So without re-gearing I'd think a 35-shod LR3 would be a real dog. Kinda stupid, IMO.

Also, I would say there are more like a half-dozen guys running 33s or bigger....Plenty at 32, not many folks beyond that.

 

Agreed - it would put a serious hurt on it on the highway. On trail it wouldn't be as bad but still annoying.

I don't know that many people running 33+, but I assume they are out there somewhere so I hedged high on my guess. 32" is the easy and 'safe' size and generally better on the road. I don't recommend 33s unless I really know the owner and what they can/will tolerate.

 

Love the control she was employing rolling that rear tire off that ledge.... perfection!

 

Agree on 32s being the sweet spot AND that the driving was excellent off that ledge.

 

That's my wife driving down the ledges -- she's a keeper! I was filming that day so that some of the other folks with us could have vid of them too, a couple of them had never been offroad at all. We like to break them in properly. You can check out the other folks if you'd like. The Pinzgauer was a neat trick to watch!


Thanks for those two mov movies! Those were very cool! That to me, is what true offroading is -- The thought of experience climbing something like that, because someday you may HAVE to do so!

I do not regret doing 33s, because it's my tire of choice (ironically turns out same choice as the Lucky8 guys did in 35s) but I may consider trail grapplers next time, simply to try out, if nothing more. I'm sure they would howl less than the mud grapplers do!

I never could find any gear options. I would love 4.10 or 4.11s if I could find'em! Though, I don't find my rover to be SLOW because of it, but to be in the powerband for the engine, I end up doing 80-85mph now with the 33s, I'd rather go a bit slower than that, but when I do, it's downshifting on hills all the time.

I did read the post about the moab run, and enjoyed it. You gave me a tip too, with your rear control arm snapping, I'll not be putting the fancy bushings in the rear -- to let the bushing take the abuse rather than the arm itself! I figure it's probably still a good choice for the front though to go with Poly.

Dave aka Ghan

 

Spectacular driving and poise by the wife!!

And, wow! that Pinzer just goes wherever it wants with no apologies! I guess the technique is to just hang on and let it do work!

I hope the guy at 10:55 brought another pair of pants! He thought he was going over for sure!

Way to represent, all you need is one Rover to balance out all those Jeeps!

 

I agree about the power band thing. I'm right on the cusp of staying in O/D at 70 mph on flat/sea level now. It will downshift on the slightest hill or just a bit of headwind. I try to keep the speed down to the limit for mileage sake and because many of my club members have older trucks and like to roll slow.

I also find I'm constantly too fast for 1st gear and too slow for 2nd when on twisting mountain back-roads in high range. It won't pull 2nd so it drops to 1st which is a a huge ratio gap so now it jumps to 5000 rpm and wails away for a few seconds then upshifts to 2nd and slowly bogs down until it jumps back to 1st and repeats. I really don't like the ratio spread between 1st and 2nd on this transmission and the bigger tires seem to exaggerate it.

 

I'll play too...

an old one from 2007 SCLR

 

Yep, 10:55 guy was with us last year -- learned to trust us, which helps!

The blue ranger and my rover were the two trail leaders for that day for that group. And funny you should mention a rover balancing out jeeps -- That's what made me sell my Jeep -- I was tired of being a Jeep in a line of Jeeps!

 

Awesome to see! I didn't know you guys had any water! It's so very interesting to me, the completely different terrain issues you guys suffer on the west coast compared to what we see in New England.

So many of your spots are not a traction issue as much as the 'cohones' to approach it at the proper angle/speed/line. Up here in New England, if you're not one of the first 2-3 trucks -- It's going to be way harder. The first couple trucks start digging up the mud and making the surfaces very slippery for the next guy. Goat help you if you're the 10th truck in a line.... By that time, our rocks are soaked and muddy and everyone slides in every direction -- almost always toward that close tree!

Oh, and I want to put out a Kudos here -- The vid was from 2007, which means that rover, at the latest possible, was 2yrs old, and probably 40-50k pricetag still. I'm not a poor man, but I don't know that I could throw that kinda money into the woods... Kudos to you!!! You only live twice, as they say! (I think? )