I had considered the 2" spacers. I think it would HELP, but with the 33s I'd guess it'd still be rubbing if it dropped.

As for the discreet winch mount... That's the exact route I'm going to go, but I'm not really excited to drop $1300 on some steel under the front bumper cover. That seems pricey to me. I will give it that they do look pretty good, so if someone sees this post up of the group buy, let me know. If it was ~$800 I wouldn't give a second thought and order it today.

This is much like sliders. They're a lot of money. It's not that I don't think they're well done, and I do appreciate how few they will actually sell of them, but... so far I've got $180 in steel into mine.

Sorry I haven't done the rear coolant hoses yet. I decided armor was more important, and that even if the tire rubbed on the inner fender and burned through it, it was still going to be a while before it could wear through the hose, too.

Here's what I have been up to! Tree sliders. While I didn't get through making these, as I have no rails sticking out, I knew it would at least protect the doors from being smashed up from stumps or rocks to start.

They really are still a work in progress, so feel free to ignore the front section with angles and square tubing that hasn't been trimmed yet -- I was really in a rush and doing 11 bolt holes per side was really a big PITA. There were moments where I almost did go in the house and order $1300 sliders..

Over all, I'm very happy with how they're coming out. Once they're 'complete' I'll be bringing them for powdercoating I think.
Side view (again, ignore the front.. it's ugly as **** and must be rewelded too!)


Inner door sill:


Rear corner not closed in yet:


Recessed bolts on bottom:


Overall, I'm happy with how they've come out so far, and I'm on the downhill now -- it's more design and beauty that I've got to do -- I have an interesting idea on how I'd like to have the tree sliding portion stick out, thinking angled bracing instead of the usual straight out approach that the connection space usually is done as.



And of course, before the run, it's gotta have at least a couple of stickers to be an official offroader, doesn't it? Proud Rhino, Caution Falling Parts and Mall Rated.


So, the part many folks I'm sure are interested in... How'd it do in the woods?

Overall, I'm very happy with it. It was able to climb a rock face that my old D2 would not -- but it still, without a doubt, needs lockers for what I like to do.

For New England, today was dry by any standards. Insanely so. Probably the most dry I've EVER wheeled any rig. The dust was really terrible.



Whenever she would spin, it threw dirt. A quote of the day about my tires "They're like shovels" - Due to witness protection, I've melted my face... or maybe it was just a really dumb look on my face at the time...



This next, and my favorite shot I've got so far of the truck. This is the one I can show anyone and point out -- yes, I really do take it off pavement:



So that's all fun and dandy, but how about some video?

If you'd like to see some of the other guys I was with this day, check these out:


Enjoy! -Dave

 

I think it looks great, but... I have tube bars on my sliders, and they do get used, on many occasions that is what prevents the body from contact with the edge of the ravine. It might be well worth considering adding them. One added plus is that you can use them for a step up.. in your case, it's UP...

Looks like 2" toddco spacers might help a bit... on those trails to keep the tires from being so fair into the wheel wells..

There are some pictures of mine here that may be worth looking at.

 

I have full intention to have the tree bars sticking out. I mentioned them a couple of times (I know, I'm long winded!)

I simply ran out of time/energy before the run for doing those.

I knew these in their current form would stop any impact from below, but I would still need to dodge tree stumps/rocks to protect the doors. I'm in full agreement, without the tree sliding bars, they're fairly useless, especially in my terrain where most often the offroad property we will be on is logging land and leftover tree stumps/rocks!

Also, I think your idea of the spacers does make some sense. These tires really do shove up and in there. I had an instance on the trail where it ripped off the rear passenger door plastics, it must have caught, being stuffed and rolling forward -- it's the only way I can think it could have caught.

Dave

 

These bash rings are pretty neat, just a bit overpriced though..

 

Sliders are done!

I went back and forth on what to do about coating them. I was leaning toward powdercoating, but that's terrible to patch/repair, a pain to bring somewhere to be done, and frankly, not free.

I ended up going out to pickup some Herculiner. I knew a local store had carried it, but when I got there, they didn't have any.... so I went with the Rustoleum Bed Liner kit I found at Wally world. I was happy to see it's a 2 part mix not just a mix it up and brush it on --- it should have some good solid ability due to that. Time will now tell. Worst case? I'll get it sandblasted and powder coated if I find it's too difficult to deal with.

