moose

The reason its done like that is so that every seam can be properly welded (ie the seams you cant see are fully welded) making it safer.

Looks like a very good idea i would have one. Go on build it and then see if you can do this with it

normal mistake to make..... A +5 shock in the terms of what you can buy from the likes of terrafirma, pro-comp etal.. dose not mean 5" of extra travel, the +5 (or 125mm) is how much longer the shock is in total over a standard oem shock... You do want to make sure the shocks are not bottoming out. the inbuilt stop are not built to constantly stop the full weight of the car.. they will not last long if they are. they other thing you want to make sure is not happening (trust me you really would feel it if it was ) is spring bind where the spring can fully compress (ie no space between the coils) before the axle hits the bumps. On the flip side when the truck is flexing it can be quite normal for the axle not hit the bumps as the standard bumps are inboard of the shocks and springs. my rear axle at full flex. So that i still keep some slow speed flex my bumps are inside the chassis rails and from the pic you can see they are nowhere near their pads which are on the front edge of the axle. But they defiantly do contact when moving quicker over the lumps though. hope this helps

where are you going outside Europe? when going to Romanian I found my normal European (came with my insurance) breakdown cover would cover me right up to the Romania boarder, so it can really depend on where your off to

Lots esp if you keep standard lr parts/springs etc... but if you fitted full hydro steering and coilovers or air shocks, all you would need to do is lengthen the radius arms and move the panhard mount point as far forward as you can... oh and a custom prop would be needed.... simples

I suspect that its not a real landrover owners garage and just a mocked up image... as it is clearly missing special landrover tools such as a welder, angry grinder, sledge hammer etc..

They are under sized (but not as bad as boggers), a 265x75 is what about a 32" tyre so a 33 Silverstone will be very close. You will most likely not want to run them at high pressure so i don't think they will expand much. I run the 35x11.5's and i find them to be great, they good on side slopes and they are also soft and flexible when aired down unlike a re-mold. Only down side is that they can wear quickly and get cut on rocks a bit to easily. where did you get your tyres from ? Any one know if they have actually stop production? or have the people who were importing them just decided not to import them any more?

its all down to personal choice at the end of the day. statements like "All the successful teams swear by Plasma" means nothing as most of the "successful" Teams are in the trade any way so get it at a trade price... The thing about plasma ropes is that then need to be looked at as a service item that does wear out and needs to be replaced from time to time. There are a few things that can be done to prolong the life of it this is what i do Wash it after most outings and after every challenge. Have co-driver that understands when he is abusing it I also swap the ends as re-splice the hook so that the drum end get some use. And i have the same length and diameter rope on the front and the back so i can swap then round. This also means that i can keep one spare that can go on either the end of the truck. I use 125ft of 11mm bowrope, I have used almost all brands and apart the from cheap ebay stuff each was very bad, they were much of a muchness but in my mind the bowrope seem to last abit longer... So i now stick with bowrope as i trust it and know how it behaves and what it looks like when it's about done. Paul

due the layout of the awdc page/site i missed the link "Event Overview" top right of the main page logo, this may answer a few questions people might have....

Sound interesting. Are the classes going to be the same as ultra4 (stock,modified,unlimited)? Is it just follow a course or is there going to be some navigation? are you going to manage queuing at more challenging sections, all ways a problem when your at the back of the pack Is race start order to be decided by the prolog?

I think you are making it a touch more complex than it needs to be. In the past I have just used some 6mm X 25mm flat bar, then use the spring seat as a template to mark where to drill and get the length, bit of paint and done. Heavy duty rear spring retainers fabrication time 5 mins. Fronts I have made out of plate again used the spring seat as a template and as the shape is more complex used the trusty plasma to cut out the center so the front shocks can mount. 6mm is a touch over kill 4mm would prob do fine. hope this helps.

Yep sound about right, the megaS display was even showing a minus MPG when he rev it But like i said steve's managed to tame it a bit and i think even managed the scotia weekend on one tank... unless he nipped down the fuel station when i wasn't looking

The kit looks thought out and well put together. I know some guys who have installed and run it, with mixed results depending on the truck use. If you just pay and play and binble about then its fine. But one off the guys that i know competes with his truck found the rear shock mounts would bend out from the chassis, so he had to tie them in at the top, and he also found that he was killing the front shocks by bottoming them out. Now the front shock problems from the look of it was down to his very light springs and the shock being to long. Just putting shocks in front of the springs will not give you more articulation unless you use shocks of a longer stroke length. I run my shocks in front of the springs but not for more articulation, but because my bumpstop mount inside the springs. As the shocks are still at the same height and length as if they were located normally in side the springs then the result is no change to the front axle travel. the setup and at full drop no amazing articulation but then thats not want i need/want from my truck... hope this helps Paul

well I think steve has managed to tame the MPG some what... but out in Romain he was doing 150 liters to my 30 liters of diesel But what about a 300tdi with propane injection....

Zim, Do you find you get a bit more travel on your brake pedal now due to the extra vol of the calipers? or have you changed your master cylinder?

the play should be there its call backlash... If you have too little or no backlash the pinion is jammed into the ring gear, this will produce a lot of friction and heat and could lock up your rear axle. If you have too much backlash the pinion and ring gear will be too far apart and will probably chip and strip the teeth of the gears. It can also cause excessive whining. If it was build by some reputable then its most likely going to be correct. hope this helps

Does this help an earlier post

and a few more

a few images from the day...

what speed do you tow at ? Dont get me wrong i love the game to foot to the floor, using all the gears, making caravans wobble as you pass them and turning the front of the trailer black... by if I turn the tap down a bit sit and cruise with the faster lorries a 56 ish it make a massive difference to the mpg esp on a long motorway trips These days finding any vehicle that can legally tow 3.5 tonne is becoming harder.

Other notching methods are using chop saw/band saw chop saw notching 101 which has the advantage of being able to notch very thick wall tube this is 7mm wall dom (I used for trailing arms...) cut using a band saw for more complex nodes where you have lots of tube joining at a point a cool little tool is a "contour gauge" like this expensive but could prob be done home-brew using welding rods threaded through a large elastic band....

I have wide hubs on the front with the same drive flanges and spacers... first the PCD is oh so slightly different to the narrow hubs. And i also had a problem with the flange bolts becoming loose and breaking, so I found a pair of (never raced or rallied ) wide hubs fitted these along with the genuine part (even came in a land rover packet) flange bolts which look weedy but are 10.9's. 12 months on it all seems to good.

well it depends what you mean by "very low ground clearance" if you mean normal road going saloon car clearance, then you will be ok to the main car park. but not a chance of getting much any further on to the site. also by the time you have people turning up with trailers lorries etc.. space in the main car park will be a bit limited so you might want to get some one to reserve you a parking spot

well if your truck is not completely up to scratch for next weekend then that statement will come back and haunt you.... but i like the side project looks cool

Did you lower the mounts? Its not over compression that kills the shocks its repeatably bottoming out that will do it (seen this and done it).... If you take out your springs and cycle the axle what limits the up travel first? If its the bumps the you don't need extended ones If its the shocks that fully compresses (bottoms out first) before the axle contacts the bumps then yes you want to extend the bumps.... hope this helps, Paul