Had a long telephone conversation yesterday with a chap I used to offroad with quite a bit in Spain a few years ago..... during the converstaion he made a few observations about the way the offroad scene has gone in the UK over the last couple of years. Most interesting pieces of info I picked up were as follows: " Puddles left in the road after a sharp downpour can easily hydraulic your engine unless you fit a snorkel to your otherwise roadgoing 4x4 " " Vehicles fitted with decnt tyres tend to need their winches less often than those that are running around on bald 205x16s "
Depends where the air intake is, I would think. Something like a disco with the air intake under the wheelarch I can see how this could easily be the case. Something like my 110 with the air intake at the back of the engine bay right at the top in the middle I would think it's less likely.
Could do with some kind of "stating the obvious" prize for that one!
ahem - not true, for LR's anyway - unless the air intake goes under water
- and that would take a very deep puddle!
Having appropriate tyres removes the need for a winch at all, unless your going to extremes. Always going out with a minium of 3 vehicles and some ropes will reduce the occasions that a winch is needed to a bare minimum. I took my 0X winch off, as it caused more problems with approach angles and ground clearence than it solved in recovery. Infact, I only actually *needed* the winch once in the two years it was fitted, and that was after falling off the bridge at Mow Cop.
Fit a snorkel and winch if you want, but they are not essential - no one in our "group" of laners has either fitted any more, as having snorkels (and indeed roof-racks) effectively bars us from many lanes in the Peaks and around Llangollen (unless we'd want to leave them behind attached to a tree).
I've put a picture up on the site at
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which shows the wading ability of a 110 on 7.50's. It's not too clear in the photo, but the "bow wave" is washing the mirror arm on the upstream side and there was about 2 inches of water in the cab when the crossing was complete. The river is flowing rather faster that it looks in the photo too. The more observant will notice that I'm actualy reversing across...... I'll leave you all to work out why!
You might be a bit surprised I'm saying this, as I sell both items, but I get annoyed that some poor soul has been told by an "expert" that they need all those sort of stuff to off-road. You don't, and we'll have a lot more people enjoying their vehicles off-road if they are shown just what their vehicles can do without any extras.....
shows my 110 in similarly deep water. Being a V8 I have that extra level of protection against filling the engine with water - the distributor. Water in that stops the engine turning long before it gets to the intake! That said I'm presently building a distributorless ignition system for it. Once that is on I think I'll be wanting a snorkel...
I recently drove my standard 110 through water bumper-deep which is the quoted wading depth. However I'd have been happier if I'd had a snorkel as I wasn't 100% sure of the depth, I'm fairly sure one stretch of 50 yards or so was headlight deep. I didn't stop to have a look, I wanted out.
I will be fitting a snorkel soon, not sure if it'll be bought or bodged but I eill be customising it if needed so thet the top of it's had is no higher than the rear roofline, otherwise it would be removed by any one of the many trees I drive under most weeks.
I'm going to use a cyclone top which I hope will extend the life of the air filter as it gets very very dusty around here in the summer.
As for winches, I am considering a hand winch, Brano maybe (did I spell that right?) as I am often out working alone and the idea of getting stuck is not attractive.
There was a very good article in the last Glass mag that shows how to use a normal high lift as a winch with just a couple of ropes and two small loops of rope as well as the usual shackles, etc.
Not sure of the copyright issues but I could scan it an mail it. If you already have a hi-lift it would be cheaper.
I've had a defender 90 with water up to the top of the lights! Kept a good bow wave and she was fine, not really advisable though. Was toward needing new trousers. What was interesting was that the back of it started floating, so you wouldn't have gone much deaper anyway without ballast.
Have also waded up to the lights in my Shogun, that was a bit more interesting as the intake is at the front inside the wheel arches. I started to panick when the air filter blockage light came on on the dash. Did Get out fine without any damage.
Of course its also important to remember that if you go below the level of the axle and gearbox breathers to dump the oil afterwards, getting water in it can do a lot of damage. I see an awful lot of people who put snorkels on and assume they can just plunge into the nearest pond without worrying. For wading deaper than axle level, raised breathers are usually needed.
Makes a lot of difference. Have been offroading in Namibia. Most Landrovers there have snorkels, not for wading but to reduce the dust intake. Since most dust is created around the wheels, having the intake here doesn't make much sense. By way of comparison, when in Namibia we had two 110s one with a snorkel and one without. The one without, we had to blow out the air cleaner twice a day, the other only needed doing once in two weeks!
I can highly recommend a Safari Snorkel, quality piece of kit. Easy to fit, looks the business and works a dream. Again it was the brand we saw most of in Namibia, fitted one to fathers 90 for the same reason, to keep the dust out.
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