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Here's my Warn ZEON 12S mounted with the Lucky 8 Hidden Winch kit.
Prepare to be shocked with Defender aftermarket pricing if you're used to Quadratec, and I'm sure you are.
And just for kicks, a Warn 10S on my 2014 Willicon:
You'll probably just have to discover this yourself over time, as I am, but there's a sense in which you need to jettison much of what you know about off-road driving from the Jeep/Series LR world. Much of the tech in the L663 doesn't just render your old-school technique obsolete in this truck; it literally works against what you're trying to do. The best thing I can recommend for learning what I'm talking about is a school at the Land Rover Experience, or with a private trainer who knows what he's doing on the 663 and has access to a place to demo lots of different terrain.
As for tires, I started down that road of being all gung-ho about going with big tires, since that's Off-Road 101 with Jeeps. On the Jeep I ran 35x10.5 RTs for the street and those 37" bias ply superswampers on 16" wheels for Moab, and figured I needed 35s on the LR. But when all was said and done I kept my 20" alloys and Goodyears for their excellent on-road capabilities, and bought a set of 18" OEM steelies for mounting Cooper Discoverer Rugged Terrain (RT)s for my off-roading trips out west. They're definitely rougher and noisier, but still well-within the comfort range of acceptable for me on an Atlanta-Telluride commute (but my wife wouldn't be happy to have them on when we're driving to the beach.)
And I bought them in stock size, 255/70-18 (or are they 75s? whatever stock is). The Coopers are actually exactly 1/2" taller than the stock Goodyears in the same size. The Defender does great with a good tire in stock or slightly wider sizes, without the rubbing issues. I'm not planning to do Poison Spider Mesa with this truck -- if I were, 35s would be necessary just for clearance issues. But for traction, it seems to run best with close to full air pressure. I put them down to 22 on some trails in the San Juans this summer just because the jarring was pretty great and I got tired of bouncing around. But the truck's performance at 30psi was completely the same, as far as I could tell. I used to run those 37s on the Jeep at 7-8psi so again, I come from that background and the Defender amazes me with its capability as it comes from the factory. Or at least, once you get those quiet road tires off of there.
1. According to the bulletin, the usb will be added when available. I believe the wiring is there, just lack of parts. It will probably be a no cost fix at the dealership.
2. The advanced off-road pack is just software. It gives you a few features like configurable terrain response and automatic terrain progress control. Basically allows you to dial in the traction control, center diff lock, and rear diff lock(if equipped) to make custom modes. It doesn't really make the vehicle more capable off road, just the ability to dial in some settings. Cool, but not really necessary. I have it, and needless to say, I don't really use it much at all. Terrain progress control is like cruise control off road. Put it this way, I used it on the beach just for fun. Cool piece of tech. Haven't used it since.
Advanced tow assist is a similar piece of tech. Using the climate rotary **** to steer the vehicle when backing up a trailer. Pretty cool to watch the steering wheel move when you rotate the ****. I used it once. Might be more beneficial for someone who has never backed up a trailer.
3. Highly suggest to look for at least an all terrain with 3 ply sidewalls. I currently run 18 inch Maxis Razr MTs . These are mud terrains, but are pretty quiet and very good off road. I believe they have an AT option. The stock Duratracs can have some sidewall weaknesses. If you stay in the 32 to 33 inch tire range, you should not have any issues with rubbing. Your biggest limitation to larger tires is your front bumper area where the stock additional coolers are located (not the best location for radiators for off-road use). There are some mods that people are doing to gain some clearance and trimming. I think Saltek makes some relocation brackets. One benefit to having a proper winch bumper, is some offerings relocate or replace the coolers to completely open up the front wheel arch area. this opens up the tires size options and removes the risk of damaging the coolers. I am sure some folks that run 20s will chime in here to offer some great feedback.
4. Yes, with any heavy towing you will need to add an electric brake controller. Just get the Ford / Land Rover adapter plug. It is located under the dash near the pedals. Then just run the controller of your choice.
5, There are a few options for winch setups. I suggest a Warn product and I shy away from wireless remote controls. Superwinch was right up there with Warn, but they went out of business for a while and parts are still hard to come by. Wireless remotes are a cool piece of tech, however, a corded remote is more reliable and safer in my opinion. Hidden winch setups are on the market including the JLR kit. If you want to maintain factory crash ratings and prevent frame damage in an accident, stick with the factory kit. It does have some major drawbacks as far as using the winch in an off road setting. It is mounted very low and JLR uses a completely wireless Warn winch due to no accessibility. You cannot see the winch drum while spooling the winch. This is not ideal. The winch is also hard to service and more prone to getting stuffed with mud and dirt. The LK8 kit is affordable and does let you keep the factory bumper, It also has a window so you can at least see the winch drum a bit. Still not ideal for most of the reasons mentioned above, but better than the factory kit for off road. This kit and i believe most other hidden kits do not have any crush cans or sacrificial cans engineered in to offer some protection during a collision.
