Do I sell my Series 3?

I've been off roading with 2 mates today in there Suzuki SJs. About 50% of the time was spent getting my Series out of the mud! I feel a bit embarissed, its as if I can't drive! But unfortunatly I think its the Land Rover. The ONLY places it's getting stuck is thick thick thick (!) mud where its weight seems to be an issue. The Suzukis will just bounce about and get through but my Series will find any small gulley and dredge it out to about a foot deep and get beached LOL

How do you find your Series Landys compare to these plucky Japs?

Both of these Suzukis cost less than my Series and I'm under increasing pressure from said mates to get rid of the Land Rover and go for a Suzuki instead.... I know the Land Rover is the most durable of the pair, it will just knock everything out of its path! And it is considerably bigger in every way. But then the trade off from that is it's weight.... Which really seems to be a problem in the sticky mud round here...



So do I sell it and get a Suzuki which I can get for less and will handle the thick mud just fine or do I keep the land rover and make it better in the mud? The only thing I can think that will make it better in the mud is some huge tyres... Like 33" high baloons! But will they even fit under the arches?

My Series goes places most other motors can't go.

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f12/whaddon-27th-december-91736-13.html

i have driven seris threes for years and found them more than capable driven against suzukis in comps and have never even been worried about them let alone beat
they are totaly differant dont try to drive your landy in the same way as your mates

My series 2 goes better than most I know pulling much more modern vehicles out I do have front diff lockers but thats it. I have a series 3 with a perkins engine the rest standard it also seems fine. alot of offroading success is due to good offroad tyres and right pressure the rest is down to driver. just my opinion tho

Looks about as muddy as what we were in earlier... Maybe not quite that deep though, poor Disco LOL


Did you manage to drive through it all? And what size/make tyres are on your Series?


oooops a bit slow on the reply there lol


I hear what your saying about Landys and Suzukis being completely different... I find what angles work for them on certain obstacles just don't work for the Landy... I'm tempted to blame my tyres, the fronts are Flamingo 7.50s which are apparantly and old Dee Stone remake, they fill up with mud and dont self clean like my rear Mud Pluggas...

What pressures should I be going for front and back when in thick mud?

Bryguitar said:

My series 2 goes better than most I know pulling much more modern vehicles out I do have front diff lockers but thats it. I have a series 3 with a perkins engine the rest standard it also seems fine. alot of offroading success is due to good offroad tyres and right pressure the rest is down to driver. just my opinion tho

Click to expand...

:5biagree:

IMO dont sell it ... you will regret it ... practice makes perfick

I'm deffinitly on your side guys! I've wanted a Land Rover for ever and now I've got one I certainly want to keep hold of it for a while. It's great to look down on everybody else in there 4x4s lol


I have to confess to delibratly running too much psi in my front tyres due to a mix up when buying the tyres. Basically I have tubes in the rear tyres but none in the fronts, when I lowered my front tyres to 25psi i had a tyre pop off the rim when off roading... So I'm assuming I need tubes in all 4 tyres (backs already have them) and then I can get away with running very low pressures without the risk of the tyre popping off the rim? How low is good but still safe?

Also my front tyres dont self clean but my rears do. Shall I chuck the self cleaning tyres on to the front to allow me to steer out of the ruts when in really deep mud?

running 285 insa turbo dakars on mine

Ooooh nice, what profile is that? Will they fit a Series 3 just fine or will they fould anywhere on lock?


Another thing I've been thinking about is the Shackles... They are incredibly short. If I were to lengthen them by about 4" that would help a bit wouldnt it? I know it wouldnt help in under axle clearance but it would give some more height under the chassis and possibly some more suspension articulation? Good idea?

StuntmanAd said:

Did you manage to drive through it all? And what size/make tyres are on your Series?



What pressures should I be going for front and back when in thick mud?

Click to expand...

Mine are Michelin XL 9.00x16 or 255/100R16 36" tall.
I run them at 28psi.
One Ton shackles, trimmed front wings and bumper, extended rear bump stops, plus a bit of grinding here and there.
That gives 13" of clearance under the diffs, standard for a Disco is 8".

cant remember profile off hand. if you jack it up you need longer shafts etc

13" of clerance sounds good! Where can I find some more photos of your Landy? I need inspiration

Seeerrrrrwwwwweeeeeeeeettttt (tooo much beer)


Where would I buy a set of tyres like that from? I'm a mechanic and we can get tyres cheap through work but it was really difficult getting a set of 7.50 16s off them... They dont do extreme 4x4 tyres.

I bought them at Vass in Ampthill, Beds. Tyres were £80, Snatch Rims £20 each +VAT. Fitted free. Nice because the Snatch rims are tubeless. All military take-offs, but pretty much as new. They've got thousands of tyres, all sizes.

Best advice though is to learn what it can do standard, then do the mods if any. Driving skill is everything. Modifications bring there own problems, big tyres alter the gearing, so I went for a 2.5N/A to give a little more oomph. Extended Shackles alter the propshaft angles. Bodywork mods are essential if you go as big as I have. Centre of gravity is also higher, so tricky on side slopes.
Wouldn't change them though.

spydy your leafs look flat,

love the tyres tho very jelous

just been out to have a look and im running 265 75 r16 without any other modifications, dont suffer any rubbing etc

My S3 is completely standard

I went for a standard 60/40 (on/off road) tread pattern tyre. The guy in the tyre shop kept trying to sell me alloys and tubeless tyres :blabla: but I stuck to my guns and kept the tubes.

For bonfire night, a mate with land next to a farmer's ploughed field got permission to set up the firework platform in my old trailer. We had to fill the trailer with soil to the brim and haul it across the ploughed field after a week of heavy rain.

Upshot is that EVERYONE assumed my S3 would get stuck and would need rescuing.... but I pulled a ton of trailer/soil through mud you wouldn't be able to walk through - didn't get stuck, stall, lose steering or anything - and the ride was actually comfortable. Pressures were 18psi front and 22psi rear.

SO.. don't get rid of the Landy..just get good tyres !