I saw the winch install in person and spoke with the Lucky8 guys, recently. Their tray is sized much more appropriately than the OEM tray (but you lose the wifi winch capability -- an improvement in my mind). I also confirmed they did not duplicate the sliding tray crash impact approach of the OEM tray. Their finish work is better than mine, for sure.

If it had been available when I installed the OEM tray, I would have use the Lucky8 one.....

 

easy fix. don't deflate the tires. I think they did this to put a bad light on the D2.

 

I just finished watching the video and I have been following the saga for the last couple of days, waiting for the video. Before the video came out I could tell you the Defender was not going to make it up the hill. Not because it's not capable but they still had the crappy offroad tires. They are great for gravel roads but as pretty much all of us can tell you, the sidewalls are soft. If you read the Moab comments, ppl lost their minds with the end result. They kept saying the lines were different or the defender somehow cheated. I think if they changed out the tires and the defender climbed and then smoked them in the drag race, there would be a TFL revolt.

I like how they gloss over the fact the wrangler and the bronco made it over the first obstacle with the use of the rock bridge laid out for the defender. They were huffing and puffing laying down the rock for the defender. I doubt they took the time to remove the rocks for the Bronco and Wrangler. Just a little salty but all that matters is the fact the Defender is exactly what the doctor order for this household.

 

I thought the same thing, as they didn’t show the guys removing the rocks, BUT… the son, who drove the Bronco over that element, said “Made it, without stacking rocks!!!” The implication from that statement is that it ran it without the stacked rocks from the Defender, but of course technically, even if the rocks were left from the Defender they didn’t “stack rocks” for the Bronco. But that would be seriously misleading and I hope they didn’t do that.

 

In my opinion, this video should be really embarrassing to Land Rover. They’re supposed to be the “experts’’ in off-road vehicle engineering yet they put 20” wheels and laughable “off-road” tires on their flag-ship off-road vehicle? If other manufacturers can fit 17” wheels why can’t you? And why are you sooo cheap with the off-road tires? Buyers are willing to pay extra for tires, yet you give us this “Wrangler Adventurer” junk?
Shame on you Land Rover!

Ok, I’m done ranting.

 

My guess is that they were balancing off road capabilities under extreme conditions with towing capacity, on-road performance, and safety. Those three trucks are all built with quite different briefs. The Defender has much higher towing and payload capacity, and you need big brakes for that. And it is still amazing off-road, but perhaps not for this most extreme application.

 

I'd have preferred some KO2's as a tire option, and it's probably what I'll end up switching my 20's to in due time (The size that seems to fit without a lift or other mods).

Long-term, the "fix" to this issue is probably spending around $2500 for the Lucky8 TuffAnt wheel kit with calipers (at least for those of us with / getting a P400), plus the cost of some tires. Would have been nice to be able to fit them without the caliper swap, of course, but it is what it is. I may very well make this change, but I'm mixed on it - I don't plan on doing rock crawling so the 20's with KO2's might be plenty.

 

TFL planned for this to happen.

YouTube traffic 101. Is there a vehicle brand that sour-grapes people love to hate more that Land Rover? Tesla?

Their videos are a sh*tposter's dream. They hijacked the comment section of every new Defender story written "the best place to see one of these Pretenders will be broken down in a mall parking lot... didn't you see the TFL video... they had to get 3 before one worked..."

But the cocaine was wearing off. Was time for another bump.

 

Simon14 is right on.

The Bronco and Jeep which were used are both NOT comparable to the New Defender. They cannot be -- as sold.

The core design requirement of each flagship product of the three Land Rover Product lines (Range Rover, Discovery, Defender) is to tow at least 7500 Lbs. This is the amount of weight necessary to tow a two horse trailer. Land Rover cannot turn its back on their core customer base.

JLR is not going to sell the top of the line Defender, otherwise. They are selling a working tool, not an out of the box off-roader. I think a more comparable Jeep to consider is the New Grand Cherokee. If one would not take an unmodified Grand Cherokee up a trail, one should not take up that trail an unmodifed New Defender.

But ...... Land Rover in the form of the New Defender with its off-road options has surely built a WONDERFUL core platform to modify (with armor, new bumpers, body lifts, etc.) to go anywhere the Bronco and small Jeeps can go.

 

I think the older gentleman who bought the Defender loves it and is probably wearing a heavy shade of rose-colored glasses. He was sweating bullets when he drove over the rocks without his sills covered with sliders (he should have been !!)

He (and I) would buy the new Defender over the New Grand Cherokee any day !