There are some winch bumpers available including some that offer a lot of protection. The new defender is nothing like your super sexy 109 and your jeep. There is a lot of plastic and items like the additional radiators that can easily get damaged if using actively off-road. Some offer crush cans, replace and relocate the coolers, keep all the cameras, pdc sensors, and collision avoidance fully functional. Not many have an optimally located winch for off-road use and use aluminum to keep the weight down, but I know of one. If using the winch as a tool, this is ideal. If only needing for emergency, hidden is better than no winch. just my 2c.
Congrats on the 130! I saw a bunch at Destination Defender and it is nice!
Originally Posted by NoGaBiker
Here's my Warn ZEON 12S mounted with the Lucky 8 Hidden Winch kit.
Prepare to be shocked with Defender aftermarket pricing if you're used to Quadratec, and I'm sure you are.
And just for kicks, a Warn 10S on my 2014 Willicon:
You'll probably just have to discover this yourself over time, as I am, but there's a sense in which you need to jettison much of what you know about off-road driving from the Jeep/Series LR world. Much of the tech in the L663 doesn't just render your old-school technique obsolete in this truck; it literally works against what you're trying to do. The best thing I can recommend for learning what I'm talking about is a school at the Land Rover Experience, or with a private trainer who knows what he's doing on the 663 and has access to a place to demo lots of different terrain.
As for tires, I started down that road of being all gung-ho about going with big tires, since that's Off-Road 101 with Jeeps. On the Jeep I ran 35x10.5 RTs for the street and those 37" bias ply superswampers on 16" wheels for Moab, and figured I needed 35s on the LR. But when all was said and done I kept my 20" alloys and Goodyears for their excellent on-road capabilities, and bought a set of 18" OEM steelies for mounting Cooper Discoverer Rugged Terrain (RT)s for my off-roading trips out west. They're definitely rougher and noisier, but still well-within the comfort range of acceptable for me on an Atlanta-Telluride commute (but my wife wouldn't be happy to have them on when we're driving to the beach.)
And I bought them in stock size, 255/70-18 (or are they 75s? whatever stock is). The Coopers are actually exactly 1/2" taller than the stock Goodyears in the same size. The Defender does great with a good tire in stock or slightly wider sizes, without the rubbing issues. I'm not planning to do Poison Spider Mesa with this truck -- if I were, 35s would be necessary just for clearance issues. But for traction, it seems to run best with close to full air pressure. I put them down to 22 on some trails in the San Juans this summer just because the jarring was pretty great and I got tired of bouncing around. But the truck's performance at 30psi was completely the same, as far as I could tell. I used to run those 37s on the Jeep at 7-8psi so again, I come from that background and the Defender amazes me with its capability as it comes from the factory. Or at least, once you get those quiet road tires off of there.
Thanks for the excellent replies!
I am not a big tire guy - my Jeep is on the stock 33's and I have to really work hard to get it stuck. I have gotten good and stuck 2 or 3 times and had to winch out, but most of the time I can get myself out. I'm totally fine with sticking with 32-33's on the 130 and don't want to affect towing, so thanks both of you for the tire suggestions, I'll take a look.
I'm probably ok with the winch being hidden and not easily accessible as I don't use it often and can take the time after I use it to properly re-spool it. I use it to pull others out more often. When I need it, I need it, which is once or twice a year on the Jeep. Do any of the solutions affect cooling materially? I tow a 6500lb airstream and car trailer fairly regularly, so anything in that department would have to maintain the factory cooling ability.
I'm an old hand at backing up a trailer, so probably not worth the trailer assist. The tune-able off road stuff will probably be fun, I love hitting all the buttons on my Jeep and seeing how it changes response off road. That said, most of the time I disconnect sway bar, lock the rear and go and don't change much. I've use the off-road speed control on it multiple times, it's useful on slippery downhill slopes or when crawling through logging trails. Learning a new way to off-road will be a ton of fun after years of Jeeps and similar.
I'll have to think about the bumper/winch situation. I've used the factory rock sliders and steel bumpers on the Jeep, but for the most part I was intentional about it. The d130 actually has more ground clearance and a better breakover angle than the Rubicon at stock, so I should be able to keep it safe. What I usually do is take it out completely stock, see where the limitations are and where it struggles, and then address them incrementally. I'm not big on throwing a bunch of parts on to look cool and then never using them. On the Jeep that was to add a winch, mudflaps, and upgrade the rear shocks. The last 2 were on-road/towing considerations, not off-road, it was pretty much good to go out of the box. I will probably wait on the d130 winch until I see if I think I need a better bumper and then do them in conjunction if needed. I already know I need the mudflaps as it's dirty just from my driveway and I don't want to throw rocks at my airstream.
I ordered the redarc elite setup and proper pigtail. I'm thinking I'll move the 12v power port on the center console to the missing blanked off spot for the passenger and put the control **** there. I might buy one or tow usb ports to add in the interim until LR gets them so the kids can charge their stuff on long trips.
Thanks for all of the suggestions, keep them coming!
Here are a few. The first one is at access height, last one with the Jeep is at off road height. Let me know if there's anything you want to see.
