4x4 Magazine - June 2020

4x4

NEWS • TECH • DEBATE • TRAVEL • MODIFIED VEHICLES • GREEN LANING

DRIVEN Is the XTR the best Isuzu D-Max?

THE UK’S ONLY 4X4 AND PICK-UP MAGAZINE

HIGHER THAN THE SUN

We’ve all spent lockdown planning that big expedition we’ve always promised ourselves. Step one to making it happen is getting your vehicle prep spot-on

Suzuki Jimny built sensibly for going crazy off-road…

Turning the Nissan D22 into a real-world green lane wagon

£4.99

WORKSHOP Our D-Max gains a brute of a bumper

JUN 2020

Braving the bandits on Africa’s notorious ‘Road to Hell’ 4x4 Cover June v2 WITH SARAH.indd 1

24/04/2020 20:10

Make Defender driving more of a Pleasure...

The Red Booster servo clutch kit makes your Defenders clutch much easier to press. This kit will make your driving a more pleasurable experience and reduce the effort you’d normally put in from driving your Defender. No more painful knees or feet when you are stuck in slow moving traffic!

Designed, engineered and manufactured to the highest standards, Red Booster is a mechanism system that makes it possible for all Defenders to have a servo assisted clutch. Working in a similar way to the braking system with a servo assisted system, it is mounted between the pedal and master cylinder and uses a vacuum from the inlet manifold to reduce the amount of pressure needed on the pedal to operate the clutch.

The left hand drive version - works similar to the right hand drive system. The location of the clutch pedal of a left hand drive Defender is on the far corner of the vehicle and with hardly any space the entire unit had to be redesigned to fit without cutting and drilling your vehicle.

“The next best thing to having an automatic when crawling along” John Pearson – LRO editor-in-chief

See it in action at www.britpart.com/red Right Hand Drive Vehicles DA1683 Defender - 2007 onwards DA1684 Defender - Td5 DA1685 Defender - 300Tdi DA1686 Defender - 200Tdi Left Hand Drive Vehicles DA1687 Defender - 2007 onwards DA1688 Defender - Td5 DA1655 NEW Defender - 200Tdi & 300Tdi

DA1683

DA1684

DA1685

DA1686

DA1687

DA1688

19387 Allmakes Ltd 4x4 Magazine - 3 page advert 2.indd 1

20/03/2020 11:37

The World’s best accessories for Land Rover Defender

At Terrafirma we stand behind every product we sell, we believe that quality is the definition of something superior, more than fit for purpose and that meets customer’s expectations.

Terrafirma Serious 4x4 Accessories now come with a Certificate of Conformity, the ultimate statement of quality and an industry first!

19387 Allmakes Ltd 4x4 Magazine - 3 page advert 2.indd 2

20/03/2020 11:37

Terrafirma accessories are available from over 100 distributors worldwide Wheels Brakes and Drivetrain

Suspension and Steering

Protection

Exterior

Lighting

Interior

For more information visit www.terrafirma4x4.com email sales@terrafirma4x4.com

19387 Allmakes Ltd 4x4 Magazine - 3 page advert 2.indd 3

20/03/2020 11:39

June 2020

CONTENTS

42

“If there’s one thing I adhere to off-road, it’s to try you don’t succeed, try again – if in doubt, flat out!”

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64 | JANUARY 2020

2-3 Contents June AK AWAITING SUBS PAGE.indd 2

38 28

4x4 25/04/2020 16:47

65 12 ISSUES OF 4X4 – FOR JUST £12!

£1 per issue. Yes, really – that’s all it costs to have Britain’s only 4x4 magazine delivered to your door every month! Time to take action…

ON THE COVER Ruby the Land Rover at the Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia, by Jen Bright and Gav Lowrie. See next month’s issue for the latest instalment in the story of their global expedition

4x4 Scene: News, Products and More…

6 7 8 8 9 9 10 12 12 13 16 18 19 20 20

Isuzu D-Max Pick-ups help convert NEC into a Nightingale hospital Aiways U5 Chinese start-up readies electric SUV for European debut Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-in hybrid clocks up 50,000th sale SsangYong Musso North Welsh firefighters add double-cab to fleet Skoda Kodiaq Converted vRS joins Midland air ambulance service Toyota RAV4 10 million sales for the original soft-roader Wayfarer New threat to iconic Welsh right of way Green Laning 4x4 users praised for adherence to lockdown rules Green Lane Association Volunteers work to clear Wiltshire byway Trailwise 2 Revamp adds functionality to lane-finding website Britpart Range of workshop tools from Laser goes on sale B-G Racing Workshop handwash station is topical but always a good idea Gaz Shocks New range of adjustable dampers for leaf-sprung Land Rovers Polybush Isuzu D-Max joins long list of applications Alloy USA Suspension range suitable for every model of Jeep Wrangler

Driven 22 26

Isuzu D-Max XTR Showy off-roader has two sides and we love them both Subaru XV e-Boxer Former Small 4x4 of the Year gains hybrid engine

Every Month 4 7 14 65 64

Alan Kidd This month’s issue may be small, but it’s perfectly formed…

Coming Soon Trucks and SUVs set to be launched in the near future Calendar Off-road events that may or may not be about to happen…

Subscribe Stay at home and get 4x4 delivered – for just £1 per copy!

Next Month Another load of cool builds, plus some stunning new SUVs

Features 28 32 38 42

Real-World Navara Nissan’s time-served D22 turned into a lane machine Two of a Kind Which is better, a 90 or a Discovery? Can’t decide? Have both…

Rockin’ Wrangler A JL with an off-road build that’s cool on the road, too Wild Jimny Built with good sense and all ready to go nuts

Our 4x4s

anything once. And if

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Travel 48 52

58

4x4 2-3 Contents June AK.indd 3

Isuzu D-Max Go 2 On goes an extremely heavy-duty winch bumper

Overland Prep An expert’s nine-point plan to getting your vehicle ready The Road to Hell Three days on a semi-passable, bandit-infested ‘highway’

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26/04/2020 11:44

4x4 Alan Kidd Editor

T

Back in 1982, our first issues stretched to a heady 34 pages. And here we still are…

his issue of 4x4 is a bit of a thin one. I shouldn’t think that will have escaped your notice. It won’t have escaped your notice that there’s a lockdown on at the moment, either, and needless to say this is what’s behind it. The size of the magazine is directly related to the amount of adverts we have, and the amount of advertisers we have is, currently, directly related to the messed-up plight of the world. When it bounces back, so shall we.

And this isn’t our smallest ever issue, anyway. Back when we were launched, in the heady days of 1982, the first issues of Overlander magazine stretched to a heady 34 pages. And here we still are, a few name-changes later, still doing what we can to give you something worth reading about the whole wide world of 4x4s.

Talking of which, there might be less pages in this issue. But because there are less adverts (and no Roadbook, for now), there’s actually more in the way of stuff to read than there has been for several months. Hopefully enough to distract you for a while from the fact that you can’t get out there for some off-roading – though if we make you want to do just that, all I can do is apologise.

For me personally, one consequence of lockdown has been that the long-awaited opportunity to drive the new Land Rover Defender has become, well, a little longer-awaited still. It was supposed to be happening just in time for us to report on the vehicle in this issue but, quite rightly, the UK launch has been delayed until after the crisis has passed.

Nonetheless, you’ve probably seen that an international media launch did go ahead, apparently just before lockdown was announced. Various general-interest motoring websites and magazines were invited, along with some newspapers and social media influencers.

We weren’t, but I would never be so unprofessional as to use this column to whinge about it. I’m just explaining why there’s no coverage here when you may have seen it elsewhere. Some car makers see a specialist 4x4 title as A-list coverage

4 | JUNE 2020

4 Edline June.indd 4

for off-road vehicles, while others look at ‘reach’ figures and, for the very reason that we’re specialists, leave us to last. I get that, I accept it and, were I in the same position, I would quite possibly do the same thing.

Anyway. Positive news is something we all need right now. So here’s some. In China, there are 2000 Volkswagen dealerships. As of early April, all of them had reopened – and even as early as late March, customer traffic in the showrooms was comparable to the same period last year.

Skoda and Audi have reopened 95% of their Chinese dealerships, too. And of the 33 factories the company has there, 32 have resumed operations. It’s quite clear that for businesses and punters alike, life is getting back to normal remarkably quickly.

This is, I understand, irrelevant to the many people who have lost close friends or family members. Similarly, if you’re out of work and wondering how you’re going to put food on your kids’ plate tomorrow, the news that business is up and running again in the country where this nightmare started will be no comfort at all.

For society in general, however, we are seeing signs that getting back to normal is not just a pipe dream. You don’t have to look far to find some messenger of doom proclaiming to all their social media contacts that ‘there is no exit strategy’ – but the bounce is underway in China, and there’s no reason why it shouldn’t happen elsewhere in the world too.

It won’t be overnight, and there’ll be setbacks along the way, but there are clear signs of hope. The main thing is not to let them blind us to the fact that the vulnerable among us are still just that, vulnerable.

When the restrictions start to ease, we’ll still need to be more thoughtful towards others than we’ve ever been before.

Tel: 01283 553243 Email: enquiries@assignment-media.co.uk Web: www.totaloffroad.co.uk www.4x4i.com Online Shop: www.toronline.co.uk Facebook: www.facebook.com/totaloffroad www.facebook.com/4x4Mag Editor Alan Kidd Art Editor Samantha D’Souza Contributors Mike Trott, Dan Fenn, Paul Looe, Olly Sack, Raymond and Nereide Greaves, Barrie Dunbar, Kaziyoshi Sasazaki Photographers Harry Hamm, Steve Taylor, Richard Hair, Vic Peel Group Advertising Manager Ian Argent Tel: 01283 553242 Advertising Manager Colin Ashworth Tel: 01283 553244 Advertising Production Sarah Moss Tel: 01283 553242 Subscriptions Manager Catherine Martin Subscriptions Assistants Emma Emery, Kay Tunnicliffe, Abi Dutton Publisher and Head of Marketing Sarah Moss Email: sarah.moss@assignment-media.co.uk To subscribe to 4x4, or renew a subscription, call 01283 742970. Prices for 12 issues: UK £42 (24 issues £76); Europe Airmail/ROW Surface £54; ROW Airmail £78 Distributed by Marketforce; www.marketforce.co.uk Every effort is made to ensure the contents of 4x4 are accurate, but Assignment Media accepts no responsibility for errors or omissions nor the consequences of actions made as a result of these.

When responding to any advert in 4x4, you should make appropriate enquiries before sending money or entering into a contract. The publishers take reasonable care to ensure advertisers’ probity, but will not be liable for loss or damage incurred from responding to adverts Where a photo credit includes the note ‘CC BY 2.0’ or similar, the image is made available under that Creative Commons licence: details at www.creativecommons.org 4x4 is published by Assignment Media Ltd, Repton House 1.08, Bretby Business Park, Ashby Road, Bretby, Derbyshire DE15 0YZ

© Assignment Media Ltd, 2020

4x4 23/04/2020 17:38

Performance Springs

The right choice when replacing the old sagging original springs!

Britpart Performance - Lifted Springs

Lift Defender 90 Height DA4201 Front 25mm 25kg DA4202 Front 40mm 50kg DA4203 Rear 40mm Light 50mm 100kg DA4204 Rear DA4205 Rear 50mm 200kg Defender 110 DA4201 Front 25mm 25kg DA4202 Front 40mm 50kg 40mm 100kg DA4206 Rear DA4208 Rear 50mm 500kg Defender 130 DA4202 Front 40mm 50kg DA4208 Rear 50mm 500kg Discovery 1 DA4201 Front 25mm 25kg DA4202 Front 40mm 50kg DA4203 Rear 40mm Light DA4204 Rear 50mm 100kg DA4205 Rear 50mm 200kg Discovery 2 DA4199 Front 40mm 20 - 50kg Front 40mm 50 - 100kg DA4198 DA4203 Rear 40mm Light DA4197 Rear 40mm Medium DA4205 Rear 50mm 200kg Range Rover Classic DA4201 Front 25mm 25kg DA4202 Front 40mm 50kg DA4203 Rear 40mm Light DA4204 Rear 50mm 100kg DA4205 Rear 50mm 200kg Note - Spring quantity 1 = 1 pair

Bar Rate Free Load Diameter lbs/in 16mm 16mm 17mm 18mm 19mm

200 230 220 300 - 340 360

420mm 390mm 435mm 425mm 430mm

16mm 16mm 17mm 21mm

200 230 270 - 295 420

420mm 390mm 445mm 445mm

16mm 230 21mm 420

390mm 445mm

16mm 16mm 17mm 18mm 19mm

200 230 220 300 - 340 360

420mm 390mm 435mm 425mm 430mm

15mm 16mm 17mm 18mm 19mm

180 220 220 290 360

390mm 390mm 435mm 430mm 430mm

16mm 16mm 17mm 18mm 19mm

200 230 220 300 - 340 360

420mm 390mm 435mm 425mm 430mm

Britpart performance springs are high quality, versatile and competitively priced - the right choice when replacing the old sagging original springs.

Developed by one of the world’s top spring manufacturers these high quality, powder coated yellow springs have been designed with the needs of today’s Land Rover owners in mind.

Britpart performance lifted springs have the added benefit of improving your vehicles approach and departure angles which in turn allows you to overcome more obstacles when offroading.

As Land Rovers are often working vehicles as well as the family car, uprated springs must offer the ability to carry loads, handle off-road terrain and provide a good ride on road. The progressive springs offer a compliant ride when lightly loaded, but firm up as the load increases.

www.britpart.com/springs

After Lowering

“Britpart performance springs are high quality, versatile and competitively priced...”

Britpart Performance - Standard Height Springs

Bar Defender 90 Diameter DA4277 Front 16mm DA4278 Rear 18mm Defender 110 DA4277 Front 16mm DA4279 Rear 19mm Discovery 1 DA4277 Front 16mm DA4278 Rear 18mm Range Rover Classic DA4277 Front 16mm DA4278 Rear 18mm Note - Spring quantity 1 = 1 pair

Rate Free lbs/in Height 225 390mm 285 385mm

225 390mm 330 415mm 225 390mm 285 385mm 225 390mm 285 385mm

Britpart yellow springs are designed for the enthusiast who wants a performance spring without having to raise the vehicle. They offer a firmer ride with less body roll, ideal for a vehicle with uprated performance or one used for carrying heavy loads. The springs are designed to offer full articulation off-road with a compliant ride. Developed by one of the world’s top spring manufacturers these high quality, powder coated yellow springs have been designed with the needs of today’s Land Rover owners in mind.

Britpart Performance - 1” Lower Springs

Reduce the ride height of your Land Rover by 1” (25mm) by fitting these lowered springs.

By lowering your vehicle it will help reduce body roll as well as giving your vehicle a more sporty squat stance. The springs are designed in line with the standard spring rate specification.

Finished in powered coated orange paint.

DA4563 Defender 90 & 110/Discovery 1/Range Rover Classic DA4564 Defender 90/Discovery 1/Range Rover Classic DA6449 Defender 110 DA1234 XD Handling Kit for Defender 90/Discovery 1/Range Rover Classic Kit contains lower springs, shock absorbers, anti-roll bars, turret rings and more...

Front pair Rear pair Rear pair

NEW 4X4S

NEC CONVERTED INTO HOSPITAL WITH HELP FROM ISUZU D-MAX

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ightingale hospitals have become a pivotal part of Britain’s response to the Coronavirus outbreak, with first the Excel Centre and then the NEC paving the way for a total of seven temporary critical care sites across the country.

In the case of the NEC, which has the potential to accommodate as many as 4000 patients at a time, the work was supported by a trio of Isuzu D-Max pick-ups supplied by the Japanese truck specialist’s UK importer. Used to move building materials around the site, and to transport supplies and equipment, the three Utah 4x4 models were made available to the 300-strong team who worked 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to turn the exhibition centre into an operational hospital in just a fortnight.

‘As a Midlands based organisation, we felt the need to get involved and offer assistance in our local community at this critical time,’ said Isuzu boss William Brown. ‘We’re really pleased to be able to contribute to such a crucial development and would encourage other frontline services to get in touch as we’re ready and willing to help further.’

With so many of Isuzu’s customers being from professions

qualifying for ‘key worker’ status, the company has made four commitments to help during the pandemic.

In addition to keeping workshops open for essential services, the company has pledged to loan its fleet and demonstrator vehicles, free of charge, to businesses and services that need to get food and medicine

to people who are most in need and are hardest to reach. If you’re from a support organisation and believe you may be able to benefit from this, you can discuss the opportunities by visiting www.isuzu.co.uk.

• Isuzu’s commitments to keep Britain working during the pandemic go

beyond just supplying and maintaining its own vehicles. The company says that wherever possible, its dealers will repair and service any make of pick-up or van whose owner’s normal garage is closed. ‘Where capacity allows,’ says the company, ‘our dealers will do everything they can to get you back on the road.’

Food parcels delivered to Haringey’s most vulnerable residents – aboard all-electric MG ZS SUVs MG MOTOR AND DriveElectric have joined forces to support Haringey Council’s response to the Coronavirus outbreak by supplying a batch of fully electric ZS SUVs for use delivering food to the borough’s most vulnerable residents.

