Off road .. brilliant! (long)

Not bad then ..

Alan at the aformentioned site supplied

As you say .. sounds like a nice man ;-)

I am .. (luckily ..) ;-)

So the cost could

Indeed .. I try to do my own building, wiring, welding, fabricating, turning ... ;-)

Ok, good point (throwing money down a hole etc ..)

Hmm, looks interesting .. I wonder if I could do that with the Rickman Ranger (M&S tryes),(as long as I bring my own tow rope) ;-)

Hmm, which Sunday would that be and where would we 'head out from' if we lived in Herts perchance ..? ;-)

All the best Simon ..

T i m

in article snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com, T i m at snipped-for-privacy@spaced.me.uk wrote on 27/9/04 9:28 am:

We started off with just a Discovery(4 kids and 3 of them in carseats don't fit in the back of a Volvo estate)...now we've got four...and Bruce who swore that he'd never mend cars...does that as well.

According to the Land Rover Owner Mag, the Discovery I is the second best off-roader...and I love my Discovery.

Hmm .. ;-)

So what was No1 (out of interest ..?) Nikki ?

All the best ..

T i m

Not sure what a Ranger is so I did a google.

Hmm.. kit car based on the mk2 escort. You would be able to do some lanes around Herts as a few are little more than dirt tracks. Others are maybe a bit too much for it though. As for tyres, you dont necessarily need mud ones to be able to go laning. The Niva never had more than AT's and the

110 has got M&S tyres on. Saying that I am planning to get some muds as the extra grip would be nice.

The monthly meet is at the Long and Short in Lemsford nr WGC, second Wed of every month. The following Sundays trip is normally planned that night along with the meeting place. Quite often we meet at the 24hr Tescos next to the A1 in Hatfield, but the place varies. We don't always drive Herts either but try to vary a bit. The furthest we've made it is to the north Norfolk coast having driven the Peddars Way!

On or around Mon, 27 Sep 2004 08:23:02 GMT, T i m enlightened us thusly:

I wasn't sure either, but I have to admit that I'm slowly falling in love with it...

straight out of the box, the 90 is probably the most capable off-road, thanks to the short wheelbase and short overhangs.

mind, for cheap-to-buy fun, I don't reckon you can beat a middle-aged Range Rover, something around early-mid-80s, which are seriously cheap at the moment, especially a V8. If you don't intend to do much mileage, then the fuel consumption is less of a problem, and they're loads of fun and make a lovely noise. if you get a 3.9, they're a bit more pricey to buy but faster... the only thing to watch for is corrosion problems, and for that, you just need a RR expert to take with you when viewing prospects. Other than that, the parts are mostly pretty cheap, the off-road performance is pretty much identical to the disco (hardly surprising, same chassis) and there are any amount of mods available.

That's the badger ... looks very much like an early Suzi jeep. We (the Wife and I) built it in the back garden over 3 months of evenings / weekends. It's about 10" shorter wheelbase than the MKII 1300 Escort saloon it (mostly) came from. To get the gearing right due to the bigger wheels / tyres, I fitted a 4.44:1 diff from a 1.1 Escort van. I shortened (cut / welded) the prop myself (just to get it through it's first MOT and was still on there 10 years later.

The odd time I have done any mild 'off roading' (or snow) it seems to get on very well (considering it's a 2 wd) and MUCH better than any of our std road cars in the same circumstances ;-)

You would be able to do some lanes

Ok, when I've fitted the new front coil springs (one has broken) and poly bushes I might check some out ..

As for tyres, you dont necessarily need mud

Watching the 4x4's struggling in the 'bog' I came to the conclusion that even fairly 'gnarly' tyres become pretty smooth when filled with gloop!

Ok ..

The following Sundays trip is normally planned that night

Secret stuff eh .. ;-)

Quite often we meet at the 24hr Tescos next

Do participants have to drive to a phone box to get the next instructions ,, ;-)

We don't always drive Herts

Woah .. that sounds like fun .. I'll have to have to have a Google on that ..

All the best ..

T i m

;-)

And I like their sorta 'square' looks .. ;-)

Is the insurance ok on them (48, no claims in 15 years, clean licence for 25 years) ?

