Handy hint picked up in conversation...

Had a long telephone conversation yesterday with a chap I used to offroad
with quite a bit in Spain a few years ago..... during the converstaion he
made a few observations about the way the offroad scene has gone in the UK
over the last couple of years. Most interesting pieces of info I picked up
were as follows:
" Puddles left in the road after a sharp downpour can easily hydraulic
your engine unless you fit a snorkel to your otherwise roadgoing 4x4 "
" Vehicles fitted with decnt tyres tend to need their winches less often
than those that are running around on bald 205x16s "

David
LLAMA 4x4
www.llama4x4.co.uk

David_LLAMA4x4 wrote:
> " Puddles left in the road after a sharp downpour can easily hydraulic
> your engine unless you fit a snorkel to your otherwise roadgoing 4x4 "

Depends where the air intake is, I would think. Something like a disco
with the air intake under the wheelarch I can see how this could easily
be the case. Something like my 110 with the air intake at the back of
the engine bay right at the top in the middle I would think it's less
likely.

> " Vehicles fitted with decnt tyres tend to need their winches less often
> than those that are running around on bald 205x16s "

Could do with some kind of "stating the obvious" prize for that one!

Paul

--
Paul Everett
repton at repton dot org
http://www.repton.org/

In message <[email protected]>
"David_LLAMA4x4" <[email protected]> wrote:

> Had a long telephone conversation yesterday with a chap I used to offroad
> with quite a bit in Spain a few years ago..... during the converstaion he
> made a few observations about the way the offroad scene has gone in the UK
> over the last couple of years. Most interesting pieces of info I picked up
> were as follows:
> " Puddles left in the road after a sharp downpour can easily hydraulic
> your engine unless you fit a snorkel to your otherwise roadgoing 4x4 "

ahem - not true, for LR's anyway - unless the air intake goes under water
- and that would take a very deep puddle!

> " Vehicles fitted with decnt tyres tend to need their winches less often
> than those that are running around on bald 205x16s "

Having appropriate tyres removes the need for a winch at all, unless
your going to extremes. Always going out with a minium of 3 vehicles
and some ropes will reduce the occasions that a winch is needed to
a bare minimum.
I took my 0X winch off, as it caused more problems with approach
angles and ground clearence than it solved in recovery. Infact, I only
actually *needed* the winch once in the two years it was fitted, and
that was after falling off the bridge at Mow Cop.

Fit a snorkel and winch if you want, but they are not essential - no
one in our "group" of laners has either fitted any more, as having
snorkels (and indeed roof-racks) effectively bars us from many
lanes in the Peaks and around Llangollen (unless we'd want to leave
them behind attached to a tree).

I've put a picture up on the site at
www.beamends-lrspares.co.uk/denniswade.jpg
which shows the wading ability of a 110 on 7.50's. It's not too
clear in the photo, but the "bow wave" is washing the mirror arm
on the upstream side and there was about 2 inches of water in the
cab when the crossing was complete. The river is flowing rather
faster that it looks in the photo too. The more observant will
notice that I'm actualy reversing across...... I'll leave you
all to work out why!

You might be a bit surprised I'm saying this, as I sell both items,
but I get annoyed that some poor soul has been told by an "expert"
that they need all those sort of stuff to off-road. You don't, and
we'll have a lot more people enjoying their vehicles off-road
if they are shown just what their vehicles can do without any
extras.....

Richard

>
> David
> LLAMA 4x4
> www.llama4x4.co.uk
>
>

--
www.beamends-lrspares.co.uk [email protected]
Running a business in a Microsoft free environment - it can be done
Powered by Risc-OS - you won't get a virus from us!!
Helping keep Land Rovers on and off the road to annoy the Lib Dems

beamendsltd wrote:

> I've put a picture up on the site at
> www.beamends-lrspares.co.uk/denniswade.jpg
> which shows the wading ability of a 110 on 7.50's.

http://www.idlers.org/indeep.jpg shows my 110 in similarly deep water.
Being a V8 I have that extra level of protection against filling the
engine with water - the distributor. Water in that stops the engine
turning long before it gets to the intake!