Supported by hundreds of local volunteers, the distribution effort is based around two hubs at Alexandra Palace and the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

‘We have a long-standing relationship with Haringey Council,’ says DriveElectric’s Adam Kemp. ‘When we heard about their requirement for vehicles to deliver food parcels, we immediately got involved.

The MG ZS EV is the perfect car for this requirement. As well as being 100% electric, it’s got plenty of room for passengers and plenty of space to carry food parcels.’

MG is also supplying up to 100 of its fully electric ZS SUVs to NHS organisations across the UK. ’Coronavirus is a huge challenge to the country,’ continues Kemp. ‘As a business, we (DriveElectric) are delighted to be able to do our bit to support Haringey Council and their hard-working volunteers.’

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4x4 24/04/2020 20:13

COMING SOON Forthcoming 4x4s due later this year and beyond

Aiways readies all-electric U5 SUV for European debut AIWAYS IS A NEW name in the car market – but it might not stay unfamiliar for very long. The Chinese company, which describes itself as a ‘personal mobility provider,’ has opened the order book for its first model, the U5 – an all-electric SUV. The company will not use a traditional dealer network, but instead offer its vehicles through an exclusive direct-to-customer sales model. ‘For only a small deposit, (customers) can be among the first to receive the U5 and start enjoying the benefits of a long range, high-tech and well equipped electric SUV,’ says export boss Alexander Klose.

Production of the U5 was halted for a spell earlier this year as a consequence of the Coronavirus outbreak in China. However Aiways’ Shangrao factory is now back in operation, with the first European models due to be built in July and delivered in August.

• Jeep’s new Renegade and Compass 4xe recently completed a 2350-mile ‘road test’ taking them from Turin to Arjeplog, in Swedish Lapland, where their plug-in hybrid drivetrains were tested to the full in real-world driving situations.

The 4xe models are Jeep’s first plug-in hybrids for the European market, and the company is keen to highlight the quality, safety and reliability it says they offer in all conditions.

Petrol engined versions of Mazda’s excellent CX-5 SUV have gained cylinder deactivation for the new model year. This improves their CO2 ratings by 8g/km. The vehicles also gain improved sound insulation, as well as a new media console with full-width mapping.

Prices for the 14-strong range start at £27,030.

Aiways U5 Electric SUV Alfa Romeo Tonale Small SUV Alpina XB7 Performance SUV Aston Martin DBX Performance SUV Audi Q5 facelift Medium SUV BMW iX3 Electric SUV BMW X5 M Competition Performance SUV BMW X6 M Competition Performance SUV Bollinger B1 Electric off-roader Bollinger B2 Electric pick-up Cupra Formentor Performance SUV Ford Kuga Medium SUV Ford Mustang Mach-E Electric SUV Ford Ranger Pick-up INEOS Grenadier Off-roader Jeep Small SUV Jeep Cherokee Desert Hawk Performance Off-Roader Jeep Gladiator Pick-up Jeep Grand Commander Large SUV Jeep Compass 4xe Hybrid SUV Jeep Renegade 4xe Hybrid SUV Jeep Wagoneer Luxury SUV Kia Sorento Large SUV Land Rover Defender 90 Off-roader Land Rover Defender 130 Off-roader Land Rover Defender PHEV Hybrid off-roader Land Rover Defender EV Electric off-roader Land Rover Discovery Spt PHEV Hybrid SUV Maserati Medium SUV Mercedes-AMG GLA 45 Performance SUV Mercedes-AMG GLE 53 Performance SUV Mercedes-AMG GLS 63 Performance SUV Mercedes-Benz EQB Electric SUV Mercedes-Benz GLE Coupe Large SUV Mercedes-Maybach GLS Luxury SUV Mitsubishi Outlander Medium SUV Peugeot 3008 Hybrid 4 Hybrid SUV Range Rover Evoque PHEV Hybrid SUV Rivian R1T Electric pick-up Rivian R1s Electric large SUV SsangYong Korando EV Electric SUV Suzuki S-Cross Hybrid Crossover SUV Suzuki Vitara Hybrid Small SUV Tesla Cybertruck Electric Pick-Up Tesla Model X Tri-Motor Electric SUV Tesla Model Y Medium SUV Toyota Landcruiser Active Van Commercial Off-Roader Toyota RAV4 Plug-In Hybrid Medium SUV Toyota Yaris SUV Small SUV Volkswagen T-Roc Cabriolet Small SUV Volkswagen Tarok Pick-up Volkswagen Amarok Pick-up Volkswagen Touareg R Performance SUV Volvo XC40 PHEV Hybrid SUV Volvo XC40 EV Electric SUV

August 2020 November December April Autumn Early 2021 June 2020 June 2020 2020 2021 Late 2021 Spring October 2022 2021 2021 Spring June 2020 Autumn 2020 Autumn 2020 2021 September March March 2021 2021 2023 April 2021 April April June Early 2021 June June October April April Spring 2022 Summer 2022 September March March Late 2022 Early 2021 October March October Late 2020 April 2020 2022 July April Early 2021

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24/04/2020 20:14

NEW 4X4S

Six years on sale for Outlander PHEV – and 50,000 units sold

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he Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV was launched in Britain on 1 April 2014.

But the plug-in SUV has proved to be no joke, becoming the UK’s (and the world’s) highest-selling plug-in vehicle.

In Britain alone, the Outlander PHEV celebrated its 50,000th registration just before its sixth birthday came around. This heroid figure might even be seen as a slight slowing down in its phenomenal popularity, as it sold a mighty

10,000 units in its first 10 months on sale back in 2014 – at the time, single-handedly fuelling a 1000% increase in the number of plug-in hybrids on our roads.

Unlike some hybrid SUVs, the Outlander doesn’t just have to stay

on the road, either.

With a separate electric motor driving each axle, it has genuine 4x4 capacity, giving it a worthwhile degree of all-terrain ability to go with the enhanced performance in poor weather conditions that normally comes with allwheel drive.

A recent survey of the vehicle’s owners revealed that 90% charge regularly, 68% charge daily and overall more than half their average daily mileage is driven in electric mode. The Outlander has been revised twice during its time on sale; the latest version has an EV range of 28 miles and WLTP figures of 46g/km and 139mpg.

Firefighting Mussos head for North Wales NORTH WALES FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICE has taken delivery of three SsangYong Musso pick-ups designed to operate as multi-role support vehicles. Providing the off-road ability in which the Korean company specialises, the Mussos will add emergency resilience capability for fire officers during extreme weather conditions and other operational duties – such as carrying compact high-pressure firefighting pods and fuel bowsers for large incidents.

North Wales Fire and Rescue Service protects a population of more than 675,000 people across an area of around 2400 square miles – a patch which includes a great deal of rugged and hard-to-access terrain.

So the Mussos should be in their element.

‘We need a versatile vehicle that can operate in a number of environments,’ commented North Wales Fire and Rescue Service’s Geraint Jones. ‘The Musso is strong and has 4WD capability with a good ground clearance for use in adverse weather conditions such as snow and floods. Our teams have to cope with some of the most extreme and dangerous situations, so we need vehicles that can perform reliably in a wide variety of emergency scenarios.’

Team Rubicon UK, a disaster response charity employing the skills and experience of former members of the British armed forces, has taken delivery of two Nissan Navaras to aid in its work during the Coronavirus crisis. Supplied by dealer group Westway Nissan, the vehicle will aid the charity’s local work after it was asked for support by the UK government.

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4x4 24/04/2020 20:14

NEW 4X4S

CONVERTED KODIAQ VRS JOINS AIR AMBULANCE SERVICE

A

nother month, another specialist application for the Skoda Kodiaq. The latest conversion on the brilliant seven-seat SUV has seen a brace of range-topping vRS models turned into ground support vehicles for the Local Air Ambulance service in the Midlands.

Adapted to spec by Skoda contractor Halls Electrical, the Kodiaqs suit the service’s needs as they offer a combination of abundant interior space with speed and 4x4 ability.

The charity’s helicopters do not fly at night, meaning they rely on their rapid response road fleet to get to incidents quickly and safely. ’It is more imperative than ever that our fleet of critical care cars are able to meet the demands of the job,’ says Operations Director Richard Clayton. ‘The reliability, versatility and power of the two new Kodiaq vRS models will enable us to continue to respond rapidly to emergencies across the Midlands.’

RAV4 clocks up 10 millionth sale – with more to come as Toyota readies plug-in hybrid A LITTLE OVER a quarter of a century after it was first launched, the Toyota RAV4 has clocked up its 10 millionth sale. Now into its fifth generation, the RAV4 was the first mainstream 4x4 to dispense with a dual-range transfer case and adopt all-independent suspension, making it the first ‘soft-roader’ – not something that endeared it to traditionalists, but a formula that has since been adopted by the entire car market.

With the launch of a stunning new model in 2019, the RAV4 became the world’s highest-selling SUV and its fourth-highest passenger selling car overall.

Later this year, its popularity is set to be boosted still further with the launch of the RAV4 Plug-in Hybrid.

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JUNE 2020 | 9

24/04/2020 20:14

RIGHTS OF WAY

No room for complacency as Wayfarer faces new

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ne of Britain’s greatest and best-loved rights of way is the subject of a new campaign for its closure. The Wayfarer, a soaring mountain pass running between Llandrillo in Denbighshire and Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog in Wrexham, has been under voluntary restraint for some time while awaiting repairs to a short section over boggy ground – however following a site visit in late March, Wrexham County Borough Council sought to formalise this with a temporary Traffic Regulation Order.

As always, the voluntary restraint request was being scrupulously followed by responsible green laners, with traffic reduced almost to zero even before lockdown was introduced. The Wayfarer is one of four Welsh lanes on which repairs are due to be paid for by the 4x4-driving community though a well publicised fundraising effort by the Green Lane Association (GLASS).

The Association, which is in constant contact with both Wrexham and Denbigh County Councils, reports that as recently as September 2019, it had an excellent working relationship with both authorities.

Since then, however, it says communications with Wrexham have become ‘more difficult’ in the wake of a management reshuffle and interference by local residents keen to get the lane closed.

The situation has not been helped by an article in the Oswestry and Border Counties Advertizer (sic), dated 9 April, which took the word of one apparently anti-4x4 landowner as fact and reported it unchallenged. The article was supported by photographs of a flagrantly illegal vehicle (with no headlamps or front number plate) on a different right of way, captioned ‘damage to the Wayfarer track’.

The article quotes farmer Michael Crawshaw as saying the use of 4x4s on the Wayfarer ‘has brought dirt into the water’ and that it and the nearby White Stones green lane ‘are now acting as massive drains.’

Outrageously, the publication also quotes Crawshaw as saying ‘the bulk of people using it… aren’t bringing anything to the area either.

When the motorbikers go up there,

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they come down into the villages and stop for some food and things, but others using it don’t tend to, and they’re the ones causing the damage.’ This completely subjective insult to 4x4 drivers was reported without any attempt to provide evidence or back it up with facts.

Wrexham Council was behind the application for a temporary TRO (which, at the time of writing, was yet to be ratified). Quoted by the Advertizer, the authority said its inspector’s site visit in March had found ‘significant deterioration’ following the unusually wet winter, and that the closure was necessary for reasons of health and safety.

The move is of little consequence in the short term as responsible drivers were staying away from the lane anyway in response to GLASS’ call for voluntary restraint. Taken alongside the Association’s stated concern that the authority is ‘dragging its heels,’ however, the danger now is that it could be dragged into a cycle of rolling TROs. This tactic has been used elsewhere in the UK by nakedly anti-4x4 authorities as a way of getting round their legal responsibility to maintain their rights of way – or, if seeking a permanent closure, to observe due process in doing so. With Denbigh County Council ready to go ahead, right-minded local residents positive about motor vehicle use and 4x4 driver ready to support a project of works with a combination of volunteer labour and financial support, and attempt to stifle the progress already made on repairing the Wayfarer would be a disgrace.

The Green Lane Association is encouraging 4x4 drivers to voice their concerns over what it sees as Wrexham Council’s lack of action on repairs to the Wayfarer and the local paper’s publication of what it calls ‘false claims.’

You can read the article by visiting www.bordercountiesadvertizer.co.uk and putting ‘Wayfarer’ in the search bar. Having done so, you may like to voice your opinion to the Editor at emily.lloyd@newsquest.co.uk.

To register your dissatisfaction to Wrexham Council, you can contact complaints@wrexham.gov.uk.

4x4 24/04/2020 20:14

RIGHTS OF WAY

threat of long-term closure

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24/04/2020 20:14

RIGHTS OF WAY

Green lane users praised for lockdown restraint 100% adherence to rules on Salisbury Plain • 4x4 Response Network mobilised to aid NHS

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ights of way users have been receiving praise for their adherence to lockdown regulations put in place as part of the nation’s fight against the coronavirus outbreak.

While the media has been full of stories about barbecues, house parties, packed tube trains and politicians being caught travelling to

their second homes, not to mention walkers and cyclists flooding to national parks for their ‘permitted’ exercise, green lanes have become almost completely empty of recreational traffic.

In particular, MOD wardens on Salisbury Plain have been public in their praise for 4x4 drivers, talking of 100% adherence to the lockdown

rules in an area that’s normally extremely popular among motor vehicle users. With the ground drying out nicely after a particularly wet winter, you would expect to see a significant amount of use on and around the Plain, but information fed back from officials on the ground says no-one at all in the 4x4 fraternity is flouting the call to stay at home.

This comes after some early misunderstandings in the week prior to lockdown led to a number of lane runs and playday events going ahead – on the basis that people in vehicles are pretty well protected from catching an illness from people in other vehicles. As the public’s understanding grew of the reasons behind what was

Green Lane Association at work to clear Wiltshire rights of way HEATH LANE is an unclassified county road in the far east of Wiltshire, close to the county border with Hampshire.

It had not been drivable for several years after the owners of the adjacent land, who had previously maintained it for the

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council, built a new private road and started using this for access instead.

The lane became very overgrown as a consequence, leading to the Wiltshire rights of way warden approaching Green Lane Association rep John Lippiatt for help. ‘He thought our use of hand tools only would give the best result,’ explains John, ‘as damage to the surface prior to it drying out would be minimised.’

An initial site assessment found that at its southern end, the lane was so overgrown that it wasn’t even passable on foot. John relates, however, that by the time of his next visit, the landowners had flailed back the undergrowth on one side by working over the top from the adjacent field, making it accessible once again.

In preparation for the clearance programme, the next steps were to carry out risk assess-

ments and agree a safe system of work with Wiltshire Council. Following this, volunteers could be rallied and dates set.

‘Previously,’ says John, ‘we have always done lane clearance work on a weekday, which had always involved me taking a day’s holiday to participate – a problem which affected many others who wanted to contribute to our efforts.

It was with this in mind that I decided to undertake the work on Saturdays throughout February – meaning that three days before our first scheduled workday, the Met Office were issuing warnings of Storm Ciara.

‘I decided to go ahead, which proved to be the right decision as the storm did not hit us until Sunday. With just three of us, Sam, Tony and myself, we managed to clear 150 metres of the lane, which amazed me!

4x4 24/04/2020 20:14

RIGHTS OF WAY

Revamp adds further functionality to Trailwise 2

initially presented as guidance, however, even this level of use dried up almost overnight.

A number of 4x4s built for recreation have been out and about during lockdown, however – following health authorities’ requests to mobilise regional response groups.

While four-wheel drive is little use against a viral outbreak, the national response network is valuable for the simple reason that it already exists – making its members an ideal resource to call upon for simple jobs like delivering medicines.

The rest of Britain was praised, quite rightly, for the extraordinary number of volunteers who answered the call to help the NHS at the start of the emergency, but 4x4 response members have been giving up their time for many years. As is so often the case, this time of crisis has shown what we already knew – that off-roaders and green laners are among the most unselfish and upstanding members of the communities in which they live.

TRAILWISE 2, the online catalogue of pubic rights of way, has recently been revised and now offers a wide range of new features. Available exclusively to members of the Green Lane Association (GLASS), the site allows users to contribute their own information on specific lanes – making it a phenomenally powerful route planning tool.

The latest features build on this – while adding an extra level of usability for research by allowing users to view current lanes over a base layer of historical Ordnance Survey maps – the One-Inch series from 18851903 and 1955-61, and the 1:25,000 series from 1937-61.

Further new base layers include 1:25,000 OS mapping, allowing lanes to be examined in greater detail than ever before. Better yet, the site now offers the option of aerial mapping, allowing lanes to be viewed upon an aerial photograph of the ground itself (see right).

Elsewhere, lanes can now be searched by postcode and grid

‘The following weekend, I was faced with the same decision as Storm Dennis came sweeping in. This time the forecast suggested that Saturday would be the worst day, so I pulled the plug.

‘Week three saw no storm warning but light rain to start. Five volunteers turned up – Sam, Kev, Tim, Charlie and myself – and we made good progress. We did a first drive through just after lunchtime.’

