For probably 90% of all the offroad trails out there it would have done fine in stock form with just good tires. For all of the places that I wanted to go then most of the mods were neccesary. Probably could have gotten by with 4wheel drum brakes and no on-board air.

For larger obstacle handleing and clearance I went with 35" Ground Hawgs. To fit the 35" tires, it needed some lift, but I cut the fenders out so I couldgo with3.5" lift and try to keep the center of gravity low.
For better articulation, I went with a hinged radius arm in the front. I could slide a 5/8" reciever hitch pin in to lock it for highway driveing.
The locking diffs made a huge difference in offroad performance. you could probably get by with one in the rear only for all but the most extreme situations.
Power steering was a must with the locker in the front. It was very difficult to hold the wheel during tight manuvering in 4-lo.
And that brings us to the twin sticks on the transfer case. For many places on trails, you don't need 4wd, but the extra low speed of low range is needed. With the twin stick on the Dana 20 you could control each end independent of the other. I could put it in front wheel drive only if I wanted in hi or low and the same with the rear. It's alot easier to drive in 2lo, then engage the front for a difficult spot, and switch back to 2wd after.
The NP-435 tranny was used for the Granny first gear. Without it I would have had to slip the clutch to get through a few tight spots. An auto tranny would have done nicely also.
The On-Board air was a nice convienece so you could air down the tires while driveing the trail for better traction. Then air up before you hit the highway driveing back to town. I had a small set of air tools in a plastic case that came in very handy for doing repairs or changeing tires on the trail. I wasted one tire on the Rocker Knocker in Moab and had to change the tire while just on the end of the obstacle with about 25 rigs waiting behind me. It looked like the tire would have ripped out the brake line if I tried to drive on the flat tire.

The fuel injected motor was definately needed for steep angle driveing, up, down or sideways. At extreme angles, the carb would floodout and stall the engine. It also gave me lots of power and 16 mpg on the highway.

Without most of the mods, I wouldn't have been able to make it through the places in the pictures under it's own power. Plus I just enjoyed building and driveing it. Probably like many of you here and your Land Rovers. My first post on this thread wasn't meant to be a slam on the LR. I can see how it might have been interpreted that way though. So I appologize, any offence was not intended. If I was in better health, I would have bought it and started in on the list of things to check and fix before they break.
So thanks again for the info and advise. If any of you need help on shooting cast bullets or a great cast bullet lube, just holler. www.LsStuff.com/lube

 

Me too. Sorry if I came off as harsh, but it sounded like you were saying we were all stupid for getting LR's and Jeeps were better. I had a Cherokee as well (not my dog, though) and it was a good car, but too small for what I want.

Good Luck with your ventures...