Disco 4 (LR4) and its (my!) limitations

OK folks time to fess up here. Whilst out pottering off-road today in my 2010 TDV6 Discovery 4, we ended up with a failure to proceed scenario...... The vehicle is fine, but when attempting a muddy fairly steep (maybe 1 in 4) and damp incline on grass, we didn't get very far. Tried a few different techniques, including high and low transmission, and the LR terrain response modes of 'grass, gravel, snow' and 'mud ruts'. All to no avail, the vehicle really didn't get very far up the hill, which I found quite surprising as the gradient really hadn't yet become very steep. Experimented with keeping revs low, then increasing revs to allow the clever terrain response to do its thing. All ended up with spinning wheels and no traction.

Just to set the scene, I have reasonable off-roading experience, however mainly on sand, though practically none with the Disco 4. I suspect it's my technique that's to blame. That and possibly the tyres / wheel set up. Currently fitted with All Terrain General Grabber tyres on 19" wheels at road pressures. Is deflating on this sort of surface good practice? To be fair, no run up prior to the hill was possible due to the layout of the land, so starting with no inertia didn't help. Also the tyre treads were well and truly ingrained with mud, offering not much grip.

Am I just expecting too much from the car? Is it time to bite the bullet and order those 18" wheels? Any top tips greatly appreciated.

Wet grass is often called green ice. I've been unable to get up a wet grassy hill before just as a series 1 with mud terrain tyres and a kitted out defender 90 couldn't either. The #d@*er in a lighter suzuki jimny flew up the same hill.

Wet grass is a nightmare in any car/4x4, long gentle slopes are the worst as you never know where you are going to end up!

I to have seen suzukis romp up stuff that stopped the heavier land rovers.

Lower tyre pressures will certainly help, you may also find you need power to spin the wheel and fling the mud out of the treads, but you will find every single sitaution is different.

My D3 was much worse on wet grass than my FL1.
Gravity really takes its toll when traversing wet grass.

Nodge68 said:

My D3 was much worse on wet grass than my FL1.
Gravity really takes its toll when traversing wet grass.

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Did the D3 have a misfire as well? fcuking land rovers

I also have the same tyres (General Grabber AT) on my D2 and had the same problem about a week ago. I was parking on wet grassy surface which had a slight slope to the side. When I wanted to go back to road, does not matter what I did, the car was just slipping sideways. Finally I hade to be recovered by a tractor...

lynall said:

Did the D3 have a misfire as well? fcuking land rovers

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No. The D3 always ran sweet as a nut, even with 180k on the clock.
I got rid of it when I got tired of replacing big expensive suspension bits that were at the end of their life, in a couple of years.

I also had the constant worry of imminent crank failure on my mind, so it was time to let it go, especially as I didn't need 7 seats anymore.