This represented excellent progress – and provided a fine demonstration of how much a handful of volunteers can achieve. ‘As can be seen in the photographs,’ concludes John, ‘this is now a very “green” lane, with good connections to many others in the local area . It has a flint surface beneath the years of leaf mulch, so please drive it carefully and I’m sure we’ll all be enjoying it for years to come.’

4x4 Scene June AWAITING ADS.indd 13

reference, as well as by name. The latter function already existed, however GLASS says it has been greatly refined – making it significantly more usable. Another addition is a distance measuring tool, and each route is now shown with start and end points – a valuable way of avoiding confusion where several lane sectors run into one another.

As before, Trailwise 2 works on both desktop/laptop computers and mobile devices. In the case of the latter, another useful new feature is a location tool, allowing you to find where you are on the map – and there’s also now a display showing the grid reference of wherever the cursor is pointing.

Between them, these features further enhance the value of what is an absolute must-have resource for rights of way users. And there’s more besides – for the first time, Trailwise 2 now includes all the Permissory Byways GLASS is aware of. The vast majority of these are on Salisbury Plain, where the MOD allows access on many of its own Cat A tracks as well as a range of former RUPPs whose vehicular rights were stolen by the pernicious NERC legislation of 2006.

The long and the short of all this is that if you somehow didn’t already think the membership fee was worth it, joining GLASS is now better value than ever. It’s at www.glass-uk.org, with Trailwise 2 to be found at www. trailwise2.co.uk.

• The same pool of volunteers was hard at work in late February, making a start on clearing a byway near Tidcombe. Once again, the local authority had asked for help in maintaining the right of way in a usable condition.

‘This BOAT has been very scratchy with a great many overhanging branches,’ explains John Lippiatt. ‘We decided that as we had no chance of completing the whole lane within one day, and

due to DEFRA restrictions, we would not be back until September, after the nesting season.

‘We were fairly extreme with the work so we don’t end up re-doing the section later in the year.

We removed a great deal of very sizeable hazel branches right to the boundary, and cleared nearly half of the overgrown section – some 450 metres.’

Work in progress, but another right of way kept not just open but usable by GLASS volunteers.

JUNE 2020 | 13

24/04/2020 20:14

CALENDAR KEY

P Off-Road Playday

G Green Lane Convoy Tour

A Overseas Adventure Travel

S 4x4 Show

Dates for playdays are shown up to the end of the month following the magazine’s on-sale date. Dates for green lane tours are shown up to approximately three months ahead, and for shows and overseas adventure tours up to a year ahead, space permitting Important: We are continuing to publish this calendar throughout the coronavirus crisis as it’s not known when the restrictions in force at the time of publication will be relaxed.

The only way to be sure if an event is still taking place is to contact the organiser before travelling; this is always the case, but it’s more important than ever in the current situation.

We take great care over the accuracy of this information, but accept no responsibility for the consequences of any errors

9 May

17 May

31 May

10-24 June

Landrover Events G UKDurham Dales

Leisure P Cowm Whitworth, Lancashire Off Road Centre P Kirton Kirton Lindsey, North Lincs P Protrax Tixover, Northamptonshire

A Protrax Pyrenees 13-14 June

Adventure Tours G 4x4 Welsh Borders Land Rover Show S Gaydon Gaydon, Warwickshire Protrax G Wales

Off Road P Explore Silverdale, Stoke-on-Trent Bottom P Muddy Minstead, Hampshire P Protrax Tixover, Northamptonshire

20 May – 2 June

1-2 June

13-20 June

A Trailmasters Morocco (extreme expedition)

Events G UKEdenLandrover and Tynedale

Adventure A Ardent Pyrenees

9-23 May

21-25 May

4 June

14 June

Safari A Peru Peru Inca Tracks / Macchu Picchu

National Rally S ALRC Bilsington, Kent

Events G UKLakeLandrover District

10 May

23 May

5 June

Off-Roaders P Burnham Tring, Hertfordshire Rochford and District 4x4 P Essex, Rayleigh, Essex 4x4 P Frickley Frickley, South Yorkshire P Hill’n’Ditch Mouldsworth, Cheshire Safari P Slindon Slindon, West Sussex Events G UKEdenLandrover District

Adventure Tours G Green Shropshire / Welsh Borders

G Ridgeway

23-24 May

5-19 June

G Protrax Wiltshire

Road Adventure Travel A Off Pyrenees, Spain

Rochford and District 4x4 P Essex, Rayleigh, Essex P Hill’n’Ditch Mouldsworth, Cheshire P Protrax Tixover, Northamptonshire Safari P Slindon Slindon, West Sussex

15-30 June

24 May

6 June

4x4 P Frickley Frickley, South Yorkshire Safari P Slindon Slindon, West Sussex Valley 4x4 P Thames Brick Kiln Farm, Hampshire

Landrover Events G UKTynedale

Safari A Peru Jaguar Tracks / Manu Jungle

19 June – 3 July

6-21 June

A Greece

and Tracks G Trails Northumberland

25 May

7 June

16-17 May

P Hill’n’Ditch Mouldsworth, Cheshire

Adventure Tours G 4x4 North Devon

25-30 May

A Pyrenees

Pit P Devils Barton-le-Clay, Bedfordshire 4x4 P Frickley Frickley, South Yorkshire 4x4 P Parkwood Tong, Bradford Wood P Picadilly Bolney, West Sussex Landrover Events G UKNorthumberland

30 May

8-17 June

Off Road Centre P Kirton Kirton Lindsey, North Lincs

4x4 Adventures A Active Pyrenees

9-10 May

16 May

G Yorkshire

Onelife Adventure

16-24 May

P

Land Rover Events A UKPyrenees

16-30 May

A Portugal

Atlas Overland

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National Follow-On Rally S ALRC Bilsington, Kent

27 May – 10 June Protrax

4x4 Adventure Tours

A Ardventures Pyrenees, Spain

G Lake District/North Yorks Dales Trails and Tracks

Onelife Adventure

20-21 June

G North Pennines Trailmasters G Yorkshire

4x4 Adventure Tours

20-27 June

A Pyrenees

Ardent Adventure

21 June Off Road P Explore Silverdale, Stoke-on-Trent 4x4 P Frickley Frickley, South Yorkshire Bottom P Muddy Minstead, Hampshire Monsters P Mud East Grinstead, West Sussex

4x4 24/04/2020 20:14

Events G UKDalesLandrover and Eden District

8 July

28 July – 9 August

22-23 August

Events G UKPeakLandrover District

A Landtreks Pyrenees Coast to Coast

G Protrax Wiltshire

10 July

31 July – 3 August

22-30 August

G Cotswolds

/ Storm Jeeps A Ardventures Marquenterre, France

Adventure A Ardent Alps

11 July

1 August

24 August – 4 Sept

G County Durham

Landrover Events G UKLincoln and Belvoir

A Trailmasters Morocco

11-12 July

1-2 August

26-31 August

G South Wales

G Wales

World Overland A Lost Alps

11-24 July

1-15 August

27 August

A Balkans

Overland A Atlas Italian Alps

Events G UKDalesLandrover and Eden District

27-28 June

13-14 July

8-9 August

29 August

S Original LR Show S Kelmarsh Kelmarsh, Northamptonshire

G Wales

G Protrax Wales Landrover Events G UKWiltshire

Landrover Events G UKNorthumberland

22 June – 7 July Overland A Atlas Corsica

25-28 June Adventure Tours G 4x4 Wales (winches only)

26-28 June Land Rover Show S Billing Billing, Northamptonshire

27 June Off-Roaders P Burnham Tring, Hertfordshire Off Road Centre P Kirton Kirton Lindsey, North Lincs

Billing Off-Road Show Billing, Northamptonshire

4x4 Adventure Tours

Trails and Tracks

4x4 Adventure Tours

Ardventures

Lost World Overland

13-19 July

Trailmasters

30 August

A Landtreks East Pyrenees

8-23 August

P Leisure P Cowm Whitworth, Lancashire P Hill’n’Ditch Mouldsworth, Cheshire Off Road Centre P Kirton Kirton Lindsey, North Lincs Safari P Slindon Slindon, West Sussex Valley 4x4 P Thames Oxley Shaw, Berkshire

13-22 July

9-24 September

4x4 Adventures A Active Alps

A Ardventures Galicia, Spain 10-24 August

16-17 July

Safari A Peru Peru Inca Tracks / Macchu Picchu

A Protrax Ukraine 11-13 September

Landrover Events G UKCumbria/Yorkshire

10-29 August

Rover Owner Show S Land Peterborough, Cambridgeshire

18 July

4x4 Adventures A Active Botswana

17 September – 1 October

Landrover Events G UKYorkshire Dales

15 August

Safari A Peru Peru Inca Tracks / Macchu Picchu

28 June – 16 July

18-19 July

Events G UKLakeLandrover District

19-20 September

Overland G Atlas Wessex

15-26 August

Overland Show S Adventure Stratford Upon Avon, Warwickshire

19 July

A Pyrenees

4 October

28 June Burnham Off-Roaders Tring, Hertfordshire

A

Off Road Adventure Travel Albania

1-5 July

A

Landtreks French Pyrenees

4-5 July Adventure Tours G 4x4 North Yorkshire G Protrax Wales G Trailmasters Lake District

5 July Events G UKTyneLandrover and Wear

4x4 Scene June AWAITING ADS.indd 15

Onelife Adventure

Landrover Events G UKTynedale

16 August

4x4 Spares Day S Newbury Newbury, Berkshire

Events G UKEdenLandrover District

4-22 October

22 July – 5 August

17-23 August

A Peru Inca Tracks / Macchu Picchu

A Landtreks Pyrenees

A Morocco Desert and Mountain

25-26 July

21-23 August

G Protrax Wiltshire

Safari A Peru Peru Inca Tracks / Macchu Picchu

and Tracks G Trails Coast to Coast

22 November

4x4 Spares Day S Malvern Malvern, Worcestershire Events G UKNorthLandrover York Moors

Peru Safari

Protrax

11-25 October

British Land Rover Show S Great Stoneleigh, Warwickshire

JUNE 2020 | 15

24/04/2020 20:14

PRODUCTS

Britpart adds five new workshop tools from Laser

B

ritpart is best known as a supplier of Land Rover parts, but the company also stocks a wide range of workshop tools. Whatever kind of 4x4 you drive, this is the sort of stuff you need if you’re serious about doing your own work on it.

Recently added to the list is a quintet of items from renowned tool specialist Laser. These cover a wide range of workshop needs, some basic and some pretty specialised – and if you’re familiar with the sort of pain off-roading inflicts on a vehicle, some of them will sound as if they were created specifically for you.

All these tools are available from Britpart’s network of retailers, which covers every corner of the UK and offers enough mail order options to ensure you never have to pay over the odds. Search for them online by serial number or start by paying a visit to www.britpart.com.

Breaker Bar With Built-in Impact System Believe what it says in the official book of words, and you’ll have starry-eyed visions of every nut and bolt sliding free at the first attempt with no more than a gentle twist.

The reality involves a lot of WD40, a lot of swearing and, all too often, not a lot of action. With the DA7490 Breaker Bar With Built-in Impact System, the action ought to happen without any need for the air to be turned blue.

Perfect for situations in which air tools can’t be used, the bar can be loaded with one hand then impacted with a hammer – making it ideal for removing stubborn nuts and bolts using combined hand and impact force. It’s bi-directional, allowing it to be used for left or right-hand threads, and its swivel head allows it to access difficult areas.

Britpart’s newly listed half-inch drive Impact Twist Sockets from Laser Tools (above) are profiled for removing damaged nuts and bolts. They’d be a perfect fit with the new 330mm Breaker Bar With Built-In Impact System (right). Between them, you shouldn’t need to pay more than about £100 Below: The Two-Way Ratcheting Oil Filter Wrench also has a halfinch drive; it’s designed for use with filter bodies ranging from 60-80mm in diameter

Measuring 330mm in length, with a half-inch drive, the Breaker Bar With Built-in Impact System is designed for use with impact sockets

and bits. It has an impact absorbing composite grip handle, too. Expect to pay around £50.

Impact Twist Sockets While we’re on the subject of impact tools, the DA7489 Impact Twist Socket set is designed with a special profile for removing damaged nuts and bolts. The sockets are made from SCM440 steel and come in 17mm, 18mm, 19mm, 21mm, 22mm and 24mm sizes, all with a half-inch impact drive. They’re supplied in EVA foam for storage in your

16 | JUNE 2020

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tool chest and ought to leave you a bit of change out of fifty quid.

Two-Way Ratcheting Oil Filter Wrench At the basic-needs end of the scale is the DA7488 Two-Way Ratcheting Oil Filter Wrench. Suitable for filters ranging from 60-80mm in diameter, this uses a 0.5” drive and has nonslip steel jaws to grip the body of the unit as you instal or remove it.

In each case, its ratcheting function promises to make the job quick and easy. It costs about £25.

4x4 24/04/2020 20:14

Above: The Automatic, Self-Adjusting Brake Pipe Cutter With Ratchet Handle is a long name for a small tool – small enough to do the job in really tight areas Below: The Short Circuit Diagnostic Kit could save you many hours of soul-destroying work tracing invisible faults Automatic, Self Adjusting Brake Pipe Cutter With Ratchet Handle If you’re cutting brake pipes, you’re not in DIY land any more. Which means using the right tool for the job is must-do rather than just would-be-nice-to.

Over to Britpart for an explanation of why Laser’s new DA7484 is exactly the right tool for the job: ’Modern brake pipe cutters can be quite small and compact. But there are many instances when there is still not enough clearance to turn the cutter around the whole circumference of the brake pipe.

‘This new mini brake pipe cutter from Laser Tools solves this problem with its ratchet mechanism.

Simply slide the cutter over the pipe — the handle gives excellent leverage and even if the space is really restricted, a few turns of the handle will quickly and cleanly cut straight through. It is self-adjusting, so no need to keep tightening the blade down on to the pipe as you are cutting.’

That all seems to make sense.

The cutter can be used on 3/16” or 4.75mm steel, copper or cupro nickel brake pipe – and if even

greater leverage is required, there’s a quarter-inch drive square in the end of the handle. Shop around and it’ll cost less than £25.

Short Circuit Diagnostic Kit If there was a magic wand to get you to the bottom of awkward electrical problems, you’d give almost anything for it. The good news, then, is that the DA7487 Short Circuit Diagnostic Kit is pretty much the next best thing.

Obviously, tracing a short can be incredibly time-consuming. But Laser’s kit will help you claw back some of those precious moments.

It’s a set of circuit breakers which fit in place of the traditional fuse and safely break the circuit when an overload is detected – while allowing you to reset them manually as many times as you need.

The kit includes resettable replacements for both standard and mini-size blade fuses with ratings of 5A, 7.5A, 10A, 15A, 20A, 25A and 30A. You also get two 300mm extension leads, allowing you to connect the circuit breakers even when space in the fuse box is tight.

The kit will cost you around £60.

Astwood 4x4 Ltd LAND ROVER SPECIALISTS

We are a business that cares about your Landy and about the customers’ needs, a company who understands what the Landy is all about.

We specialise in restoring, rebuilding Land Rover Defenders, galvanized chassis changes, engine upgrade and all types of mechanical & body work.

We export Land Rovers worldwide supplying not only refurbished but also used Land Rovers.

Refurbishment/Restoration Specialist, Land Rover Servicing, MOTs, Mechanical, Diagnostics, SKYTAG Agent, Galvanized Chassis, Body Repair/Paint Shop Works Astwood Bank, Astwood Business Park, Astwood Lane, Redditch. B96 6HH Tel : +44(0)1527 892 377 Mobile : +44(0)7974075932 Email: info@astwood4x4.co.uk www.facebook.com/Astwood4x4 www.twitter.com/Astwood4x4

www.astwood4x4.co.uk JUNE 2020 | 17

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25/04/2020 17:02

PRODUCTS

Handwash station is ideal for garage, workshop or the back of your truck

W

ashing your hands has become quite a popular way of passing the time this year. It appears to have been a new experience for a worrying number of people, but some of us it was already a familiar concept.

Just saying…

Anyway, if your hands are the kind that spend a lot of time in workshops, cleaning off all the grease, swarf and blood they’ll pick up in the course of a day’s efforts is not the sort of job that only takes a couple of quick Happy Birthdays before it’s done.

So if you don’t already have a wash station, now might be the time. And the B-G Wash Station from Brown and Geeson has a good claim to be the one. It’ll let you store your hand cleaner, paper

towels and gloves nice and tidily, and it’s mobile enough to double up as an on-site dispenser for use on events.

The Wash Station is made from mild steel with a powder coated finish and features a holder for paper towels of up to 225mm wide and 180mm in diameter, a storage shelf for cleaning products and a dispenser for rubber gloves. It’s fitted with keyhole mounting points, making it easy to instal in anything from your garage to the back of your truck itself.

What price cleanliness? The unit is priced at £59.99, which is not a lot for a lifetime of driving home from a hard day’s off-roading without having a layer of wet mud between you and your steering wheel.

Pay a visit to www.bg-racing.co.uk and you’ll be cleaning up.

