Perhaps we have different definitions of corrugations. I understood with Greg's failure the road was so rough he was doing approx 30km/h for a considerable time.
Corrugations to me are those things you buzz over at 80km/h.
Sorry but a lot of people seem to be banging on about this and think that because it is a more expensive car this should not be an issue.
Sorry - but puncturing tyres, breaking shocks and even breaking springs is a natural part of life when driving in that part of the world. You can be right one day and have issues the next - depends on a whole range of variable conditions.
Maybe the only unusual issue is that there is an airbag around the shock and it is a bit harder than some to change.
Someone driving a Toyota, Nissan, Mitsu and even a Landie who had shock failure and was not mechanically minded and did not have spare parts would have ended up in the same position.
I think we are being a bit hard on the old RR.
Garry
Ozjet, I have now done over 70,000km in my 2011 Vogue Luxury and a lot of that, nowhere near 1/2, but a lot of it has been on corrugated dirt road in outback Qld and in the mining areas of NSW and I do not have shock failure. I am sure if you speak to the guys doing the trips that lead to shock failure you will find they were towing or ran a heavy car and that will lead to OEM shock failure on the type of roads they were on. It will do it on any vehicle, not just Range Rovers. If you are going to do an expedition, you need to prepare for it. In a past life I was the GM of one of the major 4wd products retailers and I have built or been responsible for the build of more vehicles that were destined for the "big trip" than I can poke a blunt stick at and yet all of them needed some form of major suspension help to do the job being asked of them. You might think that because you're paying a certain amount of money for a car, you should get what you want in every circumstance and I cant argue with that but if you want an indication of what I'm talking about, go to a new car dealer and find a new vehicle fitted with leaf springs and take a good hard look at the springs. For a spring to work, it must have a curve in it, a place to bend to when put thru it's arc of operation, but I bet you find that most leaf sprung vehicle from new have flat or inverse springs. This is because of a build budget, the manufacturer chose to fit cheap and nasty springs because they are out of sight and out of mind. When we consider a "lift kit" for a leaf sprung or torsion bar vehicle, it is really just taking the suspension back to where it should have been had it been fitted with a fully working suspension as new. So my point is, that no matter how much you want it, your suspension will let you down under extreme conditions no matter what you pay and what you drive. If you want it to work under those extreme conditions, go to a specialist and have it built to suit your requirements.
Sorry for the rant
Grant
Grant - not a rant. I understand what you mean. Epic trips need proportionate preparation. Knowing what you know, what suspension mods could you/would you make on the RR to make it more suitable for outback touring? I'm anticipating that I'll be moderately to heavily loaded in the back of the car and towing with about 150kg - 200kg on the ball.
Just so everyone in this thread knows - I'm honestly not trying to be intentionally provocative and I do appreciate your comments - I'm just trying to ascertain if RR (because of their design) are going to be more prone to failure on the roads I intend driving.
What I haven't heard anyone say categorically (or even with much confidence) is that if I took my newish RR (loaded and towing) with the Cooper A/T's I'd be no more prone to tyre or suspension failure than I would be in an equally prepared Land Cruiser for example, with fresh Coopers/BFG's (285/75/R16) driven with the same load on the same roads with the same driving style.
(Unless that is what some of you are actually saying?)
I have had lots of experience touring in the outback and have always made sure the car I'm driving is prepared as sensibly as possible. For me - it means making sure that the scheduled serving is up to date, filters and fluids are replaced and belts inspected and replaced if required. Most important for me is that the replacement of tyres occurs just before a big trip and the suspension inspected and revived where required. I don't go and get a whole new suspension ARB kit etc installed. The trips I do are not epic (I'm mostly travel on the Gibb, Great Central for example) - most often they are on gazetted roads. These roads however can be quite corrugated for long quite stretches and it's these conditions I'm most concerned about as this is where I've seen vehicles fail the most. Whilst I've personally never had any vehicle failures I aware that other cars fail too - but like I said before, the failures I seen have often been related to old tyres or inadequate tyre choice or just expecting that their 9 year old fully loaded cruiser would happily belt down any road forever and ever on it's original shocks.
All good info.
The new L322 will never carry the amount I carry on the Perentie. So I'll be using the RAAF Track trailer to lighten the load on the car. The tdv8 should handle it easily especially as it normally has a really light tow ball weight.
So I'm keen on info to help ensure my 19" tyres & shocks survive a trip.
Dang Dougal. I didn't want to hear that! I'm am a fan (and user) of BFG but with the RR it looks like I'll have little choice.
I know what you mean about choice. I recommended a family member put Zeon's on the RRS because they were the only thing that fit the needs. They are wearing well but the cracks in the tread blocks (from solely road use) concern me a little.
If you have 19" then I'd look at the Duratracs. I'm impressed with mine (albeit in a completely different size). 20" you're kind of stuck.