Young bobtail Rhys

No, its from a company called terrain master. The front is the same, but has been adapted to take a winch. Neat job, and its well out the way. The guy before us did all the majour work like the bobtailing, the scorpion springs, bumpers, winch etc. I am now improving it all

I think I should just warn you that if you replace your motor with a high power unit like the bowmotor or the xp unit, it will put extreme stress on the internals of your winch. This will cause the winch to be potentially unreliable dew to the increased power and revoultions of the motor. However, I am planning to upgrade my comeup winch with a bowmotor eventually so would be taking this risk as well. If you only do small amounts of winching throuch mud etc. and there are others with you with winches, then it may be ok. Although I would not put too much faith on the winch when winching up a very long steep incline, because this is the time it is under the most stress. As regards to the champion motor I would stay away, as that is huge, and bursting with power. That is guaranteed to break something. Champion put that motor in their own winch which they desigened to take that sort of power. Hope this helps Rhys

Hmmmmm.............. I wouldn't sugest flogging it just yet. I met a bloke with a 300tdi and the td5 intercooler and he said (so there is no guarantee here) that it had made a noticable power increase. This maybe completely wrong, however it could be correct as the intercooler is mounted at the front meaning more air can flow into it as it is more spread out? But we did have a 300tdi disco with the direct replacement brunnel performance intercooler and that was fantastic, it would completely out run a TD5 and they have 136bhp! So it maybe worth just saving up for the proper one but in the meantime to keep you busy, retro fit it.

Yep, my rangie eats brake pads. It all depands on what type of mud you are driving through. I usually drive on sand or gloopy mud so when the sand mixes with water it turns into grinding paste which the attacks your pads Sometimes in the winter when I am out motocross, the bad weather can cause the mud to eat the pads and will wear away a brand new set of pads to the metal in 6hrs!!

I have been looking at different kits and have now decided that I am going to lift it by 40mm with some machined alli blocks that I will make and then fabricate some brackets for the radiator and bumpers. There are 2 reasons why I will be making the kit. 1. I am set to a small budget, originally this was not the plan to be lifting the body and now I am spending alot more money on tyres, but what a tyre huh! my second reason is I like messing about and making things like the fabrication and welding sort of thing so will be a bit of fun doing it Oh and today I finally tested my suspension, the trailing arms and radius arms are standard so they limit it a bit and also the ramps aren't tall enough, the rear wheel can drop down another 2" yet! It was a bit dark when I took the pic because I was helping my dad all day fit his rock sliders, tank guard and then giving the brakes a bit of a service on his 300tdi 90 which is what I am competing against so my Rangie needs to be more capable than his so this is why some modifications are going to take place!

Ahh, I see now, so I will need a bodylift around the same as yours then. Will my steering be ok, gear stick, Its an auto, also rad. pipes etc. Would I also need to make some brackets to lift the bumpers up?

Seems strange, I can get on their site no probs. Also, Simon has allready emailed me back saying that a 2" spring lift and 1" bodylift would be fine as that is what he used to run on his bobtail with 35" simex.

Oh right, thank you. I have emailed Simon Buck from Devon 4x4 to ask him what my bobtail would require to accomodate 35" tyres and he said or promised me a 2" spring lift and 1" bodylift. So I am now going for a body lift of 30mm to be safe but would the tyres rub too much? I have quite a long travel sus. kit.

Yes, I knew that bit, but the forum had a bit of a problem because his message was split up, the end bit that was on my screen was the bit where he said about the doors not working properly and the floor tray rubbing. This is the bit I still don't understand? Can anyone help? Or is it me again, being stupid?

