Build Thread - Ghaniba's Rover
#1
02-06-2013, 11:02 AM
Build Thread - Ghaniba's Rover
Hey guys - I've been trolling for a while on this forum - As you can see, signed up quite a while ago, but really haven't been active, since I didn't have a LR yet.
I originally wanted one, because it looked cool. I wanted one to be my winter beater but shy'd away due to all of the rumors of the unreliability and expense to maintain. I bought a Jeep instead. I found myself putting more $$ into it making it more of an offroader. I found myself pulled back into the hobby of offroading. Well, I got to the point where the next stages for the Jeep was going to be about $10k, and doing that, I would be just like the guy in front of me, and the guy behind me... in a Jeep on the trail.
So, I knew I wanted something different. Being a big diesel guy, I said, what about this! A diesel engine into a Samurai! Well, I found a sweet little samurai, Did some work to it, then swapped in a diesel engine... It was totally different, for sure! There was only one thing... I didn't love the truck. I knew the day I bought it that it wasn't the right truck for me. Very cool, but not for me.
The Samurai did change one thing. It was so wretched on the highway, I opted for a tow rig to pull it to the trails. Well, I'm hoping now with my new to me Rover that I'll be able to drive to trails again, I still have the tow rig, which is now just my inclimate weather vehicle, so the rover may stay as a pure offroader.
Enough of my rant - Here's my new rig, from a forum member here that will remain nameless, unless he'd like to show himself.
A 2000 Land Rover Discovery II, Higher mileage, some dents, 2" lift and ~32" tires. Homebrew rear bumper, and an ARB front bumper, which will be removed and sold soon, if anyone is interested.
Before I drove it to my driveway, I brought it into the woods to test. The traction control system really is darn impressive! Since I have experience with various lockers and various rigs, I understand the benefits of true lockers, but for being a truck that is not locked and not great offroad tires -- it really did pretty good! I look forward to updating you guys on things as I go.
Firsts on the list will be the front bumper, rock sliders, and winch systems...
Dave
I originally wanted one, because it looked cool. I wanted one to be my winter beater but shy'd away due to all of the rumors of the unreliability and expense to maintain. I bought a Jeep instead. I found myself putting more $$ into it making it more of an offroader. I found myself pulled back into the hobby of offroading. Well, I got to the point where the next stages for the Jeep was going to be about $10k, and doing that, I would be just like the guy in front of me, and the guy behind me... in a Jeep on the trail.
So, I knew I wanted something different. Being a big diesel guy, I said, what about this! A diesel engine into a Samurai! Well, I found a sweet little samurai, Did some work to it, then swapped in a diesel engine... It was totally different, for sure! There was only one thing... I didn't love the truck. I knew the day I bought it that it wasn't the right truck for me. Very cool, but not for me.
The Samurai did change one thing. It was so wretched on the highway, I opted for a tow rig to pull it to the trails. Well, I'm hoping now with my new to me Rover that I'll be able to drive to trails again, I still have the tow rig, which is now just my inclimate weather vehicle, so the rover may stay as a pure offroader.
Enough of my rant - Here's my new rig, from a forum member here that will remain nameless, unless he'd like to show himself.
A 2000 Land Rover Discovery II, Higher mileage, some dents, 2" lift and ~32" tires. Homebrew rear bumper, and an ARB front bumper, which will be removed and sold soon, if anyone is interested.
Before I drove it to my driveway, I brought it into the woods to test. The traction control system really is darn impressive! Since I have experience with various lockers and various rigs, I understand the benefits of true lockers, but for being a truck that is not locked and not great offroad tires -- it really did pretty good! I look forward to updating you guys on things as I go.
Firsts on the list will be the front bumper, rock sliders, and winch systems...
Dave
#4
02-06-2013, 12:25 PM
Add to this to your list a cdl shifter from lucky 8. A $500 mod and 7 hours of your weekend and you can lock that diff. Amazing with traction control a lot of people on here have done this. I think you would be happier offroading with the mod and there are many threads as well as a YouTube video on how to install.
#6
02-06-2013, 12:36 PM
#7
02-06-2013, 02:50 PM
Rock Crawling
#8
02-06-2013, 03:12 PM