MILNER OFF ROAD Est. 1981

FILTERS • DISCS • PADS • BELTS • CLUTCHES • TYRES • SNORKELS

Jeep Wrangler Accessories and Custom Conversions: 01482 666491 www.StormJeeps.com

www.milneroffroad.com TEL: 01629 734411

Mon-Fri: 8am - 5:30pm Sat: 8am - 12:30pm

Old Road | Darley Dale | Matlock | Derbyshire | DE4 2ER | LEADING THE WAY SINCE 1981 | GENUINE & NON GENUINE PARTS | SAME DAY DESPATCH |

18 | JUNE 2020

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4x4 25/04/2020 17:02

PRODUCTS

New GT dampers from GAZ Shocks promise restored ride and handling for leaf-sprung Land Rovers DAMPER SPECIALIST GAZ has introduced a new range of shock absorbers for classic Land Rovers. These are fully adjustable, allowing bump and rebound rates to be adjusted to suit the conditions and driving style using an easily accessible knob on the side of the units.

‘GAZ has adjustable shock absorbers to make classic Landies ride like new… or even better,’ says the company. ‘GAZ GT dampers will not only restore the ride and road holding of your classic Land Rover but also offer an upgrade to adjustable damping rates.’

If you’ve ever driven a Land Rover from the leaf-sprung era, you might be wondering if they’re even referring to the same vehicle at all. Ride? Road-holding? Nope, we don’t remember them either.

The dampers feature a zinc plated body and protective plastic sleeve to help them shrug off the mud, and they come with a two-year warranty. Something else you won’t be familiar with if you bought a Land Rover back in the day, then.

There are various fitments available, to suit 86”/88” models from 1954-85; 107”/109” Series Is from 1953-58; and 109” Series II-IIIs from 1958-on. Prices start at £67.28 a corner – to find out more, go to www.gazshocks.com.

• GAZ SHOCKS also recently introduced a new fitment for the Ford Ranger. Like the Land Rover units described above, these are fully adjustable – they leave the factory set up for general road use, cargo carrying and trailer hauling, but their adjuster dials allow you to tune their bump and rebound rates to suit the prevailing conditions, load and driving style.

According to GAZ, you can even use them for off-road racing… toss a coin as to whether you’d sooner do this in an expensive new Ranger or a rare old classic Landy.

Actually, it doesn’t have to be a brand new Ranger you use, as the shocks are compatible with models going all the way back to 1988. Like the Landy units, they’re made using a zinc plated body and protective plastic sleeve, are individually tested before leaving the factory and come with a two-year warranty. Priced at £67.28 each up front and £75.04 for the rear, they’re at www.gazshocks.com.

Ford Ranger Big Brake Kit Ad - Jan 2020 - UK.pdf

1

28/01/2020

17:31

BIG BRAKING PERFORMANCE!

WITH PEDDERS TRAKRYDER EXTREME BRAKE KITS BRAKE KITS

Vehicle Wiring Products

We supply a comprehensive range of wiring products for repair, modification or complete rewire to your vehicle

ADJUSTABLE 4X4 SUSPENSION

C

M

Y

CM

MY

CY

CMY

K

Stainless steel abutments.

For the discerning driver who is particular about how eXtreme Brake Kit. The braking results are staggering with the inclusion of a larger 6 pot caliper design, high tech TrakRyder eXtreme kevlar ceramic pads mated with a 10 slot dimpled and geomet coated larger diameter rotor.

Bigger braking surface means bigger stopping power. With the fitment of the all new Pedders TrakRyder eXtreme brake kit, independent Australian Engineering tests reflected an average improvement in braking distance by up to 14%.

Features: • Stainless steel braided hoses.

• 10 slot and dimpled TrakRyder geomet coated rotors 14”/356mm diameter (OE 11.85”/301mm).

• TrakRyder eXtreme Kevlar Ceramic low dust brake pads.

• TrakRyder eXtreme 6 pot design caliper brackets and bolts.

• 6 Pot, 2 piece aluminium forged calipers.

• High grade alloy steel brake pad insulators.

• Stainless steel pistons.

Specialising in Suspension solutions since 1950 For further information go to www.pedders.co.uk or please contact your local Pedders experts.

01296 711 044 info@pedders.co.uk

* Independent Australian engineering test results proved that at 100kmh the TrakRyder eXtreme Brake Kit system upgrade stopped on average 11m sooner than original distances are reduced by 21%. This kit is suited for 18” wheels or larger. Further details available in store and on our website. Suits Ford Ranger PX & PXII Models.

4x4 Scene June AWAITING ADS.indd 19

ca F ta re lo e gu

e Visit our website, phone or email for a free catalogue

www.vehicleproducts.co.uk

Tel No: 0115 9305454 and email: sales@vehicleproducts.co.uk

Vehicle Wiring Products 9 Buxton Court, Manners Ind Est, Ilkeston, Derbyshire, DE7 8EF

JUNE 2020 | 19

25/04/2020 17:02

PRODUCTS

Polybush adds new kit for Isuzu D-Max

SPECIALIST 4X4 VEHICLE DISMANTERS JEEP - LAND ROVER AND MOST MAKES AND MODELS QUALITY GUARANTEED USED PARTS SOME OF THE VEHICLES WE HAVE RECENTLY DISMANTLED:

2015 JEEP WRANGLER JK 2.8CRD

2007 DODGE NITRO 2.8CRD

2016 RANGE ROVER EVOQUE 2.0 TD4

POLYBUSH HAS INTRODUCED a new kit for the Isuzu D-Max. In keeping with the company’s normal product offering, these bushes promise to last 4-5 times longer than rubber, which means less down-time and, if you pay for your spanner work, lower labour costs. The bushes are available as a full kit or part sets, costing from £21 plus the VAT – you’ll find out more by visiting www.polybush.co.uk.

Alloy USA lift kits suitable for every model of Wrangler

2014 RANGE 2016 ISUZU 2014 JEEP ROVER SPORT 4.4 D-MAX 2.5 DIESEL CHEROKEE MK5 V8 DIESEL KL 2.0 MULTIJET

2010 JEEP 2007 LAND ROVER CHEROKEE MK4 DISCOVERY 3 2.7 KK 2.8 CRD TDV6

2008 HONDA CRV 2.2 CDTI

2006 JEEP GRAND 2006 NISSAN CHEROKEE WK PATHFINDER 2.5 5.7 V8 HEMI DCI Charlton Recycled Auto Parts Vehicle Recycling Centre, Gravel Pit Hill, Thriplow, Cambridge, SG8 7HZ Tel 01223 832656 Email parts@charltonautoparts.co.uk PLEASE VISIT WWW.CHARLTONAUTOPARTS.CO.UK

20 | JUNE 2020

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T

he Jeep Wrangler is now on to its fourth generation, and each of them has had its own suspension set-up. That hasn’t fazed Alloy USA, though – the company recently launched a new range of suspension lift kits for the vehicle, and it’s suitable for the YJ, TJ, JK and JL alike.

The kits’ lift heights range from 1.5” to 4”, which is quite a variety of options. Alloy USA says they offer ’outstanding performance and reliability’ and that they are ‘some of the most complete kits available on the market today.’

To back this up, the company’s kits include all the components you’ll need to carry out a full

suspension lift – which means springs, control arms, brackets, hardware and, where applicable, shock absorbers.

‘Alloy USA has long been known for its commitment to creating quality, long-lasting products,’ said Engineering Manager Alain Eboli.

‘With our new offerings, we’ll be able to support more Jeep owners than ever before.’

Alloy USA says that each component in the kits was selected to provide ‘the ultimate balance of stability, flexibility and overall ride quality on a wide variety of terrain.’ It also backs them up with a five-year limited warranty. To find a UK dealer, visit www.alloyusa.com.

4x4 25/04/2020 17:02

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DRIVEN

ISUZU D-MAX XTR

Look-at-me-styling and off-road intent aren’t the most obvious of bedfellows. Can the latest addition to the D-Max range bring them together in perfect harmony?

ON TEST D-Max XTR Manual

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f you were to stand on a street corner and ask 100 people to name a car maker they associate with off-roading, you’d probably be doing well if even one of them said anything other than Jeep or Land Rover. If you asked 100 people who actually know about off-roading, the figures would be dramatically different – but even then, Isuzu would be unlikely to get more than a handful of mentions.

Yet Isuzu’s model mix contains a higher proportion of off-roaders than any other major vehicle brand in the UK. Yes, it only has one model, the D-Max, and that’s a pick-up truck, and yes you can make stats say anything. But how many car makers’ overall product offerings have become more offroad biased over the last decade,

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rather than less? Here’s a clue. The number looks a lot like the first letter of the one it is…

Famously, Isuzu was the first manufacturer to get into bed with Arctic Trucks for an official model, the hefty looking AT35. But the company’s UK importer has also made a real effort to create models that are suited to the needs of people who use them off-road in the real world, be that for work or play.

Launched late last year, the XTR is aimed at lifestyle owners who want to make a statement – the kind of people who go to aftermarket specialists for blinged Ford Rangers, Isuzu is candid enough to admit. It comes with a dramatic front-end styling kit and graphics package that will make it the sole object of every eight-year-

old schoolboy’s attention (the actual age may vary by anything up to about eight decades) – but as well as being designed to catch the eye, its technical spec holds more off-

road promise than anything else in an already excellent model line-up.

There are two versions of the XTR available – standard and Nav+, with the latter bringing DAB, sat-nav and

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Above: The D-Max is just about the oldest double-cab on the market now, which puts its interior at a disadvantage – though it’s nothing like as far off the pace as you’d expect. It’s well made and very usable, and while it’s perhaps a bit dowdy the XTR’s seats and steering wheel give it a real shot in the arm. Cabin space remains among the best in the sector, with rear-seat legroom a particular strength smartphone pairing via an upgraded infotainment module. Prices are £34,004 and £35,154 respectively (CVOTR), with the auto adding £1000 in each case.

CABIN AND PRACTICALITY The D-Max is in its last year of production, and that’s a time by which a vehicle’s interior tends to have started feeling ancient in comparison to newer models.

It would be harsh to describe its cabin as brutally as that, but there are definitely more modern options

around. Still, pick-up design tends to be more conservative than across the border in SUV-land, so it doesn’t feel as much like it’s been left behind.

There’s a lot of dark plastic on the dash and, while the controls are as well made as you’d expect from a company with Isuzu’s reputation for build quality, not a lot about the underlying design carries much in the way of surprise and delight.

The XTR has more to offer than most models, however, with a combination of seats and steering wheel that lift the ambience very effectively without looking in any way out of place.

The wheel is flatted off at the bottom and trimmed in leather and suede, giving it a pleasing combination of style and grip that makes it nice both to look at and handle. The seats add something, too, again using suede and leather to trim a sports-style design which holds you in well around corners and on side-slopes alike. They don’t have lumbar adjustment, but we covered a lot of miles in our XTR without ever feeling uncomfortable.

A generally high spec level means the seats are heated, too.

How much you need this when the surface you’re plonked on is

trimmed in soft suede is open to question, but it’s there – though the button is hidden behind you on the seat base next to the door, which makes it much easier to switch on by accident when climbing aboard than on purpose when you’re actually sitting in the thing.

Sitting in the thing is, however, a very fine thing to do. You get an excellent driving position with a commanding view in all directions, and there’s plenty of room to stretch out. The rear seats are still among the best in the double-cab market for passenger space – the D-Max dates from before almost all its competitors, but few of them can get close to it in this area.

DRIVING The XTR has a bespoke suspension system featuring Pedders springs and shocks which lift it by about

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DRIVEN Pedders suspension adds around 3” to the XTR’s ride height, making room for 265/70R17 Pirelli All-Terrains.

Those are slotted front discs and carbon ceramic pads you’re looking at, too three inches. This allows it to run 265/70R17 Pirelli Scorpion All Terrains which stand 32” in height. So it’s the sort of thing many off-road enthusiasts would build for themselves – only it was developed in the manufacturer’s own workshop and comes as part of a showroom model, meaning you don’t have any mods to declare when you’re buying insurance.

There’s more to it underneath than just a lift, too. In addition to its longer springs and shocks, the suspension features a redesigned upper wishbone whose ball joint is positioned to deal correctly with the front wheels’ new, longer arc of travel. Ground clearance is quoted at 250mm, which is only a marginal improvement over the 235mm of a standard D-Max, but as always it’s what you do with it that counts.

The same can be said of the front brakes, which feature vented, slotted front discs and kevlar ceramic pads. Sounds like overkill, especially as the rear is still on drums, but it stops very effectively indeed and there’s no sign of any upset in the vehicle’s front-to-rear braking balance.

Isuzu has confirmed to us that the

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XTR remains within its original manufacturing tolerances here, which is as you’d expect.

On the road, the XTR’s extra height makes little difference to its handling. Likewise, the slight increase in overall gearing from its taller tyres causes no problems, whether on tarmac or in the mud.

The model tested had a manual gearbox; a previous example we drove changed gear rather awkwardly, but this one was much more willing in operation.

As a result, it’s a breeze around town, with a level of manoeuvrability that defies its sheer size. You can push ahead on A and B-roads with confidence, too, and it’ll cruise on the motorway with a level of calm you simply don’t associate with a modified off-roader.

Talking of which, when you leave the blacktop the XTR is significantly

more capable than the standard D-Max – which itself is no mug.

There’s no sign at all of those taller tyres causing it to run out of revs on long hillclimbs or run away on the way back down, and tractability is excellent – aided by those allterrain tyres, of course, which left us wondering just how good it would be if you went the whole hog and put on a set of mud-terrains instead.

Once or twice, the common D-Max problem of an open rear

diff cropped up to get in the way.

There’s a reason why almost every other pick-up on the market comes with some sort of LSD or full locker as either standard or optional equipment – though to be fair, you do need to be going at very serious axle-twisters for this to become an issue. And with the extra articulation in the longer-travel suspension, they can become more extreme still before the XTR starts struggling for grip.

★★★★✩

Isuzu D-Max XTR A winner off-road – but you need to not mind being noticed by absolutely everyone The D-Max may be in its last year, but aside from a rather sombre dash design it remains fresh – and the D-Max package does a great job of refreshing it. Its looks are a question of taste, but there’s no arguing with the modifications that make it the best off-roader in the range.

24/04/2020 20:08

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DRIVEN

SUBARU XV E-BOXER

Former 4x4 of the Year class winner keeps up with emissions regs by becoming a hybrid – and promises better than ever dynamics at the same time ON TEST XV 2.0 e-Boxer SE Premium

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he Subaru XV won its class in our 4x4 of the Year awards when it first came out. The company’s first SUV on its new Global Platform, it was a quantum leap forward from the slightly dull-but-worthy previous model, with an excellent interior,

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crisp road manners and a totally unexpected level of off-road ability.

It was always slated for an early revision, however, even back then.

With punishingly stringent new European emissions regs coming in to force at the start of this year (and getting even tougher 12 months

further on), Subaru was busy turning its trademark boxer engine into a hybrid.

And here it is: the boxer is now the e-Boxer. It sounds promising. As the Shamen always used to say, E’s are good, and the XV was already very good, so put them together and it should be very good indeed.

The vehicle is priced from £30,995 (our top-spec test car lists at £32,130), so the people at Subaru aren’t being greedy. What that gets you is a small SUV with a 2.0-litre petrol engine, mated to an electric motor mounted centrally within the vehicle. The battery pack, , is beneath the boot floor. The system is mated to a CVT auto box that’s been programmed with ‘ratios’ to make it feel more pleasing in

operation, and all models have fourwheel drive as standard.

Subaru says the vehicle can be driven on electric power alone at speeds of up to 25mph, though we found the engine keener to cut in than that implies. It does so very smoothly and quietly, however, and overall performance is both brisk and seamless, with the same highly impressive refinement we’ve observed when driving earlier versions of the vehicle.

We only managed to average 29.1mpg over the course of a week, however, which is nowhere near as good as we’d expect from a Subaru back in the days when they still had diesel engines. The first-gen XV returned an official 50.4mpg in diesel form, for example, and

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There XV’s cabin feels modern, crisply designed and beautifully put together, with good quality materials throughout. Subaru has always built its cars to a high standard, and now it’s adding a touch of panache to go with its traditional strengths. There’s a huge boot to go with its spacious seats – the floor seems a touch higher in the hybrid model than it did in the original version, but it’s still extremely usable though that was on the laughably optimistic NEDC scale we’d still expect it to give us at least ten more miles per gallon than we got from the e-Boxer.

You’ve got to follow the money, though, and the rules. It’s all about emissions, and a petrol hybrid ticks the boxes even if you end up paying more at the pump.

It also ticks the ‘it’s a Subaru’ box, too. Because as before, the XV feels beautifully balanced and grips in corners with a wonderfully natural feel to it. The company says the new model has ‘noticeable handling improvements’ thanks to the way the hybrid system’s weight is distributed: we’ll be honest and say they weren’t noticeable to us, but the vehicle was already outstanding in this way and it still is.

