An unusual Recovery

Those of us who drive in the desert will be familiar with the need to pull stuck vehicles out of the sand (usually Land Cruisers). This is a weird one .. a guy who managed to get his Dodge Challenge R/T well and truly buried. While I recovered him OK, the slick tires on the Dodge absolutely refused to grip, meaning I was pulling a couple tonnes of dead weight American muscle .. the strain on my 110 (4.5 JED V8 - pushing about 260bhp) proved a bit much, and after recovery, it spluttered and died. Thankfully nothing serious ... i'd just bought this, and fears of a full rebuild just 7k after it was put together filled me with dread. Torn air intake hose was all ... think the strain has caused the engine to move around a bit on its mounts, something I'm fixing this week.

Very pretty landy! I like that. What was he doing out in the sand in that anyway?

bankz5152 said:

Very pretty landy! I like that. What was he doing out in the sand in that anyway?

Click to expand...

There's a sand track that's almost navigable, but there was no way to get him out along that in reverse -- just had to pull forward into some flatter sabkha (compressed, flat salty sand). Previous owner did a great job on the aesthetics -- looks pretty much stock but for the roll cage. Hides a lot of very well selected performance mods, and of course, that insane John Eales 4.5 V8. Upkeep is likely to be pricey, though

Thats exactly what I thought, very tasteful. What transmission it running?

bankz5152 said:

Thats exactly what I thought, very tasteful. What transmission it running?

Click to expand...

Mostly standard -- have been advised that standard is good up to 300bhp. Quaife front diff, though. Came with a damaged Ashcroft transfer box with 1.667 ratios as a spare.

oooo very nice! I'd be tempted to put the Quaife diff in the rear, bit of slidey slidey in the sand! haha

bankz5152 said:

oooo very nice! I'd be tempted to put the Quaife diff in the rear, bit of slidey slidey in the sand! haha

Click to expand...

I may well do that. TBH, I was looking for a potential overland vehicle, then this came up - great pedigree, and some great work done. But it does push me more into the quick rally raid vehicle territory. A few more months getting used to it (and saving!) and I'll know what to do. A fast rally raid overlander most likely!

Sounds awesome! I'd love to try a bit of rally raid myself

bankz5152 said:

Sounds awesome! I'd love to try a bit of rally raid myself

Click to expand...

And me. There is one called the Maroc Challege which I would love to do