Hi, If you are doing mainly offroading with little road work you can consider the insa turbo special track, but is very agressive and noisy on the road and you can start to break things if you are a little heavy footed. The other tyre is the insa turbo dakar, this is the copy of the bf goodrich mud terrain, and a very good all round tyre that performs well on and offroad. Both of these tyres are remoulds, so they are cheap around £220 for 4, shop around and they will be cheaper. Another tyre that also, is a remould and performs well is the greenway macho which is a little more agressive than the bfg pattern but still acceptable on the road. They are around £180 for 4. In terms of size you could go for the same size as you have got or 235/70r16 which works out as the same height but slightly wider, it won't rub on articulation you just may have to alter your steering stops very slightly, also they will be a more desirable size to sell on in the future maybe?

Hi, I have had 2 diffs break through offroading but they were weak. I could tell that mine were on there way out because of the play inside them. When selecting gear from stationary it would knock into gear. This was the diffs slowing giving up. In the end the pin through the planet wheels broke leaving the planet wheels floating around until they were blown to pieces. Your problem sounds more like a cv, now I am no expert (far from one) but if it is a clicking noise then usually it is a cv. However as I am no expert I cannot help you with why it jumps out of gear via the transfer box. Mine has done it before but sometimes it is because it is not completely in gear.

Yes I know what you are talking about when you have increased the offset of the wheels as I was going to have the same thing done to a set of Rostyles. However like every thing that changed. I would be making the bodylift myself and fitting it. To ade me I am very fortunate that my grandad is a vvvvv. good engineer/handyman, so if I needed brackets for the bumper to rise with the body he would be able to do that. I don't know as yet whether the bumpers will have to go up as I am only having a 30mm bodylift? Unforunatly, I don't understand what you where trying to say on the final part of the message, maybe its me being thick?

Thats all good then What spec is your 90?

Na, my crf250 Honda is staying well put. That is the fitness and fast sport. Both great fun, so I will keep both, greedy?

Yes, he is actually running the setup that I have planned. I bought a set of the beadlocks a little while back, ordered my 7x16 modulars and they never turned up. I have heard that tyresdirectuk have gone bust, and this is where I ordered them from Anyway I think a bodylift is now on the cards

Thanks Will, after more thinking, I have come to a small conclusion that out of the 5 off road sites I go to, 4 of them are on hardpack and sand. After watching a guy with the 35" simex plod around one of the sand courses, now it isn't a particulary challenging course, he got round, but if he did not have enough forward motion the simex dug holes quicker than a JCB! However the slightly less agressive tyres got around better there, and after speaking to Jules, he loves his Maxxis tyres and says that they will out perform the simex in the sand. Only one of the sites I go to is the proper gloopy mud so Simex would obviously out perform the maxxis here but I nead a tyre that will perform everywhere and he does say they do clean quite well in the mud, and I need a tyre that is not mega agressive just agressive enough so the maxxis has very nearly convinced me. Can anyone recommend a better tyre?

Hi Ryan, A friend of mine has just bought one a few months ago. He has a Disco with air-con, and it looks great, a really neat and quality bumper. In my eyes well worth the money. He got it by calling them by phone. And recieved the bumper fairly quickly, the only problem he had was they were still making them when he ordered it. They should have a good stock by now though. Personally, I would say buy one, because for the equivalent neat winch bumper you will have to dig very deep in your pocket, and the 4x4rus bumper is just as good with a quality finish.

Hmmmmm...... Looks like this topic could go on forever......................... From the reviews and pieces I have been reading, it seems that the tyre size with the most widths and tread patterns are the 35"ers. Now, to fit 35's I would need a bodylift, so I looked into that as well, and it seems pretty straight forward, at least I am capable of it (I hope). So, this changes the debate a little. Can anyone recommend a 35" tyre for a beadlocked 7x16 modular? I am thinking maybe the Maxxis Creepy Crawler at £135. Now this has completely changed everything as it has blown my budget to pieces. However, they do say one of the most important parts of an offroader is the tyres, the only bit that is in contact with the ground, unless you get it very wrong!

