Has anyone else noticed this is there County while off road?

[long stroke]

Hey all:)
We went for a drive on one of our local steep rutted tracks today.
We kept finding that the rear end of the county alway's seems to try slip into ruts no matter how hard you try to prevent it from doing so:mad:
It has alway's done this, the only reason we could figure is because it is so light in the rear end;)
When out playing on the harder tracks we only usually have the recovery gear in the back, so it's pretty much alway's empty when we are in the situation of sliding into ruts/holes etc, and they are built to carry a 1 ton payload.
Another problem could be our spring rates being all wrong, they are 2'' hd kings which as you'd expect wern't a full 2'' when we got them, and have since sagged a fair bit;)

So my question is have you experianced this problem also in your county/defender? if so how did you fix the problem (if you botherd) any suggestions would be great.

P.S we plan on getting new springs and longer shocks all round in the future;)

CHEERS TIM.

[cal415]

I dont think spring length or rate would have anything to do with it, coming from a disco 2 to a 110 ive found the rear end is alot harder to steer around ruts etc because of the extra wheel base, but really the only things that will stop you falling into ruts are good tyres suitable for the terrain and good wheel placement

[rar110]

As far as I know the only difference between a county rear and defender rear suspension is spring rates and county has borg warner load leveler.

[long stroke]

As far as I know the only difference between a county rear and defender rear suspension is spring rates and county has borg warner load leveler.

We removed our load leveler, i would expect both county's and defer's to be the same in the rear, i should mension ours is an isuzu, realy heavy up front:eek:

[abaddonxi]

We removed our load leveler, i would expect both county's and defer's to be the same in the rear, i should mension ours is an isuzu, realy heavy up front:eek:
The springs are Defender springs, though?

iirc County springs are about 180lb and Defender 320lb or similar difference. Light springs and no load leveller makes for a very sloppy ride.

[clean32]

We removed our load leveler, i would expect both county's and defer's to be the same in the rear, i should mension ours is an isuzu, realy heavy up front:eek:

put it back in, then go back to the original soft springs, is the swaybar in ?

[long stroke]

put it back in, then go back to the original soft springs, is the swaybar in ?

no swaybar, we plan on doing afew more trips to the cape etc, i doubt the standard springs would handle the weight would they?
Also when we get the turbo on, will try fit a set of 35's for off-road only;)

CHEERS TIM.

[clean32]

no swaybar, we plan on doing afew more trips to the cape etc, i doubt the standard springs would handle the weight would they?
Also when we get the turbo on, will try fit a set of 35's for off-road only;)

CHEERS TIM.

just been though all this\ going though this.

load leveler down to with RR front springs atm

i think the sway bar is the key to all this, i doint have one because i have a whoooooping big tank hanging in the way ( both sides of the rails)
we are now traveling on 31" 245s 15" rims, loaded we have quite a nice almost floaty ride ride and a nice ride when light. but seriously put the load leveler back in.

we did ok in this soft stuff LOL and we only aired down to 30psi where everyone else was down to 18, had to have 2 bites of it to miss the ditch ( left had front) and its a bit steeper than it looks

[abaddonxi]

Check here for stuff about springs -
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/good-oil/67409-springs-everything-springs-rates-length-size-load-lifts-part-numbers.html

County rears with load leveller 180lb, Defender HD rear 330lb.

[cal415]

i have driven mine offroad with county rears with and without the load leveler and sway bars, also HD lifted defender springs, i really dont think it makes a difference to how much the rear end wants to jump in to ruts,, one thing i do do occasionally though is unlock the CDL to stear around and out of ruts, sometimes i find it helps.

[Reads90]

mmm am i missing the point but it has nothing to do with surpension but more to do with 2 + ton and gravity and going to the place of least resistance :)

Belive me rangie's disco's, 90's all do it and more agressive tyres make it less liley to do it but belive me even a 90 with a set of simex 36's extreme treckers will still slip into ruts on a muddy track and at times there is not alot you can do about it :)

[Blknight.aus]

yep had that problem and still get it with the perenties.

my solution



























lower the rear tyre pressure.

[long stroke]

Thanks everyone!
We always run 18psi in the tyres off road, don't really want to go any lower;)
i'm not really talking about slippery wet muddy ruts which it is near impossible to keep out of the ruts, just often dry grippy ruts up and down hills it will try to slide in every time;)
We follow'd a disco up the same hill he barly slid at all and kept nice and hi on the rut, we couldn't no matter what line we took so had to rely on lockers to get us up:angel:

TIM.

[lane]

We follow'd a disco up the same hill he barly slid at all and kept nice and hi on the rut, we couldn't no matter what line we took so had to rely on lockers to get us up:angel:

Tim, sounds like you know somebody who has the answer. Ask him. :)

[isuzubob]

county has borg warner load leveler.

It's actually a Boge Hydromat as fitted to the original RR.

[isuzurover]

What you describe is just a symptom of a LWB. Stiff springs and high tyre pressures will make it worse though. But the back end of a 4x4 will always try to slip down into the ruts.



We always run 18psi in the tyres off road, don't really want to go any lower;)


That is pretty high. If your tyres are tight on the bead you can run much lower. I regularly run 7psi offroad and have never lost a bead. It makes a HUGE difference. But the rear end will still occasionally slide into the ruts. I find that wagons are worse at this because of the higher C of G.

[mark2]

I had the same HD King Spings in the rear of my 110 wagon (fitted by previous owner). When lightly loaded, the shocks were all but topped out - even at rest and it would lift a rear wheel very easily. I fitted the lightest springs I could find and it made a big difference. If you carry heavy loads occasionaly, its only a 10 minute job to change the rear springs.

[PAT303]

I don't get the HD spring bit,in a loaded work truck yes but not in a daily driver.I have HD springs in the front of my fender because thats were the weight is,in the back I have the original set-up.I'm going to get airbags for the back so I can tailer the rate to suit the load,IMHO the best idea.Like the others have said it is very hard to keep out of ruts,110 are 14 feet long. Pat