What land rovers are good for..

Well comrades, ah was glad to own a land rover today, Penzance very rarely gets a proper snow blizzard but this one really took the biscuit. Proper snow, and lots of it! Where saloon cars where readily abandoned on the biggest hill in the area, my lil' truck purred down that slippery incline, and back up again. Slowly, of course! In fact it was very slow, in low range box and with centre diff lock engaged.

I use my Landy in the woods for logging, so its a proper workhorse. However, I've never been particularly 'off-road' in a 4x4, how I imagine it anyway.

Can someone recommend a good off road training course in so I can learn more about the craft, and about my vehicle and how to best utilise it? I've heard that there's a good one near Bristol, and I'm sometimes up that way..

Tbh if you can use the car in the woods logging you dont really need any training.
The very fact you knew to go slowly down the hill says it all to me a smost people dont look any further than the end of their bonnet.

lynall said:

Tbh if you can use the car in the woods logging you dont really need any training.
The very fact you knew to go slowly down the hill says it all to me a smost people dont look any further than the end of their bonnet.

Click to expand...

OK, I just thought I'd like the experience of a proper off road session with support, I'm not saying I'm keen to trash the land rover, but I guess I'd get all the information in a book...I learn best from seeing demonstrations from others, or making mistakes myself.

I'll be honest now, that I played the hero to get some friends home yesterday, and on my way back, got a bit too much speed up and lost control of the vehicle going uphill, and spun round 90°... Luckily it was fairly remote, no other cars on the road!

A lesson learned, and you got away with it! Drive as fast as you can stop is the old adage.

Safety lesson No 1 for going over rough ground, keep your thumbs clear of the steering wheel, (dont grip the wheel with thumbs wrapped round it) the steering wheel can snap back if you hit a rut and break your thumbs or wrist if you grip it.
Job done.

Scooby22 said:

Safety lesson No 1 for going over rough ground, keep your thumbs clear of the steering wheel, (dont grip the wheel with thumbs wrapped round it) the steering wheel can snap back if you hit a rut and break your thumbs or wrist if you grip it.

Click to expand...

Is this still the case even with a good steering damper?

Yes, I've heard that about the steering wheel, maybe its a more for pre PAS, where you need to be Sylvester Stallone to turn the vehicle?

I've also got only road tryes on my truck, and find them satisfactory with woodland work only in as far as I don't traverse any steep inclines/cambers, or through deep mud. I suppose I really ough to think about knobbly tyres, and of course a remote control bumper winch. I carry a small Tirfor hand operated winch around for now, in case..

Hammer'n'tongs said:

I'll be honest now, that I played the hero to get some friends home yesterday, and on my way back, got a bit too much speed up and lost control of the vehicle going uphill, and spun round 90°... Luckily it was fairly remote, no other cars on the road!

Click to expand...

We have all done that and its called experience and how we all learn.

You could defo learn something from an instructor, but it will seem tame compared to logging and quite dear as well.

Daughters boyfriend drives a Mitsubishi Animal in which he had no antifreeze [pipes off,coreplugs out perhaps worse.The Numpty] So he got a mate to recover it on a trailor behind another Mitsi. My farm lane is rather steep and the combination would not go up so hitched up my 90 and dragged the whole lot out in low first. It was quite a pull and it was only when we got to the top of the hill he found the hand brake was still on the trailor Another numpty.

zeaphod said:

A lesson learned, and you got away with it! Drive as fast as you can stop is the old adage.

Click to expand...

Lesson learned?? I wonder! I lost control of the vehicle again today, sliding sideways and spinning through 90°! I was driving quite slow, evidently not slow enough, and this time I had two passengers in the front with me. I was taking them to hospital as one had slipped on the ice this morning and broken a wrist. His missus from Thailand had never seen snow before, and had been quite enjoying it up to that point. Again, I got away with no damage. It was a narrow icey lane and a several point turn was required to face the right direction again. Then, a half mile of very slow driving, before we got on to a well gritted road...

THis is a pretty handy video for some pointers

On ice I wouldn't be at much above walking pace. Snow is a bit better.