That said I'm presently building a distributorless ignition system for
it. Once that is on I think I'll be wanting a snorkel...

Paul

--
Paul Everett
repton at repton dot org
http://www.repton.org/

On Tue, 11 Jan 2005 09:43:28 +0000, Paul Everett
<[email protected]> wrote:

>beamendsltd wrote:
>
>> I've put a picture up on the site at
>> www.beamends-lrspares.co.uk/denniswade.jpg
>> which shows the wading ability of a 110 on 7.50's.
>
>http://www.idlers.org/indeep.jpg shows my 110 in similarly deep water.
>Being a V8 I have that extra level of protection against filling the
>engine with water - the distributor. Water in that stops the engine
>turning long before it gets to the intake!
>
>That said I'm presently building a distributorless ignition system for
>it. Once that is on I think I'll be wanting a snorkel...
>
>Paul

Paul where was the picture taken?

Richard

In article <[email protected]>, Mr.Nice wrote:
>
> As for winches, I am considering a hand winch, Brano maybe (did I
> spell that right?) as I am often out working alone and the idea of
> getting stuck is not attractive.
>
>

There was a very good article in the last Glass mag that shows how to use
a normal high lift as a winch with just a couple of ropes and two small
loops of rope as well as the usual shackles, etc.

Not sure of the copyright issues but I could scan it an mail it. If you
already have a hi-lift it would be cheaper.


--
simon at sbarr dot demon dot co dot uk
Simon Barr.
'97 110 300Tdi.

> I recently drove my standard 110 through water bumper-deep which is
> the quoted wading depth. However I'd have been happier if I'd had a
> snorkel as I wasn't 100% sure of the depth, I'm fairly sure one
> stretch of 50 yards or so was headlight deep. I didn't stop to have a
> look, I wanted out.

I've had a defender 90 with water up to the top of the lights! Kept a good
bow wave and she was fine, not really advisable though. Was toward needing
new trousers. What was interesting was that the back of it started floating,
so you wouldn't have gone much deaper anyway without ballast.

Have also waded up to the lights in my Shogun, that was a bit more
interesting as the intake is at the front inside the wheel arches. I started
to panick when the air filter blockage light came on on the dash. Did Get
out fine without any damage.

Of course its also important to remember that if you go below the level of
the axle and gearbox breathers to dump the oil afterwards, getting water in
it can do a lot of damage. I see an awful lot of people who put snorkels on
and assume they can just plunge into the nearest pond without worrying. For
wading deaper than axle level, raised breathers are usually needed.

> I will be fitting a snorkel soon, not sure if it'll be bought or
> bodged but I eill be customising it if needed so thet the top of it's
> had is no higher than the rear roofline, otherwise it would be removed
> by any one of the many trees I drive under most weeks.
>
> I'm going to use a cyclone top which I hope will extend the life of
> the air filter as it gets very very dusty around here in the summer.

Makes a lot of difference. Have been offroading in Namibia. Most Landrovers
there have snorkels, not for wading but to reduce the dust intake. Since
most dust is created around the wheels, having the intake here doesn't make
much sense. By way of comparison, when in Namibia we had two 110s one with a
snorkel and one without. The one without, we had to blow out the air cleaner
twice a day, the other only needed doing once in two weeks!

I can highly recommend a Safari Snorkel, quality piece of kit. Easy to fit,
looks the business and works a dream. Again it was the brand we saw most of
in Namibia, fitted one to fathers 90 for the same reason, to keep the dust
out.

Graham

On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 08:38:18 +0000, Mr.Nice.
<markvarleyphoto@*nospam*softhome.net> wrote:

<snipped>

>As for winches, I am considering a hand winch, Brano maybe (did I
>spell that right?) as I am often out working alone and the idea of
>getting stuck is not attractive.
>
>
>Regards.
>Mark.(AKA, Mr.Nice.)

Mark,

This solution maybe of use to you!
http://www.j8g.co.uk/landy Look for Hilift Winch.

Neil