If you don't intend to do much mileage, then the

Oh that they do .. I had a Ford V6 in a Bedford CF camper van and I made a twin 'straight through' exhaust for it. A nice 'burble' on tickover and normal running and something a bit louder when you floored it ;-)

if you get a 3.9, they're a bit more pricey to buy but

Ok on that .. I thought I read things like the tailgates rot away etc .. probably not a problem on a 'bob' ;-)

Other

Is it? That was one of my questions .. "what (if anything) does the Disco share it's running gear with"? So is it 'exactly' the same as the RR (for the important bits anyway?)

and

Hmmm ... bolt on bits ... we like them .. (as long as they are worthwhile ..) Start off with a stock Series III and end up with a tricked up special (and 10 grand lighter!)

All the best ..

T i m

in article snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com, T i m at snipped-for-privacy@spaced.me.uk wrote on 27/9/04 5:28 pm:

Defender of course.

I nearly got banned from watching voyager on account of 7 of 9, I also have a soft spot for Jadzea Dax...

-- Simon Isaacs

Peterborough 4x4 Club Vice Chairman, Newsletter Editor and Webmaster (how much more....)

3.5V8 100" Hybrid, now LPG converted Part owner of 1976 S3 LWT, Fully restored, ready for sale! Make me an offer! Suzuki SJ410 (Fiancée's) 3" lift kit fitted, body shell now restored and mounted on chassis, waiting on a windscreen and MOT Series 3 88" Rolling chassis...what to do next 1993 200 TDi Discovery (the Pug 106 is dead, long live the Pug)

Peterborough 4x4 Club

Ah .. ;-)

It seems to me the real 'best' might be a tractor .. after all it's what they normally bring in to pull the 4x4's out when they are stuck? ;-)

All the best ..

T i m

I think it happens that way as you can never be sure who is going to turn up.

Most of the time it's a bunch of regulars but we do get the odd newbie popping in. A lot of the lanes around here are quite tight, which means you *will* pick up lots of scratches. That sort of thing can put people off so a route which is better suited to them may be planned.

On or around Mon, 27 Sep 2004 19:38:03 GMT, T i m enlightened us thusly:

There's a hell of a lot that's the same. I've never really studied it in super-detail, but basically, chassis, running gear (air suspension ones excluded, not that they're in the cheap fun bracket yet), brakes I think and side doors are all the same. Lift the bonnet on a disco and it looks just like a RR underneath.

I reckon if I wanted a fun motor to play offroad etc., I'd be tempted to a Rangie. I drive a disco 'cos I can (now) get 7 passengers in it.

You got the 110 seats to fit OK then?

On or around Tue, 28 Sep 2004 07:33:07 GMT, T i m enlightened us thusly:

I gather that Unimogs are pretty capable in the right hands, too.

D90 on "big" tyres (235/85R16 now) is pretty much the ultimate, I reckon. The 90 used to be fitted with smaller tyres as standard (205R16) [the SWB series, as well, standard tyres used to be 6.00x16, 7.50x16 for LWBs] and as a result lacked diff clearance, you could always go up to the bigger tyres, and they're fitting the bigger ones from new now anyway.

The only thing that the Rangie loses out on (and the disco, for that matter, is the approach and especially departure angles. Ramp breakover can be improved by a suspension lift, but the long rear overhang on the disco and rangie is a problem. 'course, you can always "bob" a rangie...

Mostly no suspension, but there seem to be more magazines about collecting tractors than about farming...

and a disco, friend has just bought a bobbed disco. Bit more work with a disco mind, due to the alpine roof lights...

-- Simon Isaacs

Peterborough 4x4 Club Vice Chairman, Newsletter Editor and Webmaster (how much more....)

3.5V8 100" Hybrid, now LPG converted Part owner of 1976 S3 LWT, Fully restored, ready for sale! Make me an offer! Suzuki SJ410 (Fiancée's) 3" lift kit fitted, body shell now restored and mounted on chassis, waiting on a windscreen and MOT Series 3 88" Rolling chassis...what to do next 1993 200 TDi Discovery (the Pug 106 is dead, long live the Pug)

Peterborough 4x4 Club

in article snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com, T i m at snipped-for-privacy@spaced.me.uk wrote on 28/9/04 8:33 am:

Don't be silly...what do you want a tractor for? Not as much fun as in a Land Rover. Think of all the fun you'll have shopping for all your off road accessories like a high lift jack or diff guard.....even better a winch.

-- Nikki

1990 Discovery V8i 1985 Range Rover V8 1975 88" Series III 2.25 petrol 1979 Series III Lightweight 2.25 petrol

Dax....

/me remembers the Tribbles episode of DS9....

Like a leaf sprung 'series' from what I've seen as they were going over the bumps!

but there seem to be more magazines about

No money in farming (they say) so why keep the tractor .. ;-(

All the best ..

T i m