As with everything, I was a bit under the gun. I knew I had to wheel on Sunday for some test runs for an upcoming event. During my welding up on Friday, I ran out of gas, needed to make a run for that. Ran out of welding wire... had to switch the welder to flux core for the LAST FOOT AND A HALF of a weld. Ugh! I dislike the mess of Flux core. I know, it's not that hard to clean up, but still. It's just extra to do, and I'm a whiny little b*tch at times.



They came out pretty good. The ends in the front and the back I totally could/should have done a little bit more effort on to make really nice, but I knew I had Friday to do it, and Friday afternoon/eve it must get its paint/whatever on -- to give it 24hrs to set before I bolt it on, and the next morning, it would be in the woods.

The bedliner was a 2 part, activator mix which seemed to be pretty nice. It dried at a reasonable pace as I was painting, and within an hour I could do another coat. I went heavy in spots that might hold water, just to be safe.

The texture is very nice, and looks good too.



Sunday the truck went out on the trails and back home again. I put her through the toughest runs I've done yet with her and she surprised me and behaved excellent!



I went out with 3 Jeeps and a late 80's early 90s Suburban.

Jeep 1 - ARB front and rear, long arm on 35s
Jeep 2 - Stock height TJ w/ Front Aussie
Jeep 3 - Bone stock JK 2dr with Limited slip rear
Suburban - Detroid rear

It was insanely wet. It rained all day. The point of this run was to scout trails for the upcoming big 4x4 event in a few weeks. Make sure no trees were down, etc and the roads were all still passable.

We ended up winching, and towing, lots. The trucks with lockers in only one axle really were suffering. Every time they'd hit some slippery section, that axle would attempt to drift off the edge of the trails. Since we were going up hillsides, this was often a 15-20' dropoff danger. After one very long incline, there was a vote to end the run for the day, enough suffering. We ended up splitting the group up. The prepared jeep was to continue the trail we were on to verify no trees, etc. I didn't want to leave him by himself, so I went along, knowing, expecting I may have to be pulled at some points as well.

My truck had gone up the long incline, wonderfully. The traction control went crazy as I went up. Everyone was surprised by how well it did go, including me! This is what let me push on. It was 2pm. Plenty of daylight left. We just had to finish that trail we were on, and do one more and accomplish what we were after that day.

Well, to my surprise, we finished the trail and I needed no tugs or winching at all. It did amazing. It did way better than I expected over some very tough rock sections that I figured there was NO way it would have done.... and it did! I followed the locked Jeep and learned -- "Big girl can dance!" We finished that trail we were on, and located the other one and went through that one in a very short amount of time.

It is strange wheeling something without solid axles -- normally, you need to put wheels on rocks so you don't get caught on your axle -- this doesn't suffer that whatsoever. It's almost always better to straddle a rock if it's not too big. I did come off one rock and land very hard on my drivers side... luckily, the new rails were there!

All in all, it was a great run. I look forward to leading some stockers through these trails, and I'm praying it'll be dry. If it's not -- I think we'll do the first trail in reverse.

Still very happy with the truck in the woods. The more I drive it the more comfortable with it I feel. On the second trail, I did get a suspension fault message on the dash and it dropped it to 'regular' height and instantly had cleared the message on the screen. At the time, I had tires stuffed extremely twisting the truck. I'm assuming I put a sensor out of range? That's my guess. It did go into extended mode a few times too. I suppose I should check the codes if it has one stored.

I'm very impressed. Now I'm thinking maybe I should get the ARBs in it... I'd have to farm out that work, as I'm running out of time before the big event.



Dave

 

very nice, never really gave an lr3 any thought before

 

Nice write up, Dave. Sounds like a fun trip. It's cool to hear about you going through the "LR3 Revelation Phase" that so many of us experienced years ago. They are badass machines!

...and yeah almost certainly you got an out-of-range fault.

 

Come down for dinner sometime and check it out. You're only about an hour from me.

Dave

 

Interesting thread title. That was my exact thought when I first saw a Range Rover in '77, at the dealer in Frederick, Maryland.

 

i don't know if your interested but Urban off road Urbanoffroad.us list a hidden LR3 front winch mount for $535.00