What we did get the chance to do was drive the XV back-toback with the current Outback, which is still based on Subaru’s previous-generation chassis architecture. The XV is a smaller and lighter vehicle, so we’re not really comparing like for like, but its steering was better, its ride gentler and its body control more taut, all of which we’d ascribe at least in part to the extra stiffness of its new platform. It can match the Outback’s supple smoothness on

the motorway, too – all round, the XV’s road manners are top-drawer and while this was already the case, if nothing else the hybrid drivetrain doesn’t detract from this.

Off-road, as we’ve already mentioned it’s nothing short of remarkable. The CVT gearbox can to some extent overcome the lack of low range, allowing you to take on more technical terrain than you’d ever imagine possible at the sort of speed that makes it safe to do so, and tractability is astounding.

Even on road tyres, the XV can find its way across seriously muddy ground, aided by the X-Mode system whose name makes it sound like a gimmick but which is actually one of the more effective traction management programmes on the market.

This also delivers a very effective form of hill descent control whose set speed can be fine-tuned by tapping the pedals. Given the grip, you could drive down a lamp-post without it running away.

Not that you would try such a thing. But Subarus are unusual in that a high percentage of their owners do actually use them off-tarmac – and to them, the

astonishing breadth of the XV’s realworld capability is much more than just a party trick.

Whatever you propose to do with it, a massive selling point is that when it was launched, the XV had the best crash-test score for child occupant protection across the entire car market. Its platform is designed to route impact energy away from the safety cell, and the engine is mounted in a cradle that carries it underneath you in a heavy front-ender, while a vast array of high-tech active safety measures help prevent anything like that from happening in the first place.

This was all the case before the e-Boxer engine came on the scene, and it still is now. The XV’s cabin, too, is as good as we remember, with a crisp design, good materials and excellent build quality. It’s based around a large multi-function touch-screen, but whereas some vehicles use such a thing as an excuse to do away with as many traditional controls as possible, you still get physical buttons for things like the heating, air-con and stereo – another safety feature, if you ask us, because trying to fight your way through a set of menus just to turn

the fan up a bit, or if Kanye West has come on the radio and you need to mute it as quickly as possible, is surely no way to keep your eyes on the road.

And talking of that, the XV offers excellent visibility all-round, with plenty of glass and no unnecessary A-post adornments to obscure your view at junctions. It’s spacious, too, with enough room in both rows of seats to let one six-footer sit behind another so long as neither is greedy, and the luggage space in the back is very generous with the back seats down. The boot floor seems a little higher than in the non-hybrid model (the battery pack lives under there), but a positive effect of this is that there’s less of an uneven step over the seats when they’re folded down.

Uneven isn’t really a word you’d expect to use very much about the XV. It’s a very well proportioned vehicle that manages to be both car-like and SUV-like at the same time – and its new e-Boxer drivetrain manages to blend smoothly in to the character of what was, and is, an excellent alternative in a sector of the market where capable off-roaders are normally conspicuous by their absence.

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BACK IN TIME The Nissan D22 is best remembered as the truck which, back in the day, gave the name ‘Navara’ to the world. Back in the days when double-cabs were still a rarity in the off-road scene, however, it was one of the best you could get – and even now, a well looked after example can be a really trusty do-it-all project with loads of potential waiting to be unlocked Words: Paul Looe Pictures: Harry Hamm

I

ran it standard until it got stuck,’ says Tony Jenn. ‘The modifications came after that.’

And there, in a few short words, is the noble are of off-roading summed up more or less to perfection.

He’s talking about a vehicle that really deserves to get more love from Britain’s off-roaders. The Nissan D22 was around at a time when the

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double-cab market was very heavily dominated by the Mitsubishi L200, but it was arguably the best one-tonner around – until it was replaced by the stunning D40 Navara which, though it went on to blot its copybook with the drivetrain and chassis issues you’ve probably heard about, was a quantum leap forward towards the SUV-style pick-ups of today.

The D22 was so good that Nissan actually brought it back to the UK a couple of years after introducing the Navara. Leaving that to one side, though, Tony’s is a 2004 vehicle, which puts it in the last year of the model’s original life cycle.

It wasn’t his first 4x4 – a Suzuki SJ gets that honour – but with the way he tells the story, it might as well have been. He bought it a couple of

4x4 24/04/2020 11:31

years ago as a low-mileage vehicle whose owner had looked after it well and used it to tow a boat.

‘I bought a 4x4 and had always fancied getting into off roading,’ he says. ‘I searched for a club near me and came across Bonkas 4x4 Wales. I joined, made lots of modifications and have loved it ever since!’ Having first run it standard until it got stuck, of course.

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Above: There’s a 2” lift on the suspension at present, and 3” on the body mounts. Even then, wheelarch trimming was needed to fit the D22 with a set of 265/75R16 tyres

Above: The independent front end hasn’t been a problem so far. But so far Tony has only gone up to 31.5” tyres. This whole area will look a good bit different when he carries out his threat to replace them with 35s…

Right: Those 31.5” tyres (265/75R16 Cooper Discoverer STT Pros) dominate the wheelarches that are supposed to be covering them – and that’s after the arches were trimmed. It looks like it means business, certainly…

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Above, right: The 2.5di engine is a willing performer, and with the EGR valve deleted it’s more willing than ever. Tony has left well alone in the main – though it breathes in through a raised air intake and out through a custom side-exit exhaust Below right: The vehicle had been used for towing a boat before Tony bought it, and as we all know that can mean regular dunkings in salt water. It’s not obvious whether the welding he’s needed to do on the chassis is directly linked to this, but he says he’s strengthened it as well as doing repairs It’s not been a massively extreme project, at least so far, with a combination of body and suspension lifts as well as trimmed wheelarches making room for a set of 265/75R16 Cooper Discoverer STT Pro mud-terrains on 0 offset steel modulars. That’s a 31.5” tall tyre, give or take, but in the future he wants to push on to a set of 35s – at which point things will definitely have become extreme.

Tony does all his own spanner work, though, so at least it won’t be a case of getting someone else to figure out what the upper arm ball joints are trying to say (they’ve always got something to say). Looking at the way those Coopers already

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fill the arches (‘overwhelm’ might be a better word), adding another 10% to their height is going to take some doing.

It has the vibe of a project with plenty of potential still to be unlocked, this. With all the work Tony has already done, he could leave it the way it is right now and just enjoy it, but you get the feeling he’s a man who doesn’t like to the let the grass grow under his feet. He already says the wheels and tyres are the best mod he’s made – so it stands to reason that bigger ones will be better yet, doesn’t it? The D22 might be a truck that doesn’t get the love it deserves – but this one is getting enough for all the rest put together.

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PERFECT S

It’s not uncommon to have two 4x4s – one for everyday family duties and one to take out at the weekend for off-road fun and one to… take out at the weekend for Words: Gary Noskill Pictures: Steve Taylor

L

ots of people would like a Land Rover Defender 90 as an off-road toy. But beguiling though these wonderful old all-terrain superheroes may be, there are plenty of reasons not to have one.

There’s the reliability thing, compounded by the fact that you can’t buy one any more without having to worry about the competence (sanity, indeed) of whoever might have worked on it in the

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past. There’s the lack of practicality, the cramped cabin and the woeful equipment levels. And of course there’s the ever-present worry about looking the other way for more than about five minutes.

Oh, and Defenders are worth so much now that off-roading one is like using a ten pound note to light a barbecue.

That’s why we’re firm believers in the virtues of the Mk1 Discovery. If you can find one, of course,

that hasn’t already been destroyed and/or rusted itself into nothing.

Given the choice, which would you go for? Well, if you’ve got the golden ticket, you might have one of each. But which would you keep standard and which would you modify? There was a time when the answer to that would have been clear-cut – and it probably still is now. It’s just that it’s the other answer.

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SYMMETRY

take out at the weekend for off-road fun. But here’s a better idea. Have one to off-road fun

Or maybe you say nah, cos Land Rovers, I’m going to modify both.

Now, this story goes back more than a decade and a half. You have lockdown to thank for this.

It’s the story of a family, and a love of off-roading that was first kindled very early in life.

Meet Alastair Read. ‘He lives and breathes Land Rovers,’ his wife Sue told us. ‘He’s totally consumed by them.’ She didn’t seem troubled by

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this, though – perhaps because she had a Land Rover too.

Hers was a very fit looking soft-top 90 (we were going to ask if there was any other kind, but as we all know there certainly is). His, meanwhile, was a full-on challenge truck – and one which, though it doesn’t look like much in comparison to the Ultra4 buggies of today, more than held its own in the early days of winch competition.

‘I’ve been interested in Land Rovers as long as I can remember,’ Alastair told us. ‘My father had always been a devotee and I bought one at the first opportunity.’

That vehicle was a Series III, and by the time we showed up he reckoned he had owned around a dozen or so different Land Rovers. These included Range Rovers, a Discovery, a hybrid, a Freelander and, of course, a host of 90s.

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Above left: A front bumper from Gooodwinch with a standard Warn 8274 bolted to it – back in the day, that’s all it took to make a vehicle that could compete in winch challenges. The big Warn unit was wound with Plasma rope – again, this 90 dates from a time when there were still people using steel in competitive events Above centre. Very neatly mounted into a custom rear crossmember, a Superwinch Husky got the nod by virtue of being waterproof. Its motor doubled up as a spare for the Warn up front – and as you can see, it proves our point about people still using steel back then Above right: A diver’s air tank is a novel alternative to running an on-board generator. Alastair used it for powering air tools and reinflating his tyres after an event We’ll get on to the Disco in a bit. First, though, comes his favourite of all the trucks he’s owned.

His challenge-spec 90 represented the culmination of many years’ experience in the fine arts of driving, modifying and even buying Land Rovers.

Lesson one, of course, is that there’s no such thing as a finished project. ‘There’s always something you want to do to a 4x4, isn’t there?’ he said. ‘Manufacturers are always developing new tricks that improve articulation or give you more traction, and any enthusiast will be tempted.’

The development of the challenge world since he uttered those words bear them out entirely.

Alastair strove to compete with the big guns of the day – people like Tony Baskill and Simon

Buck, who were regulars on the top step at muchloved events like the Ras Y Dafftodil – yet the 90’s ran ‘only’ 35x10.50R16 Simexes, a standard Warn 8274 and a single ARB Air-Locker.

These days, people would see that as green laner spec. And Alastair loved his laning, but he wasn’t about to inflict his 90 on Britain’s precious rights of way. ‘The combination of hardcore mud tyres and serious traction aids would destroy most green lanes in a matter of minutes,’ he told us. ‘The 90 belongs in extreme conditions and nowhere else.’

Say such a thing at a pub meet and you’ll kick off a heated debate. But let’s stick with the 90 for now. That Warn 8274 sat on a Goodwinch front

bumper and was fitted with Plasma rope. ‘When you’re fighting the clock, it’s great to be able to throw the winch rope around between you: it saves wasting time carrying it. With a steel rope, it’s both unsafe and awkward to do this.’ Yes, there was a time when people still even talked about steel.

There was also a time when they talked about things other than LEDs. The 90 ran 130-watt KC spotlights for night events and sealed-beam headlamps for, well, a sealed beam. ‘They give off an appallingly small amount of illumination,’ said Alastair, ‘but because they have a sealed beam they are completely waterproof.’ Sometimes a little of what you need is better than none at all.

Above left: If there’s one picture that ages this 90 more than any other, here it is. Any modern challenge motor, let alone one built to joust with giants, would be running an LED bar here Above centre: Some mods never go out of fashion. The Defender’s exhaust pipe is positioned perfectly sensibly for everyday off-road use, but challenge events are about as everyday as a total eclipse. Bending up a new final section that exits through the rear wing is an excellent way of not putting your vehicle out of action by bending it in the other sense of the phrase Above right: No, we’re not just showing you a picture of the Defender’s stereo (though the fact that it actually had one is worthy of note in itself). Alastair installed the centre dash section from a later model to give him somewhere to mount the switches for his winch, rear locker and so on

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4x4 23/04/2020 23:07

When it comes to underbody protection, though, you need as much as possible. Hence the Southdown front steering guard and fuel tank protector and Qt diff guards, Servicetune rock sliders and bespoke roll cage, which is external at the front and internal at the rear.

The rear, let’s talk about that. The spare wheel was shifted from the back door and remounted inside to prevent it blocking the driver’s view and the co-driver’s access to the Husky winch mounted into the rear crossmember. This was chosen because it was waterproof, and the mount was created to prevent adding to the 90’s departure angle – and to leave easy access to the winch’s motor so it could be whipped out and used in emergencies as a spare for the front one.

‘I’m pretty pleased with the winch set-up,’ Alastair told us. ‘Even moving the spare wheel has its advantages. The distribution of weight is a lot better, and it’s easier to balance the truck.’

The wheel shared the 90’s rear cabin with a diver’s air tank, which Alastair used to power air tools and to reinflate his tyres after events.

‘I can pump up the tyres wherever I am and the tank only costs a few quid to fill up,’ he explained.

‘I tend to deflate the Simexes to 12psi on really tough terrain, using Storm tyre deflators I bought from Australia. They automatically shut off once the desired pressure is reached, leaving me free to have a brew!’ Good thinking.

Also from Australia were the 90’s Maxidrive halfshafts, and when we met Alastair he was looking at the same company’s rock-crawling gear conversion. ‘Every time the car leaves my drive, it goes off-road in extreme conditions. I think the rock-crawling gears will make a significant improvement to its ability, enabling it to clamber over obstacles at a dead slow pace.’

The crawling is enabled by the 90’s original 200Tdi engine and LT77 gearbox, which Alastair opted to stick with rather than going for a 300Tdi because the later unit is ‘too nice to abuse.’ A low-revving, torque-heavy diesel turning a set of extremely aggressive tyres with locked rear and centre diffs is always going to find the weak point, however, and this turned out to be the clutch –

which was needing to be replaced every couple of thousand miles. It says something that at the time, when we asked if there was a solution, the answer was ‘not that I can readily think of – it’s just one of those things.’

Down below, the 90 rode on +2” Old Man Emu spring and shocks. These ran with dislocation cones, drop shock mounts and cranked radius arms from Scorpion Racing, possibly the biggest name in extreme off-roading at the time. ‘With this set-up,’ said Alastair, ‘I get the strength of the Old Man Emu kit as well as the flex of dislocation.

I’m really chuffed with it!’ Moral: don’t be scared to mix and match.

We mentioned the rear Air-Locker earlier on, but there’s a little more to it than that. It’s mounted in the back axle from a Td5 Defender 90 – which brings a 24-spline diff and disc brakes to the party. Alastair decided against using a front locker, however, because of the strain it puts on the CV joints: ‘I’ve never been in a situation where someone with an ARB in the front has got significantly further than me, so I’d sooner protect

‘There’s always something you want to do to a 4x4, isn’t there? Manufacturers are always developing new tricks that improve articulation or give you more traction, and any enthusiast will be tempted!’

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Alastair bought the Discovery because his 90 had become too extreme for green laning. It came already modified, with an ARB front bumper and Warn M9500, Safari Snorkel and Southdown guards among other things. He wasn’t one for tearing up lanes by using needlessly aggressive tyres, and the Disco was also used as a tow truck, so BFG All-Terrains were an ideal compromise for all-round grip the CVs and start winching fifty yards earlier than my competitors!’

Further mods include twin Optima Yellow Tops with the alternator from Land Rover’s 4.0-litre V8 engine, a hybrid snorkel using a Mantec main pipe and a Southdown chimney and a standard Td5 90 ladder allowing easy access to the waffle boards on the roof. Inside, Alastair has gone to the effort of fitting a 2002 Defender centre dash, because it provides a useful mounting point for the winch controls and ARB switches.

As you read through all this, once again you might well reflect that now, a generation later, it all sounds very much like a good green laner. Quite a hardcore one – and we’d absolutely endorse the views Alastair expressed earlier about what big tyres with a hardcore off-road tread pattern can do to the ground surface – but the winching game

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has certainly moved on since then. Exactly as he said it would.

With the 90 waiting patiently between events, anyway, there was a vacancy for an everyday offroad machine on the Read driveway. And this is where the Discovery comes in. He bought it with 240,000 miles on the clock – but seeing as he only wanted it for the occasional laning trip and to tow his 90 to events, this wasn’t really a problem. Besides, it came fitted with a rebuilt 200Tdi engine and a new gearbox and transfer case, so in many of the most expensive areas it was as good as new.

It also came with all its modifications already in place. These included an ARB front bumper fitted with a Warn M9500 winch, Twin Optima Red-Tops batteries and a split-charge system featuring a battery cut-off switch.

Underneath, Southdown guards looked after the steering, axle and fuel tank, while the other kind of protection came from a Safari snorkel – which also housed extended breathers for the axles, injector pump and crankcase cover. Also underneath, a +1” Old Man Emu lift kit made room for a set of 235/70R16 BFGoodrich All-Terrains, while a stowage box in the rear provided a home for all Alastair’s recovery gear.

Thus we have a man with two very different kinds of off-road vehicle. One was a hardcore truck built for a very specific purpose, the other a do-it-all wagon with just enough mods to make sure it could do it all really well. About the only thing they had in common was that they were Land Rovers – but each embodies a build philosophy that could be applied to more or less any make of 4x4.

