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Thread: Green laning wales

  1. #1
    Join Date
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    Green laning wales

    It fainally happened! My first real (long) trip with the range in a setting it was made for, as far as I am concerned

    I took a 3 day trip through wales and snowdonia and it was absolutely gorgeous. The range did what I expected it to do, at least the first days, and life was good.

    This is what I have learned so far:

    Clunking noises. Whenever you think you hear something, you probably did. Don't ignore it! Some clunks and squeezes tend to come up slowly and are somewhat ignored by our landrover- happy ears . When a mate of mine got in the other day he said he heard something and I brushed it off with an apologetic landrover remark and actually forgot all about it. Turns out the wheelbearing front right was shot and it made the car pull to the right every so often. When I went through some standing water at speed the wheel tilted, hit the brakes basicly and pulled to the right fairly abruptly. I hit a submerged concrete slab which shredded a tyre and I crashed into a fallen tree. End result: the entire right side of my car now has a huge scratch/dent. I replaced the headlight and blinker, not sure about the front left fender and I'll probably leave the rest as a painfull reminder for me to keep alert!

    Comfort. The comfort of the P38 is really good Although the seats in my honda legend are even better, compared to others in the group I'm pretty sure we had the best ride. Not sure what part the air suspension plays in all this but where others we're bouncing and shaking, we were gently moving from side to side. The 4.6 V8 with it's massive torque and autobox also added to this. No jerky driving, no drama popping clutches etc. An absolute pleasure. Climate control, heated windows and seats, no matter what wales threw at us we had, to quote one of my favourite australian one-liners "no worries"

    size/weight. The air suspension did help to lower the vehicle where needed, this is also the main reason I do not feel like actually lifting the car. Increased suspension travel with the arnotts, yes but permanently raising the car is not my first choice. The weight had it's upsides when I needed to pull others free (all of them actually) or use my car as an anchor. On one partcular road it was kinda scary though. Oneone ever seen Jeremy Clarkson on the death road in bolivia? Way less deep but I had a similar experience where my front left wheel was on the edge of a crumbling cliff and then you really want that lighter and numbler car Fortunaly my right side was already completely shot by that time so hugging the rockface was not a problem

    Accessories. Although this was a relatively light track, one guy came with us drinving a new disco sport. That was a mistake The car is quite capable in terms of onbaord gadgetry but it certainly missed the ground clearance (and driver experience). I had the spare tyre in the boot since it would not fit in the wheel well but that was a bad idea. The rocking around made it bounce all over no matter how well I tried to squeeze it in as tight as possible. Due to the weight I'll probably go for a rear bumper with spare wheel carrier asap. Since I actually shredded a tyre this trip I am not sure if I want to carry two spares. It might be to big to fit two of these wheels next to each other on the rear.
    A winch was not needed perse but it would have made life so much easier that I am going to pick one up this week.

    Clutter. When making long trips such as these, even though we had a hotel booked every day the car does tend to clutter up quite quickly. I had a lot of electrical gadgetry such as camera's, gopro's, ipad, iphone etc etc. I made a makeshift second battery with inverter and fridge. All that cabling makes for a mess and gets irritating after a while. Making more permanent solutions, even if it means hacking into a dash or panel might be the better solution is stead of trying to save the car. Save your sanity!

    Storage. The previous topic touched on this somewhat, but I definatly need a better storage system inside the car for all my stuff. Still not sure if I'm going for in vehicle sleeping vs rooftent but something has to be thought out for independent travel.

    Fuel range. Though the diesel vs petrol topic is as old as the moon, I really like my V8 and would not want to swap it for a diesel unless I had to. During one day everyone (except me and another lucky bloke in a defender) got stuck. badly. Helping others out, digging, winching (not with my car) etc. meant many hours of the engine either working but hardly moving or idling. That day I got an average of 44L/100KM on the dash. Not sure if this was a accurate depiction of a days out but with such numbers I definatly need about twice the amount of fuel capacity to feel safe

    Never Worry we had at least 4 newbies with us on the trip, that is to say they never drove their car out of a bog, or in for that matter. Though this was my first trip I've been playing around a lot. Some of them were in a right out panic on the inside though they tried no to show it. Especially when you're bogged on a steep gradient in welsh clay (slip 'n slide anyone?) In the end we managed to help everyone but I'd say worrying does not help a single bit.

    Friends are made. During that same time friends are made. I also managed to fix (bodge) three cars during those days with breakdowns. It helps and I got myself a milemark winch (new) with a huge discount from one of the guys.

    Tools/spares. Tough problem. Bringing a complete support vehicle is absurd but you can never have enough tools/spares. My wheel bearing was shot in the end wich forced me to find a hotel near london and have my car repatriated home (insurance fortunatly). Now that I am home and can take a close look at it, it's near impossible to replace this on the road. Bringing a hydraulic press is pushing it so spare hubs will be the next best thing. They are heavy though. Also ty-raps, duct tape and hose clamps can fix nearly anything. Bring plenty! Two cars had cooling issues. A spar visco is high on my spares list!

    In short, would do again, in fact, looking forward to the next adventure! they're nice learning experiences for whenever I get to make my world trip.

    I added a few pics of the damage. You can also see the wheels on there (and how much they stick out )
    Attached Images Attached Images

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
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    Gosford, NSW, Australia
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    Sounds like a great trip mate

    Pity about the damage !

    It's always a battle to know which spares to carry

    Steve

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Wantabadgery, N.S.W.
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    Thanks for the report. Maybe you could learn to check a few things before embarking on a big trip in the future. I'm sure you'd have picked up that wheel bearing if you'd looked. Did you take any pictures of the area you drove?
    Don.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2016
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    Yes I did check on quite a few things but as luck or stubborness would have it, not that

    In any case, there a many pictures and video's. I created an owncloud instance for all people in the group where everyone has uploaded their stuff. I created a web link to my content but if people wish, I can make all content available

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