relatively small friction area.

Reply to
Hirsty's

Could be simpler to move house ;-)

Lee D

Reply to
Lee_D

I can still se the look on the faces of a couple in a fiesta as I slid broadside across a main road in front of them in the Rangie.

It felt like being on a raft going down stream with only a twig for steering.

Lee D

Reply to
Lee_D

I remember chasing after a little s..t after he snowballed me through the window on an icy road, had some interesting effects. schould have seen his face !!

Reply to
Hirsty's

Ditto when I spun my RRC through 360 deg whilst travelling round a right hand bend with traffic coming towards me.

Richard

Reply to
Richard Savage

On or around Sat, 16 Oct 2004 19:39:52 GMT, "Lee_D" enlightened us thusly:

or install a sod-off winch at the top of the hill?

actually, I reckon gritting it yerself is the best option, together with making sure any difflocks are in place and working (and maybe a rear LSD, preferably viscous, would be a useful addition, if there are serious corners to contend with) together with not-too-agressive tyres.

If it's a council road you may persuade them to supply grit-salt for the purpose.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

And if they won't, this is where the councils all buy it from...

formatting link

Reply to
Tim Hobbs

you need a pair of ARB air locker diffs fitting for starters , 4 wheels gripping the tarmac with drive to all wheels . that will do you more good than anything else .

Reply to
M0bcg

On or around 17 Oct 2004 18:22:10 GMT, snipped-for-privacy@aol.com (M0bcg) enlightened us thusly:

mind, going up steep hills with a big trailer on the rear wheels are by far the most important. You'll not have a lot of weight on the fronts anyway, and if the centre diff is doing it's job, the fronts won't stop the rears driving. However, a locker in the rear (or better, auto-locking device such as a viscous LSD) would stop the "inside wheel spinning" tendency on steep turns where the inside rear can get partly unloaded by camber changes.

not much of a fan of locking diffs on hard surfaces, cross-axle, as the differing speeds/loads can be quite high - I reckon you'd have trouble with half-shafts. some sort of load-balancing diff (quaife or viscous coupling) would be better, IMHO.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

Not an option, took me far too long to find a place like this, peaceful, tranquil, views to die for.

Reply to
RR

It is a long and winding road, not an option especially with the trailer on, i dont have the sizes of the trailer to hand, but doubt you will see much longer, or higher on the road being pulled by a van.

After reading these posts i think this is by far the best option, can anyone suggest how to make, or where to purchase a spreader for road salt ?.

As for the difflocks i haven't used those yet.

Reply to
RR

Thanks for the link, an excellent resource.

Reply to
RR

All sounds very expensive, and quite technical, not sure if it is worth going to great expense like this on an 88 range rover.

Reply to
RR

Broadly the same as a set of four tyres on rims I would have thought...

Reply to
Tim Hobbs

On or around 18 Oct 2004 01:14:15 -0700, snipped-for-privacy@englishrosetrading.com (RR) enlightened us thusly:

you should I reckon use the centre one. if you lose grip on one front wheel, then it'll stop going. locking the centre diff will make sure the back wheels, which have most of the load, keep turning.

impressed, sort of on the subject, with the performance of the Pirelli Scorpion ST on firm slippery mud and a very wet grass field the other day; very successful, much more so than I'd expect for an 80% on-road tyre.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

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