4x4 23/04/2020 23:07

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NEON RIVER

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Some people are apt to sneer at 4x4s that look cool on the street.

But there’s no reason why an off-roader has to look like a shed – in fact, some of the best four-wheeling mods also happen to be a great way of turning a Jeep Wrangler into a seriously funky truck about town Words: Dan Fenn Pictures: Storm Jeeps

T

he Jeep Wrangler is universally recognised as one of, if not the, most authentic off-road vehicles in the world. A variety of factors have prevented it from becoming a mainstream part of the 4x4 scenery in Britain – but while it does remain something of a rarity on off-road events, if you’ve got a decent budget to spend on a build there are few better places to put it.

If the Wrangler is a rarity, however, the two-door version is even less common. Back in the early days of the YJ and TJ, it was two-door or nothing, but ever since the JK came along in 2007 Jeep has offered the vehicle in four-door form – and that’s what most customers have wanted.

Interestingly, if you’re after a Land Rover Defender for off-roading you’ll almost certainly want a 90. If you’re after a Wrangler, on the other hand, it’s more likely to be a four-door. Perhaps that says something about the sort of people who use the two vehicles – or the fact that those who can stretch to buying a late-letter Wrangler perceive it also as a family vehicle, whereas if you want to do it in a 90 you’re more likely to have something else for daily duties.

Either way, here we have a very funky example of a two-door Wrangler. Not only is it very funky, it’s very new, being the JL model that still feels as if it’s only just arrived on these shores (actually it’s about a year and a half, but you don’t exactly see them every day, do you?)

Anyway. This one is funky for manyreasons.

One is that it’s a Jeep Wrangler, which is enough.

But more than that, it’s a Wrangler that’s been given the treatment by Storm Jeeps, and that more or less guarantees that it’s going to be cool.

The base vehicle is a 2.2 MultiJet II diesel, whose 200bhp and 332lbf.ft are put down via the standard eight-speed automatic gearbox. Dating from 2018, it’s a launch model – which means

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Rugged Ridge’s Spartacus bumper is as tidily proportioned as possible, to keep its ends from fouling in really tight terrain. It’s also nice and light – and best of all, it provides a home for a Warn Tabor 8-S winch

“We don’t normally kick off by talking about a vehicle’s lights – but then we don’t normally come across vehicles that can turn the ground red beneath them…” that in addition to the usual Sahara spec list of cruise, climate, rear-view camera and 8.4” media system, it boasts heated leather seats. Later Saharas don’t get this, which makes this one that much cooler.

Coolest of all, however, is that at night, people take one look at it and see neon. Oh yes they do.

Actually, oh no they don’t. Because it’s not neon, it’s LEDs. Eight Vision X LED rock lights, to be precise. We’re not sure what the best colour is for lighting up the terrain beneath you at night, but you can get rock lights in many different colours; these are red, and combined with the Wrangler’s black paintwork they look very moody. And very

very cool, of course – Storm Jeeps describes it as the ‘ultimate show piece.’

There are more lights on the vehicle, all of them making it cooler than ever. A set of ZRoadZ brackets accommodate a Rigid Radiance 50” roof level LED light bar, and down below there’s a quartet of LED cube lights from the same company. The latter feature a white back light, too, allowing them to be used as running lights.

We don’t normally kick off by talking about a vehicle’s lights, but then we don’t normally come across vehicles that can turn the ground red beneath them, so it seemed right. Anyway, the JL is fitted with plenty of more familiar off-road kit too.

There’s a +2.5” Skyjacker suspension kit, for example, using dual rate long-travel springs with Super Ride lower control arms from Rubicon Express. These springs are designed to combine good road manners with much better articulation off-road than a comparable linear-rate or single-rate unit. Basically, it’s a two-part design, with a second coil which only starts to engage after compression has gone past the rate of the first; this allows consistent control and stability when heavy off-road suspension movement is required.

Talking of control, this comes from a set of Skyjacker’s M95 monotube shocks, whose high-pressure nitrogen gas and floating piston

Left: 35x12.50 is a classic tyre size for modified Wranglers, but it’s only recently that it has started to catch on with a 20” rim. The rim in question is a KMC Rockstar III, and the tyre is a Toyo Open Country Mud-Terrain Below: More good stuff from Rugged Ridge. The US company’s Spartan nerf bars combine a 3” OD tube body with looped steps to aid access and perform well in rough terrain too

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The JL is marked out as being an early one by the leather trim on its seats; later Sahara models didn’t get this. It’s also marked out as being special by the bank of auxiliary switches for all its lights – this is a Mopar installation, hence its factory-fit appearance technology combine to create what the company says is ‘the fastest responding shock ever.’ Their length was chosen to allow the suspension to flex as fully as possible without any limits being placed on it.

Also ensuring things are as free as possible is a set of extended links on the front anti-roll bar.

These are essential to allow the suspension to flex as fully as it can – as are front and rear bump stop extensions, which ensure the suspension clears the tyres at full bump.

The extra height allows the JL to run 35x12.50R20 Toyo Open Country Mud-Terrain tyres. These are fitted on 20” KMC XD Series Rockstar III rims – meaning they don’t have as much sidewall height as a traditional off-road size, but giving the vehicle an appearance that’s definitely in fashion. This wheel and tyre package

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is something else that Storm describes as ‘a real showpiece on the Jeep, and popular among custom build Jeeps in the USA.’ Further accessories include a bumper and nerf bars from Rugged Ridge. The former is the American company’s Spartacus unit, whose 11-gauge stamped steel construction means it’s very strong but also lighter than most other aftermarket units currently available. Not that it’s all that light, with a Warn Tabor 8-S winch bolted to it, but this is wound with synthetic rope and between that and the bumper there’s a whole lot of weight saving going on there.

Rugged Ridge’s Spartan nerf bars, meanwhile, are made using 3” OD tube with drop-down step hoops at each door. This helps with climbing in and out, if help with climbing in and out is what you need, and the bars also help protect the

vehicle in the unlikely event of it being taken over a rock it can’t cope with.

Not that such an eventuality should come as any surprise, of course. Because as we’ve already established, the rock in question will be brightly lit up. In fact, it will have been picked out in pure white light from about a mile away – and once it’s underneath the vehicle, it will be glowing red.

Or you could just use the vehicle for posing around town, and it would certainly be very good at that. Jeeps are, after all, the original all-purpose motor. We’d be itching to get it out on the trails, though, and making the most of that lovely, agile two-door layout and the short wheelbase that goes with it. Because however much street cred a build like this might carry, we are, remember, talking about one of, if not the, most authentic offroad vehicles in the world.

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CAN’T STOP NOW

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It’s all very well to be the guy your mates can rely on to floor it over the most nadgery terrain you can find. But you don’t want to be the guy they can also rely on to ruin the rest of their day by smashing their truck after five minutes. So before you act the nutter, first you need to get in the workshop and put on your sensible head…

Words: Robin Turner Pictures: Steve Taylor

I

f there’s one thing I adhere to with my off-road driving, it’s to try anything once. And if you don’t succeed, try again – if in doubt, flat out!’

It sounds like the sort of thing you’d expect to hear from a playday hooligan in an MOT failure.

But these were in fact the wise words of Barry Neale – and the more we listened, the more it became apparent that actually, he’s got a much more sensible approach than most.

The vehicle Barry was telling us about was a Suzuki Jimny 1.3 JLX soft-top. A few years have passed since we had the conversation, but there are universal truths that never go off with age.

‘Suzukis have always been my thing, because they’re reliable, light and easy to work on,’ he explained. ‘I’ve had a string of Vitaras and SJs. ‘Basic two-inch lifts, largest possible tyres and I normally turn them into pick-ups, with the fuel tanks in the back.

‘I’ve also owned a Frontera, which is the only 4x4 I’ve had which 32-inch tyres will fit with no mods! And I’ve had dealings with Land Rovers, repairing them in a local garage and driving them on farms, but I was never that impressed – they’re too heavy and unreliable.’

Despite this, Barry did have what he calls a ‘mad moment’ in 1996, when he bought a Freelander TD4. ‘I was very surprised where I got this to go with only a set of chunkys,’ he says. ‘I even had it floating!’ Possibly not surprisingly, then, the vehicle suffered ongoing mechanical problems – which, along with the associated expense, was what convinced him to go back to Suzukis.

Somebody once told me that Suzukis are selfish vehicles to drive if you’re an off-roader, because they’re too light to tow Land Rovers out.

Seriously. It’s pretty damn thoughtless that they’re not big enough to carry a 110 quarter chassis, too, if you ask me.

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Above left: Front suspension uses standard front springs and doubled-up Bits4Vits spacers, along with Vitara rear shocks from Monroe – whose extra length allow an extra two inches of droop Above right: Vitara rear springs are fitted at the back, lifting the Jimny by a couple of inches. Here, standard shocks are retained, though these are mounted using home-made two-inch spacers Left: The body lift is a simple home-brewed affair using two-inch steel box. This slots into the original body mounts, with the lower bushes removed to make room

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The engine is Suzuki’s 1.3 Efi unit – it’s original to the Jimny and remains 100% standard. The only modification, if it can be called that, is a K&N air filter on top of the home-made snorkel, which runs through the wing and directly to the throttle body. There’s another pair of filters topping off the axle breathers, which is a nice touch under the bonnet – as are the painted head and brightly coloured silicone hoses – it’s definitely not your everyday mud-plugger in terms of presentartion, this…

Anyway. Having previously done his thing with so many older Suzukis, this is the first Jimny Barry had a go at. And it was coming. ‘I’ve always believed that the SJ is a cracking off-roader,’ he told us. ‘And the Jimny is basically the same but coil sprung. It’s got more suspension travel, a more powerful engine and power steering – and it’s newer, so they last longer and don’t come with rot! Basically, its an SJ with all the old problems put right…’

So, he’d had a string of SJs and Vitaras, and he was forever modifying them. And now here he was with a Jimny, and guess what was about to happen next…

This, however, is where the story becomes one about sensible modding rather than loony-tune anarchy in an old pit with a hole in the fence.

That’s because rather than just lobbing on every thing he could think of, Barry took a sensible view on what he did and didn’t want.

‘My main focus is on keeping it light and manoeuvrable,’ he told us. ‘This means it doesn’t sink in bogs and doesn’t run out of puff climbing steep, long bankings. At the moment, with the weight and tyre size I have plenty of power to get me out of tight spots – adding weight would bog it down and make the engine work harder, so I’d have to lower the gearing.’

That’s why the Jimny ran standard bumpers, rather than heavy-duty items. It also explains the lack of a roll cage, though Barry did intend to fit a four-point hoop in the pick-up bed. Not a bad idea, when your approach to off-roading includes the words ‘flat out.’

Not that Barry was at all scared of making modifications where modifications were called for. All the better when they actually saved weight, too. This explains the absence of about six inches from the front of the chassis; having found that it was catching on more extreme approaches, he chopped away as much as he could from the main rails just in front of the

crossmember, bringing the bumper back to allow the greatest possible clearance. The bumpers themselves, too, at each end, were cut down as far as possible, with chequer plate used to keep the gaps tidy while also adding an element of bash protection.

The chassis itself hadn’t needed any remedial work, as you’d expect on a Jimny of a relatively

tender age. Barry told us that he didn’t actually buy it with a view to inflicting this kind of workshop savagery upon it, but confesses that the lure of modding any 4x4 is just too great.

‘To start with,’ he said, ‘I wasn’t going to do anything to it other than tyres. But after that, I couldn’t help myself! I think I ran it standard for about a month.

“Try anything once. And if you don’t succeed, try again – if in doubt, flat out!”

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It’s not unusual to see an off-road vehicle with a single winch, but it’s definitely pretty rare to see it mounted in the rear. Barry fitted his 10,000lb T-Max in the Jimny’s pick-up bed, however, to avoid the need for a heavy winch bumper up front. His thinking was that the majority of recoveries he needs involve hauling himself back out of the trouble he’s just got himself into, anyway, which means a rear-facing winch is just fine. To retain a rear door that still opens – which is important as all the recovery kit is stashed in there, as is a spare wheel – Barry cut slots in its inner and outer skins then bolted a roller fairlead to the outside of it, allowing the cable to pass through

‘I always try to think of original ideas which will work,’ he continued – though he did admit that plan as you might, quite often one mod will simply lead to another.

All the same, there’s plenty of the original vehicle that lived through the whole process. Its engine, for example, whose only tweak was the addition of a K&N air filter – Barry reckoned this upped its output to around 100bhp.

The K&N sat on top of a snorkel Barry made from drain pipe, which ran straight to the throttle body. ‘This has improved power and wading ability,’ he said, ‘and the sound it makes is like nothing else!’

At the opposite end, the exhaust’s rear box made way for a cherry bomb. The tailpipe ran straight out of the back of this – in order not to catch on drop-offs, of course, though the fact that it made a noise ‘like a little rally car’ did no harm.

That apart, the drivetrain was pretty much as it started. Barry added a spacer to help the short front prop deal with the effects of a suspension lift and fitted raised breathers on both axles, but that was about it.

On the ends of the axles, he started with a set of 31x10.50R15s but went down to the

235/75x15 Insa Turbo Saharas seen here. ‘They made the gearing a bit high,’ he explained. ‘So I went down a tyre size. But I would go back to the 31’s for more ground clearance.’

We’ve already mentioned the vehicle’s suspension, and this is where the majority of the work was done. Barry’s first attempt needed a rethink, after he found that the combination of springs

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and shocks he was using messed up the vehicle’s handling on the road, and that the springs themselves were wearing holes in the shocks. Castor correction radius arms were the answer, but since he couldn’t afford to splash out on a set he opted to remove the whole lot, sell it on and start again.

This time, the standard front springs were retained, albeit in conjunction with a doubled-up set of spacers from Bits4Vits. They were mated to Monroe shocks from the back of a Vitara – these are two inches longer than standard, which with the anti-roll bar removed meant the axle can drop that much extra at each corner.

At the back, Vitara rear springs added a couple of inches in height, while standard shocks were mounted using home-made two-inch spacers.

And the whole lot was backed up by a homemade two-inch body lift – though even then, the wheelarches needed about an inches worth of trimming before those old 31s would clear them on full bump.

While he was about it, Barry also removed the rear soft-top and turned the vehicle into a pick-up.

Out went the rear seats and all the plastic trim, to be replaced by a plywood bed which was sealed with silicon and painted in Hammerite black. This also went on the floor in the front, in place of its original carpet, allowing it to be hosed out.

Although he hadn’t installed it when we saw his Jimny, Barry’s plan was to fit an SJ fuel tank in the pick-up bed – where it would sit alongside

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a 10,000lb T-Max winch. Located right at the back of the vehicle, this drew its cable through a roller fairlead mounted in the half-height rear door.

‘I had the winch lying around,’ Barry explained.

‘But I didn’t want it on the front, because it would affect the approach angle. Besides, I get the Jimny in some very sticky positions and most of the time it just needs rearward recovery.’

As we’ve already said, he didn’t want a heavy winch bumper, which would have weighted the vehicle down and reduced its departure angle.

Hence the use of the pick-up bed. ‘I looked in the back and thought there was room in there for it.

I cut a slot in both sides of the door and ran it through, with the rollers bolted to the outside.’

Power cables for the winch ran along the chassis to the Jimny’s original battery – which, Barry told us, didn’t appear to have any problems keeping pace. You’re looking at a vehicle with an wholly original electrical system, in fact: ‘No waterproofing has been done to any of it, and it still runs underwater!’

Hardcore, right? This is clearly not a man to hold back with the treatment he dishes out to his trucks. ‘The club I’m in has mostly Discovery owners,’ he told us. ‘When I first turned up with it, it only had 215/80R15s and the snorkel. After the laughing had subsided, we went out off-roading.

One of the Discos, with 33s, Air-Lockers and a lift, struggled its way up this very steep rocky banking, and they all said my little Jimny wouldn’t

make it. Well, not only did it make the climb, it did quite a magnificent wheelie off the top!’

You’d expect no less from a man who told us he had ‘always loved the buzz that comes from finding steeper and longer bankings to test my skills and my vehicle.’ And don’t forget, that buzz comes with a never-ending willingness to try things – and to do so with a healthy dose of the loud pedal.

Yet behind that bravado is an approach that proves the very first rule of the off-road game. It’s not about who has the tallest tyres, the biggest engine or the rudest exhaust not – most of all, it’s about who has lowest weight. Get that one right and go can go more places without getting stuck and, even more importantly, braking things. Want to be the biggest nutter among all your mates?

It’s easy. Just start by being the smartest vehicle builder, and the rest will be easy.

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TO THE END OF THE EARTH Want your 4x4 to take you around the world? Then don’t ask it to carry the weight of the Words: Barrie Dunbar Pictures: Mike Trott, Steve Taylor and Harry Hamm Main picture: Mussi Katz

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world on its shoulders…

I

t’s better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it,’ says a very wise old saying. Like most very wise old sayings, it, well, very wise. But when it comes to overlanding, where excess weight is the perennial destroyer and is to be avoided at almost all costs, this good advice is turned on its head.

