Mog

I'm in the process of buying a Jeep Wrangler for a bit of summer fun and am considering some green lane driving or off roading, looking for some advice.....

Mog

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Big knobbly tyres....anything else and you'll get stuck.

Auto gearboxes are better to control traction
A very strong tow rope (mines rated at 200tons ), or if you are on your own...a winch.

Don't let the petrol station attendent see your muddy Jeep when you go in for some jetwash tokens - as sometimes they refuse serve you, so hide it out of view

Roll bar recommended...at least a half one in the rear loadspace - standard roofs aren't as strong as you think.

If you have mupflaps, take them off, or tie them up..otherwise you'll rip them off.

thats all I can think of off the top of my head...have fun!

Mog

Its already got the big tyres and the roll bar, manual gearbox mind, but off we go as they say..........

mog

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Good job its got the propper mud/offroad tyres then and at £100 a corner they aren't cheap. Its usually the first mistake of most newbies when they take to a muddy hill on road tyres

I haven't a clue on Jeep Wranglers, but maybe worth checking out where the air inlet is for the engine...and bear that in mind if you go wading, same goes for the height and location of the distributor (presuming it has one).
Also check out where the vents are for the front and rear axles, I know with Land Rovers they aren't very clever and can end up fillling your axles up with water.
You could also have problems with the stock exhaust sytem grounding.

Owners websites should be able to help you out on all of that.

Mog

Immmm, time to investigate a bit further, but the jeep does come with the optional Snorkal for the air intake.

mog

JackClark

I drove a 10 or so mile section of the Icknield way from Stokenchurch to gawd knows where and back on Saturday, my mates Series 3 Land Rover was stuck within the first 100 yards and I managed to break the linkage on my transfer box - in neutral of course - fixed it with a field hammer. Best advise is not to go alone, but of course I took no notice of that today and drove a byway near Chesham which got a bit iffy at one point. If you don't want to scratch your motor or risk a few dents and muddy feet don't do the routes I've done so far this summer. Buy yourself an OS map and start looking for byways, it's much more fun than traffic and you get to see some great countyside and wildlife - Red Kites on Saturday and Ostriches today!

Dieseldog

Let's Off Road!

*Jen*

First point of call should be a local club, most Land Rover clubs are happy to let any 4x4 join, well ours is - if you're in or around Hampshire try The Shire Land Rover Club.

For a Jeep - Jeep Owners Club We do quite a few competitions and are going up to Wales with them in the Summer, meant to be superb

Greenlaning? Golden Rules: Get a proper map and stick to the RUPPS and BOATS - anything else and that's illegal. The Govt. at the moment would like to take these rights away from us so we all have to use them responsibly. Never go alone - you don't know what could happen, a winch is no good without a suitable tree or a gound anchor and to be honest, most greenlanes you shouldn't be driving if there's any chance of getting stuck - that's what playdays are for!

Further info on greenlaning available from the greenlanes association. Playdays are fun off-road driving days, your local club should run them

Only get mud-tyres if you really want to do lots of muddy off-roading, otherwise a good alternative is All-terrains. TBH I vary between agressive muds for playdays and competions and all-terrains depending on where I'm going, for example, if you want to do lots of rock-climbing MT's are not the best

FIRST THING you should get is decent recovery points (not the ones the delivery trucks use ) a good set of Jate rings on the front and something on the back (often the existing a tow pack is fine, but this does act like a plough when off-roading!) Anything flimsy can (and usually will) snap off, and of course then it's essentially a heavy weight flying though the air on the end of a rope, not good Always ensure spectators stand back when completing a recovery.

Anyway, sorry for the long post, could go on for ages - check out The LRE forums for more info, it's a good site

Jen

Mog

Ta for that.

Mog

Flatcapdriver

Let me get this straight. You want to buy a four wheel drive vehicle and take it off road. Are you mad?

Mick

iTrader: (1)

Mud-Club http://forums.mud-club.com/index.php is a useful site...


Mick

Mog

Strange isn't it, what would Ken Livingstone make of that.....

mog

GC8

As well as a normal strop Id suggest a kinetic rope and a high lift jack; both available from Machine Mart.

pbee

just make sure you know the difference between a byway / rupp and a bridleway.

We have been having some scramble bikes on a bridleway and ssi protected meadow recently, th police camped out and arrested 4 people and confiscated unroadworthy bikes. appaently if you trvale off road on protected propert you can still have your licence endorsed with points !!.

Byways and rupps can be used as regular roads (though you do need a 4x4 or scramble bike) the law requires the vehicle to be taxed mot'd and insured exactly the same as using car on regular roads.

Read up and keep a copy of the countryside rights of way act 2000, as you will be suprised how many ignaramousas will try and stop you. There is a policy for all councils to list byways and rupps to the public i think by 2007 some councils have websites for this already so you can find out where to go.

Just rememeber keep off bridelways and protected land, councils and police will be after you, there is new legislation proposed to toughen up protection immenintly so dont get caught and give off roaders a bad name and get the whole thing banned.

obviosly if the land is private and you are invited / own it the vehicle can be unroadworthy but rupps and by-ways require the vehicle to be roadworthy and INSURED.

my uncle has a few landies vampires mogs ect, great fun espicialy when wet.

alistair

Be warned - once you start with the mods, it's kind of addictive

Here's mine

In order of priority -
Recovery points & rope
Fuel tank skid - if you're going anywhere near rocks in a Wrangler
Tyres - if you're only doing off-road just tyres - if you're doing a lot of road driving too then get a spare set of wheels from eBay.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

I spent yesturday draining muddy water out of my axles/gearbox

That's crappy Land Rovers for you

Chip Sengravy

GRIPPED!

alistair

Crappy Land Rovers ? Don't they have decent length axle breathers then ? Or did you just go a bit deeper than you were expecting