off road courses
Discussion
Go to the UK Land Rover website and order a Defender brochure for delivery by post and tell them you have a budget of £20k and are looking to buy within 3 months. They will then e-mail you a voucher for a free off-road day at one of several off-road courses around the UK and feed you and your friends while you are there. That course will cover the beginner stuff you are interested in! 
biglepton said:
Go to the UK Land Rover website and order a Defender brochure for delivery by post and tell them you have a budget of £20k and are looking to buy within 3 months. They will then e-mail you a voucher for a free off-road day at one of several off-road courses around the UK and feed you and your friends while you are there. That course will cover the beginner stuff you are interested in!
Top tip of the day 
biglepton said:
Go to the UK Land Rover website and order a Defender brochure for delivery by post and tell them you have a budget of £20k and are looking to buy within 3 months. They will then e-mail you a voucher for a free off-road day at one of several off-road courses around the UK and feed you and your friends while you are there. That course will cover the beginner stuff you are interested in!
That sounds like a good plan. Will try it..Thanks
biglepton said:
Go to the UK Land Rover website and order a Defender brochure for delivery by post and tell them you have a budget of £20k and are looking to buy within 3 months. They will then e-mail you a voucher for a free off-road day at one of several off-road courses around the UK and feed you and your friends while you are there. That course will cover the beginner stuff you are interested in!
This has got to be a worth a go 
maybe even a PH style offroad hoon at LR's expense 
Ahhh! A G4!
All you need to do before you go off-roading is rip off and throw away the daft side steps that are reducing your ramp breakover angle to that of a Micra and lose the std towbar that reduces departure angle. Oh and lose the road tyres! I know it says All-Terrain on them, but that means road tyre. There are two types of 4x4 tyre - mud tyres and everything else. If you off-road in the UK you need mud tyres!
Another tip is that LR std fit snorkels tend to leak like sieves meaning your blow up your engine whilst wading. Dismantle the snorkel and rebuild it with every joint sealed with silicon sealer. When done fill it with water - if it doesn't leak, empty it and re-fit to LR. Also make sure your axle breathers are extended high up into the snorkel and sealed. It's wise with a TD5 to resite the ECU into a waterproof junction box on the roof-lining. If you get keen, you might like to spend a few quid on a true-trac for the front axle and a detroit locker for the rear - far more reliable than air-operated diffs!
As you can probably tell, my modified 90 V8 spends quite a lot of it's life on it's roof and sides!
PS - remember Defenders are designed to fill up with water whilst wading to stop them floating. Floating = zero traction. So make sure you have spare clothes with you!
All you need to do before you go off-roading is rip off and throw away the daft side steps that are reducing your ramp breakover angle to that of a Micra and lose the std towbar that reduces departure angle. Oh and lose the road tyres! I know it says All-Terrain on them, but that means road tyre. There are two types of 4x4 tyre - mud tyres and everything else. If you off-road in the UK you need mud tyres!
Another tip is that LR std fit snorkels tend to leak like sieves meaning your blow up your engine whilst wading. Dismantle the snorkel and rebuild it with every joint sealed with silicon sealer. When done fill it with water - if it doesn't leak, empty it and re-fit to LR. Also make sure your axle breathers are extended high up into the snorkel and sealed. It's wise with a TD5 to resite the ECU into a waterproof junction box on the roof-lining. If you get keen, you might like to spend a few quid on a true-trac for the front axle and a detroit locker for the rear - far more reliable than air-operated diffs!
As you can probably tell, my modified 90 V8 spends quite a lot of it's life on it's roof and sides!
PS - remember Defenders are designed to fill up with water whilst wading to stop them floating. Floating = zero traction. So make sure you have spare clothes with you!
Edited by biglepton on Monday 13th August 13:30
Thanks for the tips.
Dismantle and resite does not readily go hand in hand with me, although Im learning.
It due its MOT shortly and will ask the local LR guy to have a look over and check the parts you mentioned.