Thanks for the photo at off-road height. Usually see pictures at access height and it looks so squatty. I’ve got a Carp 130 on order and a third child pushed us to order one instead of a Gladiator.
Just picked up a "first edition" (which best I can tell is an x-dynamic with a few options and a sticker) with off road pack and a few other goodies, and have a few questions about it.
1, no power ports in the rear of the center console, just blank off plates. I couldn't find any options that would add them, so looks to be just omitted due to supply chain issues? Can they be added? I'd like them for device charging during trips for the kids. It has the 110 outlet in the rear cargo area, so at least the 3rd row can get some power.
2nd, what does the advanced off road stuff add vs with just the standard off road pack? Can it be added? Looks like all software along with the advanced trailer pack... It has tow package and I tow an airstream so if I can add the extra trailer assist stuff via software, it might be worth it to me. Seems like it's possible per this thread: https://landroverforums.com/forum/20...y-pack-105697/
But is it worth it? It all looks like stuff that if you're experienced, you won't really need. I do love me some good gadgets and buttons to push, though.
Also trying to figure out what tires I can put on this thing as the Goodyear wrangler adventurers aren't going to cut it. I traded in a gladiator Rubicon and want to get close to the off road ability of that and tried reading through the tire thread and didn't get a great idea of what to do to. I'm most interested in capability, not looks, and the factory rims are fine. If I can change rims or space them to get bigger/better tires I'd be down to do that. I've had bfg ko2's and falken wild peak at3s on my Rubicon. Both were good, but the falkens were a bit better. Looks like a 275/55r20 will fit for more selection? In stock size, looks like the only upgrade are Goodyear duratracs, which are decent tbh, but would like to understand other options and what work well on these rigs.
Next, does it have an integrated brake controller or do I need to add one? My Jeep was wired for it so I just had to buy the correct pigtail and plug it in, same deal for this?
Lastly, I'd like to add a winch, I have a 9500lbs superwinch with synthetic line on my Jeep and when I've used it, I've needed it. It's not often, but it makes things a whole lot easier and is the difference between taking a few minutes to get out and a few hours... I'm done digging and ramming logs and rocks under the tires to get out, that was fun in my 20s, not so much in my 40s. It's much easier to hook to a tree (in the NE) and yank myself out. I prefer something integrated into the stock fascia, not a big fan of big bumpers and all that crap unless there's something particularly fragile that needs protecting.
Anyway, this thing is sweet so far, very comfortable and quiet with enough gadgets to satisfy my inner engineer. I was really happy with my Jeep as it could tow my airstream and car trailer, go to home Depot and the dump, let me take off grid camping trips and off road anywhere but... we just got a 2nd dog, my mom is moving next door, I have two kids getting closer to teenage years and man, we tried a fairly short trip with all of us and it was tight. Too tight. We need more room, which the 130 has in spades and ups both the towing and payload to boot. I just hope it can come close in off road ability as I will be taking it into locker/winch territory a few times a year.
I also have a series 3 109 ex-mod, so not new to the LR world, but this is my first new one. This should also be a good tow/rescue vehicle when I want to go get that thing dirty.
Appreciate any pointers and can't wait to see what this thing can really do! Here's one of the trips I'll be doing later this winter, weather can make it really rough conditions and there are tons off road trails to test it out: https://youtu.be/2LLdOI6bDuk
Not sure if you're familiar with Lucky8 but I think their recent 130 build can answer a lot of your questions. It definitely looks like the ultimate 130. They put basically everything on it, have linked it on Instagram below.
Oh, BobZDar, is that an R55 Clubman in one of the pics? Can’t see enough of the side to see if it’s a 55 Clubman or 56 Hardtop. Here’s my 2014 in Pepper White, sold last summer because of bonkers prices on everything and it was an extra car I just used occasionally. It’s a Hyde Park Edition, which had some unique colors but that’s it.
Oh, BobZDar, is that an R55 Clubman in one of the pics? Can’t see enough of the side to see if it’s a 55 Clubman or 56 Hardtop. Here’s my 2014 in Pepper White, sold last summer because of bonkers prices on everything and it was an extra car I just used occasionally. It’s a Hyde Park Edition, which had some unique colors but that’s it.
Close, it's an f54 clubman S sport 6 speed. My wife's car, she's pissed they no longer make a manual clubman or we'd probably get a new one.
So I went back to the dealer as they gave me until Saturday to either trade my Jeep in or write a check for it, I decided to keep it, but while I was there I checked the other d 130 door stickers on the other two models they had. All were optioned differently (but all X-dynamic SE's), and all had the exact same 600kg/1320lbs payload rating, which is way under what the LR website and the manual quote for the 130. Has anyone else seen this? That nice even 600kg number, and the fact all were the same, screams to me it's skirting some kind of european tax regulation. So what is the actual payload? What the sticker says? Or the GVWR-curb weight (per the manual for the 8 seater, 1880lbs)? The difference of over 500lbs could be somewhat important when towing a trailer...1880lbs would mean I don't have to worry at all what I put in it, vs. having to be more tactical about what rides in the 130 vs. what goes in the trailer cargo wise.
12-02-2022, 09:26 AM
