That would be an "immoral grip"...holding someone against their will or better judgement. Kind of like what these LR's do to us...once we fall victim...lol.

 

Got new 275/65/18 Toyo MTs put on today.

for some reason my radio didn’t work when I picked it up. Thought the tire guys did something to it. Unhooking the battery and reconnecting it brought it back online. Weird. The tape deck kept running with it off too.

wife said they’re way too big but she’ll “get used to them… I guess”. 😂 I told her they’re smaller than the tires on the disco I had when we met that had 33s.

I will admit they’re a bit more aggressive and bigger than I realized. It’s been a while since I had big tires. ATs probably would’ve done me fine, so I hope I don’t regret the MTs too much. I’ve been on all ATs for the 7 years on my old other rovers and old tundra.


the tire shop did remove the inner bumper fender liners as they did run there. I might need to cut the plastic corner of the bumper up a bit as well.

 

Looks nice, let us know how bad the whine/roar is.

 

under 40mph they’re pretty dang quiet. Barely notice even with the window down. Over 40 they have a solid hum but not too much louder than before. I’ve yet to get up to 70 but I assume it’ll be a decent bit louder but not awful.

really balanced size IMO. I didn’t want 33s again but honestly these few just about as big

here’s a side shot:

 

Not exactly today, but in June. Finally I found the time to process and upload a first video. Due to the lens and its position, the trail doesn't look that steep.

 

Took advantage of the cooler weather, and the free time to detail and polish the exterior. Got a new polisher with McGuire's fine cut on a fine pad. Finished with Griots Best in Show. The Cerakote on the trim made it much easier, the wax and polish came right off. It was a long time coming.

 

Had some free time after work to get some maintenance done. Flushed brake fluid, drain and fill on diffs, tcase, and trans fluids. Also finally got my inline thermostat installed. Truck feels great now! Going to tackle my front main seal on Sunday since its leaking and making a mess under the truck. Had some play in the tie rod ends so took the opportunity to pick up some TF HD steering rods. Hopefully they arrive this week sometime and I can get them on and align the truck.

 

Warning...rant below...if you don't like them...move along...lol.

I'm about rovered-out.

Been getting a check engine light on the 04 after washing down the engine (after replacing PS pump, hell, l've washed the engine down on my silverado probably twenty times...without a single hickup). After a couple days, seemed fine again. Well, was driving to my parents place yesterday and the skies opened up for about twenty solid minutes. Was on the expressway when she started missing bad, multiple misfires. Made it to my parents, sat there waiting for the rain to stop and wondering "about the sanity" of owning these freak'n things, finally stopped raining and went to work on things around the house. Ran somewhat better on the way home, but l knew l'd be doing coil packs and wires.

To make matters worse, my wife gets home from the horse barn and says her's is making a weird noise, l'm like...prefect! Walk out to look it over...power steering pump is leaking. Hurray. Well, let's see...03 - needs PS pump, 04 - needs coil packs and wires and the defender's still sitting there with it's engine in a thousand pieces. Yes, spent the afternoon on marketplace looking at Toyota's. Came this close '" " to buying an 05 land cruiser and a 2013 FJ for my wife, right then and there. But, paused for a moment.

So...l'd changed the PS pump on the 04 just last weekend. Didn't believe l had another pump for the 03...so tackled the 04 first.

Well, we all know the joys of that job. Personally, l believe we should get a group of folks together, fly to England, round up the LR engineers that designed these Dll's and make them change every coil pack, on every Dll left in existence, then we line them up and anyone who has changed coil packs in the past, gets to punch them in the face (equaling the amount of coil pack jobs they've done) and then we bring in a firing squad, in the blistering heat, and make them stand there in front of them for a day or so.

Anyhow, after an hour or so and every foul word known to mankind being consumed by the walls of the garage and coming this close " " to putting my 3 pound slegde hammer through the windshield, finished the coil pack and wires and the test drive went fine.

Only bright spot of the whole thing was...while looking under the work bench for a better part for the 04...spied a A/C bracket...which still had a PS pump bolted to it. But, done for today...it's already 95F and the humidity is through the roof...just like my patiences for these LR.

Now, l know a lot of these aggression stem from other issues going on in my life right now...so l'll keep the money tucked away for the two Toyotas.

Okay, rant over...and l think it helped.

 

Wow Dep! I'm picking up what you put down brother. Mind if I do some venting since this is a support group of sorts? I sold a Toyota to have a D2 b/c I wanted something with more character and potential for fun mods and of course to do some "Rovering". In almost 10 years of ownership, I've been slowly trying to get the thing to a point where I'll feel comfortable that it won't leave me stranded somewhere. I've done some cool mods but mostly repairs and maintenance, and very little "Rovering". Unless the definition of the term has been changed from "adventuring", to "keeping British adventure vehicles running", then, I've done plenty! I'm still there in spirit, but my body is constantly asking for retirement and I think that when I finally have her sorted to my liking, I'll be too beat-up to do the adventure part anymore. Anyway, I'm still married to her, and I think I will hang on as long as possible since I haven't been a fan of anything else in the auto market lately, and I'm allowed to be stubborn at my age. Plus I don't have the excuse that "I can't fix it" since fixing things is what I've done my whole life..

Thanks, that does feel better.

 

at this point, that’s kinda how it goes! I’m in the same boat. Lots of maintenance with only a few trips. I’ve added a lift and 32s, but it’s far more important to have it running right first than adding mods.

You just gotta get it most of the way there, grab some common spares and fluids, and head out when you finish up whatever was the most immediate need, then fix it when you get her back home! The top of the line AAA membership wouldn’t hurt either 😂