Disclaimer: I am not an expert in vehicle lifting nor in the fields of vehicle extraction - maintenance - service - on or off-road driving. Nor in many things in life.

In the context of your question: I'm mindful of the potential for a vehicle slipping off a jack in any situation - be it on paved roads, in my garage, or off-road - be it for a tire change, service, or getting unstuck. Chocking wheels is essential consideration in any situation for safety whenever and wherever possible. The type of jack is irrelevant in that context.

Which tires and which sides to chock? Well that obviously varies based on the situation but generally I chock: front tires when lifting from the rear - rear tires when lifting from the front. If I have to lift an entire side of the vehicle from the middle via a rock rail: then chock the left side tires if lifting from the right and vice versa. If warranted I may even chock both sides of the tires if it appears needed regardless of direction of slope (case in point: ever notice aircraft have wheels chocked both side on a nearly level tarmac when at the terminal gate?)

Have I jacked a vehicle without chocking tires? Certainly. Was it my first choice? No.
Have I done the inverse - in my garage - jacking one wheel and chocking all the others? Yes.

For consideration: I can imagine it could be advantageous to not apply chocks and plan for a jack to fall. Example: if I had a piece of my undercarriage mildly hung up ontop of a rock, or fallen tree, or similar, and the Defenders 'give me an little extra lift' feature (air suspension only) didn't get me over the obstacle I'd need an alternative. I might consider using a bottle jack to lift the offending spot just high enough to clear the obstacle. With one wheel off the ground to clear the obstacle I could rely on traction control in the other wheels to allow me to drive off and intentionally let the bottle jack fall. Don't ask where or how that situation might occur - I have not experienced nor seen it - but I can imagine the situation could arise. In that case I'd consider using the ability to fall off a jack to my advantage.

There are so many possible permutations and combinations of scenarios it makes my head spin. I always thought the phrase 'think outside the box' is overused and prefer to consider the notion of 'why get in the box in the first place'?

I often make the glib remark "Go Fast - Take Chances - Safety Third" in jest with mates. Reality is the farthest thing from those remarks.

 

@GrouseK9
Garmin inReach has been useful. I do quite a bit of solo stuff where a fall would mean no comms would men no help till who knows when. I like that sort of terrain. You don't need to go too far here to be in wilderness. I'm lucky. Handy to check in on folks at home. All is well etc. You get unlimited preset texts per month. Makes the other half happy.

I also have a local FB off-road recovery group stored in it as a contact. I can now very easily (if needed) ping them a "I need a bit of assistance" message without any hassles anywhere on the planet with a view of sky. Washington Off-road recovery network. It's chock full of excellent folks ready to help others out. Probably something similar in many places. Worth looking into and reaching out to them.

My phone doesn't have sat comms feature. When we needed it last, my wife's phone with the feature (apparently) was as useful as a two legged stool. Garmin inReach works well. Inexpensive ($13/month or something) and it's tiny and light. I can use it in the back country driving/hiking/skiing etc. Together with my avalanche beacon, it means my bloated corpse/ditch Defender will be found long before the spring thaw.

Off-road solo trips I bring

• Shovel (many uses)
• Trax (many uses)
• Shackles (3) Tow strap
• Compressor, Staun deflators, Tire plug kit. (all in with my compressor)
• Oil,Coolant
• Zip ties. (Blessed be the zip tie)
• Small set of basic tools (pliers, spanner, screwdriver etc)
• Small hand saw
• Beer, grub, water
• Garmin
• Extra gas sometimes.
• Camping gear as needed.

I'm not going too remote so I don't need a boat-load of stuff.

 

Awsome guys! Thanks so, so much for the help. Going shopping today (not a George 4x4 sorry @MiltonMan it’s closed on saturdays) for stuff I deem necessary for our trip to Mt Mee soon!

 

Also bought a shovel, but can’t find our traction boards )

At the ARB placed we noticed they had a Warm Zeon 8S winch and we asked about fitting it to the Defender. They gave us a quote of 5k, with the winch itself only costing about 1.3k, however they said they wouldn’t do it because it was an absolute nightmare for another chain.

 

5k is a steal. Im not surprised they won't do it for that. Most places quote ****-off pricing for the winch. LR in their infinite wisdom have made the front end insanely complicated to modify with a winch.

I have a similar/same plug kit. I took it out of the box and popped it into a small hessian bag. Takes up no space and it works well. Something worth practicing with.
I've only plugged one of my tires. Not done it before and it wasn't too tricky. A good trail-skill to learn.

• Plug a tire
• Re-bead a tire
• Swap a wheel

 

Dad has swapped wheels heaps of times, and I've watched a video on plugging a tire. I don't see why I would want to practise because that involves putting a hole in one of our good tires. By the way, that $5k quote is AUD, without the winch mounting kit - which I also think is the exact reason they don't want to fit it. Dealer fit accessories are always a pain in the ****.

 

I don’t mean you should go slashing holes in your tires but if you have an old one lying about or can get one it’s something worth knowing how to do.

if y’all already have the skill down then there’s no need.

I’d love a winch (I’ve certainly needed one a couple of times) but I’ve not pulled the trigger on one. Lots of good options now. I’d definitely go with an aftermarket solution. Not OEM.

DIY is the way to go. Install costs are bananas.

 

DIY is not the way to go for us. Sure we can be handy, but not that handy. And we live an apartment too - dunno if I’d want to be taking the front off of my Defender in the parking garage!

 

https://landroverforums.com/forum/20...85/#post929421

 

You are absolutely correct - the amount of travel on the typical bottle jack won't get your Defender high enough to get the tire off the ground. What I carry is a jack stand with a detachable base so it packs nicely beneath the load space floor. I jack up the Defender, place the jack stand, add the bottle jack extension and jack again. Sounds complicated, but it still takes less time than using the factory scissor jack.