Tyres - Im on road 99.9% of the time at the mo, and the off road bits are so easy, but if I do get in to offroading then I take your advice and would change them.
Im hoping to go to Slindon on the 26th for an easy off road route. Are you local to Sussex?
Dismantle and resite does not readily go hand in hand with me, although Im learning.
It due its MOT shortly and will ask the local LR guy to have a look over and check the parts you mentioned.
Tyres - Im on road 99.9% of the time at the mo, and the off road bits are so easy, but if I do get in to offroading then I take your advice and would change them.
Im hoping to go to Slindon on the 26th for an easy off road route. Are you local to Sussex?
You'll soon get the hang of doing things for yourself with a Landy!
I'll give you 5 minutes of driving round the easy bits before the red mist descends and you are sat halfway up a rutted 300 yard long 50 degree slope with all four wheels spinning sawing the wheel from side to side with a demented grimace on your face!
The problem with tyres on a LR is that people think - most of my driving is on road so i don't need aggressive mud tyres. The problem with that theory is that mud tyres work both on the road and in deep mud. All terrains work on the road but often not in deep mud. You'll only get stuck once because you have the wrong tyres on with knackered Suzuki SJ410's merrily circling you on mudders and laughing their arses off!
I live on the Isle of Wight now so I don't get off-road in this country as much as I used to!
I'll give you 5 minutes of driving round the easy bits before the red mist descends and you are sat halfway up a rutted 300 yard long 50 degree slope with all four wheels spinning sawing the wheel from side to side with a demented grimace on your face!
The problem with tyres on a LR is that people think - most of my driving is on road so i don't need aggressive mud tyres. The problem with that theory is that mud tyres work both on the road and in deep mud. All terrains work on the road but often not in deep mud. You'll only get stuck once because you have the wrong tyres on with knackered Suzuki SJ410's merrily circling you on mudders and laughing their arses off!
I live on the Isle of Wight now so I don't get off-road in this country as much as I used to!
As long as you buy decent mudders, they are reasonable on the road, ie BFG MT's or Goodyear MTR's. You get less braking and they don't like sudden changes of direction, but on a Defender they are fine. I got 60,000 miles out of my last set of BFG MT's and they are reasonably quiet.
Size is vital - most people new to off-roading seem to think wider is better, it's not. The key is ground pressure and height - too little and you sit with all four wheels going round in the top inch shear surface of the mud. Don't go too wide - on an unlifted 90 or 110 the optimum size is 235x85x16. Many people fit 265x75x16 but they are fractionally less tall than the 235s and wider hence less ground pressure. 750x16 is even better, but they tend to be crossplies.
Size is vital - most people new to off-roading seem to think wider is better, it's not. The key is ground pressure and height - too little and you sit with all four wheels going round in the top inch shear surface of the mud. Don't go too wide - on an unlifted 90 or 110 the optimum size is 235x85x16. Many people fit 265x75x16 but they are fractionally less tall than the 235s and wider hence less ground pressure. 750x16 is even better, but they tend to be crossplies.
Ian Wright Off Road based near Bolney have an excellent course. I bought SWMBO a day there for a birthday present a few years ago and she had a glorious time. She had never driven off road before and it wasn't long before she was driving up and down stuff that I was thinking twice about on my trials bike. It is truly amazing what a 2.5 petrol 90 can do.
It was a few years ago now and they may have moved but worth Googling to find out.
It was a few years ago now and they may have moved but worth Googling to find out.
Denis O said:
Ian Wright Off Road based near Bolney have an excellent course. I bought SWMBO a day there for a birthday present a few years ago and she had a glorious time. She had never driven off road before and it wasn't long before she was driving up and down stuff that I was thinking twice about on my trials bike. It is truly amazing what a 2.5 petrol 90 can do.
It was a few years ago now and they may have moved but worth Googling to find out.
thank you. I will have dig.It was a few years ago now and they may have moved but worth Googling to find out.
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