Thread: Serious desert trip with a D1 300Tdi...asking for trouble or AWESOME??

Originally Posted by Fausto79

with a 2inch lift, good quality suspension and new bushes, it shouldn't be an issue though? right? if you go huge tyres and 4inch maybe, but say with my 245/75 and 2inch king spring and billstein shocks it shouldnt load it too much.

i saw mention of dont tow trailer either. if you had a light camper trailer would it be that bad? u can stock the trailer a bit more and loose weight on your suspension. i know you need to pull it through some soft stuff but if you are careful and drive gently would it be that much of an issue?

i wanted to do trip around australia with camper trailer. 600kg dry weight. would be a lot of road driving but wanted to do things like drive along finke river etc.

you think thats not a good idea?

Any lift results in increased strain and wear on U-joints, and because it changes the suspension geometry, a (probably smaller) increase in wear on suspension bushes and some steering components.

Any increase in tyre size over the original specification will increase the wheel weight, putting increased load on wheel bearings and all suspension components. Increased tyre diameter increases load on all drive line components as well as brakes, and also increases load on the steering. Wider than standard tyres put increased load on steering components. These effects are not enormous, but they will increase the probability of failure, especially if used on long stretches of corrugated roads. Which you can expect on many of the roads you are talking about (depending on when they were last graded!).

Towing a trailer is probably better than overloading the car, but unless made for the job they tend to be a lot less rugged than the towing vehicle, and many popular outback roads tend to be littered with the remains of trailers. And, despite having spent most of two years in the Simpson, I would not even think of towing a trailer across sand dunes. (You can see my comments on the subject in Leyland brothers' book "Where Dead men Lie", and I haven't changed my views in the last fifty years.)

John

Having done this sort of trip in a few different desert type environments in our 300tdi auto I can only confirm that a well maintained and prepared vehicle which is not overloaded will have the best chance of getting through without giving you trouble. Our D1 has BFG MTs and Kings HD std springs (minor lift). Look at the age of your tyres since the vehicle has low ks and replace them to avoid tread separation if in doubt. Our major accessory has been a Hannibal alloy roof rack in which I have installed fabricated plastic pipe tanks. It has proved very valuable for some other light gear on ate D! including extra spare tyres (sometimes 1, occasionally 2) and swags.

As many have noted - at all costs avoid overloading your vehicle ! Also, drive in a conservative style and avoid unnecessary speed. Let the Prados and Mitsus go past you - you'll probably catch them up at a future dune anyway .

Have a great trip.

So what are you waiting for on your way young fella

I say go for it. At the beginning of this year I did an 11,500km trip in my D1 300Tdi manual. I started in Perth, went across the Nullarbor to Port Augusta, up the Stuart Highway to Darwin, across to Broome/Cape Leveque, and then back to Perth with a whole bunch of side trips on the way (Uluru, Katherine Gorge, Litchfield Nat Park, Wolf Creek, amongst others). For most of the trip the temperature was in the 40's and the car didn't miss a beat. Having an aftermarket VDO temp gauge helped here! Have got a Madman EMS I am fitting in the next week or two.

My Disco has between a 1 and 2 inch lift (changed cars original suspension to King Springs and Bilstein shocks and got the lift for free) but mechanically it's stock in all other respects apart from an upgraded intercooler. It has been serviced and maintained within an inch of its life though. It got a pre-trip service and post-trip service to make sure problems were detected early. For this trip I carried a roof top tent but tried to keep the rest of the weight down.

I went on some rough roads (for Australia at any rate!) and by keeping the weight down, and driving sensibly didn't have a single problem on the whole trip. Well, I tell a lie, I had to cable tie a split mudflap before I left which had got cut the year before when I went to Karijini and a bunch of other places in the Pilbara. Cable tie and split mudflap are still on the vehicle and I might get around to swapping it before I head off up North again just after Xmas on my next trip.

Anyhow, you get the idea. Maintain your vehicle, keep the weight down and drive to the conditions and you won't have any more problems than a newer vehicle, Toyota or otherwise..... Ask the guy who flew past me on the Cape Leveque road going warp speed who I caught up with 20 minutes later who had a boiled over radiator. Boy, was he happy I carried extra water!

(Now, cross fingers that I haven't spoken out of turn and upset the Land Rover Gods before my next trip......)

We did it east to west a few years ago with a great group from here. My car was a 1989 Perentie 110 wagon. The only real dramas we had was corrugations shaking off the rust in the fuel tank and the fuel tank cracking on a seam. But the tank was genuine and only fitted about 7 years earlier. The filters blocked from rust fragments because some genius, ie me, decided to fit a 2 micron filter/water separator in place of the perfectly good Lucas separator. I pulled the tank at Birdsville and Barnsey repaired it. It was ok till we got home. On the last day of the trip the thermostat **** itself. But took it easy and replaced it when we got home. Avoid overloading is probably high on the priority list. A late D1 is a pretty simple reliable and comfortable vehicle. Check all the usual stuff like bearings and look for things that might rub or stress fracture with the corrugations, invest in some reasonable tyres with good side wall strength and bigish bore shocks and you should be right. Fit a low coolant alarm, just a basic type. I also like the Tefba coolant filter. Take a few basic spares like a couple of drive flanges, one air filter, a couple of fuel filters, thermostat. I'm not a fan of big lifts either, because of the knock on effect to COG, steering and propshafts.

It's a great trip to do.

Thanks all, great to read. I'm just about to bolt on a slab of underbody guards to my disco, getting ready to do cape York in dry season next year. All components standard - might just put in some new springs and shocks - run at standard height. Great to hear that I'm making a sensible decision in running stock gear

1998 Disco 1 300tdi no edc no abs
1995 Disco 1 v8i dual fuel RIP

It's not leaking oil, it's bleeding power.

Originally Posted by JDNSW

Any lift results in increased strain and wear on U-joints, and because it changes the suspension geometry, a (probably smaller) increase in wear on suspension bushes and some steering components.

Any increase in tyre size over the original specification will increase the wheel weight, putting increased load on wheel bearings and all suspension components. Increased tyre diameter increases load on all drive line components as well as brakes, and also increases load on the steering. Wider than standard tyres put increased load on steering components. These effects are not enormous, but they will increase the probability of failure, especially if used on long stretches of corrugated roads. Which you can expect on many of the roads you are talking about (depending on when they were last graded!).

Towing a trailer is probably better than overloading the car, but unless made for the job they tend to be a lot less rugged than the towing vehicle, and many popular outback roads tend to be littered with the remains of trailers. And, despite having spent most of two years in the Simpson, I would not even think of towing a trailer across sand dunes. (You can see my comments on the subject in Leyland brothers' book "Where Dead men Lie", and I haven't changed my views in the last fifty years.)

John

Good Story.I agree.
I bought the book back in 67 when I bought my 63 ex Woomera ambo.
Found their tree marking the centre of OZ.


Went back later in the Forward Control in the 80,s but could not find it.
Passed a few Pootrols etc towing trailers and a few had problems. One had started to fall to bits and they did not notice. We were picking up their chairs, tucker etc and stowing it in our truck untill nearly at Big Red they stopped and saw what happened. When we caught up they were very gratefull. Offered me a stubby

Keith

Originally Posted by 123rover50

Good Story.I agree.
I bought the book back in 67 when I bought my 63 ex Woomera ambo.
.........

Keith

On that crossing they were doing a lot of the wrong things - their vehicles were grossly overloaded for a start, and from memory they had a trailer. What they did not mention was the week spent in our camp in the middle of the desert carrying out major repairs!

John