So, what should you bring with you on expedition and what should you leave at home? How do you ensure that you are adequately equipped with the right tools and spares, without stressing your suspension and driveline to breaking point?

The answer is to compromise.

But firstly (and more importantly), you need to follow another wise old adage – that prevention is better than cure.

Following this philosophy also makes for a cheaper way to travel, which means you can do it for longer (and, in many cases, actually get out there at all in the first place).

It’s a lot safer, too.

Therefore, the single most important thing you can do to prepare your vehicle for an overland expedition is to ensure that it undergoes a complete and thorough service and inspection, done by an experienced and reputable

Top: Big suspension, big tyres, two spares, steel bumpers, high-lift jack, winch, roof rack, tent, auxiliary fuel stowage… it could all stake a claim for being essential, but every single item adds to your vehicle's weight – and the heavier it becomes, the more likely it is that you'll suffer a disastrous driveline failure at the worst possible time

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Above: Under the bonnet, the engine itself needs to be reliable – and so too do items like the radiator, alternator, starter motor and water and fuel pumps. You should be completely happy with the condition of all the vehicle’s manifolds, drive belts, hoses and battery mounts, too, as well as every single cable and connector it all relies on to work Below: Before you trust your vehicle with your life, get it fully assessed by a professional. Under the body, everything about the steering, brakes, suspension, exhaust, drivetrain and transmission needs to be in tip-top condition – as do all the associated bushes, joints and mounts. On vehicles with automatic gearboxes, a full transmission fluid change is essential – not just because it might be getting old, but because it’s going to be operating in much tougher conditions once your expedition is underway

professional who understands what your vehicle will be required to do.

I can’t stress this point enough.

Overlanding is sometimes referred to as ‘vehicle dependent travel’, and guess what? The thing that depends on your vehicle is your life. If you needed heart surgery, you wouldn’t let your mate do it in his lock-up, would you? Well, in the wilds of Africa your vehicle will be every bit as important as a fully functioning ticker, so do yourself a favour and leave it in the hands of a pro.

As this suggests, preparing for expedition travel is in some ways kind of like carrying out a risk assessment. Obviously, the idea of accessorising your vehicle, planning a route and so on is that it’s meant to be exciting, and that’s all as it should be. But by being aware of the hazards and pitfalls and knowing how you’ll handle them (or, better, avoid them altogether), you’ll be better equipped to enjoy the fun bits free from worry.

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What follows, then, could be taken as the aforementioned risk assessment. It’s not claiming to be comprehensive, but it’s based on experience and aims to anticipate and overcome potential problems you could face. And in doing so, it could serve as a useful checklist to help avoid the unthinkable scenario of a major breakdown when you’re in hostile territory and help is a very long way away:

1

All vehicles have weaknesses, some more than others.

Research the ‘known faults’ for your particular vehicle and rectify them after evaluating recommendations from a variety of experts.

2

The comprehensive service referred to above must include all filters (air, oil and fuel) and all associated oils (engine, gearbox, transfer case and differentials), in addition to the usual consumables that may need replacing.

3

Your service must also incorporate a professional underbody inspection – especially of the transmission, drivetrain, axles, wheels and brakes, but also of other components including the steering, suspension and exhaust.

The inspection should also take into account associated bushes, mounts, joints and so on.

4

The engine bay needs to be given a thorough evaluation, too. Checks should be made to assess the condition of components such as the water pump, radiator, alternator and starter motor, but also the manifold, belts, hoses and battery mounts – whie also considering all associated wiring and connectors in addition to the above.

5

If your vehicle is fitted with an automatic gearbox, you must change the transmission fluid in accordance with the manufacturer’s

specification, or alternatively replace it with Castrol Transynd. Those who have ignored this in the past have found themselves losing all drive, as their torque converter ceases functioning in the presence of overheated, degraded fluid that has lost its viscosity.

6

Fitting good quality mudterrain or all-terrain tyres is essential and these need to be in a suitable condition, with plenty of life left in them. Retreads are not advised and overlanders should carry a pressure gauge for airing down and a portable compressor for airing up. Low-profile road-biased tyres are not suitable; as a general rule, it’s sensible to fit smaller rims with taller tyres.

7

I think underbody protection is unnecessary. It can add significant weight, putting increased strain on the transmission and drivetrain. It also hides the areas you

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Thick steel is the traditional way of armouring a 4x4 against ground impacts, and it works – but it adds a frightening amount of weight in the process. Aluminium (above right) is a more modern alternative, providing as much strength for a minimal weight penalty, but even then you should only bolt on what you really need. Don’t forget also that underbody protection, by the very nature of what it’s there to do, covers up the areas you need to be checking every day, so if you do want to fit some make sure you use a brand with suitable access holes need to inspect each day. So I would keep things to a minimum, maybe with just a steering guard at most.

8

Carry basic spare parts and fluids as appropriate for your particular make of vehicle, plus the following: hoses, jubilee clips, baling wire, large cable ties, fuses, bulbs, belts, duct tape, WD40, nuts and bolts, tyre valves and the like.

In other words, items which are lightweight and versatile!

9

Carry a reasonable selection of your most commonly used tools. But remember, weight is the enemy, so keep it minimal. If you’re going to be travelling as part of a group,, discuss this in advance and share the load.

It’s good practice to blow out the air filter after driving in dusty conditions, and check oil and water levels at the same time. Also give the belts a tweak to ensure that they are sitting firm – but never overtighten them.

Inspect the undercarriage and the ground under the vehicle every morning to check for any leaked oil, water or fluids. If the radiator is needing regular top-ups, that’s not good – it could be a sign of a cracked head.

Finally, try and avoid the temptation to over-prepare your vehicle. Overlanding is not about tackling the most extreme terrain you can find, but about finding the

most extreme places and working with the terrain to get you through them. However many modifications might be available, don’t forget that vehicles like the Defender, Patrol, Landcruiser and so on have so much off-road ability in standard form that every day, thousands of them work for the living in exactly the sort of places you want to visit.

So be sparing with the bolt-on goodies. Weight is a killer – and not just in terms of your fuel consumption, but in the increased

strain it puts on the whole driveline and transmission. Don’t tamper with any factory-fitted systems either – you do so at your peril and may find yourself opening a most unwanted can of worms.

Follow these steps prior to departure and it means you’re much more likely to have an adventure to remember – for all the right reasons. To trot out yet another wise old saying: “fail to prepare, prepare to fail.’ That one could have been written with overlanding in mind!

The author runs Active 4x4 Adventures, which specialises in unique, fully catered 4x4 tours including exciting adventure activities at no additional cost. The prices the company quotes are all-inclusive. To find out more about its future itineraries, visit active4x4adventures.com.

At the end of each day, inspect the vehicle’s engine bay and undercarriage, and the condition of the tyre sidewalls. Spotting a problem early makes it much easier, and inevitably cheaper, to rectify.

It’s much safer to be in control of the repair, too, than to wait for it to become critical.

A well fitted overlanding installation can be a thing of absolute beauty. Once again, though, it’s only well fitted if every single item is 100% necessary. The same goes for the tools and spares you carry – you simply can’t take everything you need to cover every eventuality, so you need to decide what’s most crucial

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WATCH HOW YOU GO… The road from Moyale to Isiolo in Northern Kenya used to be known as The Road to Hell.

Words and pictures: Raymond and Nereide Greaves

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The terrain was shattering – and if it didn’t get you, the armed bandits probably would…

D

uring the last decade, one of Africa’s worst roads has been redeveloped into one of its best. Driving south from Moyale, on the border of Kenya and Ethiopia, you used to be faced with more than 300 miles of rough gravel, jagged rock and, in the wet season, axle-deep mud – which often led to the road being blocked for days at a time by stranded buses or lorries.

The route passes through some of Africa’s remotest and most inhospitable desert, too.

And for these titles, it has some competition. You’re unlikely to have heard of the Kaisuit and Dida Galgalu deserts, but they’re utterly bleak and so ferociously hot that people used to travel at night to give their tyres a chance of surviving.

Things changed around ten years ago when the Kenyan government, supported by funding from the African Development Bank and the Exim Bank of China, broke ground on a major project to turn the road into a smooth ribbon of tarmac. It’s part of the grandly titled Great North Trans African Highway, a trade corridor linking Cape Town with Cairo, and these days you can polish it off in a matter of hours.

Not so long ago, though, things were very different. When we drove our L322 Range Rover from London to Cape Town, the stretch from Moyale to Isiolo was still known as The Worst Road in Africa (again, there’s competition) – or simply The Road to Hell.

We had already had some tough experiences in parts of Egypt and Sudan, but Ethiopia had proved to be the perfect antidote – a beautiful, gentle and surprisingly chilled country which we soon fell in love with. Also very surprising was the quality of Ethiopian gin, something we discovered during a blissful few days chilling out at the Lime Tree Cafe in Addis Ababa. After several weeks of sub-standard catering, the cuisine here was absolutely superb – no wonder it had become the goto hangout for all the local expats!

It was impossible to relax completely, however, when we knew what lay ahead. What faced Trans-

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Africa drivers as they entered Kenya back then was the stuff of legend among overlanders. The atrocious standard of the terrain as you passed through this phenomenally hostile desert region was once reason for this, and the virtual impassibility of the ground during rainy periods was another. But perhaps most of all was the extreme risk of bandit attack.

This area is relatively close to Somalia and the border between the countries is very porous, allowing a constant flow of bandits to enter Kenya and rustle livestock from local herdsmen. Over time, this escalated to the point where farmers and bandits alike were armed to the teeth with rifles, and consequently the bloodshed increased by an order of magnitude.

There was a massacre at the town of Turbi in 2003, with 22 schoolchildren numbered among the 60 dead. Then in 2009, eleven people were killed in a gun battle in Isiolo. Our route would take us right through both towns.

Could we take comfort in the generally held suggestion that amid all these tribal hostilities, tourists

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were unlikely to be targeted?Maybe, but our research showed that anyone could get caught up in the crossfire. Besides, a month or so before we left London a British motorcyclist riding through Africa for charity was shot at on the road near Marsabit.

He wasn’t hit, thankfully. But when we read an article titled ‘Bandits now control the road to Marsabit,’ we very seriously thought about changing our trip completely.

The problem is that if you want to drive North-South through Africa, there is no real choice of route. The best thing is to rely on strength in numbers and travel in convoy with some other vehicles going the same way. We resolved to try and do this, keeping our ears to the ground as we approached Kenya and staying as aware of the situation as we possibly could be.

What this meant in practice was that we heard lots of rumours about how the road had suffered heavy and unseasonal rains in early January, meaning the trucks using it had churned the ground up into deep ruts and made life nearimpossible for 4x4s. We couldn’t

confirm this story, however – but after checking with our contacts in Nairobi and studying the weather forecast, we decided it was now or never. The wet season was on its way, and there were strong indications that the rain would come early this year.

We needed to get moving – but to do so would mean travelling solo. A potentially lethal Catch-22 that threatened to wreck our entire expedition. We were in a real fix.

They say fortune favours the brave. We’re not sure if we were feeling very brave, but fortune certainly favoured us. Back in Egypt, we had made friends with a group of German travellers in Defender 110s.

We crossed Lake Nasser together on the infamous ferry to Wadi Halfa and spent a few days driving in convoy through the empty wastes of northern Sudan.

Our paths had diverged in Ethiopia, but then as we sat in Addis Ababa trying to pluck up the courage to set off, two familiar Defendershaped vehicles trundled round the corner and bingo – we had our convoy, and we couldn’t imagine a better team with whom to go.

There was still around 500 miles ahead of us before we got to the border, but it was a very pleasant drive. Southern Ethiopia is filled with lakes and hugely fertile land, and it’s here that you start to see the classic African scenery of open savannah and acacia trees. The road to Awassa, where we broke our journey, was one of the best we had driven on in weeks – though beyond here, it deteriorated markedly. It was almost as if the Ethiopians had given up on Kenya ever building its part of the road, so why should they bother to maintain theirs?

The crossing from Ethiopia into Kenya was the easiest border we had yet experienced, taking just 45 minutes to complete all the exit and entry formalities. We also had to switch from driving on the right to the left – so at least there was going to be something familiar about the Road to Hell!

It was too late to start the drive south, so we had no option but to stay in Moyale. It only exists because of the border; it’s nowhere near anywhere else, and it’s a dive.

Our ‘hotel’ felt kind of like a cross between a block of council flats and

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Above: The people of the Samburu region continue to live and dress traditionally. They’re not alone in this, but something you can’t always say elsewhere in Africa is that it’s definitely not a show designed to pull in tourists – because no tourist in their right mind would come within about a hundred miles of the place Opposite: The authors’ Range Rover did an outstanding job of standing up to the brutal terrain on the Marsabit Road. Its tyres were looking a little the worse for wear afterwards, and the front mounts on its roof rack let go on day one, but the vehicle itself was unbowed a mediaeval mental hospital, and the options for eating were as bad as it gets. The best place in town was the Prisoners Bar, so named as it adjoins the local jail and feeds the staff. Lucky them. You choose your chicken, see it slaughtered then eat the thing whole.

Given all this, we were almost glad to get up and get started on the Road to Hell. Which is something that happened early, because we were right next door to a mosque and the muezzin issued his call to morning prayers at 4.30am…

So the Road to Hell was more like the Road from Hell.

There’s a police checkpoint as you leave town, where all road users need to register. We were offered the option of taking an armed guard with us, but we had already been told that this was of debatable value as we’d be more likely to be attacked because the bandits would want his gun. We didn’t have space for an extra body anyway, so that debate was quickly resolved – and anyway, the friendly policeman at the checkpoint told us that the current situation was ‘very safe.’ Nothing to worry about at all, then…

So how bad was the road? Well, it was actually worse than our expectations. Which were already extremely low.

The strong advice for road users is threefold: don’t stop; don’t drive at night; don’t drive in the wet. Over the space of three days, we managed to do all three…

As you’ll have spotted, we didn’t take many pictures along the way.

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And those we did fail to illustrate how horrendous the surface was.

The basic problem was a very rough and unforgiving rock base, frequently topped with large, loose rocks. These combined to shake and vibrate the car terribly at anything above crawling pace so that we wondered how it would hold together after hours upon hours of this abuse.

Then we’d spy a sandy section ahead and breathe a sigh of relief – surely this would offer some respite? Actually, no, it didn’t.

The sandy sections were brutally corrugated, causing shocking vibrations at any speed. Soon, we were wishing for the rocks again, or anything but corrugations.

Then would come the best bit: corrugated rocks… Aaargh!

We found ourselves settling into a speed that offered a compromise between actually reaching our destination while not destroying our Range Rover. This meant 10-15mph, over a distance of 150 miles. We left Moyale at 8am and arrived at Henry’s Camp in Marsabit, part way along the road, at 8pm. So that was around twelve hours, continuously in first or second gear.

The Dida Galgalu Desert is probably the worst bit. The rocky and almost featureless landscape seems to go on interminably, and as we crawled along on the savage corrugations we wondered in desperation when it would end.

The answer? In about three or four hours. Outside, the temperatures exceeded 40° all afternoon – but our

magnificent Range Rover, making progress without complaint, kept us cool inside. We didn’t envy our Germans friends in their hot and dusty Defenders…

Nonetheless, they got us hopping around in frustration when they insisted on stopping for lunch. We were prepared for a quick break, munching bread, cheese and bananas, but they weren’t going to let the small matter of being in a remote, hostile, bandit-filled wasteland get in the way. So up went the camp chairs, on went the petrol stove… and down the tubes went our chance of getting to Marsabit before dark.

So, having broken the ‘don’t stop rule,’ we had little choice but to break the next one too: ‘don’t drive after dark’. Our spirits sank with the sun and by 7pm it was completely dark. As we crawled on, it became imperative to use our headlights – which could probably be seen from 30 miles away. Great. We imagined bandits being drawn like moths to a flame.

Finally, out of the darkness loomed the outskirts of Marsabit, a town of around 5000 people and the halfway point on the Road to Hell.

But what was this? Across the road was a set of stingers, part of what purported to be a police roadblock… with no-one manning it.

Should we wait outside like sitting ducks? No way. We got out and started to drag the stingers out of the way so we could continue… whereupon, of course, the cops materialised out of nowhere,

shouting angrily. Fortunately, it only took a few moments to calm them down, and then we could get on with the business of finding Henry’s Camp in the pitch dark.

Once there, we got the torches out and inspected the Range Rover to see how it had stood up to the day’s punishment. As far as the vehicle itself was concerned, it looked unscathed, although the tyres showed some signs of having doing battle with the rocks.

Unfortunately, though, the roof rack was in worse shape. One of the front mounting brackets had broken under the strain, and the one on the other side was badly cracked and clearly on the verge of going the same way. As a result, the rack had collapsed directly on to the roof of the vehicle. This would need to be repaired before we continued.

The road had taken its toll on one of the German guys’ Defenders, too, which had broken both its rear shock absorbers. So he needed to make repairs too – it looked like we would have to stay a day in Marsabit to sort things out before continuing with the Road to Hell.