Hi Rich, I do agree with you that if you know you can't get out or are going to be stuck, stop and get a tug or winch out. I have got a winch so I would rather use that for 2mins than 2hrs in the workshop replacing my diffs, halfshafts etc. Like you over the years things will be uprated as eventually I would like to compete in some minor challenges, at the moment I am not old enough but give it time and things will slowly change to my bobtail. I have got a 3.9v8 to go in and that will prob be on weber 500 carb, a roll cage would also be nice in the future when I get a full time job and have left school!!! and at the moment I quite like the idea of an 1" bodylift and 35" creepy crawlers, how does your mate get on with his? and I have only just fitted my gwyn lewis kit so have not had the chance to test it yet, any feedback, what does anyone think?

Hope you don't mind me sticking my nose in but I use the fibre flat rope which comes from www.liftingandcrane.co.uk Now it is probably no good for competion work but for playing I think is ideal. It is 110ft, 5.5ton and the best bit, £35!! unlike the round ropes it sits flat so is less likely to bunch. However you do have to buy a special snatch block, another £35, but that is still £100 less than plasma, but no it isn't as good as plasma but very well priced and I have had mine for a year now and providing you look after it I think it will last a lot longer as mine isn't even fraying one bit. And the last drawback that I can see is you need to be careful how you possition the snatch block when in use otherwise it will not flow through very well and can damage the rope, but get it right and it works very well considering the price.

I did have a look at the fedima's but for a 235/85r16 they want £99, for a remould? and I also rang them to enquire about the trial ade but they only do the 35/10.5 now as they 285/75 did not actually come out as that with their tape measure, so they can't sell them. However, I have been looking at a body lift so I can run 35" maybe the maxxis creppy crawlers. But then that would put even more strain on my drivetrain, and I have looked into uprating this through ashcroft, but can I just run stronger half-shafts or would that then put pressure on the diffs and also the CV's? Or can I put a deroitlocker in the back with a 4pin diff, and would that solve my problem or cause more? The bob will be trailered everywhere and it's not as if it would be used alot as my other expensive hobby (motocross) takes alot of time and money. Unless I sell that to fund the Rangie? Somehow I think not

I was thinking on using the QT rose jointed arms and a-frame joint, so would that be a silly thing to do now then? Or do I just buy cranked ones because my budget is a bit low and can't stetch to the likes of gigglepin's prices, (I still haven't bought any tyres for my bob yet!) I thought that the rose jointed ones would give free movement on my rear axle as I am running scorpion springs and the gwyn lewis kit.

Unfortunatly all axles are standard, with grizzlys we broke 2 diffs but that was driver error really, 1. the tyre was wedged up against a bank and then drove, and 2. I reversed hard in a bomb hole to get out of the water (V8's don't do water ) and then up a hill and the front diff went bang. Also if you don't mind me asking, what do you mean by it isn't doable? Although this info hear sounds like I am a hard driver I'm not. Honest

Hmmmmmm........... I will be using them on hardpack, sand, and normal gloopy and tacky mud. I have used them on these conditions before and foud them quite good but as you say as soon as the ground gets very soft they can dig big holes

Right, this is all new to me and it has taken me over a week to find out how to post. I'm praying this is it I am only 16 years old and have a RR bobtail, scorpion and gwyn lewis lift etc. wide arches the list goes on, but my pocket doesn't. I have some 7x16 modulars with external beadlocks, and I'm looking for something for them to go in. It is only going to be trailered so I would like a pretty aggresive tyre that is around 33"-34" tall and a max of around 11.5" wide maybe. My first thought was the 285/75r16 Grizzly Claw, have run the 265 version before and found them very good, however I have been reading on here that they can fall to pieces but would they for me as I am only doing offroad at low speed, (unless my right foot gets a bit heavy) or I thought maybe the super swamper ltb 34/10.5r16. Now that has the same 3 stage lug pattern as the grizzly but is not a remould and is a whopping 8ply! They are £125 each which is really stretching my budget Or for absolute cheapness buy a macho for £62. Anybody out there that can help would be much appreciated Rhys