Thread: Lets get serious

Originally Posted by AnD3rew

Thanks, I actually hate the spare tyre where it is and have already buggered a stupidly designed tyre winch so am happy to relocate it, but the other option without replacing the full bar looks good and itsq true with an extra tank you probably don't need the extra Jerry.

I will have two teenagers with me so don't want to fill wheel wells with tanks and don't like the idea of fuel in the cabin in any case.

Agreed Llams is necessary, discovered that on my last western QLD, NSW trip, lots of good roads which can easily be travelled at 80kph or above, but have a mound in the middle.

I do want a winch because we often travel alone. I am not massively worried about the weight because will probably get a camper trailer, that's the attraction of not buying a new Disco but staying with the old one is that it allows me to spend the upgrade money on mods and a trailer.

How important is it to go to 17"s do you think? I have 18"s with GG AT2 tyres and have been pretty happy so far.

Your better off with just the carrier if you want to save some dollars and weight, if you don't need the rear bar, no reason to waste your money on one.

As for 17"rims, what this does is give a wider range of tyres to select from and also more options when in remote areas, 18" tyres aren't carried in great numbers in country towns and there's a greater chance they don't carry 18s at all, also you can get tyres in LT(Light Truck)construction with 17" rims, in Australia all 18" tyres are not light truck, so you have a greater chance of getting a puncture, especially if you drop your tyre pressures when on dirt roads.

Baz.

Originally Posted by Redback

in Australia all 18" tyres are not light truck,

18" BFG ATs are LT.

My D3 has done the Simpson Desert west - east via Mt dare and up the Hay river track as well as a trip to Darwin via the Oodnadatta track, the High Country, Fraser Island and assorted other locations as well as being a daily driver. It now has over 200,000Km on it and has not had failures on any of these trips. My equipment list is below:

ARB bullbar
ALDI winch
Factory RAI
short Windcheetah roofrack with spare tyre carrier
Dolium rear door ladder
Long Ranger Fuel tank
Intelligent 4x4 wheel carrier
Home made rack and cargo barrier with a fridge slide
Land Rover headrest TV screens fed by a WDTV media platyer and USB Hard drive
Lightforce XGT lights
Traxide Dual Battery system with Optima yellow top battery
Foxwing
40 Litre footwell water tank that can sit behind the front seats
General Grabber 18" AT2 tyres on standard rims with a second spare the same
LLAMS height control
ARB compressor mounted under the bonnet
ICOM IC440 UHF

The list above is the culmination of the bits we added for the Simpson trip and there isnt much else I will do to the vehicle. As the kids are growing I'll probably redesign the cargo barrier and fridge frame and rebuild it in aluminium so that it incorporates a different water tank but that is a slowtime project.
The only other suggestion have is go and get your transmission serviced and keep the oil changes up to it as I had to replace mine prior to the simpson trip due to torque converter failure. There is plenty of info on here about that though.

Before I fitted the winch and the extra tank in the Vic high country.



Regards,
Tote

Originally Posted by garrycol

18" BFG ATs are LT.

General Grabbersand Pirelli Scorpion ATR are as well from my understanding.

GGs are not LT.

However does it matter - a passenger grade tyre with a load rating of say 120 will be similar in strength to an LT with a load rating of 120.

The difference is that most passenger tyres in the sizes we are interested in will have a rating of around 110-112 where most LTs in similar sizes will have a rating of around 120.

I am not sure that in these days the difference between the two is not as great as it used to be in days gone by.

Garry

As an aside with 180,000 on two and a half sets of AT2 GGs I have had three punctures, one on the Hay river in the tread was patched with a plug, coincedently the same tyre was punctured in the sidewall on an outcrop of vertically tilted shale on our property a couple of months later. The only other puncture has been from a tek screw which was repaired.

Regards,
Tote

Originally Posted by garrycol

18" BFG ATs are LT.

Only in 31.5" (LT265/65R18)

Originally Posted by AnD3rew

General Grabbersand Pirelli Scorpion ATR are as well from my understanding.

Neither are LT, how much are BFGs in 18" though

I had 3 punchures in 2 days with my GG AT2s, they have a soft spot just below the tread line in the sidewall.

Still think 17s will give a greater chance of getting a replacement in remote areas, but it's your choice, I'm only given you my opinion.

Baz.