I am going to use this thread to cover the preparations I am doing to get ready to travel to the Arctic Ocean - from Vancouver BC.

The current plan is to travel north as part of this group Northwest Overland Society and of course representing my own group the Roverlander of BC . As a bonus it is the 30 year anniversary of the Discovery line.

If work does not allow me the time in late August even though I have put in for 4 months in advance, a possibility, my plan is to go solo in early August, now that it is in my mind.

The general route either way is :

 

My truck is:

• 2004 LR Discovery II
• Truck is solid working order - no known issues
• VHF Radio - vehicle installed with a short 3 foot or long 6 foot antenna
• Hand VHF as a backup
• Full sized spare
• Basic spare parts - hoses, belt, thermostat will add few possible fail items prior to the trip
• No winch - but basic recovery equipment beyond that
• I can carry 40 liters of extra fuel can and add extra if required
• Awning and roof bars

The Disco's range is about 440-460 Km it gets a bit better on long hiway runs but not a lot
I have done more than a few long trips (Vancouver to Wainwright Alberta and into Sask) as a member of the military so I am familiar with long hauls.


Here she is at the Roverlanders annual get together this year - this is my basic overlanding /camping setup which will get a bit of an overhaul for this trip





1st thing on the do list is to install 2 inch lift comprising of Terrafirma springs and OME shocks I was given by ACG a year ago.

 

Did you get the heavy duty springs for the rear? Didn't...and wish I would have. Just bought the spring set (medium duty) and thought that would be fine...but...when loaded for bear...she sits a little lower than anticipated. When t's just me camping/boondocking for a weekend, fine...but when my wife goes along...we carry more stuff.

BRian.

 

Hey Brian, medium duty but they were free. I travel solo mostly, my wife's back will not put up with bouncing down FSR's for days at time. These springs were free with minimal use so I will see how they go. The nice thing is I can always,but a heavy duty set and swap them out if they are too "light" and I have a spare heavy duty set for the front.

Once the springs are in and as I get the loadout sorted I will be doing some weekend offroad/fishing trips to test things out, then a final 4 day run in late July to finalize things.

 

Tossed my old roof rackup up top to see how it fits, not something I normally do but as I may have carry a second unmounted spare tire it would be a good place to put it along with the various spare parts and fluids. This being a largely hi-way and gravel trip it should not be much of an issue for CoG.

 

Go the new shocks and springs in she sits pretty nice. Measurements so far are about 34.5 ground to the lower edge of the flare at center rear, and and 34.75 in the front, right side slight higher but that could just be my driveway and the brand new tire on that side.

Bad news is the shock towers are starting to delaminate so gonna to have to replace those.

Not a bad job took a little longer than expected but I was inspecting everything as I went.

 

Well the new drive shaft is on the way, Fedex says but Weds this week from Lucky 8,that is a bit optimistic, considering I am on the West Coast in Canada.

Finishing the suspension review, a few sway bar bits to replace and maybe the Watts bushings

Picked up some Mosquito netting to build window covers, up north black flies and 4 engined mosquitos will eat you alive.

The covers will have a cloth edge with some magnets built in from the outside then wrap over the door frame and continue inside, the same for the rear sunroof. These are something I have had adhoc versions of for a few years bit I need something more effective.

I purchased a Trasharoo for garbage, and of course then won a OZ Trail spare wheel bin back a bit later in a raffle,images below for those who may not be familiar. Not sure at this point which one I will end up using.

 

Well getting things done

The lift is in looks good, need alignment but nothing major

I have a random battery drain - oh joy. Ddi all the test and everything is normal but the battery still drop .20 to .3 volts overnight some nights

The solution is a solar battery charger the unit I am going with :




The unit can supply 15 V in theory under perfect conditions

The plan is replace the ODBII connector with a pair of Anderson pole connectors, mount unit below the rear sunroof and run to my radio battery power feed. The power supplied that way is lower but should do the trick, when the Disco sits in the driveway. I can pass the wire through the rear sunroof for outside mounting when required.

The other advantage is I can use it to slow charge a second sealed battery during the day, while travelling.

While the internal mounting is not perfect from a power supply point of view, it eliminates theft and damage issues.

Doing a idiot test with a solar walkway light I lose about 1 volt or a little less, angle matters but not for this application.

 

Well got the word to day that 4 months notice is not enough to cover me for 2 weeks off. Things will continue with this build as a lot of the functionality will work for my personal trips.

The wife is rather nervous about me driving 5000 + miles solo, something about being past 60. We are still working on the logistics of a 1 man 1 truck trip.

 

Hope it all works out Richard. I'm very fortunate in getting time off, l guess that's the beauty of not being important...lol.