Henry’s Camp had the huge benefit of being located next to a small workshop. So, after a night in the dorm sleeping the sort of sleep that only happens when you’re truly shattered, out came the tool kit.

Elsewhere in this issue is an article about prepping for overland travel, and it talks about making sure your vehicle is 100% ready for what lies ahead. Back in Britain, we had had our doubts about the

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strength of the roof rack’s mounting brackets the moment we saw them – but we were in a hurry that day and did nothing about it. A perfect example of why failing to prepare is preparing to fail!

Oh well, we now had a little metalworking challenge to get stuck into. The guys in the workshop took one look at the brackets and muttered something very negative, but we got hold of a hefty piece of angle iron and got to work sawing, drilling and bending.

What emerged were two replacement brackets which, unbelievably, fitted first time.

Reassembling everything, we were convinced our rack was now much more strongly supported than it had been before. We just had to hope that the rear brackets would hold out to Nairobi, where we planned to spend more time on a proper fix.

While all this advanced engineering was going on, Nereide and Fried, one of our German mates, were scouring Marsabit market. The result did the town proud – around a blazing camp fire, we had a wonderfully fresh dinner of steak and salad washed down with large G&Ts. Things looked like they were coming together again!

The weather, however, was not.

That day, angry-looking clouds had been scudding around the sky producing occasional showers – and during the night we had a proper

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African thunderstorm, complete with unrelenting heavy rain.

‘Don’t drive the Marsabit Road in the wet’ rang in our ears. Easier said than done when you’re halfway along it. Well, it looked like we would have no choice but to break the third rule as well…

Leaving at first light, we registered at the police checkpoint and headed south. It was much cooler that morning and heavy clouds hung threateningly in the sky. And, initially at least, the road conditions were very different – what would have been a firm dirt surface the day before was now softish mud.

Marsabit mud is famously sticky and red. Like Devon, but the baddies have guns.

It’s a rarity for four-wheel drive to be essential, even in Africa, but it was time for our vehicles to come into their own. We made decent progress – in fact, it was rather good fun as the cars showed their off-road credentials, getting plastered with the stuff in the process. It was clear, however, that with only a few more hours of rain we would be at risk of getting stuck and having to dig ourselves out.

Did I say it was good fun? Accent on the ‘was’. All too soon, we were back to rocks, corrugations and an average speed of 12mph. At least this time we knew it was our last day of travelling at this painfully tedious pace.

There was much more to look at, too, with some actual scenery instead of the never-ending emptiness we had endured further north. We passed through the Losai National Park and then into the Samburu region, and this was something very special. The people of the Samburu are a tribe who still live traditionally, and we watched in fascination as they herded their animals by the roadside while dressed in brightly coloured traditional costume. It was all the more rewarding to know that this is how they dress every day, not just for tourists – we know this because tourists are not brave (or stupid) enough to come to this virtually inaccessible region!

We were aware that the real bandit hotspot was between Samburu and Isiolo. But honestly, we did not really care by this stage – all we wanted to do was get to the tarmac. Rumours were rife that a Chinese company had agreed to turn the route into a proper road and that they had already reached Archers Post, around 20 miles north of Isiolo. That meant 20 miles off the 160 we still had to cover to get to the Isiolo – and believe us, we were counting down those miles one by one.

As we expected, there were some very bad ruts along the way – but nothing the Rangey couldn’t handle with its suspension raised

to off-road mode. In other places, we simply left the road altogether and drove along the much smoother sandy land adjacent to it, saving us precious miles of rough road.

Then, as we neared Archers Post, we started to see signs of road construction activity. We managed to shave off more miles of rough road by jumping on to sections that had already been graded – though at one point, we were shooed off by a man with a gun!

And then it happened. Tarmac.

You cannot imagine the feeling of joy after two solid days of crawling along on these awful roads. It was smooth. Quiet. The dizzying heights of 50mph. Progress. Happiness.

Things continued to improve.

The scenery got greener, we saw an elephant in the bush by the side of the road (our first in the wild) and we were nearing the Equator – a key milestone in our journey. And, yes, we had completed the Marsabit Road safely and without too much hassle. Time to celebrate!

And celebrate we did, with a twonight stay at the Mount Kenya Safari Club – a very special place located right on the Equator. We bade farewell to the Germans shortly after Isiolo and got back on the road – where all of a sudden it felt oddly like being back in the UK. Not only were we driving on the ‘correct’ side of the road, but there were roadsigns and they were in English!

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This is what it looks like when an L322 Range Rover has had to work for its living. Much as these posh and highly complex new-generation Rangeys tend to get sneered at by Land Rover traditionalists, and much as they almost never see mud, it never missed a beat in the horrendous conditions of the Marsabit Road – and its air-conditioned cabin meant its occupants could keep their cool even in the searing heat of the Kenyan deserts There were petrol stations, with the pumps also marked in English – and as we climbed steadily towards Mount Kenya and the Equator, the barren countryside gave way to green, rolling hills.

The Mount Kenya Safari Club is located in a 100-acre estate directly overlooking majestic Mount Kenya.

It’s definitely not your everyday overlanding haunt, but what a fabulous retreat in which to chill out after the stresses of the Marsabit Road. Excellent food and service, good coffee and even bacon for breakfast – our first since Europe!

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Everyone we spoke to could not believe we had driven from London. This included the British Army, who had a large presence in nearby Nanyuki as a training base.

The officers use the club from time to time and we bumped into two friendly chaps over breakfast.

Turns out the region around Archers Post and up to Samburu was a key training area for soldiers heading out to Afghanistan.

The guys were staggered that we had driven down that road and

wondered if they could offer us any assistance. We said we would have loved an Army escort from Moyale so we could really have given the bandits a nasty surprise had they jumped on us!

Joking apart, however, when we first arrived at the Mount Kenya Safari Club we were troubled to learn that there had been two serious attacks on vehicles in the Archers Post region by bandits only the previous week. So much for that friendly policeman at the checkpoint

in Moyale telling us the situation was ‘very safe’…

We also learned later on that four days after we passed through the region, extremely heavy rains fell from Isiolo to Marsabit, making the road impassable and washing out the bridge at Archers Post. Some people needed to be evacuated from the Samburu region, and the British Army was involved with airlifting people to safety. Perhaps we were more lucky that we realised with our passage down The Road to Hell.

Raymond and Nereide drove their Range Rover from London to Cape Town in the first half of 2010. You can read the full story of their expedition at www.lilongwedown.com

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OUR 4X4S Vehicle: Isuzu D-Max GO2 Year: 2018 Run by: Alan Kidd Last update: May 2020 On the fleet since: January 2020

Won’t be Broken…

IF YOU’VE BEEN FOLLOWING our Isuzu D-Max build over the last few issues, you’ll know that the vehicle has had a Pedders Extreme suspension kit fitted, lifting it enough to be able to fit a set of 285/75R16 General Grabber X3 tyres. Our truck is designed to be a real-world double-cab rather than a loadsamoney street machine, but at the same time we’re trying to take a best-of-everything approach to the equipment we fit.

That’s why the next step was to have a chat with the guys at Britpart. The company is generally best known as a supplier of Land Rover parts, but a couple of years ago it tied up a deal to import ARB

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pick-up accessories – and if you have any interest at all in offroading, expeditions or pick-ups, you’re bound to know that ARB is right at the top of the game.

We were after a variety of items for our D-Max, and dealing with Britpart was simplicity itself.

As a customer you go in via the company’s dealer network, so obviously there’s a bit of shopping around to be done for price, location and customer service alike, but so long as you choose someone that suits you we’ve got nothing but good things to say about the way our order was handled. In fact, items arrived so far ahead of the anticipated delivery date that in one

case, we were taking bets on when it would arrive without realising we had our cups of tea balanced on its box.

This month’s instalment in the D-Max GO2 story involves two main

items. One of them is Britpart’s own-brand DB9500 winch, and the other is the ARB front bumper it will live in. So, this month’s story is brought to you mainly by heavy weights and grunting.

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Above: Step one is to remove the grille and bumper, leaving the front of the vehicle looking very naked – though there’s still more to come off yet Below left: You’d better be sure you really want to do this. The original bumper, or at least a bit of it, gets reused as a trim infill above the ARB unit. Here, it’s been masked and marked up in preparation for cutting Below centre, right: Prepped for cutting, the bumper is fitted back on vehicle (it’s not fully in place in this picture)… and then it’s time for the cutting to begin

Above left: Only a small portion of the bumper will be reused. Here, it’s been fully cut and the masking tape is being removed Above centre: A small part of the bumper’s newly cut edge will remain exposed once the ARB unit has been fitted. Here, edging material is being pushed on to finish it off Above right, right: We said there was more to come off, and here it comes. The stays and reinforcer beam for the original bumper have done their job now that it’s been trimmed, so they can make way for the heavy-duty stuff in the ARB kit Now, Britpart sells bumpers for a certain other make of off-road vehicle which can be fitted simply by tightening up four bolts. It’s simplicity itself. Or it can be, at least – it’s been known to start with all-our war to get the old bolts to free off and finish with a welding

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job when the new one goes on but then one of the dumb irons holding it falls off. But we’re enjoying the benefits of working with a new vehicle, for once in our lives, so while this fitting job is a lot more complicated, at least it’ll be clean and tidy.

A lot more complicated? Well, just look at the pictures of all the fitting hardware laid out before we started. Definitely not just the four bolts required here. In fact, the job starts with you needing to remove the original bumper, mark it up using a template then cut it the

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OUR 4X4S

Above left, centre: The brackets for the ARB bumper are located in position. This needs to be done with complete accurately, because they’re going to show you where to drill holes in the chassis legs. Definitely time to measure twice, cut once…

Above right: Happy with the brackets’ position? Once you’re sure, it’s time to get the drill out Below left, centre: Now you can build up the brackets, which are basically complex chassis extensions. The wires you see here are for retrieving hardware from within the chassis legs later on if the bumper ever needs to be removed Below centre, right: With the bracket fully assembled, you can torque up the main mounting bolts. After this, it’s ready to go to work

Above: The bumper contains repeaters for the truck’s indicators. Prior to fitting it, these need to be wired in – then a quick test and you can see that they work. Things are going in the right direction, etc…

Below left: Britpart’s DB9500 winch comes wound with synthetic rope – which we’re happy with for all the usual reasons, and which the guys in the workshop were no doubt thankful for as they had quite enough weight to deal with already by now Below centre: With the bumper placed on a stand, the winch can be dropped into position. Not literally dropped, obviously…

Below right: The solenoid box is attached in place and plugged in

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Above: The plastic grille is trimmed to fit and mounted on the bumper, complete with trim pieces to cover its fixings. You can just about see a couple of ‘doors’ in the grille (or are they windows?), which open up to allow access to the wanderlead plug and freespool lever. Well, that’s the theory, anyway. We can just get at the latter, but it was very soon apparent that we were going to be hard-wiring an interior control

Above left: The last job before lifting the bumper into place is to install the indicators. Well, the very last job is probably to have a cup of tea, but you know what we mean Above centre: The bumper is lifted into place with the assistance of an adjustable stand.

If you don’t have this luxury, think carefully about how you (and a team of helpers) are going to do it. You need to be underneath the bumper to do up the bolts that secure it in place, and by definition it’s not secure until you’ve done this. Also by definition, by being underneath it you’re in the firing line if it falls off…

Right: The bumper is roughly in position here, with the mounting bolts securing it in safely but final adjustments still to be done whole way across its length. ARB’s steelwork will leave a gap, you see, and the original bumper (rems of) will need to be reused to fill it in.

After that, it’s a case of going through the instructions – which are comprehensive, clear and generally excellent – and building up the mounting points for the new bumper. These use the anchors for the bolt-on crossmember that lives behind the standard bumper, which is also removed to make way for the new one.

Another part of the job involves rewiring the indicators (and fog lights, if you’re using them) which live in the ARB bumper. And talking of wiring, the winch needs to be thought about too. Its cradle is almost completely enclosed within the body of the bumper once the unit is fully assembled with its splash guards, meaning it needs to be bolted up in advance and the whole lot installed as a single unit

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– and if you thought it was already a heavy old lump, you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet. Drop this on your foot and even a set of steel toecaps will be struggling to save you.

There’s a degree of adjustability built in to the mounting brackets so that the bumper can be lined up correctly with the truck’s bodywork.

You need to do a bit of trial and error here – it’s temping to get it hanging on its bolts, decide that’s job done and just crank it up so you can go to the pub, and if you don’t want to be doing it again tomorrow you need to be patient and keep checking all around it until you’re satisfied it’s all good.

There are other things to think about as well when fitting one of these bad boys, however. The first is that, perhaps surprisingly, it doesn’t come with recovery points.

ARB sells these separately, and naturally they’re compatible with its own bumper range. You

might opt to make your own, too, if fabricating’s your thing – or, perhaps more likely if you’re building a truck like our D-Max, if the workshop doing if for you offers this as a solution. We’ve seen them priced at £199 each, and really you need two, one for each side of the vehicle – that’s nowhere near what it’ll cost you to get the bumper on your truck, but it’s a substantial chunk of money on top all the same, so you need to plan for it.

You may also need to plan for how the winch is going to be operated. The bumper comes with a front grille that has a couple of hinged access flaps in it; theoretically, these are there to let you get at the freespool level on one side and plug in the wanderlead on the other, but not every winch will allow you to get at them this way – especially if you’ve got big hands.

The DB9500 does come with both wired and wireless controls, so

obviously there’s an answer there.

When you want your winch to work, though, it tends to be because if it doesn’t, that’s kind of a disaster, so we wanted the reassurance of a hard-wired connection as back-up if nothing else. This will run through to a bank of switches on the dashboard – it will still be possible to use the wanderlead as a last resort, but since connecting it would involve getting the tools out and removing bolted-on covers, it’s not something we much fancy having to do when we’re in a recovery situation. Or ‘stuck’, to put it another way.

Not that this is a vehicle we expect to be getting stuck in much.

Project D-Max GO2 is designed to GO2 places other trucks cannot reach, don’t forget. And when it gets there, the first part of it that arrives is now going to be the sort of bumper that marks it out as a very serious bit of kit.

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OUR 4X4S

Above: Locating and installing all the hardware is a job to be done methodically. You’re near the end here, but now is not the time to rush it Above right, right: Supporting the bumper with a telescopic stand, it’s position is fineadjusted before the mounting bolts are tightened up to keep it from moving. Your aim is to get a uniform gap on either side between the bumper’s trailing edge and the trim material on the cut edge of the old bumper

Above left: Happy with the bumper’s position? Now the bolts can be tightened up Above centre, right: At last, the bumper is in place with all the adjustments done. Now you can peel off the protective shrink wrap that’s been protecting it from any moments of workshop clumsiness (so it’ll be nice and shiny first time you take it out and cane it into a stump). Talking of shiny stuff, the grille can now go back on too Right: You’ve already tightened up the bolts, but the last job while you can still get at them is to torque them up

Above left, centre: Here’s why you won’t be able to get at the bolts any more. The last job is to install the splash plates underneath the bumper, boxing in the winch to keep it as well as possible out of harm’s way Above right: With that, the rope is fitted back on the winch and we’re ready to wonder out loud where the hook is meant to attach. Did we mention that the ARB bumper doesn’t come with recovery points? These come separately – there are other options besides buying ARB’s own, and some might be cheaper but we doubt any are better. Almost literally, watch this space…

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DECEMBER 2019 | 77

DEFENDER HEROIC LAND ROVERS OLD AND NEW

12

Pages of access orie spares and tools s, for every kind of Defender

Best of the Best

Superb prototype 90 County – the first ever lifestyle Land Rover!

Work trucks, off-roaders, street machines • Expeditions and travel prep Original road tests • Workshop projects • PLUS New Defender driven at last!

PLUS Comprehensive Defender buyers’ guide

Brand new With interest in the Land Rover Defender at an all-time high, from the Defender tells the story of Publishers Solihull's go-anywhere legend – and Writers of from the earliest prototypes to the The Landy latest trends in restoration, Newspaper! personalisation and expedition prep.

This high-quality bookazine also contains the most up-to-date coverage of the all-new Defender – which was recently named the most eagerly anticipated vehicle of all time.

In addition, you'll find a range of vehicle profiles covering classic Defenders, off-road specials, expedition builds and more – as well as original road test reports, workshop guides and page after page of the latest and best spares, accessories and other products.

And whatever kind of Defender you're after, old or new, you can't afford to miss our comprehensive buyers' guide. Packed with knowledge and advice from Defender specialists, it's a must for anyone looking to join the wide world of Land Rover ownership!

Will be published online and in print in September. Just £7.99!

Pre-order today at www.4x4magazineshop.co.uk and pay no P&P.

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Hardcore Land Rover 90, plus a beast of a Grand Cherokee – and a hybrid Toyota that’s an engineering marvel Tested: Porsche Macan, Lexus UX, Range Rover Sport P400 HST What happens when you’re on an expedition and it all goes wrong?

PLUS The resurrection of our long-suffering Jeep Cherokee

ON SALE: 12th June HOT STUFF

An overland expedition finds itself in the natural oven of Death Valley

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